The Sound of a Home

By HERB LAGOIS

Silence is good for the soul. Photo: Award-winning Lagois project Achieving Hygge

How do you create silence? How do you escape city noises, loud neighbours, barking dogs, shouting kids? How do you keep the outdoors “out” and the silence “in”?

In my decades of designing homes, I have given a good deal of thought to this, because quiet and comfort go hand in hand with the way we live.

Traffic noise can be a huge issue. Some days it seems as though it’s louder and busier than ever. Stand on almost any city street and you can actually feel the hum of it.

We tend to accept this as normal, but when you step into your home, especially at the end of a long day, you shouldn’t have to hear that roar in the background.

Home should mean comfort. Comfort should mean “happy”. Both are often tied to a quiet space.

Have you ever stayed in a hotel where you could hear everything: kids jumping in the room above, the ice machine down the hall, the elevator dinging at midnight, people talking in the hallway? You lie there thinking, how is this happening in a place that’s supposed to help me rest? You can’t sleep. You wake up tired. You feel cranky before your day even begins.

It’s the same with your home. Noise is disrupting and annoying. It has a way of getting into your psyche.

We had a client, a physician who works incredibly long hours. When he finally comes home, he needs two things: a space that is extremely quiet and a space that is secure, where files must be confidential. Providing him with both didn’t happen by accident. It happened by design.

At Lagois, we spend a lot of time thinking about materials, finishes and layout. But we also think about what you don’t see: resilient channels in your walls or ceilings, for example.

Resilient channels are like shock absorbers. They’re thin metal strips that create a tiny gap between drywall and studs. That small break stops a lot of the noise vibration from passing through.

Quiet scene from "Classically Traditional", a Lagois project

Proper insulation is another way of keeping your home quiet. So are high-quality windows that block traffic noise instead of amplifying it. These little things make an enormous difference in how a home feels.

Then there’s mechanical noise.

Have you ever walked into a house where the furnace sounds like an old tractor firing up in the basement? Or where the air conditioner kicks in and everyone has to raise their voice mid-conversation? Over time, that constant white noise wears on you. I’m sure our bodies aren’t meant to live in a state of low-grade mechanical rumble all day long.

Properly designed mechanical systems like in-floor radiant heat are ultra-quiet. So are ductless air conditioners and heat pumps.

One regret I have in designing our own home is that I didn’t pay enough attention to how loud our fireplace fan is. To this day, it drives me crazy. I use the fireplace far less than I could simply because I don’t want to listen to it.

Sound matters more than we think. Even floors have a voice.

In an old home, a squeak here and there can feel charming, part of the story of the house. But in a newly renovated or newly built home, a squeaky floor is frustrating.

I recall an irate homeowner calling us about a renovation that had gone horribly wrong with another renovator. She had a list of complaints, but what was pushing her over the edge were the squeaky floors – not to mention the cracking of brand new tiles. Every step was a reminder of something done poorly. Unfortunately, correcting it would have meant undoing and redoing much of the work. That was an expensive lesson for her.

Sound design extends outdoors as well. If your property backs onto a busy road, there are thoughtful ways to soften traffic noise through landscaping, fencing, and layout.

On the flip side, if you love playing music outside on a summer evening, we can design spaces that allow you to enjoy that sound without annoying your neighbours. Good design respects both your comfort and your community.

When I think about the homes we’ve renovated, they share something in common. They feel calm. You walk in and right away you feel the peacefulness. You don’t hear the furnace fighting to keep up. You don’t hear upstairs footsteps echoing through the ceiling. You don’t hear the street as if it’s in your living room. You hear what you want to hear: conversation, laughter, music…or maybe nothing at all.

The sound of your home should be the sound of comfort and peace, designed into its core from the start. It’s what we think of when we talk about Perfecting the Art of Living.

Herb Lagois is the founder of Lagois Design·Build·Renovate.

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