"Is it worth the extra $25,000 to get another 5% performance?" Storyk asks clients - who usually reply, "I'll accept the siren or thunder." Are Soundproof Windows Also Energy Efficient? You can spend even more if you want to block out ear-splitting but occasional noises such as thunder or ambulance sirens. Rui Ponte, a Bethesda, Md., architect who designs high-end restorations and new construction, once specified $250,000 worth of triple-pane, laminated-glass windows for a 6,000-square-foot custom home in an airport flight path. The sound of silence does not come cheap.Ī CitiQuiet insert for a 3-foot-by-5-foot window can cost upwards of $1,000, including installation, and pricing varies depending on features.Ĭustom built soundproofing windows can cost closer to $10,000 per window - and that's without installation. manufacturers high-end, dual-pane windows that are 1-¼-inch-thick and reach an STC rating of 42. The company's ½-inch laminated insert has a STC rating of 38 and promises up to a 95% noise reduction depending on the size of the window opening, apartment location, and type of noise. Use laminated glass, a glass-plastic-glass sandwich that further reduces noise transmissionĬitiQuiet windows are inserts installed behind your existing window, which adds up to 4 inches of dead, sound-reducing air between the principal window and the new interior window. Add air space (increase the distance between window panes).To increase a window's ability to block sound and increase its STC rating, the window manufacturer must: Homes do that with walls, roofs, and windows that block sound waves from entering. To reduce sound, you must create a barrier between the sound and ear that captures the sound. Soundproof windows, however, have STC ratings of at least 45, and some climb to the mid-50s, which block as much as 95% of noise. Your basic, single-pane window has an average STC rating of 27 a dual pane window has an average STC rating of 28. The acoustics industry makes soundproof window shopping easier by rating the sound-stopping quality of windows on a sound transmission class (STC) scale the higher the number, the more a window inhibits sound. So when you shop for sound-reducing windows consider "what frequencies you want to soundproof against," says John Storyk, an acoustical consultant and a founder of the Walters-Storyk Design Group based in Highland, N.Y. Sounds with low frequencies, like garbage trucks grinding trash, are harder to block than sounds with higher frequencies, like birds chirping. "Soundproof" is shorthand for noise reduction windows that block up to 90% to 95% of noise coming through windows. No residential window blocks all sound, all the time. Here are your questions about soundproofinfg windows answered: Are They Really Soundproof? "We hear, 'I love my view, but the highway below is so loud,'" Galietti says. Galietti says soundproof windows are most popular in urban areas beset by idling buses, highway traffic, and police sirens. "Things are getting louder, and people are getting more sensitive," says Rich Galietti, sales manager of CitiQuiet, which has been manufacturing soundproofing window inserts for 25 years (Home Depot recently began selling them). Sound pollution has joined light pollution as another irritant that drives us bonkers and kills our love of home.
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