Dear PoPville – Soundproofing Windows?

Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80

“Dear PoPville,

I live right on 18th St. in Adams Morgan. While the noise that comes with the neighborhood in the evenings is something that I have become accostmed to, the jackhammering and general construction noise that now begins directly outside my window at 7:30 each morning is not exactly the way that I like to start my day. My bedroom has 4 extremely large windows that look right over the street, and they arent particularly well sealed.

About a month ago I bought some sound-deadening curtains to help with the noise (before I just had wooden blinds), and that was fine when the works was down the street a bit, but now that the constuction has made its way to directly outside my front door, not so much. I am wondering if anyone knows of anything I can do myself to help reduce the sound making its way through the windows, or better yet, knows of a contractor that might have experience doing this kind of work. I have gotten the thumbs up from my landlord that she will cover the costs of any reasonable installations (my idea to install all new triple-pane windows is not quiet reasonable it appears). The windows are recessed from the wall, so there is plenty of room is put in some layers of protection – I was thinking maybe some large plexiglass sheets cut to size with insulation/foam around the edges might work well. I don’t think that I will be opening any of my bedroom windows until the spring, so removing that access isnt a big deal.

Thanks for the help!”