Soundproofing a sliding glass door in a rental flat

[Marritza]

Hello everyone,

The bedroom in our (private) rental flat has a glass sliding door facing a street and a pub. It can be loud but the worst thing is the bass frequency/engine revving noise coming from somewhere in the evening, which can last all night. It's not a loud sound but it does sound like a construction lorry parked in the distance with the engine running, which drives me ever so slightly nuts. It also seems to be highly directional - I can't hear it from adjacent rooms facing the same way and only from one side of the street when I come downstairs. Although I've discussed this with the pub, which is the likely culprit, they do not seem particularly cooperative and from what I could gather from them, the cause could be some kind of an exhaust or refrigeration system (there is a constantly operating vent/fan on the side of the building), which of course they won't admit to or tackle. The council has been proven to be utterly useless despite complaints from me and at least one other person on the street.

Anyway...to try to deal with this on my end, I spent an afternoon plugging all the gaps in the sliding glass door with every kind of insulating strip I could find but unfortunately this only reduced the noise a little (mostly the higher frequency noise like cars whizzing by) and not the base/engine noise, which annoys me the most. There are wooden blinds and light blocking curtains but they aren't helping much. Earplugs haven't helped either (I still hear the bass) and I find them uncomfortable after multiple tries. The noise isn't constant (it starts and stops), so having background noise like that from an air purifier/humidifier isn't helping as much as I'd like either and frankly I hate having constant humming background noise when I sleep. Is there anything else I could do with my limited DIY skills? Having done a lot of research I'm a bit despondent as it seems that bass frequencies will only be significantly reduced by some serious building work (which I cannot and am not permitted to do anyway). The other options like heavy curtains, acoustic foam, etc. do not seem to work for bass frequencies. I even looked into acoustic construction barriers to create a "window plug" such as: https://www.echobarrier.co.uk but they do not seem to be available to individuals. We can't sleep in any other room and we can't move out at this time. So...any other suggestions would be welcome from those who have dealt with something similar.

 

[foxhole]

Can’t sound proof a glass door , short of surrounding you bed with a heavy curtain and fitting same inside and out of the door not much can be done.

 

[ronniecabers]

You can get Accoustic Glass ( Stadip Silence ). It is a laminate glass but I suspect to eliminate the noises you are hearing you will need a very thick piece , which will be quite costly , and to be honest you will then start to hear the noise from other areas of the property. The frequencies you are alluding to are one of the hardest to eliminate unfortunately

 

[Nozzle]

If it's noise through the night that keeps you awake, try getting a brown/white/pink noise generator instead. I have an app I my phone that does it, ideal! Trouble is, it uses a lot of battery power, so I recorded 8 hours of output to an MP3 file, transfer the file to an SD card, and instead play it back through a small speaker. It's a handy tip from a shift worker who needs to sleep during the day. Quiet enough so not to be disturbing but loud enough to deaden the sudden changes of background noise.

Nozzle

 

[motorbiking]

The cheapest option would be to make an acoustic screen to fit in the opening. This is nothing more complex than a wooden frame, some hinges if needed, acoustic foam and a material covering, it can be free standing or clipped in to place at night.

 

[Chud]

If you can't hear it in the adjoining rooms (which I assume also face the pub could it maybe be that the noise is not loud but is causing the glass to resonate - as a test try getting a couple of heavyweight cushions and wedge them against the centre of each pane of glass to see if it makes a difference - in fact if it is resonance that's the issue then you ought to be able to damp it just by placing your hand(s) against the glass.

 

[Marritza]

Thanks everyone. foxhole - yes, sliding doors + bass sound seem to be the worst of both. Already have wooden blinds and curtains (which at least reduce heat loss if nothing else. ronniecabers - I agree glass would be the best option - we had incredibly effective secondary glazing on a window in a previous flat. But for a c.280cm x c.200cm sliding door area it would be too expensive and difficult to install. Nozzle - thanks, I am trying out various sounds from youtube - the ones that match seem to be (oddly enough) nuclear submarine and arctic oil platform. Good idea about recording them - my phone won't manage 8 hours of playing youtube videos. motorbiking - I am leaning towards the acoustic screen/window plug option although some websites state that acoustic foam is not particularly helpful with bass frequencies. Would have to eventually try that though if everything else fails. Chud - interesting idea, will have to try that.