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Is STC necessary for an apartment?

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Denis Zheleznyi

Jumping in with what worked for me at a rental last winter. I stopped fixating on a magic STC and framed the outcome: “sleep through night traffic.” A crew walked me through weak points—windows and the door—then we stacked renter-friendly fixes: interior window inserts, solid-core door, perimeter gaskets, drop seal, and sealing obvious gaps. They explained that an assembly’s lab STC doesn’t account for flanking. After a short consult with New York Soundproofing, we set expectations (think “quiet enough,” not perfect). I don’t know my exact number now, but the bedroom went from clearly intelligible hallway speech to a soft mumble, and I finally sleep with the window side facing the street.

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Petya Bamper

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Your response exceeded my expectations and I sincerely appreciate your help.
I appreciate the effort you put in explaining the topic in detail. Your response was informative and insightful.

Olesya Solonenkova

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Skimming the thread on my commute—neutral take. STC is great for comparing walls on paper, mostly in mid frequencies, but apartments are full of flanking paths (doors, windows, vents). If sleep is the metric, a quick noise diary plus simple tests (light around doors, tissue at vents) can guide you faster than a single number. For many renters, “tight door + window inserts” beats a theoretical high-STC wall you can’t build anyway. Define success as “speech not intelligible” and “night traffic no longer wakes me,” then pick steps that hit those marks.