Please confirm plans + 1 question

[Rockum]

I am moving from the design phase to construction phase, Yeah! Because of the builder's health situation and my low $ we are having to do things in a bit of a rush. We've already made a few mistakes, but over all I am still excited and think we may still end up with a nice place when we are done. If you see anything in the construction plan details posted which could be done better at the same or lower cost, please let me know. I also have one question at the end.

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PLAN BASICS



THE ROOMS

Room 1 will be the control room.

Room 2 will be a small tracking room/large soundlock. Hopefully this room will help keep sound from passing from the drums in room 3 to the control room and/or room 4. If things get loud in 3 or 4, this room could still be used to record scratch material or un-mic'ed instruments.

Room 3 will be the live room - mainly for recording drums.

Room 4 will be a tracking room.

Room 5 will be an iso booth for an amp. If someone is using 5 really loud it will likely leak to 4 and 6 but hopefully not 1, 2 or 3.

Room 6 will be a small booth for scratch vocals or for recording quiet instruments when nothing too loud is going on in 4 or 5.

Room 7 is a utility room that has an HVAC which is not too loud. It does not matter if sound leaks into room 7 as long as it doesn't pass from room to room through 7.

THE WALLS

The A walls need to do a good job of isolating. Unfortunately, each of the A walls has the weakness of containing at least one glass door with only 3/8" space between it's two panes. I wonder how well a single glass door will do at isolating. Hence the need for room 2 to double as a soundlock. The hardest job for the A walls will likely be keeping the drums in 3 from leaking into 4 or 1.

The B walls are a little less crucial since they merely serve as help for the C walls in keeping the sound from disturbing the side neighbors. They will have only one side of their studs covered. (of course the B wall in the control room will also serve to create the correct angle for room acoustics)

The D walls are constructed of concrete block and are below ground so they pose little threat of leaking except perhaps from room 3 to room 4.

The E walls face a tree line and where there are no near neighbor so they also are a bit less crucial. They have the weakness of having four windows; two in room 1 and two windows in room 3.

All of the walls of 5 will be heavily treated. The walls in room 4 must also do a good job of isolating. All the remaining walls are for tuning the rooms and have not been designed to provide isolation.

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WHAT WE'VE ALREADY DONE

We started by adding faced R19 insulation to the entire basement. I gather from what I've read that perhaps we should have used unfaced, but what's done is done. We then added a layer of blackboard to all the exterior walls, most of the internal ones and the ceiling. Next we soffited a large vent that ran the length of the basement by using metal frame, treating the inside with rockwool and covering it with a layer of blackboard followed by 1/2" drywall. Most recently added was a 1/2" layer of drywall along the back of the control room and 5/8" drywall applied beneath the blackboard on the entire ceiling. I think everything has been applied with screws except the 5/8" drywall on the ceiling which was applied with a mixture of nails and screws.

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CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

In all of the drawings that follow, colors have been used consistently (for example drywall is always drawn in gray and celotex drawn in orange) Existing items are labeled in black text and planned items are labeled in red text. Everything will be applied with screws.



As pictured, the C wall is done; blackboard covered by 5/8" drywall. The B wall which is not yet built will be 4" metal frame with blackboard and 1/2" drywall facing the inside of the control room. This wall will not have anything applied to the other side of the frame. The A wall of the control room and of the drum room will be 6" metal frame staggered stud with rockwool or insulation (which is better?) weaved in between the studs, a layer of blackboard, RC and 5/8" dry wall on each side. IF THERE IS A BETTER PLAN FOR THE MONEY, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP. We will probably be building this wall tomorrow or Wednesday. Note that the track will go all the way back to the blackboard on the front wall. The blackboard of the A wall will be tucked into the drywall. Finally, the RC of the A wall will float the 5/8" drywall out and neither the front of back walls will have a layer beyond it that might hamper the RC's performance. (the ceiling is another matter - more on that below)



This picture represents a cross-section of the front of the control room. From bottom to top it show the floor, the E (front) wall of the control room and the two ceilings. AGAIN - IF THERE IS ANY BETTER WAY TO INTERLAY THESE MATERIALS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP. We are going to prepare some home made isolators with slices of old tires and wire. Notice that the ceiling's track will go all the way to the wall's blackboard layer.



This picture represents a cross-section of the back of the control room. Notice again the drop ceilings track goes all the way to the blackboard on the soffit.



This picture shows the detail of where the A wall of the control room meets the A wall shared by rooms 2 and 4. ANY COST EFFECTIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE THIS?

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A FINAL QUESTION(s)

When the frame is 6" staggered stud like the control room's A wall pictured above, how would one frame in french doors? glass doors? It seems to me that it would be important that the door not tie together the two sides. Does the door need to be built into a single side? how?

Any answers, suggestions, pertinent links or information appreciated.

Thanks

[knightfly]

First, what are you calling "blackboard" - I trudged through 50+ google pages and every one was about an educational software product.

Second, am I seeing RC between panels on both sides of a wall? If so, this will SUCK. Worst possible use of materials you could do, short of just leaning them up against the framing.

Third, if you use staggered stud frames the insulation should be placed in batts and offset like the studs, so you get a more thorough fill in the stud cavities. This by itself will improve TL by anywhere from 2 to 4-5 dB.

If you've not already bought all the different kinds of materials, save yourself some grief/cash and just get a big pile of 5/8" gypsum wallboard, some drywall mud (joint compound) and tape, and do multiple layers of drywall where you want isolation.

If you've not already done so, check out the REFERENCE section, at least the first 2-3 links in it; it explains the physics of multi-leaf walls.

Partway down the page here is a detail for staggered stud frames and standard hinged doors, maybe it will help -

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=29212

HTH... Steve

[malfunction]

Hi,

I'm still no expert but from what I saw in your plans there's a problem at least with your "A"-walls.

You're now making a 4-leaf wall (if I understand your plans corryctly)which is not the way to go. The RC between the drywall and the blackboard separates the two solid layers and by having the RC on both sides makes it a
4-leaf wall.

What you want is a 2-leaf wall(mass-air-mass) and by not attaching the RC your wall will become just that.

Hope you get a confirmation from Steve before anything bad happens.

Good luck!
-Tomi-

[Rockum]

First, what are you calling "blackboard" - I trudged through 50+ google pages and every one was about an educational software product.

I think that Home Depot calls it... asphalt-impregnated sheathing. They sell the Georgia Pacific brand labeled Stedi-R Regular Fiberboard Sheathing. Celotex (the company) makes a variety of it as well which can be found at Lowes. At least around here, builders refer to it as blackboard. Two separate studio builders here in Nashville highly recommended it as much cheaper alternative to Celotex sound stop ($5.45 vs $8.xx for a 4 x 8 board). It is a bit less rigid and less dense than Sound Stop but similar.

Here's a pic in action

Second, am I seeing RC between panels on both sides of a wall? If so, this will SUCK. Worst possible use of materials you could do, short of just leaning them up against the framing.

Thanks so much. You likely saved me a huge expense and a good bit of time. Should I use RC at all? If so, on which side of that drumroom wall would you put it? Toward the louder source (the drums)?

Third, if you use staggered stud frames the insulation should be placed in batts and offset like the studs, so you get a more thorough fill in the stud cavities. This by itself will improve TL by anywhere from 2 to 4-5 dB.

Ok thanks, that's what I meant by interweaving

If you've not already bought all the different kinds of materials, save yourself some grief/cash and just get a big pile of 5/8" gypsum wallboard, some drywall mud (joint compound) and tape, and do multiple layers of drywall where you want isolation.

I have a good bit of blackboard, RC and Celotext Sound Stop on hand but it is returnable. I gathered from reading the forums that mixing layers of different material and thicknesses was a very good thing for isolation... ?

If you've not already done so, check out the REFERENCE section, at least the first 2-3 links in it; it explains the physics of multi-leaf walls. Partway down the page here is a detail for staggered stud frames and standard hinged doors, maybe it will help -

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=29212

HTH... Steve

I'll definately go through it again. I had in the back of my mind a vague memory reading something about putting RC on both sides and it was actually the reason I wanted to double check. Glad I did. To be honest, after reading "Building a Recording Studio" and reading lots of post here and there, sometimes it gets a little hard to keep track of it all. Thanks for setting me straight. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions...

[Rockum]

Thanks malfunction.