Floating ISO room

[Primus]

Hi guys, longtime lurker here, but until recently I've been an apartment dweller, and not in a position to build anything. But now I'm living elsewhere, and I'm looking for advice on building a floating isolation room so that I can practice drums. I figure building my own practice room sure beats shelling out $500 a month for someone else's space.

I live in a side-by-side condo, and while I have a concrete basement, I fear the drums would still be too loud. The basement is unfinished, and there is a decent amount of room for the "room within a room" style of setup. The area I have to work with is 16' x12, and the ceiling height is 7'6".

I appreciate nice acoustics, but at this point, soundproofing is job #1. Any advice or help would be appreciated!

[tmix]

I know that others are going to ask for more details, so I'll start the ball rolling.

Is the basement only under your unit or does it flank the other condo?

My take on "Floating " rooms
If the floor is concrete with only dirt underneath don't waste your time and money on floating a floor. It will be your least weakest link. By far your will have the greatest challenge with doors , windows and ceilings.

At around 7 1/2 ft height your biggest challenge will be to determine how much you really, absolutely, positively must have for isolation. It takes mass and lots of it. The more you trap in your basement, the more you have to deal with the trapped acoustic energy by absorbtion.
The more sound you can let escape the less you have to deal with.
I would get a cheap sound meter and have someone actually measure how loud it is outside the basement with you playing drums or loud music, and figure out how much you really need to reduce it. 30 decibels is a whole lot cheaper to accomplish than 60 to 70.

It is an ever spiraling money pit.
Welcome to my world!

[Primus]

Thanks for the tips, I think I'll look into the sound meter. Yes my basement is right below me, but I have neighbors on either side. My main concern is that we all share a center beam, and vibrations can carry like mad, so I hear.

However, I also have the luxury of knowing my neighbor to one side of me, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind manning the sound meter while I pound my drums for a few minutes. It may turn out that I don't need any isolation at all, who knows? I'm just taking the "better safe than sorry" approach, followed closely by the the "don't piss off your new neighbors" approach. lol

Where can one get a sound meter? Is it specialized equipment that I'd have to order, or is it something I can pick up at a place like radio shack? I honestly have no clue where to look.

[bpape]

With 7'6 height, you'll have to be careful of losing too much height. The best way IMO to do it without giving up a ton of space is to use Dri Core subfloor from Home Depot and then build your walls on top of that.

Build the walls 1/2" short of the joists above and build them directly on top of the Dri Core. Use PAC DC-04 clips to tie to the joists in an isolated manner. Lay new joists between the old ones resting on the new walls you just built. You have just about zero physical contact.

Then, you need to use a solid core door with seals. Bring the electrical in at a single place in the room in an isolated, insulated box with a couple of bends in it before it opens up. Use surface mount conduit, outlets, switches, etc. So, now you have a sealed room with electrical and only 1 opening - the door.

Lighting: If you can do it all inside without cutting holes, that's best.

On the walls, double drywall the inside and use Green Glue in between layers. Screws on everything, caulk all seams, etc.

That room is about as tight and isolated as you can get it.

Bryan

[tmix]

Originally Posted by Primus

Where can one get a sound meter? Is it specialized equipment that I'd have to order, or is it something I can pick up at a place like radio shack? I honestly have no clue where to look.

Actually yes!
I bought mine at Radio Shack for about $40.
I'll tell you another secret....
Their isolation headphones (for listening to the radio at the Race Track) make the best studio headphones for drummers. Really high isolation so you can play out and still hear the music without it being at high levels. They are a little pricey at around $60 but they really save your ears.