Vibrations from new motorway coming through my house

D

Dartania

Guest
Hi, this is like previous posts I saw on humming noises in houses. My problem is very recent but has been, I think, identified. A new part of the motorway opened up quite near my house about 10 days ago - since then,we have a continual humming noise in the house, loudest at night. There are four of us in the house and all of us can hear it, unfortunately my two teenage siblings with their hearing, are very affected by it.

As its vibrations, wearing ear plugs makes the sound worse and not better.

I have been told to do the following but not sure how to follow up on any of them:
- check on if a sound barrier wall has been built along the motorway. How do I check this out and with what organisation, is it the Roads authority or the county council in my area? Also, is it a big grey concrete wall that I should see? If so, I cant see one at the side of the motorway. I was told that if that is there, I shouldnt be feeling vibrations from the motorway in my house (which is about a half a mile away). Is it possible that one may not be built due to cutting costs?
- check on if the water in my pipes is vibrating but to get a very good plummer to check this out. I do have a good plummer but I dont know how experienced he is with something like this. I understand it could be the pipes underground my house that could be vibrating (the water in them) and sending the vibrations through the floor of the house. If this is possible, how could I rectify this?
- try to block up my vents. I know this suggestion is difficult as we do have gas but it does sound as if sound is coming in through the vents into the house.I wouldnt know the first thing about how to sort out the vents but would even pay someone professionally to do it.
- check on my windows: would changing my windows in my house help,to acoustic laminated windows? I have very large windows all over the house and when I open the windows, I can only hear the motorway a little. But when the windows are closed, I can really hear a sound through the windows themselves.

I checked with my neighbours next door on if they can hear anything - they dont have open vents and also have lead on their windows. They said they can hear a very low hum but not enough to disrupt their sleep and think their leaded windows are helping them.

I could really do with some advice, Im a single mum with one small child and trying to care for two teenage siblings as well and dont have the first clue how to sort this out.
 
You shouldnt block vents, first of all.

I'm open to correction but I believe that some sound barriers can be made of wood, like a wooden fence at the perimeter of the roadway.

A noise and vibration test would need to be carried out. You should contact your local county council and see what way to proceed with this.
 
You shouldn't have to put up with this inconvenience as it is an intrusion on your health. Also, as other poster suggest, do not block your vents!
You should contact the County Council Health and Safety Officer and seek their help and perhaps get someone to call to your house. Also check with other neighbours and perhaps also contact your local Councillor/TD....they are on Easter Hols at the moment and should be in attendance at their clinics, after all, the local elections are coming up in early June, so no better time. Could you record the sound either on a mobile phone or recorder and play it for them when they call? Recording it during the night would be better, by the sound of your experience. Best of luck.
 
Concrete walls and hills on sides of motorways are sound barriers only and do not have any bearing on vibrations. If you really think it is vibrations, you could have someone measure it. If the NRA built the motorway, they monitor vibrations during construction, so have the equipment. You could try and get them to come out and measure. I think there are limits to the vibrations a motorway may cause. However at half a mile, it would be exceptional that the limits have been exceeded. Are you living in a boggy area ? Water logged ground transfers vibration more easily. A consolation may be that you are experiencing this more prominently because it is new. Over time, in a few weeks, you will get used to it and won't notice it anymore.
 
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