I can hear the road noise from my house despite my house is probably 100m from the main road.just wondering if double glazing would help? Any other recommendation that would be cost effective?
How to Reduce Noise from Window
Chrotzo on 23/04/2015 - 20:39
Last edited 23/04/2015 - 20:48
Last edited 23/04/2015 - 20:48
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we were getting a little bit of noise and vibration at our house we live on a busy street.
First was to put silicon around all the windows that were vibrating.
Second was to put blinds on all the windows.
Third was to weather strip around the doors also add door seals to the bottoms of the door.has made the noise a comfortable level to live with now.
I dont really get the vibratiom, just the whoozing noise. I caulked around the frame and have a block out roller blind. Doesnt seem to help. Does thicker blind really help?
Double glazing would probably help.
So would anything else which increases the barrier between you and the road - including anything you can do to reduce vibrations.
Good luck.
Double glazing definitely, do you have any trees/shrubs where your houses faces the road? If not planting a a few shrubs or some sort of foliage will reduce the noise pollution.
Theres a park in front of my house but the trees has just been planted so i just have to wait a few more years i guess
i've read that trees/shrubs do little to block noise. the best noise barriers are high, dense (solid & thick) walls
Trees and scrubs definitely do not do anything to prevent noise. Sound waves bend around objects. Imagine dropping a rock into swimming pool, the ripple just goes out on circles, if your drop 2 rocks the waves starts overlapping (ie louder), if you had a boat on that water, the waves will just go around it. When the wave hits the pool wall it bounces back.
I recently talked with an acoustic sound engineer who do traffics noise assessments/reports. They log sound levels from roads and simulate traffic noise and impacts to buildings then make recommendation on preventing noise. All in building construction require this done and building must be build to withstand traffic noise for the future.
High solid brick walls with no holes are the best things! Just like that pool wall sound wave will bounce back.
Then its sealing your windows and doors
1) "Windows to be minimum 6.5mm VLam Hush glass in fixed, awning or casement style frame with seals to openings." - it might cost a bit to change your window frames to but these glass in, a thick full length curtain will most probably do just as good as a job2) "Doors to be either 35mm thick solid timber core door with full perimeter acoustic seals. Glazed inserts to match the above." - this seem to be relatively easy just seal all the gaps in your doors and maybe change the door to a solid timber core door.
3) "Glass to be minimum 10.38mm laminated in commercial grade frames with seals to openings and double brush seals to sliding
door." - this one is for sliding doors, again its most probably costly and better putting super thick full length curtains.If you have aircons the recommendation was to put external ventilation vents so that you don't need to open the doors and windows.
Good luck.
Sound waves bend around objects? What kind of sound waves do you have? Air bender style sound waves? If by that definition then installing a sound barrier, the sound would just chuck a u-ie over the top and come at you.
Sound reflect….. or a better term - reverberate.
Check out reflection coefficient of sound to have an idea of what works and what doesn't for deflecting sound.
Other than that, what you've suggested are good suggestions.
If by that definition then installing a sound barrier, the sound would just chuck a u-ie over the top and come at you.
it does to a degree, some bends over the top.
How about if i just replaced the glass to a thicker one? Its a sliding window i have tried putting weather strip but doesnt really help. And the window is pretty big 2.5 x 1.55.. Feels like the sound just penetrate the glass
The fact it's a big window may actually be amplifying the noise (which is just air vibration)..
The glass itself will vibrate with the sound and possibly the frequency of the road noise is close to the harmonic frequency of the window so the whole widow is acting like the cone of a speaker vibrating the air inside your apartment.
To eliminate that, you could try leaning something reasonably heavy (ie a steel post) against the window with a soft damping head (ie a towel wrapped around the top) to absorb vibration and slightly alter the harmonic frequency of the glass. Obviously you'll need to be careful when implementing this suggestion so as not to push the window out. Ideally even counter it with an idential piece leaning in from outside the glass.
If that works, you could maybe approach an artist friend (or DIY) to make a "sculpture" so that you've got something nicer to look at than a steel post…Changing to thicker glass would obviously change the harmonic frequency of the pane and make the glass stiffer so it doesn't vibrate as much, but also a very expensive solution..
I'd definitely look at double glazing if you're going to spend lots of money.. while it might cost a bit more than replacing with a thicker pane, you'd get the added advantage of thermal insulation as well as superior noise insulation over a thicker pane."Feels like the sound just penetrate the glass"
I am no physicist, but wouldn't a pane of glass only have a few resonate frequencies, not the complete audible spectrum?
Isn't resonance normally heard as a tone, not clean amplification across four decades of frequencies?
Have you patented this perpetual motion machine yet :p
Sorry for taking the piss. I think you are mistaking a passive cavity resonator (The Thing) with a passive radiator (which is a speaker enclosure tuning device).
The Thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_%28listening_device%2…
Passive Radiator: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_radiator_%28speaker%29The Window is a big, flat, flexible sheet..
It will have a resonant frequency (everything does).
The road noise is pretty much white noise, so if the resonant frequency of the window falls within the white noise spectrum, it will fall into sync with the road noise and subsequently more effective radiate the road noise into the room.
It's not perpetual motion, cause it's absorbing energy from the road noise then redistributing that energy into the room. If the Freeway was shut, the outside source of energy would cease as would the vibration of the window.Sound waves are hitting one side of the glass. The glass flexes, absorbing some of the sound. The flexing produces sound waves at a lower volume on the other side. The stiffness and smooth finish of the glass also reflects some of the sound back towards the road.
Here is an image of what is happening (but with less attenuation as the OP's window is not a sound deadening design)
http://www.phoenicia-ltd.com/Phoenicia/UpLoadFiles/PGallery/…
Below are images of some of the jargon you used in action. Prove me wrong :)
Amplification: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/audio/imgaud/amp.…
Resonance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Resonance.PNG
White noise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:White_noise.svg
Road Noise: http://www.bksv.fr/~/media/France/EXHIBITION/FDM2013/CONFERE…
Acoustic resonance:
"Acoustic resonance is the tendency of an acoustic system to amplify a frequency that matches one of its own natural frequencies of vibration […].""An acoustically resonant object usually has more than one resonance frequency, especially at harmonics of the strongest resonance. It will easily vibrate at those frequencies, and vibrate less strongly at other frequencies."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_resonance@This Guy:
Yeah, and my point is..
"An acoustically resonant object usually has more than one resonance frequency…"
"It will easily vibrate at those frequencies""The flexing produces sound waves at a lower volume on the other side."
I'm not saying the glass is making the sound energy of the road noise louder than it is outside, I'm saying the glass might be making the road noise louder inside than it otherwise would be if it were not resonating with the road noise.
ie it's amplifying "a frequency that matches one of its own natural frequencies of vibration" (or more than one frequency)
The level of noise has nothing to do with resonance. The pane of glass is just transmitting sound. Resonance changes the characteristics of a transmitted sound, like the EQ settings on your stereo.
This is what resonance in glass looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17tqXgvCN0E
Sound is just vibrations*.
A thin pane of glass on a window transmits sound better than brick because a thin pane of glass is far easier to move (hence vibrate).Sorry if I am patronising.
*Oversimplification for clarity
The level of noise has nothing to do with resonance
Why not?
If the pane of glass is moving in sync with the incoming noise, it will act as a giant speaker cone to move the air inside and create sound.
If it is not resonating, then it will absorb more of the vibration/sound from outside and thus less sound will be heard inside.
Therefore if the window is resonating, more sound will be heard inside even if it is just more sound from the resonant frequencies and harmonics of the window.Resonance changes the characteristics of a transmitted sound
Here you might have found the flaw in my hypothesis. But we don't know what sound/noise the OP is actually hearing..
In summary, I'm unsure whether a resonating window would more effectively block transmitted noise outside the resonant frequencies, or just enhance the resonation frequencies on top of the transmitted noise.
And all of this is beside the point that vibration of the glass is probably the key and damping the glass is likely to reduce the transmission of noise whether it be by direct transmission, or enhanced by resonation.Windows in general just vibrate. To make an object vibrate you need to use energy.
Resonance is just an object vibrating more easily. It still uses energy but a tuning fork, a guitar sting and a bell are all examples of objects resonating very efficiently.
If you want to (sort of) hear resonance, tap on objects. You will hear the sound of your tap too, but if you tap both with your finger nails and the soft part of your finger you should be able to get an idea of what sounds resonate at that part of an object. Most objects are designed not to resonate, so this is a very rough guide.
The change in volume from the edge to the centre of a window is because the edges of a window are secured to the frame of a building and can move less. If you lean a solid object against a window like you suggested you are reducing its ability to vibrate.
So yes, a window will transmit sounds around it resonant frequencies more easily and that is why the sounds you hear with an open and shut window sound different. Sound though an open window should always be louder. The effect of resonance in a window is small hence you only hear a slight change in sound and not a tone like a tuning fork.
I think I answered 'Why not' but feel free to keep replying if I didn't :)
100 meters is a pretty long distance from the main road - is the main road a high speed freeway or highway?
Firstly, do you vents or other open connection to the outside that is letting the sound in? If so, is it an option to block them? That alone may fix your problem.
Second, is your house brick or weatherboard?- if weatherboard, preventing sound entry by double glazing may not be as helpful as sound can enter through the wall.
Third, so called Secondary Glazing the best way to reduce sound through existing windows - eg stopnoise.com.au . I have used Stopnoise and am very happy with them, but they are Melbourne based so don't know what your Perth options are.
House is double brick. Speed limit is 80, i think its because its a new area and theres alot of open space, so it just echoes? I was quite shocked my self i thought its going to be real quiet
Noise cancelling headphones from ozbargain?
Place a bunch on the window.
Cover the window with egg cartons.
you could test if double glazing is going to make a difference by temporarily placing some plywood over the outside of the window. i'm guessing noise also enters via other places in the house (roof, walls, floor if the house is raised, etc)
Looks interesting. How cost effective is it?
Almost ( I think about 2/3rds or so) as expensive as 'proper' secondary glazing which IMO looks better and prob adds value to the property.
Magnetite seems a bit cheap looking and but I understand it works as welll as glass secondary glazing.Have you just moved in? If so, once you get soft furnishings (and do consider putting a heavy material curtain over the window or carpeting), you might find you are not so bothered by it.
told them my window is 2.5m x 1.55m. the quote they gave me is around $1,800 for the thinner acrylic and $2,100 for a thicker acrylic.
going to try to get a quote for a proper double glazing and compare it.
Thanks for the info. Let us know about the quote for double glazing for comparison.
Double glazing the glass on the windows would definately help.
Even triple glazing!
Double glazing is pretty pricey, you may be better looking at perspex with angle and a adhesive magnetic strips. If you're handy this is something you could do yourself, whereas double glazing from my understanding is done by a glazier at significant cost.
Double glazing is Your best bet, although very expensive.
I used to work in a timber window factory and I did some research on the stuff and it's great for a few reasons.
You would probably need to make sure there are no gaps between the window frame and your actual house frame where the window sits.
It will fix the problem as long as the window/frames are properly sealed.
Brick up the window. Cheaper than double glazing.
Is it really cheaper? This crossed my mind.
It's not cheaper if it reduces the value of your house.
I should point out that secondary glazing is different from normal double glazing.
In secondary glazing you get a complete separate window that is placed outside or inside of the existing window, preferably with a spacing of ~100mm or more. This is the optimum way to reduce sound transmission through the window.
Especially if the original window has some period features, this implements the sound reduction without physically changing the original window.
I think it looks very acceptable - worked well in my Victorian period homewithout wanting to be advertising for them too much - you can google stopnoise.com.au or even look up stopnoise windows in youtube.
Can I ask, is anyone else in the family troubled by the road noise - ie. does it really need to be done.
Once you stay in a house for a few weeks, the noise may no longer trouble youOnly me since my bedroom is at the front of the house ive stayed here a couple of months now.
install them once, does not work to well for $1500 secondary window. I can still hear train crossing noise and bus brake. It only reduce little noise. sold the house after 1 year and moved out from the area helps a lot hehehe…
Noise travel from the roof as well…
If it's only a problem at night, maybe try some heavy curtains. Not just the solar blocking ones, but heavy thermal insulated curtains. Will be much cheaper than using double glaze.
FInd a nice country village. Move.
We did that two years ago. Never slept so well. And the pubs are within falling distance…
:-)I think the OP is looking for practical suggestions.
Let me assure you my solution is entirely practical and affordable ;-)
Before you shell out for double glazing check out some of the aftermarket solutions : http://www.magnetite.com.au/ or even consider using a "smart glass" in lieu of a double glazed alternative, I know there are various forms which have varying acoustic qualities: http://www.smartglass.com.au/
Has anyone got any experience with roller shutters? I've heard they eliminate a LOT of noise?
We've got roller shutters on all our front windows (more for security than anything else) and to be honest, we've found they don't really shut out much noise. We're renovating our bedroom so we're temporarily sleeping in one of the front rooms and the roller shutter probably "muffles" some of the outside noises a bit but from our experience, they certainly wouldn't be our first choice for noise reduction. We live practically next to a major highway, just a small vacant block between us and the road, and our main bedroom faces that direction, so we're looking at getting something like Magnetite for that window,.
In the meantime, generating your own noise inside your house might counter noises from vehicles, e.g., fan, music, tv
Definitely play some white noise to muffle the sound.https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tmsoft.whitenoise.lite&hl=en
I personally play a 2 hour mix of rain falling on a roof myself.
Do you have a tiled roof? Is the ceiling cavity insulated?
I live near a freeway and have noticed a lot of noise seems to be coming through the ceiling rather than the windows (ceiling is not insulated).
I wonder if roller shutters would help? Probably pricey though.
Curtain for sure….
100m is very close to the main road. Depending on how dense the buildings are around you, you would definitely get traffic noise. I know a friend that is 600m from the main road but there aren't any houses between him and the road, and it is quite noisy.
I used to live on a high way. Double glazing makes a world of difference. I don't think it is expensive as others state. Then again everything is expensive in Australia when it comes to tradys. You could try thicker glass, this is probably the cheapest option, and I believe there are some glass products out there that states it reduces noise. Thicker glass does make a difference too.
Is it an empty room? Since you said its a new area, I would assume you recently moved in. A cheap solution is just put some sound absorption items like rugs, pillows or curtain. Things that are porous and soft and good to reduce the reflective effect of sound. You can reduce the sound by a few dB. Give it a go.
Work out where the noise is worst. Look for reasons why it is worst in those spots.
If you are sure it's the window, and you really want the cheapest route, consider screwing a ply board over the inside frame.
When you want to sell all you have to do is un-screw the ply board from the window frame, putty up the frame then repaint it.
If you do this, consider hanging a curtain with in the frame so your neighbours don't think you're a weirdo and teenagers don't break in because they think your home is abandoned.
(I’d go with double glazing or Perspex).
ditch windows and get linux
I had the same issue as well. I worked nights so during the day, the car noises didn't really help with my sleep. Now i use a white noise app on my phone connected to a speaker to wash out the car noises. If the noises affects your sleep, it might help.
Fight noise with noise! Crank it up, OP :-)
Everyone's looking at the windows. What about noise from the ceiling ?
if your main priority is to block noise when you sleep, just cut a mdf board to size and wrap it with a thick layer of rubber matting or sound deadening material and just put it up when you sleep. Make sure it fits snug. It'd also serve as a blackout. if you want to do it even cheaper and lighter you can just get some thick foam, wrap a few layers of cheap corduroy material around it. You can get the materials from Spotlight and clark rubber. I did this when i was renting as installing any permanent fixture wouldn't have been allowed.
Yeesh, I mis-read as "How to reduce noise from widow". I'm thinking, just give her a hug and don't be so insensitive man!
Have had the same problem with construction 10 meters away. I can tell you what I did. As I am renting I could not make any upgrades, not that I wanted to do them anyway due to cost.
This is what worked for me: obviously close the window shut, put the blinds on, on top of the blinds I put a blanket fixed to blinds with pegs so that it moves along with the blinds. That`s the first step - putting something between you and the noise.
The second step is creating another pleasant sound which covers off the unpleasant one. There are tons of free applications for this - sounds of rain, waves, birds… You can play it on your mobile, tablet or computer and also set the timer for it.
The final step for me during sleep was a good quality earplug, Kathmadhu has a good one, two for 5 when on sale: http://www.kathmandu.com.au/accessories/health/toiletries/si…
Yup. Afterall i find the easiest way is to distract yourself with music, white noise et c
hmm…ear plugs seem a cheap solution?
Dont like wearing them
I only wear them when sleeping. You won`t feel the Kathmadhu ones.
I put on a security shutter due to the barking dog. It keeps it warm in winter, cool in summer and can be slightly open to listen to the rain. Just the one on the bedroom with an auto thingo like a garage door. so pleased I have it.
I also have a sleep apps sounds - rain, waves etc on the ipad.
I have the same problem at my place. I look forward to seeing what responses you get.