Studio Window Glass

[woliver]

Hi-
I am building a window in between a SOUNDPROOFED live room and a control room. Needless to say, isolation is important. Would I be better off with a dual-pane window, or, as my architecht suggested, single-pane laminate glass?
He says that laminate glass is much more soundproof, but he is definitely not an expert, so I thought I would consult those who are.
Which one is more cost-effective? I don't want to skimp and end up hearing people breathe from the control room. If dual-pane is expensive but laminate glass does absoutely nothing... well, you know.

[avare]

Describe the wall in detail. You don't want the window to be a weak link, but you don't want to make it bomb proof if the rest of the wall isn't.

[woliver]

Single stud wall, built with 2x4's. 3 layers 1/2" sheetrock, fully caulked. The window will be in this wall, which leads into and is shared with the control room. Then, the control room walls are almost the same, but with 2 layers of 5/8" sheetrock. The goal is to minimize the sound going from the live room into the control room, because as of right now no sound leaks out of the control room and I need to keep it that way. So, basically, it's putting a window in one wall (the wall with 2 layers of 1/2" rock) of a double wall setup, and trying to maintain the wall's integrity.

[avare]

It sounds like a double stud wall in total that you are describing. Or are you writing about the drywall on each side of the walls? Use 1/2" glass in the triple 1/2" drywall wall and 3/8" glass in the double 1/2" drywall wall.

The guideline is to use 1/3 the thickness of drywall as the glass thickness. If you use laminated, then you can drop one size of thickness.

Andre

[nosebleedaudio]

Maximum space, and use 703 around the inside of the glass.
Solid glass is less money, easier to get locally and works as well...
As mentioned weight is the main thing with a window.
1/2" glass weighs around 6.7 pounds per sq. foot.
So your wall weight should be at least this much...

[woliver]

hi-

So it sounds like glass might be a better soundproofing material than even drywall. Does it make sense to build as big a window as possible, or is there a point where TOO much glass over too big of an area starts to decrease in efficiency?

Also, when you say 'use 1/3 the thickness'... Is this for a solid pane of normal (non-laminate) glass? If you are using double paned glass, then do you use 1/3 the thickness PER PANE, or 1/3 the thickness total (or, I guess, even less because of the airspace...)?

[nosebleedaudio]

Originally Posted by woliver

hi-

So it sounds like glass might be a better soundproofing material than even drywall. Does it make sense to build as big a window as possible, or is there a point where TOO much glass over too big of an area starts to decrease in efficiency?

Also, when you say 'use 1/3 the thickness'... Is this for a solid pane of normal (non-laminate) glass? If you are using double paned glass, then do you use 1/3 the thickness PER PANE, or 1/3 the thickness total (or, I guess, even less because of the airspace...)?

Or stated another way your sheetrock should be 3 times the thickness of the glass.
Solid glass is heavier than laminate, for the same total thickness.
5/8" Sheetrock weighs around 2.1 pounds per sq. foot, 2 layers around 4.2 pounds.
You also want one glass plate thicker than the other, 3/8" and 1/2" for example.
To reduce the coincidence dip.

[avare]

Originally Posted by woliver

hi-

So it sounds like glass might be a better soundproofing material than even drywall. Does it make sense to build as big a window as possible, or is there a point where TOO much glass over too big of an area starts to decrease in efficiency?

Mike answered the other part of your post. As far as the quote above goes, glass is much more expensive than drywall.

Andre