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How to reduce noise from carport?

We recently installed a Sigenergy solar inverter/battery unit in our carport. It's not particularly loud, but it does sometimes make a bit of a humming noise, which can be a little annoying when outside. I think the noise is being amplified a little along the carport wall.

I'm trying to think of solutions that aren't too expensive to dampen the noise from the carport opening. I have the following requirements:
* The solution can't be too expensive (i.e. several hundred is ok but not in the thousands)
* We also need to walk through the carport space regularly, so the covering needs to either have a door, or something we can pull back easily.
* The solution needs to be something I can remove without a huge amount of effort if needed. We may need to free up the space in the future if we're doing further renovations in our backyard.
* Ideally, would be good to keep a bit of light coming through.

Please see the image attached to get an idea of the space I want to cover.

I've had a couple of ideas, and wanted to see if anyone has any other suggestions…
* Could buy reasonably thick clear tarp (like the clear tarp used for outdoor areas in restaurants), and could use Velcro strips on the side brick walls and roof to secure it. This would be easy to remove and partially open. My concern with this solution is it may not do all that much to dampen the noise (note, that noise it's that loud, so I'm hoping it would be enough)
* Could put up panels that are attached to the top wooden beam and have something on the ground to keep them in place. This would require one of the panels to open like a door (see image attached with rough design.

Please let me know what you think and if you have any other ideas.

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JacobZ

Hi @nieldy,

The clear tarps you've seen in restaurants are called bistro blinds and I think this is likely the best place to start. They are relatively thick, fit within your budget and are easy to install and remove if required. Check out How To Install Bistro Blinds for some guidance on this process.

They are not specifically designed to reduce sound, but when installed with the Bistro Blinds Wall Anchors, they will effectively cover the opening, which should help to reduce the sound transfer.

I'd give this a try first and see if it reduces the sound to a level that is satisfactory. Unfortunately, to really reduce the sound transfer, you would need to build something like your second image, which would not be anywhere near as simple to remove.

To construct something along the lines of your second image, you would need to build a timber frame like shown in How To Build a Stud Wall and clad it. I am thinking something along the lines of a hoarding, which is what they call the simple construction barriers you see on large construction sites. Having built a few myself, they are usually just a timber frame with some sheets of plywood attached to the outside. A sheet on the thicker side, such as this 15mm Plywood would be ideal considering you are looking to reduce sound transfer.

You could include a simple door by attaching some plywood to a simple frame, then hanging it from the studs using some hinges.

Adding windows could be done by cutting a hole in the plywood and screwing on some clear acrylic sheets.

It would then need to be painted with 2-3 coats of an exterior paint to protect it from the elements.

You could then use sound reducing insulation on the inside of your hoarding, held in place with insulation strapping to further reduce sound transfer.

If you use screws to hold everything together, when it comes time to remove it, you will simply remove those screws and take down the hoarding. It is not as simple to remove as the bistro blinds, but it wouldn't be excessively difficult.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

nieldy

Thanks for your response @JacobZ,

I think the Bistro Blinds option would be the best.

The width of the opening is 307cm, so I'm thinking I could attach wooden boards to the brick to reduce the gap a little so I can use the 300cm width blinds. Do you know how much gap I'd need to leave to attach the blinds? (I'm assuming I need to account for the bracket where the blinds attach to the sides).

Also, I would like to avoid drilling into the brick if possible, in case I want to take the blinds down at a later point. Do you think the wooden boards will be secure enough if I attach the brick in multiple places just into the grout between the bricks?

Finally, I would look to attach the blinds along the blue line in the diagram below. This would make use of the wooden beam already secured on the ceiling. The height of that beam is 226cm. I guess this means I would need a custom drop length for the blinds so they're not dragging on the ground?

Given that the ceiling beam has a cornice around it, that would leave a small air gap between the edges. I guess I could either cut into the cornice to install the side boards flush with the top beam, or I could fill the gap with something (if I find it makes any real difference to the noise).

Thanks again,

Stephen

MitchellMc

Hi Stephen (@nieldy),

A couple of 70 x 45mm timbers, one fixed vertically on each side, would comfortably close that 7cm gap and bring you down to suit the 300cm blind.

The 300cm measurement is the overall width of the blind, so the side channels would fix directly to your new timber boards, and the blind itself then runs within those channels. You won’t need to allow much extra beyond ensuring the timbers are positioned plumb and spaced correctly for the full 300cm width.

Fixing the timbers back into the mortar joints (rather than the bricks themselves) should be sufficient, provided you use appropriate masonry anchors and fix them in multiple points top to bottom. That’ll give you solid support while keeping the brick faces untouched if you ever decide to remove them.

With the 226cm beam height, you could either order a custom drop so it finishes neatly just above the ground, or simply allow the additional ~14cm to sit bagged at the bottom. Because the excess is minimal, that would function perfectly fine, but for the cleanest look, a custom drop would definitely be the neater option.

In regard to the cornice, I’d suggest trimming/profile-cutting the top of your side timbers to fit around it rather than cutting into the cornice itself. That keeps the structure intact and is easier to reverse later. If you didn’t want to go to the effort of profiling the timber, you could leave the small gap and fill it afterwards if you found it made any noticeable difference to noise or draughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

nieldy

Hi @MitchellMc, thanks for the additional info. Since those boards are 45mm, I wonder if it would be worth me getting them trimmed to 35mm just to make the gap exactly 300cm. I know it's not a big difference, but I did read that sound dampening works better if the material is fairly taunt.

I think getting a custom drop would make sense for a nicer look

For the masonary anchors and screws, what depth would you recommend (given screws would be going through the wood too), and how many for each side? Would 4 be enough per side?

Also, given I want to be fairly accurate with the screw positions into the grouting, do you have any tips for lining this up with the wood holes.

Cheers,

Stephen

MitchellMc

The boards would provide a surface area of 45mm where your channels can be fixed @nieldy. The 70mm face would be bolted to the wall and the channel fixed on the 45mm side. They are not face fixing channels, they need to be fixed on the side of the timber.

With a custom order, just ensure that our Special Orders team confirms our calculations and spans with the manufacturer before placing your order.

Four would be enough for each side. I'd recommend Ramset 10 x 100mm Countersunk DynaBolt Plus Masonry Anchors.

You should place your timber against the wall and mark the locations of the grout lines on it. Predrill the timber in those locations. You can then place the timber back against the wall and use it as a guide to start your holes in the masonry. You'll be using a 10mm drill bit for the timber and a 10mm masonry bit for the grout.

Mitchell

Dave-1

Good morning @nieldy

As an alternative option :) How about 3 or 4 panels fixed on wheels that can be moved aside like a concertina door?

So pretty much a rectangular frame of that 70*35mm timber with a plywood front.

A couple of lengths of timber at least 600mm long are screwed to the base to form the axcels that the large wheels will screw to.

I wouldnt join the sections together as it will become heavy and you wont be able to move them as easily.

To sto them tipping towards the car in case of wind. You could go for a solid piece of timber that slots into a brack high up the opening (like a castle gate timber bar) or a length of wire screwed in with eyelets and a clip lock so it can be removed if needed.

As a side note you could offset the wheel axcel say 400mm one side and 200mm the other so the longside is in the carport. (make sure you have that wire rope in place at the front in this situation) You could leave a panel a little shorter than the bar on say the left, with two large U shaped handels either side so it can be opened.

Best part about this is its solid (less noise transfe5r) and you can also fully insulate with foam or with insulation and cover it from the inside as well.

Dave

nieldy

Thanks for the suggestion @Dave-1, I think that would work well. Just for simplicity sake I think I'll try the Barista Blind idea first and hopefully that will be enough.

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