best way to seal and soundproof windows

[ron florentine]

well,iam moving my studio and found a fairly good place to make a new home for it.......the only promblem is there are a few thin windows around,what is the best way to seal these windows for sound leakage.

Thanks Ron Florentine

[Dave Martin]

Thick double panes (between 3/16" and 1/2? thick) and lots of caulk. That should at least help.

[Killahurts]

assuming you want to keep them as windows, the best way is with another window on the inside, leaving maybe 4" of air between them. Put an inch or so of foam or material covered dense fiberglass (like the Owens 703 variety) around the perimeter, wedged between the windows.

Most important is to completely seal the air around the inside and outside of BOTH windows with sound sealant, or at least thick non-hardening caulk .

If you can make the inside window fixed, and heavy, like 3/4 inch thick, that would be better. If you can replace the existing (openable) window, do it with another (non-openable) fixed heavy one, that would be ideal. If you do that, make the windows different thickness, like 1 that's 3/4" and one that's 1/2". This would help to discourage resonances.

[Screws]

Cinder blocks?

[edyer]

Laminated glass in 1/4 or 3/8 thickness will stop a lot of sound.
It's fairly inexpensive and easy to install. Build a small frame inside the existing sill.
Lay the glass on some small pieces of neoprene which the glass shop can give you then silicone it in to place avoiding any hard contact with the frame. You should be able to replace the original glass
also with the same stuff. Of course if you need to open the window your screwed.

[joeq]

I've seen people use glass brick in this application- assuming you still want light from the window of course.

[faeflora]

I second glass brick.

[barefoot]

Originally posted by Killahurts
assuming you want to keep them as windows, the best way is with another window on the inside, leaving maybe 4" of air between them. Put an inch or so of foam or material covered dense fiberglass (like the Owens 703 variety) around the perimeter, wedged between the windows....

Yeah, I like this approach too. You can augment it by building a wedge frame around the window like I've illustrated below. This way the two panes are nonparallel, further reducing sound transmission and resonances. It also gives you more room to line the inner perimeter with 703.



Thomas

[ron florentine]

thanks for all the suggestions so far........i am thinking of covering up the windows so you cannot see into the studio.....what would be the best method completly covering up the windows so very little sound will escape outside?

Thanks again
Ron

[Screws]

Originally posted by Screws
Cinder blocks?

Although it looked like I was making a joke, I wasn't. Cinder blocks with an inch of air behind them, sealed with the goop of your choice (plaster, cement, caulk) will take care of the largest range of frequencies possible. The air inside their pockets helps a lot as well as the inch of air behind them.

Since it requires larger mass and density to block out the lowest frequencies, I've found cinder blocks to be the absolute best, outside of poured concrete.

[barefoot]

Originally posted by ron florentine
thanks for all the suggestions so far........i am thinking of covering up the windows so you cannot see into the studio.....what would be the best method completly covering up the windows so very little sound will escape outside?

In this case you need to consider how well insulated the rest of the room is. If the walls are just normal construction, then it won't help much to super insulate the windows. How does the rest of the room look?

Thomas

[ron florentine]

there are 2 exposed walls to the outside......one wall has a fairly small window where i will put an air conditioner in......the other wall has the typical sliding glass doors out to a patio area.I plan on building an internal wall that would be built out about 1 foot out. I was considering using soundboard and cover the walls including the sliding glass door.Any better sugestion for a different or better material than a couple of layers of soundboard to stop sound to going outside.I have a limited amount of funds at the moment(moving is expensive)......so i have to be very creative on the layout.

Thanks Again for everyones input!!!!!

Ron

[joeq]

a window air conditioner lets a lot of sound through- you might want to build a (vented) box to cover it or do what I do- have an overlapping window covering on hooks that can be put up or taken down.

I only can run the AC on breaks anyway so its not much more hassle to unhook the covering board and expose the unit.

melamine counter top material is good for this- looks a lot nicer than plywood and is heavier and you can get the lumber yard to cut it to size for you.

[Phunkeman]

I have a glass block window in my place and it is very very good. The size is 57 "x 57". that's a big window so it does a great job ( the city code made me put the window in). You can get a frame glass block window system and install it yourself with out the morter and all that. Install the frame to the opening finish it and stick the blocks into the spaces and seal with silicone. You can change the blocks later if you want a different design. Very doable.