Studio wall construction question

S

stealth_prod

New member
Hey I have been gradually building a little project studio in the basement of my house and I ran into some problems. First problem is im a little short on funds and would like to finish this up.

My plan was to build a double wall on 2 sides and leave 2 walls as is (exposed concrete brick). My question is, how much would it effect the sound inside of the room if I decided to just put paneling up on those walls with no insulation in between? Sound proofing isnt the main concern because its in the basement and its not very loud outside of the room. Acoustically speaking though I am wondering if it would have any effect on the room even if I had taken appropriate measures to treat the inside of the room?

If I confused anyone im sorry. I was trying to think of a way to word this so you could get a pretty good idea of what im talking about. The room is about 8' X 12' X 8'. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
 
stealth_prod said:
Hey I have been gradually building a little project studio in the basement of my house and I ran into some problems. First problem is im a little short on funds and would like to finish this up.

My plan was to build a double wall on 2 sides and leave 2 walls as is (exposed concrete brick). My question is, how much would it effect the sound inside of the room if I decided to just put paneling up on those walls with no insulation in between? Sound proofing isnt the main concern because its in the basement and its not very loud outside of the room. Acoustically speaking though I am wondering if it would have any effect on the room even if I had taken appropriate measures to treat the inside of the room?

If I confused anyone im sorry. I was trying to think of a way to word this so you could get a pretty good idea of what im talking about. The room is about 8' X 12' X 8'. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Click to expand...
The only negative effect on the room, caused by the brick work, that i can see is a lack of symmetry.

Another problem i see is the dimensions. It's bad to have a square dimension(8'x8') so if you haven't built it yet, i would change that if possible.

The closest room ratios to yours, recommended by Ethan's ModeCalc, are 1 : 1.14 : 1.39, 1 : 1.28 : 1.54 and 1 : 1.26 : 1.59. For an 8' ceiling, this gives dimensions of 11'1"x9'1"x8', 12'4"x10'3"x8' or 12'9"x10'1"x8'.

From here, i'd go on to treat the first reflection points(side and ceiling) and the back wall with at least 2" absorption, and the corners with with at least 4" bass traps straddling the corner, minimum!
 
Thank you for the reply. I am still currently building so nothing has been done yet. The walls that were there are still up and thats where those dimensions came from.

Im trying to think of a way I could make those good dimensions work. The problem I have is I really only have one wall that can moved.
2
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l......................l
l......................l
l......................l
l.1....................l 3
l......................l
l......................l
l......................l
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4

Sorry im at work and cant make a good diagram. Wall 1 and 2 are the concrete brick. Wall 4 has a bathroom behind it. Wall 3 leads into the main basement area but there is some other walls that only give about a foot of room to play with. I can definetly make the 11'1" work and I will see how close I can get the one wall to the correct dimension.

Thanks again for the reply.
 
...Hey, I knew a guy who lived in a climate much like your's, and he decided to remodel his basement. He studded it out, and put up fiberglass insulaton. About two years later, one complete wall, a corner, and part of another wall of his basement collapsed. ( I know ) This was quite a catastrophe, and cost a small fortune to fix. The house had to be jacked back up, so that the walls could be rebuilt, which meant that he needed to vacate his house for nearly two months. The contractor told him that the heat inside his basement was keeping the walls from freezing. When he insulated, they froze, cracked, and failed. The contractor also said that the heat from his house was actually warming the earth on the outside of the wall, which also protected it. Now, I'm no expert on this stuff, but I thought you might like to hear this story. If I were you, I'd call some local contractors. Tell them that you are thinking of hiring them to remodel your basement, and ask them how they would go about it. Insulation? No insulation. Ask them if they've ever heard of walls freezing in your area. If not, maybe ya wanna just go for it. Up to you. You might also call your zoning official, (but first, find out if the remodel you're doing would require a permit.) and ask him about basement remodeling. Some are rotten sob's, but mine for instance, is the nicest most helpful guy you could imagine. I kinda doubt that anyone is gonna gaurantee that your walls won't fall in, unless you hire them, maybe, because every building is different, but you can probably get a pretty good idea of what's been done in your town, successfully. Don't go by what the people on your block have gotten away with. That's too small of a survey. You need the advise of the pros on this one, people who have seen this kind of a project done several hundred times, in your particular climate, hopefully by some one who is familiar with the houses that were put up by the same contractor that yours was.
I don't mean to scare you here, but rather make sure that you've covered the bases, so that when you get your studio built, you can relax and enjoy it for many years to come. The answer won't be, don't build it. It'll be insulate it, or don't. Good Luck!
 
oh yea. Have someone hold a small mirror on the walls and ceiling, in between you and your monitors, and move the mirror around. When you see the monitors in the mirror, while sitting in your sweet spot, that's your reflection point.
Z
 
LOL dont worry it didnt scare me to much. The thing is im not even going to be covering the concrete wall. It will stay exposed. Im not to worried about the heat in the basement because there isnt much. I have talked to a contractor already and have gotten a couple quotes and that is just not in my budget. Plus id like the satisfaction of building it myself seeing I have dreamt about having a "studio" since I was a freshman in high school lol. The reason I talked to a contractor in the first place was just to determine if I was going to run into any trouble once I have all the electronics down there. I actually am in the process of patching the only crack there is and plan on starting the first coat of waterproofing sealer on saturday.

Thanks though for the heads up (and a minor skid mark)
 
hmmm...Perhaps if you re-read my post, you'll see that I didn't suggest that you hire a contractor, but merely talk to one, or better yet, a few. The guy who's walls fell in? He liked the temp at around 50, upstairs. The basement hovered at about 40.....
luck.
 
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