Buses, trains, police and ambulance sirens, traffic, wind, voices, horns, alarms. These are the sounds in an urban lifestyle that can drive us crazy. If we don’t have the peace of mind even when we are at home and hoping to relax and unwind, ongoing noises like these can be harmful to our mental health. Everyday things are getting louder around us and we tend to become more and more sensitive. Luckily there are ways to reduce the noise levels in our homes, real solutions to keep the uproar from the outside to a minimum in your house.
The best way is with a soundproof window and it’s really a good investment, especially if you live next to a constant source of noise.
While there is no residential window that can completely block all the sounds in all circumstances, when going shopping for soundproof windows, know first exactly what types of sound you want to keep out. There are different ratings given to sound proof windows and the higher the number, the more efficient they will be in keeping your interiors quiet. STC, the abbreviation for “sound transmission class” starts from 27, the rating of a single window pane. 28 is given to double pane windows and soundproof windows can go up to a little bit over 50, in in which case 95% of the noise is blocked.
Soundproof windows have thicker panes of glass and the space between them is a little bigger than the average pane. Also, to make it even more efficient, the glass can be laminated. They are not cheap, therefore before proceeding to invest, you should check to see if the noise really enters through the windows. It can also be coming in via your chimney, attic vents, or leaks around the actual windows.
