Declare
War Against Outdoor Noise Eliminate noise forever with our simple and
effective ASC-SoundFence. There are lots of sound
barriers out there, but they only reflect sound, potentially ruining
your peace of mind. The ASC-SoundFence is a simple,
contractor-friendly, weather-proof panel to provide sound absorption
within a typical cedar fence. ASC provides the panels, you provide
the cedar fence.
The standard sound
barrier measurement produces an STC 20 for the SoundFence. This
20 dB noise reduction is due to pure absorption. What this means
is that up to 75% of the ambient noise is permanently eliminated,
day in and day out, year after year.
ASC supplies the 3"
thick sound absorbing panel that is nested inside of a double-sided
"good neighbor" cedar slat fence (which is not supplied
by ASC). The
panel is covered by an architectural waterproof UV protected awning
fabric. The fabric is acoustically transparent, yet breathable.
We supply the panels that
fit between the upper and lower horizontal support rails. The panels
are custom sized to accomodate your fence, typically from 3' to
8' tall. SoundFence panels do not require a cedar fence, and can
be attached to chain-link or even concrete. The only requirement
is that the top must be protected from the elements. To be effective,
sound absorbing panels are strategically placed where ever there
is a source of unwanted noise.
The
fence pictured above was placed along a railroad track to absorb
the train noise. That fence required panels throughout. Typically,
the noise source may be a heat
pump, air conditioner, dog kennel or pool pump, requiring only
a few absorption panels.
You will find that this fence
will provide fantastic relief from your noise headache, especially
noise transfer between homes. Each absorption panel is priced at
$15 per perimeter foot. For example, a 4' x 5' panel has 18 perimeter
feet (adding the length of all four sides). The price of that panel
would be $270. Another example might be a 1' x 8' panel, also 18
perimeter feet and $270.
How
Much Does a SoundFence Cost?
Typically,
SoundFence Panel height is 18-24" less than the finished fence
height. The first 12" of fence height is the 2 x 10 "ground
seal", followed by a 2 x 4 support rail. The top 6-12"
is just the slats extending above the top rail. Therefore, a 6 foot
high fence would have SoundFence Panels that are 4 - 4.5 feet high.
Most fences have 6 foot or 8 foot spacing between posts. This too
can affect the cost of your SoundFence Panels due to the perimeter
foot pricing formula. Panels that are larger cost less per square
foot, so 8 foot post spacing will save you money.
In real world terms, a 6
foot high SoundFence, 48 feet long by 6 feet high, with 8 foot post
spacing, would cost roughly $2250. The same fence with 6 foot post
spacing would cost $2500.
Soundwall
Barriers and the Megaphone Effect
All sound barriers have one
flaw in common, called the Megaphone Effect. Barriers stop
noise effectively as long as you are right next to the barrier.
As soon as you stand back 10 or 20 feet, noise begins spilling over
the top, creating a high pitched hissing sound. This hiss can be
as bad, if not worse than, the unblocked noise. This is because
the Megaphone Effect tends to magnify and recurve high frequency
noise to its unintended victims.
Noise absorbing fences such
as the ASC SoundFence eliminates the Megaphone effect because reflection
is minimized or eliminated altogether. If you have a highway soundwall
giving you a headache, one way to fix it is to attach ASC SoundFence
panels to the top 2 feet, eliminating the reflective bounce off
the top of the wall.
SoundFence Variants
The
ASC SoundFence can be ordered in two basic variants, either Full
Absorptive, or Absorptive/Barrier. Our experts can help you determine
what's best for your specific noise situation.
The Full Absorptive version
is most popular because any sound reflection is negligable. This
is typically used for neighborhood noise complaints such as dogs
and heat pumps, or just general sound privacy.
The Absorption/Barrier version
is used when a SoundFence surrounds a loud noise source such as
a generator or chilling unit.
This version uses mass in
the form of fiber cementous board, surrounded on each side by 1"
absorption layers. Noise is absorbed, but does not go through the
fence because it is blocked by the barrier. Also, because there
is absorption, the diffraction effect is not present, you get the
best of both worlds.
Call us today to
end your noise intrusion problems:
1-800-272-8823.
For "non-standard"
applications, we can engineer a custom plan that will give you the
peace of mind you deserve. To get started, fill out our Online
Info Request Form. We'll also need you to e-mail photos and
a rough site plan. This service entails a small fee which will be
applied to your SoundFence order.