Has anyone tried secondary glazing to reduce noise and did it work?

[occasionalposter]

Title says is all really.....
Would love to know if anyone has tried it and if so did it work and was it expensive?

yes it does. the bigger gap is better for muffling sound than ordinary dg sealed units. They also give good heat insulation and stop draughts (if they are properly fitted).

If you have an older house, it need not spoil the originaity and appearance. |f you have net curtains they will be virtually invisible.

Have just fitted secondary double glazing to 10 windows and a door in a conservatory. We did it for heat loss prevention rather than sound proofing and so far, it has been great, no condensation - great result.
Did a lot of web research before buying and optimum 'gap' between window panes for heat loss prevention is 20mm (never any more than 100mm) - with sound-proofing, I believe the bigger the gap, the better.
Lots of companies offer kits with different prices and levels of DIY input required. We bought 'cut to size' 2mm/3mm thick clear acrylic and attached it to the window frames with magnetic/steel tape.
Fairly straightforward (need to be good with your measuring) and took about 2/3 days for 10 windows + 1 door.
Would wholeheartedly recommend for quality and cheapest prices and fast delivery:
Eclipse Magnetics for the magnetic and steel tape:
www.magnets2buy.com/acatalog/Secondary_Glazing_Kit.html
cheapest I could find and delivered within two days.
www.theplasticman.co.uk/ for acrylic cut to your sizes. Top quality product delivered within a few days.

for noise reduction, a heavy pane of thick glass is more effective. If your original windows are 4mm glass, the secondary pane can be made of 6mm glass which will not resonate at the same frequency (or 7mm laminated, which is a non-shattering safety glass which also resists burglars trying to break it). The weight is important in blocking sound. You need to seal gaps round the frame, that sound can get through, using a deadening material such as silicone rubber or expanding foam. You will have to make other arrangements for ventilation.

Thank you green and piglet, that is very helpful. I was thinking more of actual glass rather than acrylic as I am interested more in noise reduction than heat loss prevention.

All suggestions or comments gratefully recieved!

Yes, had secondary glazing on the front bedroom of our London house, and the noise reduction, on a busy road, was significant. We didn't fit it, so have nothing sensible to say about spec/price.

Don't know how I'd see it now, though; it's utterly silent at night in our bit of Melbourne, apart from the thunder of possum feet over the tin roof at night.:o

We chose acrylic not just for the effectiveness in heat loss prevention, but the safety element - it's (I think!) at least 8 X stronger than normal glass.
Bear this in mind if fitting real glass yourself - especially anything over 2mm - the sheer weight and associated danger of handling large panes of glass is significant - drop a 1m x 1m pane of 4mm real glass and you could easily lose your fingers or toes. The real glass itself and the extra strength needed in the supporting frames will make glass a more expensive option. Perhaps not a big issue if you're only doing 1 or 2 windows though - and if you're not DIYing.
All the web bumpf I read seems very positive about the sound insulating qualities of acrylic (it's also clearer than real glass) - and remember, it's the size of the gap between the panes - as much as the type of material, that dulls the sound.

Thanks again for all responses: I may have been hasty in dismissing acrylic! I will look into it again.

Search for "internal double glazing" and you will get lots of links about how effective secondary glazing at combating noise