Basement studio in Illinois: I'm on the 10 year plan

[jlehan]

Hmmm a late night epiphany.

I couldn't quite figure out what was going on in this post (I read it it about 100 times)
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... fire+block

I think what Rod was saying is shown below in my graphic.....does that seem right?

Rockwool between the outer wall and the inner wall, (held in place with finishing nails, if necessary), and fire caulked on top to prevent "hot gasses".

[jlehan]

So for the back wall....that fire stop won't work....the firest stop would need to be against the top plate of the outer wall....but the wall isn't high enough.

I came up with two potential solutions..

the first is if I decide to do "inside-out" walls on the back wall....i theoretically could just extend the drywall up past the top plate of the inner wall, and then position the rockwool/cualk between the extended drywall and top plate of the outer walls.

the second scenario is for normally framed walls...(drywall inside studio).

Here i figure i could attach a strip of drywall to the top of the outer walls, then position the fire stop between this drywall and the top plate of the inner walls.....

the only issue i see with these is they create a sort of 3-leaf effect...but there might not be any other options to create firestop assemblies. Am I on the right track?

[britune]

John Sayers and Lilith_Envy advised me to build my firestop as shown below. That is what I did. I had two ceilings, one from iso hangers and one that was self supported with no connection to above. They both had the same detail shown below (but one had no iso clips).

You have a great looking project. Best of luck!

[jlehan]

Britune,

Thanks for the info, and the compliment!

Maybe you can speak further to this, and maybe not....

I'm trying to understand exactly what constitutes a "firestop"....from what I can tell from Rod's book (sorry, I'm a dummy when it comes to contruction.) there needs to be a fire-resistant barrier between two wall cavities.

From that picture (and I think i'd seen it before somewhere on the site ) fire could travel up from the side walls and into the ceiling cavity right? Is there a barrier between the two? Iso clips are spaced ever 24" or so, so wouldn't provide a continues barrier to fire or gases?

I hope that made sense ( i "painted" your picture to explain what I think I'm saying)

Sorry for all the second guessing and questioning...I just really want to make sure I'm "getting it"....

and I hope when this is done my space is half as cool as what you were able to do!

[jlehan]

A little delay....geez fatherhood takes up a lot of time

I also just got the 2nd edition of Rod's book so i've been going back through for tasty tidbits of knowledge....something did catch my eye, so I'd take whatever input other folks might have on this issue. Its related to what's already been posted about the front corners of my room.

In case you're following along page 221-3 he says "I see a lot of people designing home studios that have splayed walls with a ton of wasted space in areas that could (effectively) be use for low-frequency attenuation"



So according to my design, i guess I would qualify.

My reasoning to splay the walls was to create an RFZ at the mixing position while creating enough of an angle in the small tracking room to avoid paralell walls.

Would i be better off following Rod's advice and using those corners for bass trapping, while using a mix of room treatments in the tracking room (say, diffusuers and absorption) instead of using a more severe construction technique to avoid paralell walls?

If anyone has experience, or an idea that might work better, I'd love to hear before I build something i have to remove! Here's a shot of the front of the room to which i'm referring.

here's an updated skp file:

http://www.box.net/shared/7e5pypv7aa

[gullfo]

If you have the option to use the corners, then do so. You could indent the corners and still leave the angle side walls past the soffits. This way behind the soffits you have enough depth for trapping and still have the angles you want on the side walls in the CR and the iso booth. In previous post on fire stop - the edge at the top of the inner wall is where you put it. A 5/8th inch type x drywall on the joists and on the top portion of the isolation wall with rigid insulation gently inserted and fire caulked will do it.

[jlehan]

Thanks for the input...that makes a lot of sense. And in looking back at Rod's elevations in the book, that appears to be exactly what he's done as well....I'll do a redisign in sketchup to reflect that and see what everyone thinks....don't want to give up the opportunity to bass trap if I can help it.

Here's another question for anyone.....I'm going to be using a mix of inside out and rightside-in walls at various places in the studio. I know there is a magic number of 4" for the desired air gap in a mass-air-mass construction. Where you use inside-out walls, i would assume you need 4 inches between the interior drywall layers on adjacent walls. When you use standard construction, do you count the depth of each wall (the space between the studs) in the 4" calculation? So for example, you get 3.5" of depth in 2x4 stud construction on each wall. So...you could theoretically have an inside-out wall next to a standard construction wall, put them about an inch apart and still maintin the 4" gap? did that make sense?

[xSpace]

This picture shows mixing up your wall panels. I would ask that you place them all on one side or the other rather than mixing them up...it isn't doing anything but making the build more complicated and reduces the shear ability of the wall:
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/downl ... =38541&t=1

Also, the framing of the wall that is just there with nothing attached, I would also modify this. As it is, your fire stopping is ineffective since in the event of a fire it can burn through the wall and jump right into the overhead cavity, never coming close to the fire stop.

I would eliminate the wall framed close to the exterior. Then I would run the joists all out in a straight line to with an 1" of the existing exterior perimeter wall. Then sheetrock the underneath side of the joists install a 2X4 plate and THEN install the fire stopping components in this newly created area.

Like this:

[jlehan]

Everyone,

Thanks soooo much for your input. I ended up in the "constrution" forum, and now i'm back to designing again. Alas, I'd rather do it right than not do it at all.

I'm reworking my control room based on the 2nd edition of Rod's book...he deals with bass traps in the corners instead of splayed walls (which is where I'm now going, which means sketchup redesign).

So in the meantime.....

Has anyone used 2 cameras and 2 cheap flatscreens instead of a window between control room/tracking? Not sure what type of electrical interference these might cause, but I'm wondering if its going to be more effective for me.

Page 11 of the 2nd edition of Rod's book has (i think) a setup like this...but i can't tell for sure!

[gullfo]

check out Lord Tim's build where he used cameras and TV in place of windows.

[jlehan]

Wow, its only been six months since I posted anything. It is apparently difficult to get this done with a six-day per week job and a new baby in the house. I"ve officially moved to the 10 year plan...except my wife says I have to get this done before we have another kid. So either that means I'm a) allowed to spend more money and get it done more quickly b)We aren't having another kid.....or c) I'm supposed to stop. Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

So the studio is framed out now. We opted to use these clips to support the walls while maintaining isolation.
http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/sp- ... ib-3-clip/

I have a tracking room and a control room with a door in between, and I"ll be using a webcam-type system instead of installing a window between the rooms. The tracking room ceiling will be using hat channel with RSIC clips and the control room is going to be an inside-out ceiling design (the walls are standard construction). I plan on using 2x6s at 16 on center, building them on the floor and lifting into place.

No more splayed wells like the original design: just two rectangle "boxes" we'll treat later (see paragraph 1: need to get the major construction done before more babies are made).

Here's the latest skp file: http://www.box.net/shared/87k40aea8gu8cbhugf65

I simplified things somewhat by taking out of a lot of the finished "details" of the room interiors. To keep it simple in my brain, I"m working step by step:

1. Room layouts finalized (check) 2. Hvac installed (check) 2. get the two rooms framed (check) 3. Run the electrical, rough in for lighting (led) and create the low-voltage runs between the tracking/control room 4. Install the 2 distinct ceilings. 5. Insulation and drywall.

Im on step 3 now. Question 1 for anyone: I literally have about 10 dimmer switches installed upstairs. Am I screwed as far as using the existing panel? Will they affect current all the way downstairs? I know nothing about electrical, albeit what I learned in Rob's book (will be hiring this part out: just don't want to pay for things I dont need).

here's some photos of the progress!

[Soundman2020]

We opted to use these clips to support the walls while maintaining isolation.

I'm real curious about why you need those: Is that some sort of building code requirement in your area? Earthquake regulations? Something like that? Can't quite figure out why else you'd need them.

But it's good to see progress!

- Stuart -

[jlehan]

Stuart,

They are literally holding the walls up...

the top plate isn't connected to anything as the ceiling is going to be independently framed and placed on top. In order to keep them square and to support the drywall when it goes on, we went with the clips.

Rod' book recommends mason industries wic clips...I had a hard time sourcing those so used the same clips that britune used in his build http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... =2&t=14136

Hope that clarifies?

[Soundman2020]

the top plate isn't connected to anything as the ceiling is going to be independently framed and placed on top.

Ahhhh! That makes sense! From the photos it looks like the walls are supported by other walls at each end, and I figured you just hadn't put the joists on top yet, but if there won't be any joists on top, then it makes sense.


- Stuart -

[jlehan]

This might be a question for an engineer but....

Anyone have a way to determine wether or not the iso clips holding the walls in place are strong enough to handle a "super door".

I figure when the door is open there addition horizontal stress on the wall.

Granted, when the isolated ceiling goes on that adds an additional level of support.

Just curious if anyone has had experience, or if the assumption is that an independently framed ceiling provides enough stability to hold things in place.

hope that made sense......