Secondary Glazing - Combating Intrusive Noise - Members News - Blogs

Secondary Glazing - Combating Intrusive Noise

Posted by Selectaglaze on 27th January 2011.

Intrusive noise is a real problem in today’s society and failure to deal with it can lead to loss of sleep, lapses in concentration and increased levels of stress that can affect general health.

Noise emanates from a multitude of sources including road traffic, aircraft, plant and equipment, venues such as pubs and clubs and crowded town centres.

Acoustically windows are often the weakest point in a building with most single glazed windows reducing noise by just 25-30dB, less if they are ill fitting. Even modern double glaze windows only achieve 30-35dB. Set against potential external noise levels of 70-80dB and referencing guidelines such as BS 8233- “Sound insulation and noise reduction for buildings” and BB93 – “Acoustic design of schools”, it is evident that additional protection has to be considered.

A very practical solution is found with Secondary Glazing, which is a fully independent tailor made window system, set 100mm or more from the existing window. The sizeable air gap and additional sealing can provide noise reduction in the range 40-45dB but, in combination with double glazed systems, reductions up to 56dB have been achieved.

Purpose designed secondary glazing can be unobtrusive and sympathetic to the character of a building. Full factory assembly allows installation to be rapidly completed with minimal disruption to the building’s occupants. As well as its acoustic advantage, secondary glazing also markedly improves the thermal efficiency of the window. It is also a reversible intervention and one that is included within guidelines produced by English Heritage, Historic Scotland, SPAB, The Victorian Society and The Georgian Group.

Combating noise breakout

Owners of bars, clubs and pubs find themselves obliged to resolve problems of noise breakout and, in many cases, roofs have to be acoustically insulated.

“Charlotte Street Blues” is one of London’s newest live music venues and has already acquired a reputation as the capital’s finest acoustic blues venue.

Previously a wine bar, this beautiful three-storey Georgian property was converted into a live music venue by new owners, Live Acts Entertainment Ltd. With their extensive experience within this sector the company were well aware of potential noise containment problems particularly when, as with this property, the rear courtyard has been incorporated into the main building, backing on to and overlooking a residential mews. LAE’s MD Alan Lorimer says: “The courtyard is covered by a polycarbonate doomed roof which originally had no sound insulation so, before the club opened, we decided to build an acoustic brick wall between the courtyard and our neighbours; sound absorbent material was provided under the stage to alleviate bass noise but, most importantly, we commissioned Selectaglaze to design and install secondary glazing inside the domed polycarbonate ceiling. This has effectively eradicated noise breakout and considerably enhanced the internal acoustics. The end result is that our neighbours continue to enjoy peace and quiet and our customers and performers are delighted with the sound quality”.

Selectaglaze are the acknowledged specialists and market leaders in the design, manufacture and installation of secondary window systems. Secondary glazing involves the installation of new, fully independent secondary window frames on the room side of the existing or primary windows.

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