damp basement and studio construction

[PinkHumpy]

Hey all,

I just registered... have been reading these forums for the last week or so since I'm laid up in bed recovering from massive knee surgery. I just bought a house with a big basement that needs to become my new recording/practice area. I'm not looking for pro studio quality construction, but it's a townhome so I need to isolate the drums from the neighbors, and the rest of the house from my vocal mic.

I have a damp basement, so I'm concerned about using some of the construction methods I've read here (airtight might cause mold growth!)

I stumbled upon this Owens Corning basement system thing on the bob vila website that looks interesting. The wall panels are easily removed to gain access to foundation walls, and are breathable to prevent moisture buildup and mold growth. Do you guys think this construction would be useless for keep the drum noise down?
http://www.owenscorning.com/around/insu ... ntwall.asp

Thanks!
Crippled recording musician
Brendan
www.pinkhumpy.com

[Aaronw]

Greetings & welcome to the site.

If you haven't done so yet, read up on this about moisture in basements...

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=19374

Aaron

[PinkHumpy]

Thanks! I've been reading through the thread of your own studio construction... looks like you're facing similar issues. That's one of the reasons why this owens corning system looks attractive. I just don't know if it's going to be too flimsy for good sound isolation.

[knightfly]

Their comment about .95 noise reduction means that the panels ABSORB, but do not BLOCK, noise - also, this specification only goes down to 125 hZ, which is next to meaningless for drum sounds -

Absorption, other than as part of a complete wall system, only affects the way the room sounds from WITHIN the room - NOT how much sound ESCAPES the room.

The only thing that STOPS noise from entering the rest of your structure, where it will then flank to the rest of the house and outside, is MASS-AIR-MASS construction - if your basement wall is concrete, that's your outer mass. Inside that, from a sound isolation standpoint ONLY, you need breathable insulation (the rockwool family is best for moisture areas) - inside that, your second MASS leaf (multiple layers normally) and you're finished sound isolation. Any treatment to make the room SOUND good after that is a totally separate operation.

If you've not found it yet, here's a link to some valuable insight on moisture, how it travels, what NOT to do, etc -

http://www.buildingscience.com/resources/resources.htm

I've yet to digest anywhere NEAR all this info, just re-discovered the site last week even though I'd linked to one of their papers on basements -

As near as I can tell so far, sound proofing is at cross purposes with moisture control in many cases - this is going to take a LOT more reading on my part before I'm comfortable giving advice on achieveng sound control AND moisture control... Steve

[Aaronw]

Brendan,

I did have moisture issue in the basement when I first moved in. The main cause was drain pipes from the gutters were draining next to the foundation. I ran new pipes down the side of the house to move the water away from the house. You may need to dig some french drains along the side of the house.

Next, I guttted the basement of all the molded insulation & drywall, scrubbed the walls w/ acid and used Drylok on the walls...2 coats.

Then when I reconstructed, I built all the new walls 4 1/2" away from the block allowing it to breath and use a Dehumidifier.

Haven't had problems since.

[dymaxian]

Just so we don't confuse the original poster...

You may need to dig some french drains

Was that supposed to be Trench drains?

[knightfly]

Kase, the term "french drain" refers to a ditch (usually with perf pipe like a septic leach line at the bottom), covered with semi-permeable cloth, then filled with drain rock - not sure where it got its name, but it's a fairly common term at least on the west coast... Steve