Amazing! I hadn’t even heard of this (shame on me!). This week we’re back to Outdoor Design Dilemmas with your ever-obliging steward of the outdoors (have I used ‘steward’ yet?) Carson Arthur, landscape designer and host of Green Force.
Today, an invaluable tip: how to reduce outdoor noise, organically.
For a BC family in distress over their marauding neighbours, Carson suggests some interesting outdoor partitions and an ingenious product which won the 2008 Toronto Green Award: The Living Wall.
Before I move onto the advice, I wanted to elaborate on this incredible find. The Living Wall or fence is based on an old technique of weaving willow saplings together to form a natural, green fence and sound barrier. The willow saplings used by company founder Toni Biglieri are robust in nature, perfectly resistant in both extreme heat and cold, and take root in as little as five weeks. At least 90% of the fence frame is recyclable, and most importantly, The Living Wall gives back in the form of CO2 absorption and other pollution filtration. The website even makes a Do-it-yourself guide available. I thought I’d highlight this amazing resource as I myself was not aware of such a choice.
From Marty: "We are out in BC and are hoping to renovate our deck. Our dilemma is our very loud neighbours. Not only are they loud, but their language in definitely inappropriate and we have young kids. There is a chain link fence between our properties – what would you suggest to create a noise barrier? We are planning on a large addition and a deck upgrade off the kitchen, and were thinking of a concrete/wall of some type on the neighbour side, with a water feature to buffer the noise.
Any suggestions from your creative team would be much appreciated."
Carson suggests: Hello Marty. That’s a pretty challenging question. The reality is, nothing is going to make the noise go away, or the neighbours for that matter. Here is what I would do providing that you have enough space in the yard:
The first layer of noise protection is a product called Living Wall (above left). What’s nice about this product is that because it’s considered a shrub, most municipal codes allow you to let it grow vertically as high as you want, providing it doesn’t cause safety issues. In front of this giant hedge, I would place a lower decorative wall to help define the space a little better. Try using a low retaining wall which is no higher then 24” [example pictured at right]. That way it doubles as a bench to give you some extra seating. If you’d like to go with something a little more modern, try a striking parged wall [left] with a circle focal point as the one pictured here. Good luck!
-- Carson
Can anyone else relate? What was your solution?
Got your own Design Dilemma, outdoor on indoor? Take a photo, and send it (in jpeg format) along with your question to stylesheet(@)hgtv(.)ca. (Don’t forget to take out the brackets when typing out email address.)
Previously on Design Dilemma: Cheryl Torrenueva of Restaurant Makeover helps with a Kitchen Reno
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