Secondary glazing

Evening all

What do we know about secondary glazing?

If there is one thing that bugs me about my house, its when there's a private party on at the church hall next door. Such as tonight. There's always music on there on a friday and saturday night, but when its normal biddy night you can't hear their music from inside our house, and if you go out in the garden, while you can hear their music, it is strangely funky (I'm old ahead of my time).

When there's a private do on, you tend to get the Mackerena, and the Time Warp rocking out at a trillion decibels punctuated by some low budget ageing DJ randomly chanting things like 'I wanna see you all on the dance floor' or 'if anyone has any style, dignity or self respect can they please bring some to the dj booth'.

Its not so bad that it disturbs us much. You can barely hear it in the living room, but its loud and clear in the bathroom and when you're having a nice hot soak to soothe your aching muscles, you don't really need to know that the current super cheesy piece of Europop is dedicated to whoever's birthday, wedding, or funeral it is.

But I'm not bitter about it (really I'm not, the above rant is meant tongue in cheek). I'd just like to do something about it without spoiling anyone's fun. The sound comes in through the windows (I've researched this at length). So all I need to do is sound proof the windows. Its only the side windows and the bathroom window too (just three windows in all) so shouldn't be too costly.

I've read about secondary glazing, where you effectively have another window inside the window bay. Low profile enough so it doesn't spoil anything, but significantly reducing sound, and as another plus, obviously conserving heat.

Does anyone know anything about this?

 

Yes Dave

 

most folk call it double glazing, although its not, its another "window" secured to the frame of the original window. Lots of diy kits available, but you can use perspex in a frame secured to the window.

 

Well, I guess that's a very accurate and concise literal answer to my literal question

What I was really wondering is, is it effective and noise reduction to a worthwhile level? Is it something that can be done well as a DIY job? If I did it myself, and used perspex or that other plastic glass that's now common and available from the likes of B&Q, would that do a decent job compared to, say, sticking some polythene sheeting over a makeshift frame?

Generally, is there anything I need to consider that isn't obvious?

 

Sorry, I posted just as I was going off for a tree.

I've done sucessful secondary double glazing on many an old house, using plastic edging strip & toggle fixings. Stops noise and heat loss.

 

Oh, i meant to say using 4mm plate glass.

 

Yes, I have done it. Its easy and fairly cheap and in terms of heat insulation, it is generally as efficient as specially fitted double glazing.

Weight is the key to sound insulation, so heavy glass will probably be better than thin plastic.

 

Buildings Research Establisment recommend a 6inch gap between paynes for effective sound insulation, use that one against double glazing salespeople when they phone up.

 

Ziggy's right. Sound insulation is very different from heat insulation.

Years ago I was chatting to a mechanic about noisy tappets on a car. I was told the best solution was to fill the inside of the rocker cover with lead. The extra mass would totally cure the problem.

 

I had secondary glazing before I fitted double glazed windows.
It was 4 mm glass.

This was back in the 80s, and at the time you could buy kits.
It was ali framing and you just had the glass cut to the correct size.

But you needed a timber framework around the window to fix it to.
At the time you could get sliding kinds as well.

Not sure what is available these days, but it does cut out a lot of noise.

 

I've got lots of secondary double glazing as I'm too stingy to pay for the proper stuff and anyway, I have lots of 1930s coloured glass panels that I'm not parting with.

I use sheets of 2mm or 3mm acrylic with magnetic tape around the edges. You have to edge the window aperture with the opposite polarity tape. If you get the technique right it's neat and unobtrusive even when you take it off in Summer, I'm a dab hand at it now. It's not dirt cheap as the acrylic has really gone up in price but all the materials can be sourced at good value on the net. It's still probably the cheapest option, though. I found 2mm was better as it's lighter for me to handle and less likely to pull away from the magnetic tape. You can use some little clips to help with that, though. 3mm would give better sound-proofing, I guess. There's about a 6 cm gap between the original glass and the plastic.

I've never thought about how good it is at sound-proofing as I want it for warmth, and it certainly helps with that. It's not possible to have windows open with it on.

You can see it from the outside a little as it creates a bit of reflection, but nothing ugly, IMO. Mostly in winter it's covered with curtains to keep out the dark, so I don't look at it anyway.

If you only want your windows on the hall side done, then it's probably worth paying to get the proper stuff as you would be leaving it on all year.

 

All the advice given is good, and I have done it myself 80's style
However back to electronics and IT, one of my remits was repair and installation of sound systems and subsequent complaints from tennants living above or adjacent to the property

Phone the Council and make a noise complaint
Two officers will come to your home with decimeters on said disturbed nights
When they have checked the levels they will then make an un announced visit to the noise pollutant premises with decimeters
Two officers will be in the pollutant premises and one in yours all with decimeters, and radio comms
They check the levels, and the DJ if he is wise has a sound engineer with him
They then work together first reducing the bass, then the volume Until it is ACCEPTABLE IN YOUR HOME,
Then they fit restrictors on the sound equipement (Gov sealed volume pots) or a device remote that cuts the power if it goes above a certain decibel
All annonymous and FREE
I have attended and fitted hundreds in my time

Best of luck cheaper than glazing

Jack McH