Thinking of converting my cellar

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Druw

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Hi,
Im thinking of playing drums (I already play the guitar) but I haven't got much space for the drum kit (electric or acoustic). I was thinking of asking my dad if he would convert the cellar into a kindof studio for me an my friends.

Im thinkin of something like this:
Wooden floor
Carpets
Soundproofing for the ceiling and trap door so I dont disturb parents
Wiring for lights and outlets
Old couch (which we have)
and of course the drums which ill probably be buying + my 2 guitars and amp

The cellar walls are 1-2 metres thick (its a 200+ year old house with a war shelter connected to the cellar which will be closed up) so no need for soundproofing there (or is there?) neigbours wont mind as theyre barely ever home.

How much do you think this will add up to? In US dollars or British sterling? I live in Malta and our houses are very different to abroad, hence the use of a cellar not a garage or extra room.

Thanks alot!!!!

EDIT:What about humidity? I dont suppose that would be good for the guitars and drum kit? Will a simple dehumidifier do or would i need something more powerful? Its very very humid down there.
 
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Well you say you'll add soundproofing to the ceiling. Do you really know what that entails? You need to add mass, and lots of it. You will probably need an air conditioning system also. 1-2 metres of wall is good, but is there any windows or anything? And sound isolation is only as good as it's weakest link. It could be a window if you have one, the ceiling, and the door down to the basement. Could you explain the layout of the basement, and possibly provide pictures. Give us as much info as you can, so that we can give you info on how to best sound isolate it.
 
Before I'm able to take pictures, this is how it is:
You open the trap door and theres a 1 or 2 metre drop, after that stairs for about 2 or 3 metres then a big open space, parrallel to the left of the stairs is a wall and then an indentation in the room. There is 1 window (or 2 not sure) where the wall kindof of is sucked into it to make a dent. Attached is an estimate of the cellar (from the last time i saw it) Remember, walls are 1-2 metres thick, but there are those windows. Ill see if my dad will take me down there, I just told my mum and she thinks its a great idea as my dad ha sbeen wanting to convert it for ages.
I look forward to your reply :)
 

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Hmm, this sounds quite interesting. I dont think it'd be a good idea to jump down with heavy equipment etc. Hmm, what I'm thinking about now is a staircase from the house above down, but this may not be feasable. Well anyway, you will need to fill in the windows etc to achieve the same amount of transmission loss, hmmm trying to think of ho to do this. What is the ceiling/floor of house above made of? Is it wooden? Lots to think about.
 
Also, will you be buying recording gear etc for the studio, or is it just a practice studio?
 
I don't really understand what you mean when you say there is an indentation into the room.
 
Well ignore that post, I went down and took a few pics, It wil be more of a practice studio, the floors are stone, as is all the house. There are stairs going down aswell.

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The pics arent all that good, it was the best I could do in pitch black. We'll have to remove all the stones,hay,and rubbish down there. We're just going to dump it in the war shelters, so no biggie.
E;ectricity is'nt a prob as my dad had thought in advance and put a socket near the trap door, so he can just dril la hoole and pass the wires down.
Its not very big, but if we clean it up, it should come along quite nice.
Thanks
 
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Right, this pics have confused me. Are you sure your drawn pic is right? Pic 7 confuses me, is that bit full of stones etc the circled bit on the attached pic? If so, in your drawn pic, it seems you have missed the wall to the right of pic 7. Also is pic 6, the "indentation in the room" you mentioned, I'm confussed.
 

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the bit you circled is a tunnel, the black rectangle si the stones in pic 6. To the right of the drawn pic is pic 7 where there is a short bit full of stuff. Nevermind the indentation, i messed up that.
 
You think you'll be able to knock down the stones in pic 6?
 
So it'll be like this when you've knocked it down, filled in the window(s), and cleaned it up.
 

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The tunnel goes to the war shelters, yes thats what It would look like in a few months.
 
What are the war shelters like? Will they leak sound? I'm guessing not.
 
Ok, once you've filled in the windows, your weakest link will be the trap door. Is the ceiling stone? How thick is it? Could you hear a drumkit from the house above? I know you can't really test until you have it, but try goin down the to the basement and shouting as loud as you can while someone listens above. If they can hear you, then they'll hear the drums, and youl will have to add mass either in the basement to the ceiling, or in the rooms above. Also adding mass may make it unsafe, so you gotta get it checked out.
 
The ceiling is stone, we'll try going down again soon, what about if we put a door at the bottom of the stairway?
EDIT:What do you mean leak sound?
 
Druw said:
The ceiling is stone, we'll try going down again soon, what about if we put a door at the bottom of the stairway?
EDIT:What do you mean leak sound?
Click to expand...
leak sound, ie where air goes sound goes. So if the war shelter leaks air, it will also leak sound. Yeah a door at the bottom of the stairway would be good, thats eactly what i was designing as i was getting more info. I'll show you what i have already.
 

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