Ninety-seven percent of the U.S. population is exposed to harmful levels of noise. From heavy traffic to planes, lawn mowers, and garbage trucks, exposure to unwanted noise can contribute to unhealthy reactions like stress, and decrease your productivity in the workplace.
Your home is a personal space to enjoy life with friends and family. It’s a place to reboot and refresh yourself so you’re ready for the adventure of another day.
When noise from your street, aircraft, trains, or heavy equipment invade your home due to old, worn out windows, it can leave you feeling frustrated. Andersen Windows are the best window replacement for sound reduction, and can restore the peace and quiet you need in your home.
How Renewal by Andersen Windows Reduce Noise Intrusion in Your Home
Renewal by Andersen Windows are made with High-Performance™ Low-E4 glass, significantly lowering the amount of sound that can come into your home through your windows. Get a peaceful sleep at night and a quiet living space during the day with these premium replacement windows. Selecting the right window solution for your home is a multi-faceted decision that will impact your home’s beauty, energy efficiency, views of the outdoors, and noise intrusion levels.
What Is a Sound Transition Class Rating?
The Sound Transition Class (STC) rating measures a window’s noise-reducing capabilities. It literally measures how much sound is blocked by the window unit. The higher the rating, the more noise the replacement window blocks out. While most windows have a typical Sound Transition Class Rating of 18-38, Renewal by Andersen Windows have a higher Sound Transition Class Rating than their competitors, so you can rest assured that the amount of sound entering your home is vastly diminished.
You can get peace and quiet as well as great performing windows when you choose Renewal by Andersen. Check out the 400 window series for optimal noise reduction.
While most single paned windows have an STC rating of 27, double pane windows have an average rating of 28. Soundproof windows have an STC rating of up to 45-50, blocking almost all the noise that would normally get through windows.
How Windows Reduce Noise Intrusion in Your Home
Homes decrease sound with their walls, roof, and windows. In order for a window to block sound and have a high STC rating, the manufacturer must make the glass thicker, increase the distance between window panes, and use laminated glass—a glass-plastic-glass feature that further decreases noise intrusion.
Who Benefits Most from Soundproofing Windows?
People who live in urban areas, close to a train, near a highway, in proximity to an airport, or on a busy street can benefit from soundproof windows.
While no residential window blocks all sound all the time, noise-reducing windows block 90-95% of noise that would normally come through a window, giving you the peace and quiet you deserve in your home. Interestingly enough, sounds with low frequencies (like garbage trucks grinding your neighbor’s trash) are harder to block than sounds with higher frequencies (like birds singing). When you’re looking for replacement windows that block sound, decide which frequencies you want to soundproof against.
How to Make Your Noise-Reducing Windows Super Energy Efficient
You can’t make an energy-efficient window soundproof, but you can make noise-reducing windows energy-efficient by adding low-E coatings. Low-E coating means low emissivity, which means a surface that gives off low levels of radiant heat. All surfaces reflect, absorb, and transmit heat. A low-E coating decreases the amount of that heat transfer.
Learn more about updating your home’s windows in our “Guide To Home Window Replacement”
How Sound Gets into Your Home
Knowing the places your home allows sound to penetrate is a great place to start if the peace and quiet you desire in your home doesn’t exist. Here are some of the ways sound penetrates your home.
- Sound penetrates through window seal leaks and gaps in window frames. Repair or replace your windows to get peace and quiet back into your home.
- Vinyl and wood siding tend to allow sound to infiltrate into your home. Stone, brick, or fiber cement siding keep more noise out of your home where it belongs.
- When interior and exterior walls aren’t well insulated, sound penetrates your home easily. When you get more insulation, you’ll have less noise intrusion.
- Your chimney, soffits, attic, and dryer vents are all holes you can’t do much to prevent sound from entering your home through.
How to Dim the Abruptness of Sound Entering Your Home
We recommend exploring four areas when it comes to noise in your home:
- Design. In a multi-family structure, apartments can be built with similar use rooms adjacent to them. Quiet rooms such as bedrooms should be adjacent to each other.
- Mask. Outdoor noise that seeps into your home can be masked by running white noise machines like air conditioners, ceiling fans, and dehumidifiers. At night, use a sleep machine that plays soothing white noise like waves crashing or rain falling.
- Absorb. Decrease sound by adding fabric to your rooms. Hang curtains, lay rugs, and add fabric-covered furniture. Potted plants also absorb sound, so bring in the green and lower the impact of noise intrusion!
- Insulate. To decrease the amount of sound coming through walls and floors, caulk around your light fixtures, receptacle boxes, and door casings.
Get Reliable Window Installation with Lifetime Exteriors
Don’t settle for a subpar window replacement contractor. The detail-oriented professionals at Lifetime Exteriors deliver precision installation that gives you the long-term high performance you deserve.
Contact Lifetime Exteriors today to begin the window replacement selection process and transform your home with beautiful new windows. Boost your energy efficiency, saving you on utilities throughout the year. Maximize home security with advanced locking mechanisms.
Get an estimate now, and discover how you can increase your home’s value with beautiful replacement windows.
