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Soundproofing Windows

nige1978

Hey all,

I've been living in a city centre apartment now for 6 months. It's great, but the only problem is the windows are the old aluminium type double glazing and aren't very sound proof, especially in the bedrooms. It's beside a busy road so I'm awoken during the night with drunks shoutin' and boy racers revving!

Can anyone point me in the direction of a company that can quote for sound proof windows?

Cheers

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Victor

There are a couple of options, but the main one if you have existing double glazing is to essentially fit a new single pane approximately 150mm behind the existing window. The distance is critical for disturbing the passage of sound. You will need to take ventilation, emergency escape, cleaning and other factors into account.

You might also have them look at the existing windows, to ensure that that they seal properly - if they don't you can get a roll of self-adhesive window seals for under €10. However, I imagine this isn't an issue as they are aluminium windows.

I imagine any company can do it, but not all will specialise in it.

nige1978

I'd reckon the seal on the existing windows aren't great. Especially one of the windows which I can hear a fair bid of street noises coming through it!

Where would you get the roll on self-adhesive window seals from?

I did think about putting in new windows altogether but I think I read somewhere to have proper sound proofing you really need a secondary window?

Plus I live on the fourth floor and removing the windows may be difficult.

kitser

it would cost more to fit secondary windows than to replace the old ones. a bit of trial and error is probably the best way to go. firstly - are the hinges failed on the window (any draught coming in at the opening), replacing failed ones is a step in the right direction. depending on the thickness of your current double glazed units, you have two options readily available, switch to triple glazed units or if thats not viable, 6.8 mm accoustic units. you can p.m me if you still haven't got anyone out to look yet, and i'll be happy to go over the best options for you

blobert

Hello folks, Just wanted to revive this thread for suggestions.

Have moved into an apartment that is on the ground floor of a surprisingly busy little street. It's quiet when there are no cars but one goes by every minute or two all night and it gets more frequent from about 5am onwards.

The windows are aluminums I believer, double glazed and pretty big, about 2x2m, there are also ventilation gaps up the top that have been blocked with duck tape.

Its proving difficult to get a good nights sleep so I'm looking for simple and inexpensive ways to reduce the sound. It's a rental place so getting new/replacement windows is not an option. I'm not too keen on earplugs (probably the cheapest option) so I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I was thinking of making some shutters out of thinish MDF and putting some kind of foam/padding on them. This would also help block out the light, the curtains are fairly thin. Not sure what the best material to use would be?

If you have any suggestions let me know, I love the apartment otherwise so if I can just sort this out it would be great:)

antoinolachtnai

It would be worth looking at acrylic sheeting.

http://www.365plastics.ie/secondary-glazing.html

If you research around on google you will find more about it. Affix the acrylic sheet to the window with stick-on magnetic strips that are available. I have not done this, but I might do it in the next year.

365plastics doesn't seem to have the magnetic strips in stock at the moment. However, they are available in plenty of places online.

blobert

Thanks for the reply.

I have not seen any mention of this elsewhere, I wonder how efective it is as soundproofing.

The main problem is cost. The window is about 1900x1600mm so the sheet of 5 mm for €111 is not going to be big enough. This means the larger sheet which is €222, that's getting pretty pricey before I even fit it.

I was thinking of making shutters out of thin MDF with a gap in between the 2 layers (this is sopposed to help in terms of blocking sound.) Then on the outside I'd fit some sound absorbing foam:

http://www.thomann.de/ie/takustik_noppenschaumstoff.htm

Not sure which would be better in terms of sound reduction, the latter would be probably a lot cheaper to make.

The place I moved from had wooden shutters (it was an old house) and they made a big difference in reducing sound.

Any further advice would be much appreciated.

antoinolachtnai

Presumably it is not one big pane of glass.

I would have a piece of acrylic for each pane.

You will have to figure out a way to hinge the whole shutter assembly and seal it to the window. How well you get it to seal will have a big effect too.

blobert

I think I'll try something like this:

http://www.soundproofing.org/infopages/windowplug.htm

Using the Thomann foam on a 2 layers of thin MDF with a gap in between. If that is prohibatively heavy I could have 2 seperate pieces but that would leave a gap, or maybe just one piece of mdf with more of the foam.

Here's a diagram of what I have in mind:
http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/articles/howtowindows.htm

Any further advice would be much appreciated.

antoinolachtnai

That will do the job for you, i'd say. I'd keep it lightweight if I could.

Just be careful that you don't end up spending more than it would cost to put in some decent windows.

To make any of this stuff work, you will need to have a good airtight seal on the existing windows before you start. So try that first to see how far you get.

blobert

Thanks, I will do a bit more research first, that acoustic foam may be a bit overpriced for what it is. Re: Acrylic Windows...

According to Soundproofing101:

Acrylic windows are not effective because of the basic requirement of mass (refer to the Soundproofing Principles covered in our introductory Soundproofing course). Acryllic and other plastics do not have mass. Even at 1" thick, they are not that good at stopping noise. If someone is selling you anything plastic that they claim is designed to stop noise they are wrong.

It may be designed. But it is not designed to stop noise. The sales people are just taking a different product and trying to sell it as a noise reducer. No one we know of sells a good plastic product that does a decent job of stopping noise. We must add “that we know of”: while it is theoretically possible to make a really thick product that will stop a fair amount of noise, the prices would be absurd and the results still limited.

Any further advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

antoinolachtnai

here's some actual numbers I found.

http://www.magnetite.com.au/page.asp?pID=233

The gap (as various people have said) seems to be very important.

nige1978

Just to give a bit of an update on my situation. I ended up getting secondary glazing installed in the bedrooms of my apartment. These have made a huge improvement in sound reduction and where definately worth the money. Normal car noise is now completely gone. I can now watch cars drive by below (i'm on the 3rd floor) and I can't hear them! Anything high pitched like a siren or drunken girls/lads still comes through but is much more muffled.

The windows are also fully removable also which is handy for cleaning or if I ever decide to get the old aluminium double glazing changed.

Can I just note, I got a quote from a company in Dublin which was nearly 3 times as much as another company quoted me! If you want to know who I dealt with send me a PM (not sure if I can post it? Mods?)

Ambersky

Very interesting topic.
I Have a house with timber frame double glazed windows and for years was wondering could I do anything about soundproofing them.
At one time next doors dogs acted as my alarm clock at about 6.30am every morning. They were barking to be let out which would start at the back and then they would play fight making loads of noise in my front garden. When the owners left for work or wherever they would put them back into their garden where they would bark for hours.
A friendly approach to the neighbours to discuss the problem got no where and was met with taunting, throwing things over the wall, and not talking for years.

The dogs got older, the neighbours got older and things have settled down but I still would like to live with the assurance that I can have my own peace and quiet no matter how the neighbours choose to behave.
I always thought getting better sound reduction would mean pulling out the old windows and replacing them with new ones. Even then I was worried about whether or not the new ones would reduce sound any better than the old ones and I could wind up paying loads of money for nothing.

So this idea of secondary windows is just what I have been looking for and thanks to nige1978 I have contacted windowsealflyscreens a company I think based in Sligo but that work in Dublin too.
Got an approx cost to do my bedroom window for 350 which dosent sound to bad to me.

I tell you if I had known about this I would have had it done years ago.
Now I dont know if it will work but Ill keep you posted and let you know how it goes.

Maeve Rosa

nige1978, This post has been a godsend to me as I am in the same predicament- could I get the contact details of the company you used? Also, what about the installation etc. was it messy and a hassle?

I really need a solution to my noise issues! I live near a busy road and fire station...

nige1978

pm'd

antoinolachtnai

What sort of reduction in noise did you get?

nige1978

Hey,

I live on the 3rd Floor in an apartment at a busy cross roads in the city centre. Without the secondary glazing I would be able to hear all cars driving past especially if it was wet, you'd hear the splashing. This type of noise has been completely eliminated.

Nigher pitch noises are still present but muffled and certainly not as instrusive.

Hope this helps...

Stan_D

Nigel, this is something I've been thinking about doing for a while for my 3rd floor appartment, as I'm driven demented by the noise of numbnuts in modified cars. I really hate those pricks!

Anyway, I would be interested to see pics of how the secondary glazing works, especially to see how the issue of inward-opening appartment windows is dealth with - it would be great if you could post something. Please PM the supplier/fitter info too. Thanks.

Ambersky

Hi
Had the guy over from windowsealflyscreens and Im going to have my whole house done.
It seems to be much cheaper and a lot lesss hassle than replacing windows so I might as well get the whole lot done together.
If it reduces some of the sound front and back I will be happy and it will also insulate against heat loss.
Will post on how I get on

weatfest

Ambersky wrote: »

Hi
Had the guy over from windowsealflyscreens and Im going to have my whole house done.
It seems to be much cheaper and a lot lesss hassle than replacing windows so I might as well get the whole lot done together.
If it reduces some of the sound front and back I will be happy and it will also insulate against heat loss.
Will post on how I get on

Hi, just wondering how did this work out for you? We have the neighbours from hell who insist on slamming doors and it's driving us nuts.

thequietman

Hi nige78 could you also pm me on the company that you used, I would be interested as I have the same problem. Thanks.

powerbyte2006

nige1978 wrote: »

Hey all,

I've been living in a city centre apartment now for 6 months. It's great, but the only problem is the windows are the old aluminium type double glazing and aren't very sound proof, especially in the bedrooms. It's beside a busy road so I'm awoken during the night with drunks shoutin' and boy racers revving!

Can anyone point me in the direction of a company that can quote for sound proof windows?

Cheers

Hi Nigel
I have recently found this topic. I have been driven demented by noise from the locals !
Can you post details regarding your supplier/fitter ?

Thanks
Dave

nige1978

Hi All,

The company I used is called "Window Seal Ltd". You can check their web site out at http://www.windowsealflyscreens.com

Enjoy....

N

weatfest

I ordered secondary glazing from this company 2 weeks ago so hopefully next week or so it should be ready to go in. As has been mentioned it's a lot cheaper than replacing the windows. What i'm paying for 9 windows is about 500euro cheaper than what I paid for just 4 double glazed windows and a door nearly 5 years ago.
Please God it does the job,primerily to block out barking dogs and slamming doors by neighbours from hell!
I'll let ye know how it pans out.

potcwe

Hi thanks for the info could I please have the name of the company you used. many thanks

Ambersky

well I havent had a look at this in months but ah well reporting back better late than never.

I had secondary windows added to all the windows in my house.
As soon as they were up I noticed a difference even when it wasnt noisy if that makes any sense. I feel kind of insulated from the outside world.

Some sounds like next doors dogs barking do get in but they are duller and so much less intrusive I can still sleep.

When I open them I can hear the wind, cars, people talking, footsteps etc through my origional window which are closed. Then when I close the secondary windows, whoosh, and all that noise is gone.

They are also keeping all draughts out and the house feels warmer.
Getting in these window was one of the best things I ever did.

Oh and my neighbours had a party at the end of the summer that spread out into their front and back gardens and that went on untill about 3am and I hardly heard a thing when I closed my windows

therockstore

Hi there, read this thread with interest. I would like to know the company you finely dealt with for the window secondary screens?
Thanks

weatfest

therockstore wrote: »

Hi there, read this thread with interest. I would like to know the company you finely dealt with for the window secondary screens?
Thanks

Hi, the company I used was WIND-DO SEAL LTD. I'll pm you the details.

They made a huge difference to the sound coming from the road,you'd hardly notice a thing. As some one has said ,dog barking out the back is getting through but is now well dulled and it has well killed my :mad: neighbours door slamming.
The only thing letting mine down is the back kitchen door, this extension is a '80's single cavity block build, so some bit is bound to get through that, no fault of the window's at all.
Over all very happy.

Caoimhe15

Hi just wondering was it Harold in window seal you where dealing with

nige1978

Caoimhe15 wrote: »

Hi just wondering was it Harold in window seal you where dealing with

Yup, that's the man.