One of the best ways to reduce the cost of insulating against noise is not to buy a noisy home in the first place. This might sound obvious but many of the signs of a noisy house or flat can be missed, particularly if you are distracted by how nice it looks.

If it’s an apartment you are looking for, try and go for the top floor in a development because living at the top means you don’t have any noisy neighbours above you. The problem is the top floor is usually a penthouse and this will probably be double the price of those apartments on lower floors.

If it’s a house you are looking for, avoid living next to schools, universities and colleges. Not only will you have noisy children on the playground to contend with in the case of the former, but also the twice daily rush of parents in 4x4s desperately trying to park as close to the school gates as possible. You should also avoid buying a house on a flight path, next to a bus depot or a busy railway line.

It might also be a good idea to visit the area of the home you intend to buy at different times of the day and on weekends. The noise levels could be very different depending on when you see the most activity in a given area.