Soundproof windows?

March 23, 2009 10:38 AM

I'll soon be moving to the SO's apartment, which is perfect in every way except for the street noise. It's fine with earplugs when sleeping, but we hope to procreate, and so the question arises: have you ever installed noise-reducing windows?

and have they worked? And who did you use?

The apartment is rent-stabilized and on a very noisy street in NY. I highly highly doubt the landlord would install soundproof windows on his dime, so we will have to pay. Two of the bedrooms have one window; one bedroom has four windows. I thought we should start with putting one soundproof window in one bedroom, when and if we expect a child.

Oh: it's a 4th-floor walk-up. Is it ridiculous to expect that it will be doable for a pregnant person (that will, god willing, be me) and after, a person with a baby?

posted by pipti to home & garden (22 comments total)

We replaced the 1920's era windows in my house with fancy new soundproof windows and it has made a crazy difference. There is a middle school bus stop right in front of our house and I used to wake up every morning to kids yelling and talking loudly. Now I don't hear them at all. It's fantastic and our heating bill is much lower, too.

However, we replaced all of our windows. Replacing some would have reduced the noise, but I don't think the difference would be as dramatic.

You also might be able to work out some compromise with the landlord if you make material improvements to the apartment. You might get reimbursed for at least some of your expenses.
posted by Alison at 10:57 AM on March 23

I don't know how old your windows are, but almost any modern replacement window will reduce the noise significantly if your current windows are older. Our house is almost directly next to a freight train crossing and for the first few months we lived here I couldn't even sleep through the night, but after replacing the (probably almost 100 year-old) windows all we hear is a low rumble that we don't even notice anymore.

There's also noise-reducing window film available if you need a non-permanent solution. I haven't used it myself but I see it recommended a lot.

If you're asking whether a pregnant person should be installing windows on the fourth floor of a building, I don't think so...
posted by LolaGeek at 10:58 AM on March 23

Thank you, Alison! Which company did you use?
posted by pipti at 10:59 AM on March 23

Brooklynite who experienced the same situation (as the father). On the windows, we just got used to it.

On the child - four story walk-up will be really, really hard for about 2 and a half years, unless you can leave the stroller on the ground floor safely. You can get used to carrying the kid up and down the stairs alone. It will be very difficult to carry both child and stroller up the stairs safely. I have done that a few times in our building when the elevator goes out and it ain't pretty, and our building has wide stairwells with landings every floor to stop and rest.
posted by RajahKing at 11:01 AM on March 23

Heh--I think we'll hire someone to put in the windows. (I don't know how old the windows are.) I'm wondering if living in 4th-floor walk-up is really awful for a very pregnant person.
posted by pipti at 11:02 AM on March 23

As an alternative to replacing windows, we made window plugs (basically very dense sound-absorbing foam backed with plywood). They don't look great -- when they're in and the shades are up, it looks like we've decorated in Early American Crackhouse -- but they've deadened a great deal of noise.
posted by scody at 11:04 AM on March 23 [1 favorite has favorites]

I can't speak to the windows, but I lived in a 4th floor walkup until I was 7.5 months pregnant and it was OK. It was getting tougher near the end though, so I don't know how I would have coped for the last 6 weeks.
posted by gaspode at 11:09 AM on March 23

I'm due with a baby in two weeks and I can barely make it up the one flight of stairs to my second-floor apartment. It takes me twice as long if I'm carrying something other than my purse. Other pregnant women this far along are in better shape physically than I am but I have just become big and unwieldy and very uncomfortable over the last month or so. Living in a fourth-floor walkup right now would be some kind of version of hell, I think. Plus, if you end up having a c-section, you could be limited to how many flights of stairs you walk up and down per day, and that could mean you'd be stuck inside until you start to recover.
posted by sutel at 11:10 AM on March 23

Yeah four floors while pregnant sounds rough but it's doable. You'll be hating it at the end and probably be less likely to go out if it means dealing with the stairs. You'll also get really sick of going up and down the stairs with the baby and all of the crap you need to haul around once you're out and about with the little one. Getting a stroller and a 20+ lb baby (which is what mine is at 9 months) up and down 4 flights of stairs sounds, um, not so fun.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 11:22 AM on March 23

I just wanted to say that as a mom of 3 (all 3 yrs and younger) that there is no way I could manage living in a 4 story walk up with even one baby. The stroller is one issue already touched upon, but there's also all the stuff (and there is A LOT) of stuff that comes with having a wee one. And if you went out to get even just diapers or a coffee you have to lug that, baby, purse (?), diaper bag (?), stroller and whatever else up and down.


And what about twins???


As for noise, I've lived on noisy streets before and you get used to it. It's also a good thing for baby (so long as it's not TOO noisy). I think it's best for baby to get used to normal household (vacuum, music) and neighbourhood noises (cars, trains, etc) so that they can sleep through it and you don't have to spend the next 3 years whispering.
posted by Abbril at 11:27 AM on March 23

ok, point taken about babies and 4th-floor walk-ups. I will add that to the consideration mix. As for getting used to the noise--no dice. I've been sleeping there for a year and earplugs are a must at night, as they are for the boyfriend, who's been there 13 years. The noise is truly incredible.
posted by pipti at 11:30 AM on March 23

Just a note of dissent on the stairs-baby issue: I live in a three-storey house with a basement and was not bothered at the end of pregnancy. Er, at least not by the stairs, anyway. You can tweak your baby ephemera to your climb, too: get a sling/soft carrier and put a spare dipe in your back pocket; you really don't need a stroller and massive bag.
posted by kmennie at 11:40 AM on March 23

Which company did you use?

My windows were made and installed by a local outfit, Wagner's Home Center.

(Full Disclosure: I'm related to the owners, but they are nice people and good at what they do.)
posted by Alison at 11:54 AM on March 23

I can't help you with the noise (I can't abide by it AT ALL, so I live in the quiet, quiet burbs and never ever got used to it in the city), but I can say that I lived in a basement apartment while heavily pregnant and while parenting a baby/toddler. It wasn't four floors (more like 2 & 1/2), but it wasn't that bad, either. You just get really used to efficiency, which isn't a bad thing. I never carried a huge bag with me and I learned to plan really well for outings simply because I couldn't carry that huge bag. I couldn't leave the stroller in the hallway, either, so there was a lot of 'take baby out, take baby to safe space (crib, pack 'n play, highchair) leave for a moment, run back for the stroller, etc.' but again, no big deal, really. It's all about how you plan for it and how you become accustomed to things. Personally, I think those stairs helped me stay in shape during my pregnancy and helped me get back in shape faster afterward.
posted by cooker girl at 12:13 PM on March 23

On preview and after posting: Agree with kmennie in that you don't always have to have a stroller. Slings and soft carriers are great and when the baby is old enough, an umbrella stroller (read: lightweight and easy to fold up and carry) will do just fine.
posted by cooker girl at 12:15 PM on March 23

Babies can sleep through noise and some "experts" say that they should be habituated to noises like vacuum cleaners and such early on. I wouldn't worry about it for the baby's sake unless it will cause hearing damage in which case the landlord should be doing something like insulating and the windows.

4th floor - well, try to get in as good of shape as you can before you get pregnant. Start running or otherwise working out. Once pregnant continue to exercise - I found swimming to be really great, and it was wonderful when I was far along to take that weight off my back. I was working on the 3rd floor with my first child and it was not really an issue. I had an elevator but rarely used it because I sat most of the day anyhow.

After the baby - use a sling instead of a stroller if you can. It is better for the baby to be close to you, touching you, you can nurse at the same time if you have the right wrap or sling, and you still use your hands. It is also better for your bones - less chance of osteoporosis, from what I have read. Then, (this is important) don't get pregnant again until the oldest can walk up the stairs on his/her own! I used a sling with my oldest until she was 2 - yes she was walking around 1, but for long distances and in the airport, it worked well. I think that they advise against stairs for a while with c-sections, so if you have one, plan on staying at home until you are healed or the doctor says you can go out.

My landlord just replaced our windows with double pained glass, but I have no idea what brand. He also did insulation, and the combination has reduced noise a lot, as well as improving our energy bills.

wife of 445supermag
posted by 445supermag at 12:18 PM on March 23

I grew up so close to the end of a runway we could perform visual inspections on the aircraft going overhead. Nails were vibrating loose from the ceiling, windows and ceilings cracked. It wasn't noisy it was deafening*. You could not hold a conversation without yelling.

Nobody in our household ever complained of trouble sleeping at night.

*no idea why my hearing is still sharp.
posted by trinity8-director at 3:36 PM on March 23

We live next to a 24-hour supermarket (carts! delivery trucks! yelling children! yelling drunks! yelling crazy people!) and although we don't have sound proof windows, we can tell a very significant difference in the noise level just when we put down the storm windows in the winter. So I think that soundproof windows would really work.

And now I will put "soundproof windows" on my list of Heart's Dearest Desires right after "in-unit washer and dryer."
posted by jennyb at 3:41 PM on March 23

All the city babies I know sleep with white noise machines next to their beds, which is a nice and relatively cheap solution (plus it drowns out the sound of the TV or any other inside-the-apartment noise that might be going on).
posted by chowflap at 4:14 PM on March 23

We replaced our 50s-era windows with double-paned new windows this summer. We live right by a tourist attraction that draws insane quantities of visitors in the summertime, and were amazed at the reduction in sound during the high-traffic hours. We didn't specifically set out to look for extra-soundproof windows or anything, just getting the run-of-the-mill replacement windows made a world of difference.

If there's any way to get the landlord to split the cost, I highly recommend it. It's been worth every penny just to sleep in without being woken by buses, tourists, and junk food trucks restocking the gas station convenience store across the street.
posted by Stacey at 6:51 PM on March 23

I had to do soundproofing at an apartment in center city Philadelphia during my college years.

While I did not have the option of replacing the windows at that time, I have had much success with sound prooofing or even just plain double-pane windows (usually a 20% reduction) can provide a similar effect.

You can also retrofit much cheaper with a non-replacement solution similar to installing storm windows similar to what jennyb says. (20-70% reduction)

What we ended up doing is putting up foam sheet boards (similar to sheet rock/drywall but about 2 inches thick, and CHEAP) alonf the outside wall. We only had about a 40 ft run of outside wall and the costs was about $4 per 4x8 sheet. We then added a flexible and clear tear resistant vinyl with some type of metal powder mix (not lead) that also helped reduce sound coming though the glass.

End result... 8 hours and $100 bucks later, we couldn't even hear when our friends were honking the horn from the street like they used too and the following year, when construction started on a house across the street, we were the onlyones who never heard the drills and hammers and whatnot until we left the building. (All the neighbors complained at the crews early start times.


Soundproofing.org has lots of other FREE advice.
posted by emjay at 7:35 AM on March 24

My friend lives in a condo and the Chicago L goes by her windows literally 5 feet away. She could probably reach out and touch it. It's been renovated so the windows might be better than normal but it's still pretty loud. FWIW her newborn doesn't mind the L at all. The noise has always been there so I guess the baby thinks it's normal.
posted by Bunglegirl at 9:16 AM on March 24