John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

One of the issues you will have is that the hollow core door becomes thicker then the jamb when you start adding layers of mass to it. Also it may not stay seated on the hinge leaf due to the inner hollow core door not being thick enough and the screws passing through the wood into the cavity, not getting enough of a "bite" of wood to secure the heavier door.

A wooden frame is better for your jamb as far as continued mass.

But these things all hinge(pardon that!) on if you have the ability to build a door and a frame. It is tedious and exacting work.

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Brien Holcombe
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Sound: You can't stop it, you can only try to contain it.

Skip the hollow core doors. For that price you can build a solid MDF door yourself. Check out my design on earlier pages, something like that will do very well. If you think that design is too heavy, you can use smaller sheets of MDF. no problem since my design is a VERY solid (heavy) door

So in regard to hinges......

I've been told that these hinges are "beefy hinges":



I have 4 of them.

I'm willing to bet that my door weighs a minimum of 250 lbs.

You think these'll hold? Seems I'd need some pretty long, strong screws too, no?

I think they will

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http://www.estudiosbassino.cl

They are beefy indeed. pay attention when installing them... "this side up"

Word of caution: hinges that look beefy sometimes are... not. Make sure they are rated for your door - and yes, make sure your screws have enough bite or the door will fall off!

Re. hinges installation:
Hinges with unequal leaf widths; the broad leaf is fitted to the frame and the narrow leaf to the door. Where the hinges have equal leaf widths, the leaf with more knuckles is fitted to the frame and the leaf with less knuckles to the door.

A good brand in the UK is Ratman - very highly specified butt hinges.
http://www.ratman.co.uk/H1250_product.html
I got those ones. They do cost a bomb but I guess the alternative is a door falling off...

That looks like a five knuckle, full mortise ball bearing hinge:) That piece is a standard weight hinge for medium weight doors, depending on who made it. The thicker the leaf hinge plus additional bearings per hinge designate weight classification and the ability of the hinge to handle more traffic with less wear on the hinge.

The hinges should have come with screws, yes? Anyway, if it is 4 to 5 inch's tall, a wood screw 1-1/4" x #12 is suggested by manufacturers that matter, like Hager.

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Brien Holcombe
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Sound: You can't stop it, you can only try to contain it.

All true xspace. And sometimes, appearance can be deceptive - this hinge looks remarkably similar to the one Pure L posted the picture of, and is a $5 hinge that definitely won't hold a 150kg door for very long, so caution should be taken.
Also, if the doors are equipped with a door closer then the hinges should be rated for the adjusted door weight and not the actual door weight.
Finally, be aware that adding more hinges is not the solution - fitting six hinges rated for half the weight of your door won't do, fitting three (or four depending what the manufacturer says) hinges rated for the full adjusted weight of your door is the only way to go.

Your preaching to the choir.

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Brien Holcombe
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Sound: You can't stop it, you can only try to contain it.

LOL I know xspace but I've learnt so much on this forum from people preaching to the choir including some of your posts that I thought I'd share what I can - most of the seniors here know all that stuff but if that can help someone who doesn't then I've paid it forward a little, name of the game innit?

yup, can't hurt to repeat (common?) knowledge.
Or even discuss common techniques!

Absolutely Ro, what's common stuff for some is new knowledge for others, and without the seniors and other experts like John, Rod, Eric, Ethan, SoundMan, xSpace, you and many others here, repeating what they know I wouldn't have learnt so much. Talking fo which... if you fancy paying another visit to my thread, regarding room ratios I could do with a knowledgeable hand there

I'm not an expert on Ratios, french. sorry.

No sweat Ro, we can't be expert at everything - that certainely applies to me, as my sometimes very blond questions show!

I appreciate your vote of confidence Pierre, but an expert is someone who gives lectures on subjects and is paid for this. I just swing a hammer and recall what I have seen or done, gratis

Ratios: The new acoustic myth or the end of all your sonic woes?

I have read as much on ratios as the next person. Started with the golden ratio some years ago when I was trying to get a handle on this myself. Then moved on to ratios that noted authors have shown as preferable and not so preferable.

Having seen few purpose built structures here or in my work in conference rooms, lecture halls and auditoriums that seem to stumble on these ratios for any length of time, I wonder why others still stub a toe at this point in the build. Maybe as a starting point, a reference, a guide to make certain you are not building a square room or one with boundary lengths/heights with two of the same dimensions.

Outside of that, the acoustic treatments will still be applied, and testing is what is going to verify what treatments will be used.

Splayed walls, soffited speakers, soft ceilings, most of the boundaries typically change in all manner of degree. Averaging the ratios does not work because they were not established as a decimal to be multiplied by.

In any event, if the most perfect ratio cannot be achieved to what end does it serve us to even consider using the second most or third most?

What is really gained with the first most that cannot be treated such that any issues created by a less than stellar ratio combination can be made to go away?

Is that just me?

John Sayers said recently, I'll paraphrase, "I have never used ratios in my life".
edit: The actual phrase is "...I've never worked out a mode in my life."
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13030&start=0

I consider him an expert, even if he may not be on the lecture tour.

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Brien Holcombe
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Sound: You can't stop it, you can only try to contain it.