Comment by design-of-homes | Hacker News Reader

Comment by design-of-homes | Hacker News Reader

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design-of-homes

I agree with other posters that external noise - neighbours, cars, loud music - is more stressful than internal noise.

However, the trend with modern homes (houses and flats) to create open plan layouts with combined kitchen and living spaces makes appliance noise feel more intrusive.

I live in a modern (new build) flat with a combined kitchen and living room which I have come to dislike.

The constant hum of the fridge/freezer - harmless 'white noise' to some - is annoying when it's ever present in the living room. My food processor sounds like a drill penetrating concrete.

The worst offender is the cooker hood or cooker extractor. It sounds like a jet engine about to take off. It's impossible to listen to music or other audio (even with headphones) while the cooker hood is switched on.

Washing machines have improved a bit on the noise front, but many UK homes still have washing machines in the kitchen - problematic if you have an open plan layout. Modern front-loading washing machines also have ridiculously long wash times for normal wash programmes e.g. 3 hours. Imagine having to listen to your washing machine for that duration while sitting in your living room.

All these things have made me really dislike the open plan layouts that are the default in new build housing today.

I agree with you, those noises are terrible, but at least, they only happen when you use the appliances. Aside for your fridge, which I find strange. Mine isn't running particularly often.

In my apartment, which is open-plan also, by far the worst offender is the building ventilation. The extractor sounds like a jet engine, 24/7, and I have to cover it with something to not go crazy.

My apartment's washing machine is in the bathroom, which is normal in Denmark. I can close the bathroom door when it's running, and it's not a problem during calls.

The fridge is not noticeable except at night, with all the windows closed.

The extractor hood's fan is somewhere else (top of the building?) so it's only at night that I can hear it running.

The building ventilation is also quiet. I noticed the absence when there was a power cut, but otherwise don't hear it, even at night.

The windows are excellent too.

Most of this seems to be typical in above-average newer apartments in Denmark.

> Most of this seems to be typical in above-average newer apartments in Denmark.

Yeah, I think this is the point that matters. Don't know about Denmark, but in France only recently standards started to take into account noise. In Paris, most housing stock is from before 1990 [0].

There are some very old buildings (<1900) which I think may be fairly quiet (prefab wasn't a thing yet) and supposedly newer buildings (>2000) are quiet also thanks to the laws. I've never been in the latter, but have been in an older one (not sure about the year though) and it was very, very silent AND cool despite the hot summer outside and lack of AC.

[0] An interactive plan of the age of buildings https://www.comeetie.fr/galerie/BatiParis

I understand the fridge annoyance because those things can run at any time. I'd have expect the hood and the food processor to not be much of a problem because presumably they only run when meals are being prepared.

My washing machine got a lot more annoying when I realized its whosh whosh whosh is timed to perfectly accompany the old "Badger Badger Badger" Flash animation [1] [2].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzagBTcYsYQ

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badgers_(animation)

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