Ceiling Question

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lunatic

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I'm starting to plan out the studio and have a question about ceilings. The room is approx. 10x24x9. We plan on pulling down the existing drywall to make redoing the electrical a bit easier. In making this decision I realized that it provides me an opportunity to expose the ceiling rafters thus giving the room a vaulted/raftered/open celing. Would this be good... bad... in different?

I like the idea of opening the ceiling to make the room feel larger. Is there a good reason to do this? Is it a bad idea?

Any input would be appreciated. When we get the plans drawn up and the pictures taken I'll post for more input :)


Thanks!
Brad
 
If those are going to be the final dimensions, probably opening up the ceiling would be a good idea. Might smooth out the modal response. right now, at those dimensions you would have a dip in response @ 80 hZ and some bunching up @ 180 and 220 hZ.

I've not done a room with open rafters, but would think you might get some early reflections off the rafters. They might need some absorption applied (acoustic foam) to handle that problem.

Vaulting the ceiling at normal pitches would add about 500 cubic feet to the volume, which always helps small rooms. If the peak runs left to right as you sit in front of your speakers, there would probably be less "twitchiness" in the imaging than if the peak runs front to back, but even that could be controlled with some absorption placed on the vault surface. You would use a mirror on a stick, the mirror placed flat against the surface, and wherever you could sit at the mix position and see your speakers in the mirror is where you would need absorption.

Post back when you get more definite info... Steve
 
Steve: Thanks for the initial response. The dimensions are very close. Maybe just a couple inches off.

Since the room is long and kind of narrow, I'd be sitting facing lengthwise. This will place the vault front to back because it runs the length of the room.

I hope to post more by this weekend. Thanks again!
 
I'm not going to bore you with math because Knightfly already made his point very well. Plus, I suck at math :)

One of the things that are audibly obvious is the VOLUME of air in a given room. True, parallel walls and small tight rooms generally aren't the best recording environments, but opening up the ceiling and exposing the rafters in my opinion, always is a good idea if you can afford including the attic space above into the room. Ceiling height plays a big role into how the room sounds (for volume reasons) as well as claustraphobicness if the ceiling is low. My home studio has a 7' high ceiling, and there's nothing I can do about it. One of the ceilings slant towards the outer wall too :( But its the room I have so I made do. I just don't stand up a lot. Just made for a crummy vocal booth - 6.5" carpet to ceiling. Short singers only. :)
 
lunatic -
If you have trusses as opposed to rafters, then you need to be very carefull in modifying them. Trusses use a series of braces to aid in their lightweight design and allow for longer spans. Modifying a truss improperly can cause a catastrophic failure of the supporting roof structure. (Read that last sentence again!)
I'm not kidding. I'm an engineer by day. ;)

Trusses look like this:
cantilevered_duopitch_truss.gif


If you have rafters then there will be a ridge beam running the length of the rafters, and the rafters will be joined to the ridge beam, modifying that can be easier, but still needs to be done in a way that is structurally sound.

Rafters have a much simpler design, but are in general beefier in dimension. If you house/room is less than say 25 - 30 years old, then it probably uses trusses.
 
Michael, good catch - I was being sloppy again referring to "boards that are over your head" generically as rafters. I agree completely with NOT modifying any of these, whether rafters or trusses, and should have clarified that.

My comment was intended only to suggest possible TREATMENT of any roof supports with foam or other absorbent, NOT removal or modification.

Got that, Lunatic? Sorry for any confusion... Steve
 
Michael: Good call. They are indeed trusses! however... I will not be modifying them just simply removing the drywall from them therefore exposing them. That would be okay wouldn't it :(

If not... no biggie. It just means no open ceiling for me.
 
It'll depend on where the room's insulation (rockwool etc.) is located. If it's all the way up below the roof and the drywall ceeling is just there to cover the trusses and electrical installation, then it should be fine. If the insulation is at the horizontal trussrod just above the ceeling, then there's of course more work involved.

It's possible to move the insulation to below the roof but have a construction engineer help you with the planning so you don't block out any ventilation and get mouldy and/or rotten rafters. Nothing worse than having a rotten roof come crashing down on you during a take.

/Ola
 
lunatic said:
Michael: Good call. They are indeed trusses! however... I will not be modifying them just simply removing the drywall from them therefore exposing them. That would be okay wouldn't it :(

If not... no biggie. It just means no open ceiling for me.
Click to expand...

If you just want to expose them, then yes, you could do that. You'd most likely want to replace the insulation though and have it up along the roof line.
It seems to me though, that by exposing the trusses, you're also exposing the "web" or supporting braces of the truss. I'm not sure, acoustically, how beneficial that would be. It may cause more headaches than its worth. I mean, you already have a 9' ceiling; it may make for a better space to treat the ceiling for diffusion rather than expose the trusses.
 
actually it is pretty simple to modify a truss without weakening your roof structure.
if you know a good carpenter ask him to show you how to do a collar tie.
sheppard
 
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