Our “Soundproof” Windows Let In the Light, Lock Out the Noise

Soundproof windows became an absolute necessity for Jennifer Rhodes soon after she moved into her new condo in a lively New Orleans neighborhood. Jennifer had recently purchased a condo in the warehouse district directly across the street from Emeril’s and Tommy’s. She loved her condo, the neighborhood, and her neighbors, but the unrelenting noise of constant traffic and tireless revelers frustrated her attempts to get a good night’s sleep.


The windows of the historic warehouse had been restored during the renovation, but those glass and steel commercial windows offered little resistance to the sounds of a party town. From her second floor condo, Jennifer could hear virtually every activity on the street below. Jennifer contacted Central City Millworks for help.


She explained that she wanted to stop the noise without compromising the view from her historic windows nor the character of her historic windows. She wanted us to build a double-insulated storm window that installed on the inside of her windows, allowed her access to the existing windows, and did not disturb her blinds.


The large casement sashes we designed were sized to hold the thick safety glass along with large lights that would not obscure the view. The casements had to operate easily for access, yet when closed needed to be tightly weather striped to aggressively block noise. They also needed to be inset into the existing brick so as to not change the original warehouse look of her apartment.


We installed three of the five windows while the owner was on a vacation that spanned the long 4th of July weekend. She returned the night before we returned to install the remaining two casements. Before we arrived the next day to complete the work, she sent us an email saying “ I am very pleased with the windows and cannot believe the noise difference already.”


Any custom design, especially a design to prevent sound transmission, is worthless unless it accomplishes its goal. Now that we have completed the install, she is still very happy and amazed that our solution worked better than she could have had imagined. In reviewing our work Jennifer summed up what we accomplished as, “Wonderful.”