Homeowners Line Up For The Latest Luxury: Peace And Quiet

Fri., Dec. 22, 1995

Barbara Mayer Associated Press

It wasn’t even noon and already Dana Hougland had fielded phone calls from two clients in search of some quiet. The owner of a large open-plan house in Aspen, Colo., was bothered by reverberating footsteps. The caller from Vail, Colo., wanted to minimize plumbing and heating noises so he could better enjoy his new home theater.

The scenario is repeated almost daily, says Hougland, an acoustical engineer in Denver who leads the technical committee on architectural acoustics for the Acoustical Society of America.

A noisy home is becoming a no-no. Whether an open-plan layout or overcrowded lives set nerves a-jangling, the need for the sound of silence is rising, especially among the affluent.

Floors that don’t squeak, appliances that are seen but not heard and walls that don’t talk are held up as models by those in pursuit of quiet homes.

“Sometimes, it is even a matter of ‘I don’t want to hear my own teenagers,”’ says Hougland, a principal in the firm of David L. Adams Associates.

Through the 1970s, a lot of the residential construction was aimed at first-time buyers, and speed and cost were factors. Today, the market is in luxury homes, and insulation against unwanted sound is important.

In a survey conducted for Owens-Corning Fiberglas in Toledo, Ohio, more than 40 percent of prospective home buyers said they would pay an extra $500 for sound barriers in interior walls and floors. Quieter appliances are other allies in the war against noise in the home. Older dishwashers can be loud enough to stop conversations. Upscale European brands such as Miehle and Bosch introduced the concept of the quiet dishwasher about five years ago. American makers were quick to follow.

Other major appliances due to be shushed are home laundry equipment.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if clothes washers received more attention, now that they are moving out of the basement and into the kitchen and the bathroom,” Haak says.

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