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rfharmon

Window Sound Barrier Help! Desperately in need of a good night sleep

rfharmon
4 years ago

My beautiful new(ish) home unfortunately sits on a through street where the speeds are not well regulated. It is by far the worst in the late evenings and early mornings when everything else is quiet and trucks, buses and fast drivers are barreling down the street in front of our home. This is magnified by the fact that 2 of the 4 walls of the master bedroom are filled with windows. It has gotten so bad that my wife and I have been sleeping in our guest room, which is toward the back of the house away from the street. We already have floor-to-ceiling blackout noise-cancelling drapes AND cellular blinds covering the windows in our Master Bedroom. They have helped some, but not enough for us to consistently sleep in there and get a good night sleep.


We spoke to our window installer and they recommended replacing our standard builder grade dual-pane window glass with a dual-pane glass combination that is 1/8" over 3/16". I've definitely gone deep into the research hole on this option and the results seem to be a better sound barrier with the 1/8" and 3/16" combination than a standard dual-pane window, and the the glass manufacturer seems to feel that this is the case as well. However, when I've spoken to other window installers to get competitive quotes, 3 of 4 of them have told me that in their experience, the cost ($3-4k) is not worth it for the minor improvement you get in reality. A few of them have recommended Indow windows, which is a soundproof window insert that is standalone and installs in the window frame. The research on these seems to show mixed results, but overall seems good. The problem with them is that once you install them you can't open the windows behind them to get a breeze, etc. We have enough windows in our room where this should be fine to install them on all the non-operable windows (2) and the operable window facing the street (1) (see pre-purchase photos before we moved in - we have moved our bed to the back wall with no windows to get distance from the street).




Wondering if anyone has experience with or would recommend either of the two options for reducing the street sounds coming into our bedroom:


1. Replace window glass with 1/8" over 3/16" (Cost of $3-4k); or


2. Installing Indow (or another brand) window inserts (Cost of $2k).


My dreams thank you in advance for your help.




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