Mulling over new garage>studio coversion. Rip out existing walls?

C

cprescott1972

New member
Hello! I am about to embark on a new studio building project. Soundproofing is important but not super critical. It's a noisy street. I probably need to soundproof it more to keep the motorcycles from the street out of my recordings. Rather than annoying neighbors :)

I am going to use the back half of the large separate 2 car garage. Planning on building the wall at an angle to avoid reflective flutter etc. My initial question is whether it's worth tearing out the interior drywall to replace the R-13 standard pink insulation with something heavier like rock wool, or it it better to save the effort and expense for other treatments and build over what's already there? Pretty sure it's currently standard 1/2" sheet rock over the insulation and exterior stucco. Looking into the first steps in the new construction.

Also, there is an exterior door that faces a neighbor's yard. The door opens inward so doing a double door wouldn't work without some obvious and strange exterior second door framing. Anyone else dealt with this issue?
Thanks very much for suggestions!

Studio1.gif
 
Put a second layer of fire-code drywall over the first, pink stuff in the walls is fine. If you can't close up the outside rear door, replace it with a solid wood or metal one and put weather seals all the way around it.
Nothing you can do about motorcycles going by when recording - except re-track.
 
Hmmm. Thanks for the response. Part of me is relieved that you are recommending to keep the pink stuff as it's much easier to leave it. I'm not sure though that the low freq stuff will be attenuated much with it. I guess part of the idea is to just get things to not vibrate the walls? We are just moving in and don't want to make enemies with the neighbors before we get a chance to show them we are not bad folks. A drummer moving in
next door is often frightening for folks. :)
 
Unless you build an isolated 'room within a room' no type of insulation in the walls is going to eliminate sound transmission. Superchunk the corners, lots of bass traps on the walls for some sound absorption is all you can do. Make friends with the neighbors and just tell them what you're planning and if the loud music (don't mention drums!) bothers them any time, just to let you know.
 
Here are a couple ideas I came up with regarding the wall concept. One is a room-within a room design, giving me 8.5' ceilings but allowing for ceiling ventilation and creates a little storage above the studio. The other is an isolated wall design but still utilizes the existing ceiling, giving me 12' + to use for tracking drums etc. This design has insulated the existing ceiling and I'm a little a worried abut creating a mold situation since the air tight gap between the roof and the new drywall will not be vented to the outside. Maybe a potential problem?
Take a look. Thanks!
Hybrid-wall-construction-idea-low-ceiling1.jpgHybrid-wall-construction-idea.jpg
 
From what I've read here, don't bother with rockwool behind the sheetrock - sound is going to be transmitted through the studs/joists, just use pink fiberglass.
Construction-wise, though, I'm concerned you show what looks like regular 2x4 joist construction in your ceiling plan. 2x4s are not strong enough for a 5/8" sheetrock ceiling.
You are correct in that your roof/attic space needs ventilation or it will degrade prematurely, so you don't want to put sheetrock up directly on your roof joists.
 
OK. That makes sense. Perhaps the lower ceiling design (room within a room) will solve the problems. But as you suggest use thicker lumber for ceiling joists. 2x6? And stay with the pink insulation for saving some costs. Also, having the open space above the new lower ceiling will give me room for ducting for the air vent fans in the room. And keeps me from rotting out the ceiling (roof) and trapping in moisture (mold!)
Thanks for the suggestions.
 
I'd use 2x8 joists (if you haven't done so already, check your local building codes), then fill up the between-joist spaces with pink fiberglass. Your idea of a whole layer of rockwool below the sheetrock is good, but note you will need to figure out how to mount it - leaving an air gap between it and the sheetrock above it will work better than leaving no space.
 
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