Door Jamb flanking/room in a room

I'm building a room within a room studio in a basement. I have question about the door jamb construction. If the purpose of building a room w/in a room is to completely de couple the inside from the outside room without any flanking at all how do you build the door jamb without that happening? It seems impossible not to connect the inside room wall and outside room wall when building the door jamb. Doesn't this cancel everything else out if the two walls are connected at this point?

Which of the two doors are you concerned about? The door in the inner leaf of the wall, or the door in the outer leaf of the wall? Just like the two leaves of the wall, the two doors should not touch each other, and neither should the two jambs, if you want maximum isolation. I'm not sure why you think your two jambs need to touch each other. If you build them sturdy enough, then each will work just fine on its own, without needing support from the other. - Stuart -

It is most important to construct walls that have the ability to stand on their own, but there are cases when ties are required: You may require something like this: http://www.matrixindustries.com.au/products/SB03.html These shouldn't be considered as reinforcement because that is not the designed use.

Soundman2020 wrote:

Which of the two doors are you concerned about? The door in the inner leaf of the wall, or the door in the outer leaf of the wall? Just like the two leaves of the wall, the two doors should not touch each other, and neither should the two jambs, if you want maximum isolation. I'm not sure why you think your two jambs need to touch each other. If you build them sturdy enough, then each will work just fine on its own, without needing support from the other. - Stuart -

Stuart - I've come across this confusion before - It appears to come from Rod's book where apparently he uses one door jam for a double door situation.

John Sayers wrote:

Soundman2020 wrote:

Which of the two doors are you concerned about? The door in the inner leaf of the wall, or the door in the outer leaf of the wall? Just like the two leaves of the wall, the two doors should not touch each other, and neither should the two jambs, if you want maximum isolation. I'm not sure why you think your two jambs need to touch each other. If you build them sturdy enough, then each will work just fine on its own, without needing support from the other. - Stuart -

Stuart - I've come across this confusion before - It appears to come from Rod's book where apparently he uses one door jam for a double door situation.

Folks, this is what I say in the book -

I’ll let you know right now that this is one place I don’t worry about maintaining the separation of wall assemblies with the frames, even when using totally separated assemblies. When it comes to carrying a door that might weight well over 300 pounds (if you build them like I do), or even standard solid core doors, you do not want your door frame attached to a stud that can move over the years. As I noted above, tests have proven that a through jamb does not effectively lessen the total isolation value of a wall assembly to any great degree. So don’t worry about any miniscule amount of isolation you may lose. Just build the frame straight through the cavity.

Especially if the wall framing is either 2 x 4 studs - or light guage metal framing. I do intent though - to provide an alternate details for totally isolated frames (minimum 2x6 walls) in the 2nd edition of the book. Sincrely, Rod

That so wierd, I was flicking through your (Rod's) Book on thursday and noted that you were sharing the door jam. thought I was strange

Thanks for all the responses so far. To clear up just a little- This door is for the door going from the control room into the soundlock. So it won't be two doors on one jamb just a single door. And then, of course, there will be another door on the opposite side of the soundlock leading out to the live room. Anyway, I think Rod addressed it. I do have your book, Rod, (great info by the way) and I'm planning on building the door assembly/jamb like you suggest on pg 94. i think I'm just surprised that we go through all the work and money to build a room w/in a room and then connect them at the jamb and was hoping there'd be a better answer. After reading through that section more closely I'll take your word for it that the slight coupling at that point will not be a huge detriment to everything else. Does it have to be compressed rockwool sandwiched there (as in the drawing) or can I use some regular R13? thanks, Mike

MRicci wrote:

Thanks for all the responses so far. To clear up just a little- This door is for the door going from the control room into the soundlock. So it won't be two doors on one jamb just a single door. And then, of course, there will be another door on the opposite side of the soundlock leading out to the live room. Anyway, I think Rod addressed it. I do have your book, Rod, (great info by the way) and I'm planning on building the door assembly/jamb like you suggest on pg 94. i think I'm just surprised that we go through all the work and money to build a room w/in a room and then connect them at the jamb and was hoping there'd be a better answer. After reading through that section more closely I'll take your word for it that the slight coupling at that point will not be a huge detriment to everything else.

Mike, Reality is that you need to decouple - and you also need to construct buildings that meet certain structural requirements. Personally I would always opt for a minimum 2x6 wall - but see people all over the place using 2x4's. When you take a sound door that weighs over 300 lbs and hang it off a 2x4 wal frame that has sheathing on only one side of the wall face - I do not have "happy happy joy joy" thoughts running through my head when I try to picture how long those studs are going to stay in place before something starts to move. Structurally I always try to err on the side of caution........ I view it the same was I do with the 3 and 4 leaf conditions created at air locks, etc...... sometimes you just live with what you have to live with. BUT - it is because of the fact that there are certain things we have to live with (that begin to compromise isolation) that we must take such care with everything else to make certain they are as close to perfect as we can get - and beyond that - don't sweat the small stuff... BTW - that through jamb detail is exactly as constructed at Power Station - and believe me - we have no issues there with lack of isolation.

Does it have to be compressed rockwool sandwiched there (as in the drawing) or can I use some regular R13?

The r13 would do ok I suppose - I like the rockwool myself........ Sincerely, Rod

Stuart - I've come across this confusion before - It appears to come from Rod's book where apparently he uses one door jam for a double door situation.

Thanks John! My bad. I thought he was talking about your sliding-glass door frames. In that case, the frames for the two doors really are separate, correct? - Stuart -

Thanks for the feedback. I'll build a 2x6 wall for that section with the door. Framing begins tomorrow.... Thanks all, Mike

Hello, We are from Paris currently building new offices with video editing studios. I've came to the same confusion on the doors subject. We found Steel Doors : Steel Acoustic Door (Single Leaf ) 45db Doorcase Width 140mm Door leaf thickness 89mm Doorcase Depth 150mm Should we use this 150mm door jamb on the inner wall (that we are willing to make with the Staggered Studd wall 95x35mm + 3 layers of 16mm plasterboard on each side) and add another regular door for the outer wall ? Or shall we use this 150mm door jamb as a unique door jamb to cover inner wall +air space + outer wall, and stay with one unique door ? any help will be appreciated ;) best regards stéphane.