Insulating Walls

RE: Insulating Walls Post by theseamstress (82) | (11/04/2007) Contact what about those 3 section things like they used in western days that they got dressed behind (not sure what they are called) (maybe room dividers)they are made out of wood and fabric having three sections that connect by hindges.they could placed up against windows or walls to add beauty as well as block noise. and if your apt is ground level maybe your landlord would let you place a large lattice against your outside wall and let vines grow up it like trumpit vine or other fast growing hardy plants, they will help block the noise a bit. RE: Insulating Walls Post by 2oma (98) | (11/04/2007) Contact A suggestion. How about running curtain rods from the ceiling across the wall. Then you could do one of the other suggestions-- OR use insulated draperies all across the wall. Will both insulate and depress noise-- or any combination-- for instance-- use the black plastic next to the wall and draperies over that..... or use sheets as drapes with the plastic... lots of ideas from these folks. good luck RE: Insulating Walls Post By Paula Jo Carr Mebane, NC (Guest Post) (11/03/2007) To mask outside noises we have used just simple fans (on low) in the master and in the living room - try this if possible to be surprised at how just that simple fan noise can block out all the outside noises! Our doctor calls it "white noise" - we have a small fan sitting on the night stand/dresser and running and then a "tower fan" we got at The Good Will in the living room. We run vaporizers (the ones that create warm steam ) to help heat our mobile home in the winter - they are much more cost efficent then running our oven to heat water to create steam in a tea kettle. Or running our furnace, Also IF your water and electric is furnished in your apartent unit I have known persons that run their shower to create warm steam in their homes to help heat thier apartments and they live in Chicago, a much colder climate then what we live in. Our Aunt Sherry who is on a limited income also lives in a small apartment and she heats it running her top heating elements on high and her oven and opening the oven door. (her electric is furnished in her rent). Good Luck to you! RE: Insulating Walls Post by loridawn1956 (55) | (11/02/2007) Contact We are in the same boat, about the same distance from TWO major highways, semis and cars all day and all night long, considered one of the busiest trucking areas in the US. I bought an industrial grade floor fan by aloha breezes at walmart. spent about 35 bucks and boy does it help to mask out a bunch of the noise. It made a huge difference for us. I really don't see how hanging up a quilt or two would make that big of an impact. The new windows are very costly, but from watching the decorating shows are a good investment if you have the money. Since we don't have the money we will stick with our "747" fans. That's what I call them because they are noisy! Have one in the master and one in the living room. I love mine! As a footnote the boy accidentally broke one of the 747's one day and it was like immediately we were listening to those dumb old semis. You bet your boots we couldn't stand it and hurried to walmart. Sad thing is might be sold out for the year and might be hard to track down. RE: Insulating Walls Post by perfumed fan (227) | (10/31/2007) Profile | Contact Saw this in a decorating book: they used thumbtacks to put quilt batting on the walls(easy to remove to check for mold). Then they gathered sheets on tension rods and hung them over the batting. It looked really beautiful. RE: Insulating Walls Post By Rae (Guest Post) (10/31/2007) I was reading that during the depression, people would line their drafty old walls with quilts. You can get film at Home Depot for your windows and can apply it yourself ,that would help keep heat in during the winter and heat out in the summer. RE: Insulating Walls Post by pamphyila (376) | (10/31/2007) Profile | Blog! | Contact I have never tried this myself - but there are always decorating hints about "wallpapering" your walls with fabric. They staple the fabric to the walls. Perhaps this would help you. After all, they put tapestries on the cold stone walls of castles, didn't they? RE: Insulating Walls Post by mmgarren (7) | (10/31/2007) Profile | Blog! | Contact I am a senior citizen and although I don't have to pay for heat in my apartment I have found that when I put up garbage bags (black) on my south facing windows I don't have to use the furnace during the day. My little 400 Sq ft.apartment is toasty warm when the sun shines. I put the black bags on tension rods and there is an opening at the bottom and the top. The tension rods are placed about one half way up the window so you can get light into the apartment. This works better when I put more bags over the tension rod to make them thicker. I have used this trick even when it was 15 degrees below zero.