Plans to build recording room(s) in garage...

photoresistor · Post by **photoresistor** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 2:47 pm

Plywood it is.... and ill keep that idea for the attic fan in mind.

couple of questions:

how much clearance should there be in between the two walls? and also the between the ceiling layers? im thinking there will be a compromise between best sound isolation and keeping the largets space possible.

thanks

Sandersd · Post by **Sandersd** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 11:20 pm

All my comments are geared towards maximum isolation for minimum mula. You could utilize the existing exterior walls as a "leaf", remove the drywall from one face and space the new wall a foot away with drywall on the inside only. But what's the point of making only two walls very strong and the other walls and ceiling weaker - the sound will simply exit thru the weaker walls.

My suggestion, given your budget and intention to build a temporary room, is to build an insulated box as I described in an earlier reply. The difference in width between a 2x4 and 2x6 wall is minimal, although you might consider staggered 2x4 studs on a 2x6 plate.

Hope this helps...

photoresistor · Post by **photoresistor** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:18 pm

i was planning on making the whole thing a double wall type thing--an outter wall would exist around the whole structure connecting to the existing wall and ceiling (and wrapping around the outside of the inner wall) and then thered be an inner wall 'upside down cardboard box.'

im kind of confused on what you mean?

thanks.

Deluks · Post by **Deluks** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 1:33 am

photoresistor wrote:i was planning on making the whole thing a double wall type thing--an outter wall would exist around the whole structure connecting to the existing wall and ceiling (and wrapping around the outside of the inner wall) and then thered be an inner wall 'upside down cardboard box.'

im kind of confused on what you mean?

thanks.

That would be correct, but how is your existing garage wall constructed? If it consists of a separate inner and outer layer with an airgap/insulation in between the studs then you need to remove the inner layer before you proceed.

That way your soundproofing will be obtained by sticking with the M-A-M principle:

2 sides would be: Outer garage wall/airgap*/inner walls of your studio.

The other 2 sides would be: Newly constructed 'outer' walls (but they are inside the garage)/airgap*/inner walls of your studio.

*airgap includes any insulation that you'll be putting in there.

I'll knock up a simple diagram later if your still confused.

If there is any insulation in the existing garage wall then leave it be (provided it's the fluffy itchy type, and not celotex/polystyrene etc.)

Can you take some photos for us?

photoresistor · Post by **photoresistor** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:16 am

Yeah okay, thats how i was thinking... i was planning on taking off the existing inner leaf of the existing garage wall so itd just be mass-spring-mass. im not sure as of yet if there is insulation in the walls as i havent done any construction/demolition.

Pretty soon, once the design of the whole thing is more decided for sure, we will begin to tear off the drywall on the inside, etc...

the one question i had was how much space does there need to be in between the walls? (the existing outter garage wall and the inner garage wall) Of course i want max sound isolation but i dont want there to be a 2ft space in there because then my room would be really small. is there any set standard for this?

thanks for your replies, you are helping me out a lot

-dan

Dan Fitzpatrick · Post by **Dan Fitzpatrick** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 10:22 am

someone else here used a router to cut the drywall around the perimeter of each stud cavity, which left perfectly sized panels to be used as beef up material. not a bad idea, wish i'd thought of it before getting out the crowbar ...

photoresistor · Post by **photoresistor** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:50 pm

Thats a really good idea actually. I'll have to see if I can do that.... any word on how much of an air gap would be sufficient between the two walls?

thanks. im getting closer....

Dan Fitzpatrick · Post by **Dan Fitzpatrick** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:51 am

personally i'm doing about 12 inches. i think beyond that you just start losing ridiculous amounts of space.

that's 12 inches between hard surfaces, insulation doesn't count. so for example if you had a double stud wall where the studs are 3. inches wide, you'd have 5 inches between the studs ... 3.5 + 5 + 3.5 = 12 ... but it would be filled with insulation too.

photoresistor · Post by **photoresistor** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 4:52 pm

Okay, been doing some searching and reading on here... found some great information on the topic courtesy of knightfly from an older thread (heres a little summary):

8" air space between 2 layers of 5/8" sheetrock walls on each side: STC 67 @ 500hz, 35db TL @ 50hz
12" air space between layers of 5/8" sheetrock walls on each side: STC 67 @ 500hz, 38db TL @ 50hz

8" air space between (3) 5/8" sheetrock on each side: STC 75 @ 500hz, 41db TL @ 50hz
12" air space between (3) 5/8" sheetrock on each side: STC 75 @ 500hz, 45db TL @ 50hz

(green glue can be used to save space but is expensive.)

Here is my dilemna, however: The outside layer of my double stud wall (at least i think thats what it would be... or is it staggered stud... what is the difference between these??) on one side is the outside wall of the garage and thus i dont think i could add sheetrock to it (would have to like tear down the garage wall wouldnt it). how much would only being able to fortify one layer of the wall take away from sound isolation?

photoresistor · Post by **photoresistor** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:32 pm

I guess I have the option of adding drywall to the inside of the outside garage wall... i am not excited about that route however as that would be a whole lot more work (especially if the wall is already insulated). what do you think?

Post by **kendale** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:19 pm

Aloha,

how much would only being able to fortify one layer of the wall take away from sound isolation?

Hope this helps.

Aloha

Dan Fitzpatrick · Post by **Dan Fitzpatrick** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 4:37 am

staggered stud uses the same top and bottom plate, often 2x6. studs alternate being flush with one side or the other of the 2x6, so the leaves on each side are not connected. the leaves are connected through the top and bottom plates however, so it is not as good as double stud.

to reinforce or "beef up" as we call it the garage wall, you would add gypsum to the inside of the existing garage wall between the studs. yes it is a pain, i am in the middle of doing it, you can see from my thread what may be invovled. also Keith Sharward has done a great job documenting his "beef up."

photoresistor · Post by **photoresistor** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 2:11 pm

what if i 'sawed out' the existing drywall between the studs ad then fixed these leafs onto the outter layer of the existing wall (in between the studs)? would there be a problem in that the leaf cutouts would be a little bit smaller than the area due to im guessing i wont be able to be perfect when im cutting? and ive heard a lot of talk about 'mud' in between drywall... ill have to do some reading on that.

thanks again guys for all this information.

photoresistor · Post by **photoresistor** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 3:57 pm

oh hey i guess what i said in my last post is what you were suggesting initially... i just didnt put two and two together.

I just cut out a small square from the existing garage wall to see whats behind it and ill try and get a picture of it on here soon (digital camera is kinda not working). Basically, now there is no insulation, studs are 2x4s, 16" gap between studs, and the back of the outter leaf looks to be some sort of particle board. im betting the house siding is attached to this layer.

So I'm definately planning on cutting out the inner leaf drywall in sections and using it as beef up material. We have a skillsaw circular blade and jigsaw machine that we could use for cutting up the drywall--i think the skillsaw would be fastest but also hardest and dustiest.

I'd love to have 12" of space between layers on the walls... but man, that really is making my room look like itll be real small. I dont know what im going to do. i wonder how expensive green glue would turn out to be for my room...

thanks