Author Topic: Soundproofing windows? (Read 20884 times)

sheepstache · « **on:** April 02, 2013, 06:41:17 PM »

We are saving money by living in a shitty, loud neighborhood. I proposed to the spouse that we could use part of the money we're saving on rent to make the place nice. Is there a mustachian way to have more soundproof windows? Many thanks for any suggestions.

Hotstreak · « **Reply #1 on:** April 02, 2013, 06:51:02 PM »

In college, we bought some thick quilts at the thrift store and hung them up on the inside. That was more to keep the sound in ;-). It was remarkably effective, and if placed between your curtains and the window, might not even look too bad.

sheepstache · « **Reply #2 on:** April 02, 2013, 07:10:58 PM »

Hm, I'm not sure that will meet my spouse's definition of "making the place nice" but it would certainly do for the bedroom. Thanks! Other rooms even if we didn't mind sitting in the dark I couldn't sacrifice my plants, though.

meadow lark · « **Reply #3 on:** April 03, 2013, 08:25:40 AM »

Do you rent or own? Because new windows will get rid of a lot of sound! Also, a bubbling fountain outside, or table-top inside may help distract.

tooqk4u22 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 03, 2013, 09:41:57 AM »

The window film insulation that is used to reduce drafts in the winter will provide some buffer and once you blow dry it it isn't noticeable - the main problem is that you won't be able to open your windows.

Daley · « **Reply #5 on:** April 03, 2013, 10:31:55 AM »

I'm not sure what to tell you about the night hours as we haven't been able to achieve deep sleep with it playing, but during the day I've discovered a little pink noise in the house does absolute wonders.

Due to pink noise being a little rough to listen to in and of itself, I've found the best delivery method to be mixing it with some rain sounds. Personally, a good mix that I've found has been layering SimplyNoise's pink noise generator at 20% with low oscillation with their rain generator set to 80% intensity, 40% volume with low oscillation. The occasional bits of thunder I've found can waffle between soothing and annoying depending on headspace, but easy enough to disable. Overall, it's a calming noise and does an amazing job of masking all but the loudest sounds outside, even with the windows open. The key is to tweak the output volume to just be loud enough to be audible but not disruptive, and to keep speakers near the windows.

If you don't want to waste electricity running your desktop/laptop just for noise generation, record off an hour or so of it with your computer to loop and save as a FLAC file for use with an MP3 player or burn onto a CD. Why FLAC? Lossless compression. MP3 would likely damage the pink noise waveform and WAV would just be too large a file. This is normally easy to do under Linux or OSX, but you might have some troubles getting set up under Windows to do this. (Alternately, just drop me a PM.)

sheepstache · « **Reply #6 on:** April 03, 2013, 03:20:10 PM »

These are great suggestions, thank you.

I hadn't even considered some sort of cover noise but upon consideration I think it would drive us insane during the day. At night, well, that might be worth a try. I think sometimes the spouse just wants the AC turned on for the sake of the noise.

I had though about the blow dryer stuff. Not being able to open the windows is a bit of a disadvantage especially considering our building is roasting in the winter so we don't have the additional motivation of insulation, but it is good to know that it does help a bit with noise.

We do own and I feel like the windows are what I really want to do. The building is newly, but cheaply, renovated, so I'm guessing the windows are the lowest quality possible but I don't know anything about how to check. I'm wondering what type of window we should look for that would be quiet and if replacing them is something feasible to diy.

superheropunk · « **Reply #7 on:** April 04, 2013, 02:47:01 PM »

Proabably not very mustachian, but when we got are windows replaced the inside of the house become much quiter :)

You could wear ear plugs all day....

Vilx- · « **Reply #8 on:** April 05, 2013, 03:43:20 AM »

I've got standard PVC windows and they do a great job of insulating sound. They weren't any top-of-the-line windows either. I don't know what kind of windows you have, but if they are old and wooden, then new PVC windows will definitely be a HUGE improvement. Otherwise it's hard to say. Nothing is 100% soundproof, of course.

Bearblastbeats · « **Reply #9 on:** April 05, 2013, 07:32:17 AM »

Duct tape pillows and couch cushions to the windows. ;)

When i put on DIY house shows for bands, this works real well.

totoro · « **Reply #10 on:** April 17, 2013, 10:01:14 AM »

If you own you could consider double-pane windows. They cut down on noise a lot. Right now they are building across the street and stepping outside is significantly lounder than in with our double-pane windows. The other thing we have is curtains with the light/sound blocking lining. We lucked out and bought loads from a high-end hotel that was renovating. These also block sound quite well.

Rural · « **Reply #11 on:** April 17, 2013, 10:21:06 AM »

If the windows are new, are you sure the problem is the windows? If they're double panes and new(ish), it may well be worth checking on what kind of insulation is in the walls. If the answer is "not much," I can't speak highly enough of spray foam insulation. It would be a major PITA while it was going on, but then you'd have serious soundproofing and insulation in one.

I'm sitting in a room with five windows and a sliding-glass door and I can't hear the birds singing outside or the nearest neighbor's dogs (said neighbor is about a quarter mile away, but he has a full pack of hunting hounds, so there's some considerable noise). The windows are new double panes, but they're the cheap ones, not even double hung. The walls, though, are full of spray foam, as is the roof deck. This place is so quiet I jump when the water heater kicks on (it's new, too, and not at all loud).

Spray foam has the side benefit of being kick-ass insulation, too.

sheepstache · « **Reply #12 on:** April 17, 2013, 08:44:43 PM »

Huh, that is a good thought about the walls. Thank you.

Rural · « **Reply #13 on:** April 18, 2013, 12:01:20 PM »

Quote from: sheepstache on April 17, 2013, 08:44:43 PM

Huh, that is a good thought about the walls. Thank you.

Truth in advertising: not long after I posted the above, the neighbor fed the hounds. THAT I heard. They all sound off at once. Dead men hear that, I'm sure....

sheepstache · « **Reply #14 on:** April 18, 2013, 06:35:46 PM »

Unfortunately the spouse pointed out to me that we have external masonry walls so it shouldn't be the walls that are causing the problem with street noise. If we have a problem with noisy intra-building neighbors, though, I'll know what to do.

smbucky · « **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2013, 09:10:42 PM »

Like others are saying with the double and triple pane windows, creating a dead air space and/or air sealing should help a ton with reducing the noise. These larson insider windows just require mounting the 3 rails so are fairly low impact (not necessarily cheap though). http://www.larsondoors.com/storm_windows/products/insider_windows/

You could also make your own frames out of either wood or something like an vinyl screen frame and wrap it in window shrink film.
http://www.arttec.net/Thermal-Windows/index.html.

Just some ideas that let you still have windows!

honobob · « **Reply #16 on:** April 24, 2013, 10:05:21 AM »

http://soundproofwindows.com/

I visited a hotel near a freeway that had these. woeked very well.

KingMe · « **Reply #17 on:** April 29, 2013, 02:30:28 PM »

When my wife and I first bought our house in 2004, she couldn't sleep well because of the sounds of cars and buses going down our street. She called soundproofwindows.com and ordered some. Because we live in an historic district, we couldn't replace some windows facing the street without replacing them all, so we installed these soundproof windows just inside the "real windows" in only our bedroom.

The difference was amazing. Even after putting on one or two of the windows, the amount of sound was drastically reduced. In addition, our bedroom became the warmest room in our 100+ year old house in the winter and coolest in the summer because the heat and A/C couldn't escape the windows.

My wife and I are not considered handy, but we were able to install the windows ourselves. The sales rep gave us good advice over the phone and email.

It wasn't cheap, though. My best recollection is that it cost about $3000 for 4 custom windows, including shipping. This was back in 2004, so I have no idea these windows are cheaper now or not. Some windows may qualify for a small tax deduction, too.

Rollin · « **Reply #18 on:** April 30, 2013, 09:15:09 AM »

I read that you need a Mustachian way to do this. I have thought of placing bubble wrap on the inside of the windows, using a good clear packing tape and taping to the frames. It would look decent from inside and out, would be inexpensive, allow you to open windows if you do it correctly, and may work to stop some of the noise.??

Abe · « **Reply #19 on:** May 19, 2013, 10:21:46 PM »

soundproof windows work very well, i had some installed since we live in a loud area too. They are expensive ($800 for a 4x3 window), and one must find a contractor with experience installing them properly. They are basically made of thick laminated glass, and installed in the sill of your existing window.

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Author Topic: Soundproofing windows? (Read 20884 times)

Bearblastbeats