Cheap fix to windows / sound problems

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jeffreygene

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Hi everyone! I'm new to the site but I really like the way the community seems to help out here. I am a bit chagrined at my lack of knowledge about how to fix my issue, but it's time for me to swallow my pride and ask for help.

Bit of background: I grew up in Ohio but have lived in Hong Kong since 2004. In HK it's rare for someone my age (32) to own property, imagine Manhattan prices. I am currently renting a very unique house out in the boonies of the city. The landlord (who I have never met as they live in China and the deed is in the name of a shell corporation in Hong Kong) is adamant that the structure of the building is not touched at all. It makes sense as it is a very unique house, from the outside it has elements of a traditional Chinese village house but on the inside it is a large (by HK standards) modern studio loft.

So to sum up relevant background: 1) I can't communicate with the landlord, and my go-between, the realtor, is a real jerk. 2) I can't communicate with local handymen as my Cantonese is not good enough. 3) I can't touch the structure of the building at all. Oh and 4) I don't own tools / am not proficient myself, and 5) while I'm a sound sleeper my wife is not. Eg right now she just woke up after two yips from the neighbors dog.

The exterior windows on the house, while they look great, are just crap at keeping noise out. See images. Pretty much if any of our half dozen neighbors are outside and talking on the phone or moving stuff around it will wake us up. Also if any of them are inside but have their doors or windows open the noise will wake us up. (Hong Kong buildings tend to built to not insulate well as it doesn't get that cold but does get crazy hot. Tropical after all, same latitude as Havana.)

This was fine when we had neighbors who kept the noise down but since October we have had bad luck with two different neighbors. Of course the easy and obvious fix is to move, but that's not cheap and we can't just snap our fingers and make it happen. And given the fact that we will be moving back into an apartment, we want to make sure that we go somewhere on a top floor (so we don't have anyone above us). Last thing we want is to go into the hassle of a move and still have an issue with noisy neighbors!

What I am wondering...is there anything short term / not too expensive that I can do to these windows so we can sleep at night? I just want to make it so that it doesn't feel like my neighbors are talking in my bedroom. I don't think I need proper soundproofing as I understand that's expensive and I don't think I could do it without impacting the structure. I thought that maybe we could try to fix the windows that surround the bed / loft, because if we have to do this to the whole house I can't imagine it would be cheap. There are about 30 in total similar to the one pictured. 60 if you count the image as two (top and bottom).

Thanks for any thoughts. I really appreciate it!!!

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You mentioned the warm climate, so the first and most obvious question is do you keep the windows opened or closed? At first i was thinking that a plexiglas panel inside your window could do the job, but that depends on your need for air circulation. The hard brick surfaces probably reflect quite a bit of sound and that would be multiplied if your neighbors have brick walls also. Some soft surfaces outside would surely help, but you would need to bring in a lot of potted plants etc to absorb the sound. Might look good too.
 
Oh we definitely keep them closed! But they don't close very tightly as I was trying to illustrate in the photographs.
 
Then maybe a foam weatherstrip between the overlapping portions. you would have to determine the right thickness so the windows can still close. And since something like that is self-sticking, it can be a DIY project. Are products like that available in HK?
 
Experiment with hanging a heavy blanket or something as a curtain on the inside if it helps then invest in some window coverings well suited to absorbing noise.

Foam ear plugs are also amazing.
 
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