help building an isolation booth in the garage

iknowmyabcs · Post by **iknowmyabcs** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 2:32 am

Hi I plan on building an isolation booth in my garage for playing drums and light recording. I don’t have much space to deal with. I was going to put 6” of space between the 2 bottom and left side walls. The other walls don’t touch a wall. It opens up into the garage. I was going to put a small floating floor over the concrete floor of my garage. I can make the booth 7’6” high. There is a beam that runs 2“ above that. The room is a high sealing above that. I was going to use the top of the booth for storage. My budget is around 800$. It doesn’t need to be 100% sound proof but as close as I can get for the money. I can go a little over but less would be better. I have a few questions but any advice on top of that would be greatly appreciated. How big should the wall be made? What kind of isolation should I use? What sort of material should I use on the inside to get the best sound? Should I slope the top wall? The drawing is my available space. Thanks for your help

Paul

iknowmyabcs · Post by **iknowmyabcs** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 12:30 am

I’m pretty lonely hear

any way I read an article at http://www.studiocovers.com/articles15.htm that said Concrete floors don't usually cause problems because of their high mass. I was wondering if I should not build the new floor and just build the walls up from the concrete and seal the seam. Would this be a good idea?

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 3:38 am

Paul, sorry for the delay in getting back to you - John's on a short holiday and I'm holding down the fort for the next few days while attempting to actually make some progress on my own projects (yeah, right)

Anyway, I haven't been totally ignoring you but need a little more time for some drawings I'm working on.

It would also help if I knew what your neighbor situation is, whether you want to play drums at 2 am while your light sleeping neighbor is asleep, whether there's anyone ABOVE your area, and anything else that could affect construction decisions.

Can you describe the construction of the garage you're in - walls ceiling, windows, etc? I need to know what's already there, to avoid design mistakes... Steve

iknowmyabcs · Post by **iknowmyabcs** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 6:13 am

I live in a suburb house on each side and across the street. I will only be playing drums before 6 p.m. and maybe record some guitar until 8 p.m. On one weekend I had a friend play drums to check how loud it is. The house on side A and inside my house is the biggest problem. Inside the house you can hear a lot of the bass not much else is the problem there. The house on side A can hear a lot.

The floor of the garage is concrete. Walls A, and B are gust beams with plywood and stucco on the out side. Wall B is the garage door just plywood. Wall D and the part of wall C touching the house is plywood / isolation / plywood. The roof is just plywood and shingles. The high ceiling point is 13’ where that line is in the drawing. From wall B to 12’ in is a loft which is gust some beams with plywood on top. The loft is 7’ 6” off the ground. The rest of the room is open. No rooms above.

p.s. I screwed up the drawing at the shaded part. The 6’8”sould be to wall D and the 7’4” should be to wall B

thanks for your help paul

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat Jul 12, 2003 7:24 pm

OK, Paul, a few more questions and we can start getting serious here - how is that door on side A constructed ( the one that looks like it will be going directly into your sound proof area) - is the door itself solid core, or hollow? What about the frame? I need you to tell me about it as if you were building it step by step. Is there possibly room to put a second frame and door there without taking up too much of your available space? Doors/windows are the hardest things to soundproof, so it's much better if you can double them up.

Also, you said that wall A was just beams with plywood and stucco - what size beams, and how far apart are they spaced?

Who is going to be doing the construction, and how experienced are they?

And finally, can you re-do your drawing, preferably to scale but mainly just oriented the way things really are?

With just a rough estimate so far, I think you can do it for your stated budget but it will be close. The door may put you over a bit, depending on what's already there and how much room you have to beef it up.

Let me know on the above questions, and we'll get started... Steve

iknowmyabcs · Post by **iknowmyabcs** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 1:16 am

The door is hollow. The frame is a piece of wood 1 ½” thick by 5 1/2 “ deep with a small piece of wood 2 ¼” by ½” sealing the door closed.

The beams are 1 ½” by 3 1/2 “ thick are spaced 1’ 2 ½” apart

My friend and I are doing the construction. We have no experience. I can get some pointers from some one next door but I don’t think I will get any help.

I was planning on building the booth door on the other side so the door going out side will be unusable. I have never had any complaints about it being to noisy. I gust don’t wont to worry as much. It is more important that the sound inside sounds good than soundproofing 100%. I go into a studio Monday am going to ask the engineer for pointers and where he got his material for his booth.
I will try to make a drawing today

Thanks Paul

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sun Jul 13, 2003 4:27 pm

Lookin' pretty good Paul - the only thing is, have you priced good quality sliding doors, with tight seals? In order to get one that seals well enough to have good isolation, it would cost anywhere from $400 to $800 just for the door.

Do you need that much glass? That will lower the isolation by quite a bit compared to double drywall construction either on staggered studs or with resilient channel on one side of the frame.

You might be better off getting a pre-hung, solid core, basic exterior door and installing it carefully, caulking to avoid acoustic leaks around the frame.

It's your room, I just wouldn't want you to be dissatisfied with the isolation you get... Steve

iknowmyabcs · Post by **iknowmyabcs** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 2:38 am

I really need some way to see out so I can practice with a band through a pa. I can afford to put in some more money to get a good sliding glass door. If I am unsatisfied with the isolation could I put a second sliding glass door later with good results?

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Mon Jul 14, 2003 4:20 am

OK, now it's clearer what you're trying to do - sure, that would work, I just didn't know if you were aware of prices. The two slider thing seems to work well for John, he uses it all the time. Here's a diagram John posted earlier on what to look for in a slider -