"I went to work in an office that had a pocket door that never worked right because someone had driven nails into it at some point and it was never the same after" (palimpsest) Yes. This happened to us when DH nailed the baseboard on the wall between the laundry and kitchen. The door came off track. When we renovate I will replace or remove. However, this was builder grade. On our extension I added three pocket doors. The one I had put in for the powder room is a solid core door, not thinner than most doors, as I wanted as much sound-dampening as possible with such a device. We used Johnson Hardware - not the home depot variety which runs $ 40 or so, but commercial grade. Look at the Johnson site under 1500 Commercial Grade and you will also find non-standard size frames (door max thickness 1 3/4"). Use a good carpenter.

I'm going to say none of above (if pocket doors not an option).... I see french doors in new construction offices all the time and all I can attribute it to is "what everyone is doing" because from a practicality issue it makes no sense to me. Most people's offices are for working in and are functional and private and often times, messy! Why would people want that to be "open" to everyone? You certainly don't want your guests to see it and it is even unappealing and even stressful to look at a space covered in piles and clutter. I know everyone's office is not this way but trust me :), most are not the tidiest rooms in the house! Put solid doors that offer noise control and privacy. Also gives you other options if for some reason it needs to serve another function at any time- i.e. guest room.

If you already have a double pane door, the problem may not be the door. Before going into expense of adding another layer of drywall to the walls and ceiling and replacing the door, I would check other things. Like bathroom exhaust fan ducting...is it insulated? HVAC ducts. Plumbing vents. Gaskets on all the exterior wall switches & receptacles as well as ceiling lights. Recessed light cans? Pull a piece of door/ window trim and check that the space between the jamb and framing is insulated.

We need to remove brick under bay window because it’s falling off, but the rest is ok. We’d like to replace it with something else and paint the red brick to match whatever material we use, possibly charcoal to bring out the dark in roof. Thinking either vinyl stacked stone siding, vertical siding or vinyl shake siding. Also should we do the whole window wall or just under window. I’d love to keep garage door & front door red but give it a fresh coat.