diff --git a/Lib/distutils/log.py b/Lib/distutils/log.py
index 024e7c2..bf26302 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/log.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/log.py
@@ -50,7 +50,10 @@
 fatal = _global_log.fatal
 
 def set_threshold(level):
+    # return the old threshold for use from tests
+    old = _global_log.threshold
     _global_log.threshold = level
+    return old
 
 def set_verbosity(v):
     if v <= 0:
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/support.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/support.py
index cef985d..475ceee 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/support.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/support.py
@@ -3,6 +3,19 @@
 import shutil
 import tempfile
 
+from distutils import log
+
+
+class LoggingSilencer(object):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(LoggingSilencer, self).setUp()
+        self.threshold = log.set_threshold(log.FATAL)
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        log.set_threshold(self.threshold)
+        super(LoggingSilencer, self).tearDown()
+
 
 class TempdirManager(object):
     """Mix-in class that handles temporary directories for test cases.
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_py.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_py.py
index 6f72768..78e4c55 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_py.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_py.py
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@
 from distutils.tests import support
 
 
-class BuildPyTestCase(support.TempdirManager, unittest.TestCase):
+class BuildPyTestCase(support.TempdirManager,
+                      support.LoggingSilencer,
+                      unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_package_data(self):
         sources = self.mkdtemp()
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_scripts.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_scripts.py
index 7ef71cc..bf25b38 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_scripts.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_build_scripts.py
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@
 from distutils.tests import support
 
 
-class BuildScriptsTestCase(support.TempdirManager, unittest.TestCase):
+class BuildScriptsTestCase(support.TempdirManager,
+                           support.LoggingSilencer,
+                           unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_default_settings(self):
         cmd = self.get_build_scripts_cmd("/foo/bar", [])
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_install_scripts.py b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_install_scripts.py
index 2e86dcd..fffa6ef 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/tests/test_install_scripts.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/tests/test_install_scripts.py
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@
 from distutils.tests import support
 
 
-class InstallScriptsTestCase(support.TempdirManager, unittest.TestCase):
+class InstallScriptsTestCase(support.TempdirManager,
+                             support.LoggingSilencer,
+                             unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_default_settings(self):
         dist = Distribution()