My new pad!

[reco]

Hey yall Im workin on my new studio.
I live in the sticks, I got A load of valted trusses for free(messed up order).
And a but of lumber that was being cleared from a lumber yard that my friend works at.
I am building it on a slab(floating).
It will be a free standing building(30x25or30FT.)
I will post shots as its going up.

[sjoko2]

cool!
How are you going to build a floating slab?

[langleyt]

Great! Will be waiting for pictures of your progress. By slab do you mean cement? Not sure about the floating part either.

t

[reco]

By floating I mean that were not digging frost footings.
We first tore up the sod with a trackor.
And we have a Bobcat coming to leval the ground out.
Then we will bring in a load of sand and leval it out.
then we will set for the slab(cement) to be poored, and then we will wetset a course of block and after thats set for a while.
we will start on walls and the trusses and so on and so on.

[sjoko2]

Make sure you fill the block - use grout or rendering mix, not sand

[Todzilla]

Why not sand?

My builder is just about to get the backhoe in to start filling the cinder blocks with sand...

[sjoko2]

Sand causes considerable problems over time. It dries out - so the smallest little crack and the sand starts pooring out. Secondly, it settles with time, leaving voids at the top. Of cause if the first thing happens these voids get bigger and bigger.

I've had to deal with numerous cases over the years where the acoustic integrity of a place got bad, where sand was the problem.

If you fill it with rendering, you ensure everything is filled, it dries and it will not move. Rendering being rayher 'rough" it will enhance the acoustic properties of the wall.

[reco]

question?
were only laying one course of block do we realy need to core fill the block?
also what is it you said to fill it with? is it a mix of cement or what?

[sjoko2]

Originally posted by reco
question?
were only laying one course of block do we realy need to core fill the block?
also what is it you said to fill it with? is it a mix of cement or what?

Answer to #1 - filling the block will give you far improved sound insulation.

Answer to #2 - the best thing is to use material which sets, so it won't put pressure on the block and eventually crack it (like sand can do). The material to use is whatever is cheapest available, which normally is large bags of grout mixture, or external rendering like for instance stucco base

[langleyt]

Stucco, or one good coating of plaster? I have now idea what i am talking about.

t

[sjoko2]

That's ok langleyt sweetie, you just put one coat of plaster on the inside of each concrete block

[Todzilla]

Damn. My builder has already ordered the sand for the block filler. One thing that may mitigate sjoko's concerns is that the builder plans on stucco'ing both interior and exterior of block. I hope that will prevent any sand spill through. I assume his stucco compound will have enough elastimers to be forgiving.

As for the settling of the sand, I am going to ask him to leave a way to access the voids for any extra filling down the line.

I am still hopeful that a searing amp and/or a meat-eating drummer will produce only a distant thud in the main house, about 50 feet away, such that a radio on medium low will drown it out.

THNX

[sjoko2]

I'm not saying it will be a disaster - just take extra care, like inspect the mortar etc. The problem is that builders really don't know about acoustics.