Hi chaps, seeing as loads of post offices closed down earlier this year, I'm wondering if any of you have had to refurb, refit any shops with the old counters still in.

Reason being is that I'm after a thick piece of glass for the window in my soon-to-be-built garage music room. I've enquired at glass merchants etc but they charge a fortune for special studio and laminated glass so I've decided to go the beg/borrow and steal route seeing as my total budget is just a few hundred quid.

I'm thinking post office counters/bank screens, shopfront glazing etc as it needs to be nice and thick.  I've seen plenty of post office counters go on eBay cheap-as-chips, but none in the South London area unforch  

Size is relatively unimportant, it's gonna be fitted into a stud wall, so I'll just build it in as it comes and board around it to the size required.  

So if anyone comes across something similar on their travels, let me know!

Cheers
Del

Hi, yeh I realise that it's gonna be impossible to cut without using some water jet machine or something but size isn't important as I can build the wall around it and just put the plasterboard in place over it, leaving whatever size I need for the window.

The window will be approx 9" from the existing outside window, from what I've gathered 2 panes and big airgap = good isolation.
 The thickness of the glass is crucial though. The inner stud wall will be about 2 inches thick, I'll need glass at least ¾ inch to be able to match it, but preferably more to compensate for the 6mm glass in the outer window.

Del

or go to a window company and ask for 3 or 4 sets of double glazed units they have ripped out, matching in size, then your sorted, wont hear a thing through that much glass/ then space/ then glass

3 double glazed units is 6 glass panes so should have a decent effect

ss

make your own?

perspex-glass-perspex gap perspex glass perspex?

i havent got a clue, one thing i can help with though, dont forget to put sound proofing hoods above any downlighters/light fittings you might fit  

ss

I know before i post that i am totally out of my depth with this but...

My memory is whirring away here telling me that you need 100mm Vacuum between panes for sound insulation... hows that sound??


btk

[quote author=CWatters  link=1121999756/0#9 date=1122213586]A spot of googling and it looks like for best sound insulation you should:

Use laminated glass (rather than regular or toughened).
Use two panes of slightly different thickness.
Use a "large" airgap (75-125mm seems to be suggested)
Fit sound absorbent material to the walls inside the air gap.

[/quote]

Yep, nail-on-the-head.
That's the way to go, I'll be using a 200mm airgap, which will help me somewhat, and with rockwool filling the space between the walls. The only problem is acquiring the glass on a tight budget, that's where my idea of using salvaged security screens comes into play. Hence my appeal to all you building types.

I've a chippy mate who has done post offices/banks in the past, and says that the old screens usually end up getting skipped    
 ...but he's got neither lined up, at least none in the next 6 months anyway.

The vacuum idea has already been suggested elsewhere, and was poo-poo'd by acousticians, plus it would be technically challenging, even my dyson doesn't have that much suction!  8)

[quote author=CWatters  link=1121999756/0#11 date=1122218091]How to cut laminated glass...
http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/34-1.htm [/quote]

"several people have been burned in recent years"

Great!

I believe this is the best method...  http://science.howstuffworks.com/question553.htm  those things will have your arm off! (Check the vid at the bottom)

...anyway, cutting is not the plan, I'll just build any excess 'into' the wall, this will also make it easer to seal around the edges of the window.

Normal laminated (two layer) glass is easy to cut, you just use a standard cutter from both sides, snap it then cut the film with a razor blade, problem comes with the multi layered stuff in banks etc as you can't score the inner layers.

Used to do a lot of banking halls for Barclays around london but that was 20yrs ago, all the stuff we ripped out went straight into skips.

Jason

coor been a while since you came to these parts!
welcome back...

ss