Even if your home is off the beaten track, it’s hard to escape noise. Vehicle noise from interstates several miles away can carry through the night. Teenagers have an unbelievable endurance for deafeningly loud music, and the local garage band may decide to favor you with their compositions at any hour of the day or night. Are impact windows your ticket to a quieter home?
Impact Windows Do More Than Protect Your Home From Storms
Many local building codes in Florida require hurricane impact windows. They can make your home safer during a storm and reduce catastrophic damage to your home that might require rescue or other expensive public services to address. But there are several other benefits to impact windows, including noise reduction.
How Impact Windows Reduce Noise in Your Home
Hurricane impact windows are made to withstand the force of extreme winds, hail, and torrential rains that come with powerful storms. Their construction also makes them effective at reducing the amount of noise pollution that enters your home.
Impact windows are constructed of layers. Depending on the brand, the windows may have an additional layer of vinyl or shatter-resistant glass sandwiched between the outer layers of laminated glass. The interior layer has a different density than the outer layers, which helps break up sound transmission. While this doesn’t make them completely soundproof, impact windows can reduce noise by up to 65 percent.
There’s a rating system, the sound transmission coefficient (STC), that can tell you how well windows reduce noise. The higher the number, the more effective the windows are at reducing noise in your home. Residential windows with an STC rating from 38–42 are considered good for reducing sound from the outside.
What Kinds of Noise Can Impact Windows Buffer?
Impact windows can reduce several common noises that can disrupt the enjoyment of your home. These may include:
- Traffic noise
- Barking dogs
- Aircraft
- Lawnmowers
- Trains
- Construction
- Thunder
- Noisy neighbors!
Impact windows may be the way toward a quieter home for you. South Florida residents can rely on USA Home Improvement for an estimate on installing noise-reducing impact windows in their homes.
