"Barry Young" wrote
| I'm thinking about geting secondary double glazing for the bedroom in my
| flat as there's a fair amount of noise from the road just outside. A
couple
| of questions.
| 1) I quite like the look of the Newdawn kit that DIY plastics are selling
| (http://www.diyplas.co.uk/doubleglazing.html). They sell it in 3 and 4 mm
| thicknesses in both polystyrene and acrylic. The acrylic kits work out
| about 25-30% more expensive than polystyrene - is this worth the extra?
| From what I can gather they're a fair bit more durable and less likely to
| get "cloudy".

Hmm, I would be inclined to go for glass as being heavier.

| 2) I've heard that the larger the gap between the two "windows" is, the
| better the noise reduction. As the window reveal is about 35 cm deep, I
| could make the gap this size, making the secondary glazing flush with the
| walls - would this make sense? Or should I aim for a smaller gap?

The pub near me has got sealed double-glazed outer, single secondary glazing
over that, and then another (I think double) glazed inner, with about a foot
depth between the secondary glazing and the inner. This was to stop sound
getting out, not in :-)

Making sure the outer (existing) window is sealed airtight and lining the
reveal with accoustic tiles will also help.

Owain