Replacement windows to reduce road noise..

[Ouch77]

Hi all,

Had a visit from 3 seperate local double glazing firms, to quote for front windows and doors, each have suggested a different solution to the problem, which is road noise, in a nutshell..

Firm 1:
Duraflex frames with 'Acoustic glass'

Firm 2:
Rehau frames with laminate glass

Firm 3:
Liniar frames with triple glazing

Firm 1 say they don't recommend triple glazing as it's added weight puts wear and tear on the hinges, firm 2 says laminate glass is the solution, and can be better performing than triple glazing, firm 3 says triple glazing is the solution as there's more glass in the sound path.

What are the thoughts of the collective wisdom here? Additionally are there any differences in the frames quoted?

We've yet to see quotes from all 3, but they've also all got different chosen door suppliers (we're after a new front door too): Solidor, TrueDor, and Door-stop.. Any thoughts on these suppliers from a quality and reliability point of view?

 

[Gazman16]

tiny bit
tiny bit
tiny bit only if unit is 36mm plus (ideally 44mm thick) and ideally with different glass thicknesses in each pane.

Assuming your already double glazed (and even if your not), Secondary glazing with a 100mm air gap will give the most bang for your buck.

Acoustic glass is very expensive and if you Google a bit gives around a 30-50 decibel reduction which is equivalent to someone whispering or leaves rustling in a tree.

So depends on your budget but as I say if your windows are ok secondary glazing or even just thick curtains are the best place to spend your money.
If you want to go crazy you could combine everything, 44mm triple glazed with acoustic glass and some lam thrown in plus secondary.

 

[JohnD]

I went for reglazing in laminate (for improved ground floor security) and it is usefully quieter. They needed reglazing anyway.

Heavy floor-length curtains too.

 

[Notch7]

And avoid trickle vents -they let loads of noise through.

 

[Gazman16]

Frame makes are all ok (well not a fan of Duraflex but thats more of a fitting issue than anything else)
For doors:
Doorstop ok
Solidor expensive but good
Trudor I haven't used but haven't heard anything particularly good about them.

I fit both Solidor and Doorstop and am happy with both

 

[big-all]

other things to keep in mind hedges trees and shrubs can absorb noise
large empty spaces can echo sound
grass and gravel absorbs bounced sounds

 

[Ouch77]

Thanks all.
Windows are totally shot. They're old, 80's/90's double glazing. Most, if not all, glazed units blown, one on the rear has a pond in it. Frames have seen much better times as well, hardware is iffy at best. Front door is timber and has warped, you can see daylight around it when it's shut.

I'm planning a wall across the boundary between the front garden and the kerb/verge- the house is set back about 9-10m from this, land/road is mostly level, so I think if the wall is about 3ft it should mask the road from the ground floor at least - working on the assumption that noise is mostly line of sight, and the majority of road noise is from tyres on tarmac. I'll encourage planting behind the wall to give some visual screening as well.
All that, however, will happen much later as the front garden is a relatively low priority.

 

[big-all]

keep in mind you are restricted to a wall or fence at the front at 1m/4ft but shrubs and hedges can within reason be perhaps 5ft or a bit taller if no one complains

 

[bernardgreen]

Using two different thicknesses of glass in double glazing is said ( by some ) to reduce sound significantly more than two sheets of the same thickness.

Never seen any proof from actual windows or laboratory tests. Theory is good. That different thicknesses reduce different ranges of frequencies.

 

[catlad]

If you have the budget there is a company called Weru
that do quadruple glazing.

 

[Tigercubrider]

I work in tv studios and have converted a garage into a recording studio.
I would use double glazing as above but then have glass secondary glazing fitted

As big an airgap as possible and thick glass.

 

[Ouch77]

Update:

All the quotes are in, but to be honest we're not looking at the money, more the quality of service.
Firm 1 was first to get back with 2 options (Acoustic glazing, and double glazing)
Firm 2 we had to chase, and when the quote came in the breakdown had been adjusted to our spec in biro.
Firm 3 we had to chase as well, and we eventually got a single page with 3 lines of text, including the price.

We have since had a bit of dialogue with firm 1 over the door options (Solidor), but they're our preferred option - the fella even came back with a customer testimonial on the noise reduction. These guys seem to be quite up-together on the front-end, sales, sort of thing, I know that's not the whole story, but it's all we have to go on at the moment (online reviews all check out, etc..)

The spec for the acoustic glazing is 10/12/6 which I assume is 10mm laminated, 12mm air and 6mm inner sheet.

Not signed anything yet, but that's the way we're leaning.

For those that have been recommending secondary glazing, that's not really an option, as we want full access to the windows to be able to open them if we want.

 

[motorbiking]

I found insulating my fence made a massive difference.

 

[God]

10.8 laminated hope the hinges can take it.
Never known that before in domestic.

 

[Ouch77]

10yr warranty on it all, including hardware, so I'm covered for a while.