Advice Please!!!

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JesusFreak

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Hello Everyone,

I'm am just on the verge of converting my garage into my studio. It is an attached two car garage. It is approximatly 19x19 dimensions. Anyway, I have read all of the SAE information that John Sayers recommends and I have no idea why it is all free but I'm very thankfull that it is because there is a ton of great information there. Hats off John!!

Well, like any great penny pincher, I'm trying to see if there is a way to adequately isolate the sound without going the full route of some of the ideas there. Basically I really like the double room idea and that is probably what I will do but I'm wondering if there is a way to only do part of the room that way. This is what I mean:

Fully enclose my garage so that all walls have a layer of insulation and sheetrock that is fully taped so there are no gaps or holes. So now I have my one room. Would this room be enough to keep the amps noise out. Then for the drum and control room, double up the walls so that they are both enclosed in what woudl be the double room concept to keep their noise out.

Needless to say this would save me a ton of money but if the amps noise will get out of the single room too easily, then I can't do it anyway. Please advise so that I do it right the first time. As always, your time is greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

God Bless!
 
By "amps" do you mean guitar and bass amps? If so, how loud do you want to play them and/or what kind of musical style are you going for.

From my experience, a room with standard wall construction as you're proposing for your garage will not provide very good isolation (check the charts on the SAE site for an estimate of the STC rating, and note that these are based on a perfectly sealed system). Guitar amps put out plenty of problematic low-frequencies at when turned up and bass amps are probably the biggest problem you're going to have.

Secondly, how much isolation do you need? Are you friends with your neighbors? Will they tolerate some noise when you're rehearsing at certain times of the day or are you trying to achieve total isolation?

A friend of mine and I built a room in about 2/3 of his attacjed garage of similar size to yours. We did a full room within a room, including new ceiling. On the walls ajoining the garage structure, we installed insulation and a layer of gypsum. The new walls and ceiling were built "inside-out" with RC channel, soundboard, and 5/8-in gypsum--everyting sealed with caulk and air entry & exhaust ducts boxed. The isolation achieved at the points where the new walls were close to the existing walls (around a 1-in air gap), the isolation achieved wasn't great (drums were still fairly audible). He's sinced added two more layers of gypsum to the problem wall (the one which adjoins the walk up to his house) without much improvement. Currently searching for any points of mechanical connection which might be transferring the sound.

In any case, the above illustrates that achieving near perfect isolation is difficult and can get expensive when it's all factored in.

Don't want to bum you out but a reality check is good before sinking a bunch of work and cash into something that might not achieve what you need to make it functional.

Good luck,

Alex
 
Alex,

Thanks for your reply man..that's what I needed to hear....not exactly what I wanted to hear but what I needed to hear..:). We are an alternative type of band....and for recording, we probably wont' be cranking it REAL loud but loud enough to bother the neighbors..which I want to avoid as much as possible. I figured that the drums would be a big problem so since I'm building a drum iso room, I will probably make it as thick as I need to get it fully isolated. I'll probably stick to the room within a room idea and go with a resilient channel on at least one of the layers. My ceiling is going to be my biggest problem...what I was going to do was to put my layer of sheet rock up there and tape it and then blow in about 2 feet of insulation up there...I'm going to have to hope that it gives me some pretty good isolation because that is about all I can do...

Thanks again for your response and any other ideas that you have, please send them my way...thanks..

God Bless!
 
You can reinforce your ceiling isolation the same way you do your walls. If you don't want to install a new, lowered ceiling, I'd suggest the following:

3-in thick mineral wool insulation between the joists holding up your roof (the stuffs not much more expensive than commercial insulation but gives you better sound deadening).

A single layer of 5/8-in gypsum installed on resilient channel attached to the joists. Joints taped and glued; gaps caulked.

A second layer of 1/2-in gypsum glued to the first layer, with joints offset from the first layer, again taped, glued and caulked. You'll need to install a few supplmental fasteners, but not as many--check the U.S. Gypsum website for requirements. These should be screwed through the first layer into the channel.

In all cases make sure your fasteners (screws) only penetrate the flange portion of the channel and not your joists, or you'll short circuit your isolation.

Do your ceiling first and then bring your new walls up underneath. Stop the drywall at the top of the walls a 1/2-in below the connection to the ceiling and use a rubber seal finished off with flexible caulk to close the gap.

Alex
 
Alex,

Thanks again for responding...I understand the reason for putting the rubber inbetween the walls and the ceiling, but why type of rubber would you use to insure that the structure is still sound...just don't want any walls falling in on me..hehe...and as far as mineral wool, I'd heard of it, but don't know where to get any...if you know of any major distributors...let me know...thanks again...

God Bless!
 
The rubber is just for sealing -- not for anchoring. Anchor the sole plates of your walls to the concrete using adhesive anchors or power loaded nails (like the ones manufactured by Remington). Frame your wall corners according to normal building standards so all four walls are connected together and they won't be going anywhere.

I'm not sure where you're at in California but there are numerous distributors of mineral wool manufactured by Thermafiber in the State. Check the thermafiber website:

http://www.thermafiber.com/

If you call them they should be able to give you a list of places in your area. The stuff you want is the FS-15 Fire Blanket. Typically it'll be stocked by commercial (e.g., NOT Home Depot) dry wall suppliers. It'll be good to track one of these guys down in your area since you'll probably be able to get your RC channel there as well. Wear coveralls, gloves, and a respirator when you're working with the stuff as it's pretty nasty.

Alex
 
I have read all of the SAE information that John Sayers recommends and I have no idea why it is all free but I'm very thankfull that it is because there is a ton of great information there. Hats off John!!
Click to expand...

Well it's free because Tom Misner from the SAE bought it off me and has put it up on the SAE site for free. Thank Tom and the SAE :):)

cheers
john
 
Alex,

Thanks agian for the great information. I'll definately check into that distributor for the mineral wool and take your advice on handling of it. Hoping to start this saturday. Will let you know if any probs come up..thanks again.

God Bless!
 
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