On Jul 10, 11:06 am, infiniteMPG wrote:
We live in a fairly rural area and there is a nearby interstate (about
4/10 mile as the crow flies) that the sound has never been an issue
with. Recently they have started clearing the land between us and the
interstate to make room for condos and shopping plazas. With the loss
of the trees, the increase in traffic due to the population growth
(west central Florida) the sound has increased dramatically. We were
wondering if there was anything we could do directly in our yard, to
our house, or around the area to reduce the noise? Are certain trees/
plants better at blocking sound then others? Of if there was any
approach we could use to the devlopers to have them build a sound
barrier on their new stuff (reduction in property value due to noise,
etc)?

Any suggestions would be gladly welcomed!

If your property is big enough, can you install a berm around the
perimeter and then
a solid wooden fence on top of the berm?
A 4' berm should help displace the sound waves,
and the fence is a fence. It should deflect a certain amount.
As for inside, find windows with as many panes as possible.
It's hard to find a dealer in FL that sells triple pane, but they are
available.
Inside the windows you may want to replace the curtains with lined
drapes. The kind
that have two fabrics sewn together to block out light and absorb
sound.
After that a high powered rifle used every once in a while will help
cut the
traffic down.
Lou