Double drywall is heavy!

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dr_penner

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I am still planning to build my music room/studio in my basement (see thread on uneven basement floor). Currently I am worried about the weight of all that sound deadening drywall on the wall and ceilings.

When I describe to my friends my plans to have double layers of 5/8" drywall on both sides of a staggered stud wall (maybe substituting one layer for MDF)they tell me that the sheer weight of the materials is going to be a big limiting factor. How does one secure such heavy materials to prevent them from falling off a few months later? I was just going to screw them into the wall studs in the first layer, and screw between the first and second layer following that. Is this enough?

Even more concerning, I want to have a double layer ceiling attached to a wood ceiling frame coming off of the wall frames. I fear that my heavy layer cake of materials is going to come crashing down on my head one night. Am I being to cautious? Does this really matter?

Kurt Penner
 
Firstly, the wall will handle the weight BUT it sounds like you are into overkill. I assume your basement already has an external wall, so why the need for a double staggered stud internal wall.

As an example - the studio I just built is a typical US Barn with 4 x 2 studd wall with thin (1/2") claddin on the outside.

in2.jpg

in5_ceiling.jpg


We lined it internally with a sealed layer of 5/8" drywall. We then lined that with insulation and placed another internal wall of 3 x 2 with one layer of 5/8" drywall on the outside.

Walls.gif

in7.jpg


the photo above shows the frames before they were joined and placed in position. The wall cavity in the 3x2 frame is then used for internal acoustic treatment by filling with insulation and either covered with cloth or slot resonators. thus...

Up6_1.jpg


When we got the big Genelecs in we cranked them up and from the outside of the building we could not hear them!

what more do you want. :)

cheers
john
 
Thanks for the tremendous reply John. As always, your pictures and diagrmans really get the point across. However I think you've missed my point in terms of "overkill".

Let me explain. Unlike your studio in a barn design (which is great, BTW; I'm very jealous), my room is in my residence. My purpose for building is twofold:

1) to let my wife and baby sleep while I practice my Ozzy riffs ;-> in other words to keep the sound in, away from the rest of the house

2) to let me have a silent place to practice and record my quiet moody acoustic guitar music. In other words to keep extraneous noise out.


Unlike your design with a dedicated building, I am forced to use the space that I've got, and that means in the same house as the rest of my family. So as you can see, the external wall of the building really doesn't help me to keep my sound away from the rest of the household. And as I've said before, I really don't want to build this room twice, so I'd prefer a little overkill rather than discover I've done too little. Would you still suggest a simpler wall and ceiling design?

I'm glad to hear that the walls should hold the materials. Any comment as to the ceiling?

Thanks again for your helpful and prompt reply

Kurt Penner
 
So ? If you build a single shell within you existing room surely that should be enough to do what you are asking? I assume you already have a room and want to treat it..so build a single shell within it and that should be OK. As for the ceiling a single layer with insulation in the cavity surely is enough...NO? Am I missing something?? :)
cheers
john
 
Maybe you're right, John. I might be better served by just simplifying things with a single layer shell. My point about "Ozzy riffs" is that I would really like to be able to crank up a guitar amp again, since my electric playing is confined to using a POD and headphones. Ironically, even just the sound of my unamplified Ibanez electric wakes up my wife if i play it in the basement just under her bedroom. Bottom line is that I'd like to record loud rock music, with me playing all the instruments one track at a time.

I would also like to be able to turn the monitors up to a healthy level instead of using headphones. Hence my "overkill" plans for staggered stud walls, with double layers on both sides, and the double layer ceiling.

I also have a dim hope of having drums in this room IF it's soundproof enough, but this is not a big priority.

Thanks again, I'll reassess my plans.

Kurt Penner
 
Ah I see - then may be you are right Kurt. It seems to me the ceiling is in need of the greatest treatment in that case. :)

cheers
John
 
Aha! It seems I explained my needs a little better this time. My fault for the confusion, I think. The ceiling treatment I intended was to include 2 layers of drywall between the original floor joists supported on battens as in the last diagram of your "walls and ceilings" page of "acoustics3" on your website. (http://www.lis.net.au/~johnsay/Acoustics/Titles/Acoustics3.htm )Then I would insulate between the joists and use a double drywall layer again attached not to resilient channels as in your diagram but instead from new ceiling joists which run from the side walls, i.e. never contacting the actual original joists.

These new ceiling supports would just be 2X4's layed on their flat 4" side, stringered together for extra strength. My dad has suggested not laying them flat, but instead to flip them 90 degrees onto their 2" side, for more strength.

Since this thread started with the question of "can my ceiling support two layers of (5/8")drywall?" I'll ask it again. Can it?

Thanks!
Kurt Penner
 

These new ceiling supports would just be 2X4's layed on their flat 4" side, stringered together for extra strength. My dad has suggested not laying them flat, but instead to flip them 90 degrees onto their 2" side, for more strength.

Since this thread started with the question of "can my ceiling support two layers of (5/8")drywall?" I'll ask it again. Can it?

Thanks!
Kurt Penner [/B]
Click to expand...


Hi Kurt,

Don't lay them down, they'll bend, and your ceiling will sag. Set them on end, just as you would if you were "stickbuilding".

For your walls, what I would sugest is this:

Build "room" in sections....build the wal laying down, cover it with your choice of material, THEN raise the wall, then on the inside, cover that with double layers of sheetrock, or a layer of MDF and sheetrock, or whatever you want to use...because each side of the wall is a differenct thickness, it helps "break up the wave", as it's trying to pass through-because both side s of the wall won't be vibrating the same.

Honestly, I would just frame new walls about 2" away from the old walls, wire them,insulate them, and then pop up two layers of sheetrock on the inside. Since you intend to string a ceiling on these walls, you may want to think about 2"x6"'s instead of 2"x4"'s-since it wil be bearing the load of a new ceiling.....alos, check your local zoning....Zoning laws are a pain in the ass-but there's a REASON for them-it's so you don't build something that will collapse on you.

We used to have a bad here that had a "pony wall" right by the stage and manin entrance (this 4' high wall separated the entrance from the stage-i.e., you enetered the building through the backwall of the stage...) some friends bought the place, and one of them said "Afte all these years, that freakin' pony wall and Post are out of here!"
They cut it out, and the whole damned roof came down on them instantly! They never bothered to check and see if it was loadbearing...and that Post was the center point of the entire ceiling-everything met it sort of like "spokes" on a bike wheel.
I was walking down the street see to how they were doing, and turned the corner, and heard "Whoom!", and there they came-totally covered in old sheetrock dust!

Hahaha They were lucky nobody got hurt.

Tim


Tim
 
Hi Kurt, I have just discovered this interesting forum and I was especially interested in reading your other thread that you referred to "uneven basement floor" since I an about to start a studio construction project in a basement where the floor slopes about 6" over an 18' width. Since my ceiling is kind of low as well, I was thinking of leveling it in two stages, so as not to lose the entire 6" throughout the whole space. What did you do? Why cant I find that other thread? Thanks and hope your sounds are good ones and that the Ozzy riffs are staying where they belong!
Steve G
 
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