hi fran,
thanks for your reply, and i think the couch is a perfect place for dispensing advice. unfortunately i'm pretty sure just plugging the window won't be enough. the noise sure seems like it's coming through the whole wall...and thinking about it last night i wondered if it isn't coming right through the floor as well. so, more questions:
1. would it help to build in another layer of floor? if it would, how should i go about it? i can picture building the wall in my head, but i've no idea about a floor.
2. for the wall, do i just want one layer of drywall on the outside?
3. the window has to be able to be opened. i will die in the summertime otherwise. does this entirely defeat the purpose of another wall/floor?
if the answer to 3 is yes, i'm prepared to just abandon all hope, switch my schedule around entirely and just work from midnight-10am when the stupid fan is off. this isn't as ridiculous as it seems, it's actually as quiet as the country here that time of night, and it's kind of nice to be the only person awake in the whole neighborhood, no distractions...
anyway, thanks again.
scott