Options to cut noise through old sliding sash

[Kalico]

I have a 1890's terraced house. Ususal stone Victorian affair.

The sliding sash windows are in really good order so I am reluctant to replace and absolutely will not replace with plastic under any circumstances.

BUT, about 30-40m from the front of my house, runs what we affectionately call 'the motorway'. It's actually just slow moving town traffic but it is starting to 'do my ruddy ed in'.

One firm I spoke to said they could put 6,10,6 double glazed units in (instead of the usual 4,20,4 size), arguing that 6mm glass would not vibrate as much as 4mm (seems reasonable). But I am worried that the weight of the unit will be 'weigh' (sorry) too much. The price they quoted certainly was.

Then I was sitting in our local Pizza Express last night with cars going by that were hardly audible, yet single pane glass. Yes, it was damn thick glass, but it got me thinking.

So, what can everyone recommend? I am more bothered about the noise than the heat insulating aspect, though that would be nice too, since my house is like Budleigh Freezington on a cold winters day.

Thanks as always. Rob

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[Dave Plowman (News)]

Thick glass makes a big difference to sound insulation. The air gap for heat insulation in double glazing very little - in other words 8mm glass would be about the same as 4mm double glazing.

For good sound insulation you need secondary glazing, but this is unattractive in period homes.

The extra weight of either double glazing or thicker glass in sash windows can usually be compensated for by using lead instead of cast iron weights.

There's a good chance the general noise level in the restaurant helped mask the traffic noise too.

If you can afford it go for the double glazing. Should increase the value of the house slightly whereas I doubt thicker glass would.

[dennis]

Secondary double glazing with a 100mm gap is best. It has to be well sealed to be effective even a small gap will reduce the effects by a lot.

Double glazing will reduce it a lot but the secondary glazing is probably five times better.

[Kalico]

Thanks for the advice Dave. Main reason I was considering using simply thicker glass is that no matter how thick the glass it will not be as thick as a double glazed unit, and there is only a certain thickness to each sash.

Cheers Rob

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[fred]

In article , Kalico writes

Have you tried _totally_ sealing the windows in one room, as a temporary measure, to see if improves the noise situation. I did this on some bedroom windows (sliding sashes, same as yours) and it made a world of difference, when traffic was passing, slightly open window, really annoying, closed window, much improved. If there's little difference between a window open a crack and it fully closed then it could be airborne noise.

Just for a test you could tape over joints, inside & out, stuff newspaper in orifices if they're really bad or caulk up the seams if truly desperate.

On another DG/noise related thread (a v helpful) someone posted this link to a pilks site:

v interesting reading, amazing improvements from 10mm lam but better still on just an 18mm DG unit using lam.

Shout if you want details of how I did my sealing.

[Kalico]

[snip]

Hi there. Shouting for the details please. Hope you can email direct, unless others want them.

Thanks - I appreciate it. Rob

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[fred]

This is sealing for normal use yeah?, I just used tape over every possible gap, crack & orifice for my trial run.

I started off ripping out and junking the old parting and staff beads, they're usually pretty rough and painted up so any seals will get cut up riding over them. I then took out the sashes and stripped the paint right back from the front & rear faces, sanded smooth & repainted. Then rebuilt the lot with new beads, sealing the verticals on the sashes with plastic folded V-seals, they come as a flat strip with adhesive on half of one side, simply apply to the sash vertical and fold back to create a flexible seal with the bend of the V to the inside. Top of the top sash & bottom of the bottom sash can be sealed similarly but I couldn't get a good seal using this stuff between top & bottom sashes (it would vibrate like a reed in the right wind) so I used some short pile brush seal material there. I fixed the staff beads pretty tight (1-2mm?) to keep the gaps small. To stop the newish paint sticking I rubbed a candle over the sliding surfaces.

This is one of the less time intensive sealing methods (no machining) but the V-seals do wear out (after about 6yrs in my case) so it's not the most durable. If I do any more I'll be using the seals that need clearance gaps & slots routed in the sashes, more work but they're just nicer.

V-seal draught strip used to be available from the sheds but not sure where now. IFP supply brush seal & some of the more labour intensive seals:

, Mighton do their own proprietary range of seals but they're not to my taste.

HTH