My Drywall and Ceiling Designs

How thick should my walls be, should I float my floors (and if so, how), why is two leaf mass-air-mass design important, etc.

Moderators: Aaronw, sharward

Temas
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:15 pm
Location: London, UK

My Drywall and Ceiling Designs

Post by Temas »

Hello,

I have just designed the drywalls and ceiling for my home studio. The ceilings are only 7'6" high, so it's been a real challenge. I don't have much room to give away to the drywalls either. This is the first studio I've designed and the builders start work on monday, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Trevor
blunderfonics
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2004 2:35 pm
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Post by blunderfonics »

Hi Trevor,

From what I understand, being somewhat new to this myself, you are going to want to have the rock wool and the Soundbloc plasteboard beteen the original ceiling joists change places. This will help you avoid the dreaded 3rd leaf and maximize the airspace between the outer masses (the original floor above the room and the new ceiling). This will improve your transmission loss from the studio to the room above a bit.

General consensus around these parts seems to be that the Sound Barrier Mat (a.k.a. mass loaded vinyl) is a waste of money, when compared to the mass-to-price ratio of plasterboard. You might save some money by adding another layer of plasterboard in place of the mat, but be sure that the joists and the resilient bars you've specified can handle the load over the span of the room.

Hopefully some of the more seasoned guys will chime in with some knowledge.
Temas
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:15 pm
Location: London, UK

Post by Temas »

Thanks very much for the reply. The sound barrier mats are about the same price per square meter as the soundbloc plasterboard (which is heavier than the usual plasterboard) and are apparantly quite useful when sandwiched between 2 layers of plasterboard. The other reason I chose it was because I thought it would help prevent impact noise entering the studio from the floorboards above as well as help sound leaving the studio. And of course its very thin so I don't lose too much internal space.

I don't think the resilient bars will hold more load than what I listed so far. Would I be better off having more layers of plasterboard attached directly to my new joists than just two layers attached to the resilient bars?

Anyone else think the sound barrier mats are the wrong choice for this application?

Thanks again,

Trevor
Post Reply