glass door vs wood door + window

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:30 am

I'm pondering a reworking of my live room space to shrink a long skinny live room, into a shorter room with a small dead iso room.

As far as isolation is concerned would it be better to have a sliding glass door that can seal, or a wooden door with a window for line of sight.

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 12:43 pm

I'm no expert, but I've been pondering and researching this stuff as of late. I believe it depends on which sliding and which wooden doors you're talking about. A triple-paned, tempered glass slider vs. a hollow core wood door with a single pane of glass, the slider will probably out-perform. But I believe dollar for dollar you'll get more iso out of a solid core, wood storm door with a smallish triple pane window than out of the equivalent cost slider. $0.02. If money's no object and you can build whatever you want custom, then they can both be made equal. Just use aquarium glass (shark tank at the zoo, not home 20 gal tank) or something.

Basically it comes down to mass. Which is heavier per square foot of surface?

After that it can come down to the install. Which can you get in there tighter with less coupling to the surrounding surfaces?

The Rod Gervais book covers this stuff.

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:30 pm

I should have clarified: solid core door. All the doors in my studio are solid core, I agree that a hollow core door is pretty worthless.

I own the Gervais book, I'll have to double check if he does a door comparison with glass vs wood.

I have started to think perhaps the large surface area of glass would have a bad reflection problem on the side where the smaller iso room is. Perhaps wooden door and window is the way to go.

Which brings me to my next question:

Where do you get a thick window that doesn't have two parts/ isn't designed to be open?

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 6:27 pm

For my last music room I went to a window/door place here in town and ordered 2 double pane windows. They were just two panes of glass with an aluminum separator. I think there was some rubber bushing too. And I sprung for the argon gas in there also. I could basically "design" what I wanted. Dimensions, glass thickness, type of glass, etc. I brought 'em home and held them into the window frames on the inside of the existing glass (for a triple pane deal) with some thin strips of moulding. I can't remember what I spent, but I remember thinking it was well worth it. Call around to window places in your area and ask if they'll do custom size, double (triple?) pane windows for you. You might want to go for different glass thicknesses on each side. And not multiples of each other. Like 1/4" and 3/8" or something. Supposedly that helps stop sound.

groover · Post by **groover** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 12:17 pm

losthighway wrote:I have started to think perhaps the large surface area of glass would have a bad reflection problem on the side where the smaller iso room is. Perhaps wooden door and window is the way to go.

Plus with a wooden door w/ window you have easier options to add some absorption or diffusion to the surfaces of the door.

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:29 pm

1.- how many decibels of separation do you feel you need form this iso booth?

2.- Visilibity in live recording situations is important.

3.- A solid entry door might be the ticket. Not cheap, but awesome. I have a double pane window double entry door, and it is amazing. You close the door and its
Metal with large single cavity windows with inside the window shades.

norton · Post by **norton** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:15 pm

In any wall the weakest point for sound transmission is going to be the door or window.

To that end,commercially available high stc doors and windows are extremely expensive, and rarely perform to their claims in the real world.

If you are at all handy, and use laminated glass and cut your own window opening in a nice heavy solid core door.... I would say you would be ahead of the game stc and $$ wise.

Of course two separate laminated glass panes with a very nice elastic seal will be key, but I think you should go for it.

GIK Acoustics · Post by **GIK Acoustics** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:37 am

I would go with whatever ends up cheapest. If looks are more important, go with the one you like the most.

losthighway wrote: I have started to think perhaps the large surface area of glass would have a bad reflection problem on the side where the smaller iso room is. Perhaps wooden door and window is the way to go.

Any hard surface is reflective, whether its glass or a solid door.

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 11:11 pm

This article might be useful to you, not so much in terms of isolation, but how the varying materials will impact the sound of the room.

http://realtraps.com/art_surfaces.htm

Gregg Juke · Post by **Gregg Juke** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:59 am

Solid core, triple and angled pane, etc., etc. is definitely best practice, but I've been in studios that didn't have all of that and things seemed to work fine. One guy we know has just such a sliding glass door (basically a home exterior patio-type door) between his control room and live room; no problems.

Our current studio has an iso room next to the control room. The place was built as office space, and we just happened to have a "doctor's office" window between the two rooms; sliding pane receptionist type. I was really concerned that it would be a problem, but we tightened it up and sealed the gaps with foam, and no problems with movement from sympathetic vibration, and no apparent reflection issues either...

The control room wall facing the hall, however, was a huge issue whenever the door was closed, because it's hollow/uninsulated, and it was becoming a giant bass speaker and cranking out nasty frequencies whenever we closed the door ("completing the circuit" on the giant speaker, I guess). We tried treatment, we tried building a big bass trap from plans in a recording magazine; nothing worked. I wanted to blow insulation in, but finding someone to do one wall on a building we don't own was kind of an issue. In the end, we just strapped an EQ across the mains, took out the frequency, and called it a day.

I mentioned all of that just to point-out the potential problems with a hollow door or wall. Also, glass/plexiglass panes have to be selected carefully and the right dimensions for the window have to be determined (I guess we just kind of lucked-out with ours). There is a series of panes at my day-gig that all resonate at certain audible frequencies, and you can actually play a short bass-line on them, so be careful with what you select and get a variety of opinions re: possible issues.

GJ

goose134 · Post by **goose134** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:51 pm

I wonder if you were to purchase an old walk-in cooler door if that would solve all problems. I suppose you could check the paper for out of business auctions. Good seal, thick and insulated. Might be the perfect thing. Probably would look bad ass, all stainless steel and what not.

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glass door vs wood door + window

glass door vs wood door + window

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