Not to rain on the parade, but double-pane windows aren’t always a silver bullet for noise. If the window frame itself isn’t airtight or the installation’s a bit sloppy, you’ll still get a lot of sound sneaking in. I’ve seen plenty of folks surprised after a pricey upgrade when the street noise barely budged. Sometimes, laminated glass or even a secondary interior window does more for sound than just swapping to double-pane. It’s really about the weakest link—sometimes it’s not the glass at all, but the gaps around it.
It’s really about the weakest link—sometimes it’s not the glass at all, but the gaps around it.
That’s the part people miss, honestly. I swapped to double-pane a couple years back thinking I’d finally get some peace from the buses outside. Nope. Turns out the installer left tiny gaps around the frame. Ended up stuffing those with acoustic sealant myself, which helped more than the fancy windows did. If your frames are old or the install is sloppy, you’re just throwing money at the problem. Laminated glass is pricey, but I’ve heard it works better for noise than regular double-pane. Just wish I’d known before dropping a chunk of change...