John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Firstly, the information on this site has been invaluable in building my garage studio, and I'm very happy with the product. So thanks guys for all your dedication.

Secondly, I installed my CR-to-booth double window (35" x 24" in size) a bit prematurely and wanted to get your opinions. The glass (3/8" and 1/2" laminated & angled) has already been sealed and installed, but I didn't put any absorbent material in the cavity between the glass. The isolation seems fine but I haven't been able to test it yet with louder sources or a sine wave generator to see if there are problems at certain frequencies.

Is it at all feasible to remove the angled pane and install some fibreglass around the inside of the cavity? And would it be necessary?

Thanks again

Richard

A drawing of your construction would help, showing framing cutaway view around the glass, what is hard connected to what, etc - also, what did you use to seal the glass with? Some sealants never harden, some do. If fasteners were nails (assuming you used wood cleats for retainers) it may be hard to get them out without damaging the window. If screws, it should be much easier.

Bottom line - I need more details before I would venture a guess here... Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply. The window, by chance, follows almost exactly the following design:

http://www.soundcontrolroom.com/window_details.htm

with three exceptions. The 3/8" glass is vertical rather than angled, (gap between glass being roughly 3" at the bottom and 6" at the top) and the absorber placed within the cavity is missing. I also used a standard silicon sealant to seal the glass (no neoprene), and the fasteners are nails. Dodgy, I now realise but as I said, I put the window together early in the piece (without the help of this great site). And yes, I'm not that keen on damaging the glass, because it cost a fair bit!!!

Thanks again

I'm wondering whether you put this into a single framed wall or a double - if it's a single framed wall, there's only limited improvement to be had by adding the absorber panels inside - the only other reason for opening it up again would be to add dessicant for fogging control.

If you were very careful and used a razor knife, you should be able to cut through the silicone caulk - removing the cleats holding the glass may be trickier, and will undoubtedly mean new cleats before you're done.

If you used finish nails on the cleats, the only way I can think of to remove individual nails is to use a Dremel tool with a small wood bur, and carefully rout around each nail enough so that you could get on the head with a small (4") pair of Vice grips - then, you could twist back and forth slightly while pulling, and probably get the nails out.

If you have a Stanley Wonderbar (a flat pry bar with thin blade - one end is almost straight, the other end is 90 degrees) then you could CAREFULLY work the blade of the Wonderbar under part of the cleat, and start working it loose.

From a practical standpoint, I would be tempted to leave the window as it is unless it later proves to be a problem - you might want to countersink at least 3-4 holes for screws in the top molding, just in case your nails aren't up to the job of holding that heavy glass in place after the caulking dries up - at least, when/if you decide to remove the glass the screws won't make it impossible... Steve

Thanks for your advice, Steve. It is a single frame wall, so I think I'll follow your advice until it becomes a problem, if at all. As I said originally, the isolation seems fine at this stage and I haven't really had much opportunity to test it thoroughly, so I'll bide my time. Thanks for your help.