Double glazed windows to reduce road noise?

[Kim]

The road noise from inside our house isn't too bad, but you really notice it on weekend mornings when there is a chance of a sleep in!

Our master bedroom is at the front of the house and it doesn't take much of an increase in traffic to wake you on weekend mornings.

Does anybody have any recommendations on double glazed windows being effective?  Did it make a difference to external noise and perhaps temperature control, too?

[Kermit]

@Kim

You will notice a difference in regards to noise. Whether its enough difference to justify the expense is the tricky part. You might want to consider other options first, like timber shutters? And again, you should get some benefit in terms of better insulation keeping your bedroom cozy, but if heat is escaping elsewhere then you might not notice any difference. 

[Andy_Mann]

Double glazing should be very effective, but custom make ones are expensive. There are double glazing products on the market, but be aware that more commonly advertised ones are generally for temperature control, not sound suppression/attenuation.

The difference between the two, is that temperature insulating window panes are set closer together, to reduce convectional circulation, which reduces the insalting properties. Sound insulation windows have the panes set further apart, so that the entrapped air between them, acts as an air cushion which reduces the air vibration transmission to the inside pane.

Depending on what type of window you have, you may be able to have glass sheets cut to size & fitted to your existing windows. To attain better noise suppression, use thicker glass for the new panes.

Polycarbonate sheeting is an alternative, but I'm not sure if there'd be any cost saving.

We have roller shutters to all our windows, but I wouldn't suggest them to reduce noise ingress, ours are for temperature control & security.

[david23]

Hello Kim,

My partner and I have just built a new home (so there is no chance of any air leaks). We have R2.5 bats in the walls, R5 ceiling bats, slab edge insulation and double glazing with a 12mm air gap. We have built aprox. 25m back from the edge of an 80kph road (Partner insisted on a front bed room.???) so I understand about your traffic noise problem!

Long story short, I went to bunnings and purchased an ozito db meter, even with out calibration standing out side our front door the db meter read 70-75db. Our bed room protrudes about 1m forward of the front door so my measurements where taken from the same distance inside the bed room to the road and reading was down to 39-43 db.(My research suggests a reduction of 10db will be a 50% reduction in noise???)

Seriously considering a Bunnings secondary glazing system, should end up with an extra air gap of about 120mm. I need to know from any body if this will work? (I think it will!)

The double glazing has a great temperature control, living on the south coast near Albany of Western Australia with winter coming on, for the last week we have consistently been having temperatures 9-14* celsius. I get up at 6:10am each morning, the suns not up yet (mid June) and our kitchen thermometer sits about 16-18* celsius. We took a risk in not building a home with a heating/cooling system, I think it has payed off!

Narrow block facing east/west so a lot of house facing the northern sun, with large and low windows facing north. Verandahs are wide enough that by mid September the sun will no longer enter the home and it should enter the home again by mid April.

Hope I have not over loaded you with my experience.

Regards  David

PS  Purchased a 2400 watt oil column heater, Very low cost to purchase,extremely low cost to run and can set a

digital timer, if it runs for to long at nights, we are sweating!

[david23]

Hi Kim,

Double glazed windows with a 12mm air gap give about 31db reduction, I originally responded to you as a new member forum. I'm not going to rewrite so please check the the forum you originally made this post.

Regards  David

Narrow air gap for temperature control and wide air gap with different window pain thicknesses for maximum noise reduction. I think air gap is the most important for noise reduction and would be enough on its own.

[david23]

Kim, see below.

[EricL]

Hello @david23 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's wonderful to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with window noise reduction.

Let me tag @Kim to make them aware of your recommendations. I believe you've covered all the bases with bats on the roof, ceiling and slab edge insulation. Having double glazed windows seals the deal and you get all the benefits of noise and temperature control.

I believe adding a secondary glazing system will only benefit the setup you already have. My only other proposal is to think about using natural noise buffers such as plants or timber partitions that you can place in line with your windows. 

Again, thank you for sharing your experience with our members.

Eric