New Studio Build

rickybobby

New member
Hello,

I'm just starting out on my second studio build, the last one was about 7 years ago and I had a lot of good help from this forum and another (which shall remain nameless). I had to move from my last property where my studio was in the basement.

The new studio I'm building is part of the extension so should be a lot easier in terms of ventilation and damp issues!

At present the builds have built the shell of my office/studio. It has a concrete block and beam floor and the walls are concrete cavity with celotex in the cavity to meet building regs, this does not fill the whole of the cavity.

The room is 6000mm length x 3830mm wide x 2400mm high

I didn't have 100% control over the dimensions and I might be able to squeeze a little more on the height to try and swallow up some of the looses made by soundbloc layes and resilient bars (if I use them).


At this stage I'm thinking through the weak points. I have limited budget to spend past making this a normal room so my plans are do just do the best I can.

Because this room will also be my office and a spare room when needed it needs windows. One window as a means of egress is a need for building regulations anyway. I have order triple glazed windows but I'm expecting to secondary glaze the internal stud wall. I'll get to this later on in the post.

From experience a studwall with 2 layers of 15mm soundbloc and 50mm dense acoustic slab rockwool in the studwork is very effective, I will acoustic silicone all the joins and have it skimmed. Last time I used sway braces to hold the top of the studwork but I will be looking to see if there is a cheaper alternative, I'm open to suggestions?

The door opening will have 2 x 60 minute firedoors with the internal door having an additional layer of plywood attached to it, I forget what thickness I used last time but will read this forum to make sure I get this correct. I also used magnetic strip and P shaped rubber seal on both doors with strong fire door closers. I'll do this again.

I'm just getting my head around sketchup so I don't have drawings yet. I have made some rough amendments to the plans for the extension so you can see how I'm thinking of putting my double door in the internal studwork. Not sure if I need a double stud internally but then the door into the breakfast room/kitchen is only a normal 1920s door (possible a modern FD30 version if the building officer says we have to). Eitherway it won't be a great soundproofing barrier.

The studio will have a hipped composite slate roof and the build is single storey. This, in my mind, is the weakest point in terms of sound leakage. If I have a ceiling compromised of 2 layers of 15mm soundbloc and then 100mm dense rockwool slab that's all that will be between the room and the slate roof. What I'm thinking is that it would be wise to put at least a layer of 18mm T&G chipboard flooring (glued). This would increase the density of the ceiling considerably. I'll need to check the timbers used can support this load but I imagine they should be ok.


Is there much to be gained from using resilient bars with the ceiling baring in mind there is no room above the studio? It looks like there probably is but I want to make sure.

You can see from the plans that on one corner contacts the rest of the house. The main aim here is to minimise sound leakage to neighbours. If I want to record a drummer or loud electric guitar part late I don't want to upset neighbours. The house is detached and the neighbours house is about 3 meters away.

Another weak point is I have to have radiators from the main house (in red on the plan). The pipe work will all be run in the screed and the pipes will come up inside the studwork. Hopefully this won't allow too much sound to travel into the main house? If it's going to be a real issue I can still look at electric underfloor heating but this is an expense I could do without.

I plan to have all electrics enter the studwork in one place via a conduit and then surface mount them.

So my main question at present are:

What's the best way to approach the ceiling, how many layers should I try and get on top of the ceiling joists, I don't want to loose much of my 2400mm head height by adding room side.

Are resilient bars going to provide much gain if there is no room above? Will they help prevent sound travelling into the roof space and therefore outside?

Is having central heating from the main house too much of a compromise if the pipes are in the concrete screed and come up inside the studio studwork?

I will be building a active ventilation system in but I haven't researched that yet. Last time I had heated AC and built a S shaped tunnel to deaden sound so I'm familiar with some of the concepts.

Thanks for any help. More invovled drawings to come.

By the way, do the dimensions look resonable? I've looked at some of the 'Golden ratios' and it looks close to

H= 1.00 W= 1.60 L= 2.33

H = 2400 W 3830 L = 6000 (should be 5592 which it will be close to where the doors are. I plan to build a screen (in green) to put in front of drums and guitar amps which I'll sit in the back corner)

I've put a rough mix position in and proposed sofa position, these could change.

Thanks again

studioplan1.jpg
 
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