I finally got my building permit! The contractor (a very good friend of mine) convinced me to go with stick construction instead of metal because of the additional cost. I was also told that heavier gauge metal studs are no better in sound insulation than standard wood studs. Not sure if there is much truth to that. Currently, our exterior walls will consist of 5/8" QuietRock (model 525) drywall on 2 x 4 wood studs, 1/2" plywood w/waterproof membrane (Tyvek or similar) and standard fiberglass insulation in between. Attached to the exterior plywood are 1 x 4 wood furring strips and I plan to attach 1/4" thick 4 x 8 foot HardiPanels to the wood furring strips. The HardiPanels will not be placed butt to each other but will rather have a space of approx 5/8". This is to create a "grid" pattern to the exterior wall. My goal is to build a modern, minimalist home. So essentially, (from the outside in) I have 1/4" HardiPanel concrete board, 1/2" plywood sheet, 2 x 4 stud and 5/8" QuietRock on one wall. Would anyone have any idea what the STC rating of such an assembly would be? I've been told by a local dealer of QuietRock that I should look into the "triple leaf" effect and that spacing the HardiPanel away from the plywood could cause the STC rating of the wall assembly to drop as a result of this phenomena. My reasoning would be that placing the 1/4" HardiPanel 3/4" away from the plywood would increase the STC rating since we are adding a third but very small airgap. Keep in mind, however, that the HardiPanel assembly is not completely sealed and air/sound tight because I am spacing each panel away from each other by roughly 5/8". The other options I was looking at was going with 2 sheets of standard 5/8" drywall and GreenGlue between. I have heard that this assembly would reduce low frequency penetration into the home much better than one sheet of QuietRock 525. Is this true? And another facade option would be to go with stucco so instead of a 1/4" sheet of HardiPanel and 5/8" "air space", I would have densglass, a cementitious coat and the stucco coat on top. I'm not sure if this would provide a better STC than spacing 1/4" HardiPanel away from the plywood but I'm assuming it would. If anyone can chime in on this I'd really appreciate it. For the windows, I am looking closely at Migard's Quietline product. I may just use these windows for the bedroom windows (because of cost) and other windows in the home where people are not so sensitive to noise would likely be a standard double pane windows with thicker laminated (one pane) panes of glass (to achieve at least a 35 STC). Is this a good idea? And is it true that vinyl windows are a better sound insulator than aluminum? Everyone I talked to here says that vinyl is superior to aluminum for soundproofing but I've found some information online to the contrary. My concern with the vinyl is that it is only available in white and an off-white "tan" color, both of which won't match the modern exterior of my building. What would my options be if I went with vinyl but didn't want those frame colors? Regarding flooring, the building is 3 stories high (garage at bottom, kitchen/living second and bedrooms third) I am looking at standard TJI for the floor between the bedroom and kitchen/living area but standard 12" joists for the kitchen/living floor (garage below) and the roof (nobody above). I'm trying to achieve the best "STC per buck". The QuietRock product is NOT cheap - about $60 per 4 x 8 sheet. I'm willing to incorporate other sound proofing techniques/materials as long as the price is reasonable. Heavier insulation may be one of those options. Any advice is much appreciated!

Good golly Miss Molly, I did not say that rest of the unit is immaterial. I only stated that the OA glass unit, and the the Low-e selected is a very big component of the overall effectivness of the the unit. Millworkman, you are absolutely right about the aspect of a poorly constructed window. As regards to adequate weatherstrip, I've got my opinions on that one too. Most window companies that manufacture easy-tilt windows use "finseal" weatherstripping. This is a "woolpile" with a thin film of plastic designed into the pile to stop air infiltration. Most window companies have two rows of the "woolpile" designed into the systems. Premium window companies have three rows of this weatherstripping. A lot of other systems rely on a jambliner with a foam backing to "press" the jambliner against the sashes. This system makes the window easier to install because the window can be slightly "out of square" and still perform adequately. The problem, for a consumer standpoint of these systems, is that the sashes are more difficult to tilt-in. The "Achilles heal" that many companies have is the sill tower. Many companies do not have "finseal" designed into the sill tower, which can cause massive air leakage. As far as whether or not 0.29 is a good U-value: hey, shop and compare. I'll say this, I've seen a lot of numbers out there and there is a lot of distortion out there. Numbers can be manipulated by the size of the unit tested. I've seen it, I've personally been to the testing labs and I know what some people are doing. A lot of the purchase decision is going to made by the reputation of the manuacturer as well as the reputation of the distributor. OK, now about materials: *Is wood a good insulator: yes. *Is vinyl a good insulator: yes. *Is fiberglass a good insulator: yes. *Is non-thermally broken windows good insulators: NO. *Is thermally broken aluminum windows good insulators: Somewhat Regarding the differences between the energy efficiency of wood vs vinyl, the differences are marginal. To millworkmans point, the quality of the manufacturing plays a big role into the overall efficency of any window.

My husband stopped last week and looked at the Marvin Integrity windows. He felt they had the look of a pretty basic window and thought the window locks seemed kind of cheap. That was just his impression compared to some of the other windows we have looked at. I'm going to go look at them this week too to see what I think since many of you seem to like this brand. In summary, we're going to choose from these windows we have looked at: Milgard thermal break alum Anderson 100 fibrex Milgard Tuscany premium color (painted) Marvin Integrity all ultrex Milgard Ultra Fiberglass I've listed these based on the least expensive to most expensive quotes we have gotten, but all are within a price that we consider acceptable. There is a difference of $2060. between the least and most expensive option. It looks like the thermal performance numbers are about the same for the Anderson 100, Milgard Tuscany vinyl, Integrity ultrex and Milgard fiberglass based on UF around .30 and SHGC around .22. The thermal break Milgard alum has UF of .37 and SHGC of .23. Anderson and Marvin have a similar 20/10 warranty and Milgard offers a lifetime warranty with glass breakage (except the alum which does not include glass breakage). We are currently installing 7 windows in our new build ourselves, but we want to have a window dealer replace the windows in our main home down the road so we want to pick a window that will be good for both projects. Based on this information, what would be your recommendation for our warm climate? Does the improved energy efficiency of the other windows or other features outweigh thermal break alum enough to warrant the additional cost? Your thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you for the help.

My daughter has purchased a new home with 50 year old double hung windows that need to be replaced. It is a colonial home in Massachusetts several miles from the coast. She is trying to decide between the Anderson 400 series and the Marvin Integrity. She wants to stay with the same traditional 6 over 6 white double hung windows. Any thoughts on which is better - the Marvin Integrity, or the Anderson 400 Series?