How to Attach Interior Shutters to Clear Acrylic Sheets on Soundproof Windows
Windows are the acoustical weak spots in most houses. While an exterior wall will typically reduce outside noise by about two-thirds, the single-pane windows found in older houses may reduce it by less than a third. Soundproofing windows can provide a quiet workroom in a noisy urban setting or add sound isolation between a musician's practice room and neighbors. Using interior shutters is an easy way to do this with just ordinary carpentry tools and materials available from home-improvement centers.
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Things You'll Need
- Quarter-inch clear acrylic sheet
- Tape measure
- Two solid wood shutters per window
- Two hinges per shutter
- One shutter latch per shutter pair
Instructions
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Measure the rough window opening. Add 4 inches to both dimensions--height and width. Cut the acrylic sheet and each pair of open acoustic shutters to match that dimension. The shutters should be three-quarters to 1 1/4-inch thick.
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Cut each shutter to the length and exactly half the width of the acrylic sheet, making sure to account for the width of the saw blade.
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Attach each shutter directly over the acrylic sheet. Be sure to use shutter hinges, available from home improvement centers and online hardware specialty retailers. Note that the thickness of the shutter and the shutter-hinge must match; they are sold by specified depth.
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Use at least two, sometimes three and occasionally four hinges per shutter. A really large window and/or a 1 1/4-inch thick shutter may require four hinges per shutter.
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Tips & Warnings
The additional sound-reduction available with the shutters will be about 6 dB, which is not a lot, but may make all the difference in neighbor relations if you're practicing with a live musical instrument.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit window image by MLProject from Fotolia.com
