Outbuilding Updates

We bought a house out in the country and it has an old corn crib up on blocks and currently using as my drum studio. The walls are not insulated - but has the pressed board on it. Its the old wooden flooring but the building is built up on concrete blocks - only on the north & south walls - so wind goes right under the building. My questions is what all would you recommend to helping the sound proofing - i don't have to have is super deadened but enough to our horses aren't spooked when i play. Also due to severe winters out here i'd like to help with the insulation factor for being able to practice in the winter. Currently i have a forced air propane heater i use in there to help warm it up. My thoughts were drilling holes in the pressed board and using a blown insulation machine to fill in the cavities between the 2x4s (or 2x6's - not sure whats behind it). As far as the floor is concerned i thought about layered sheets of 2" thick poly board secured under the building and in the winter adding bales of straw to keep the wind blowing under it. After I fill the walls in i thought about then adding drywall over the pressed board for added sound isolation. The room is 16x20 - it won't be used for recording - just general practice (and part of it used for gun room as well). Thanks for any ideas you can come up with to help me in this project i want to tackle this spring/summer. -Peg

How do you know it does not have wall insulation? What about your attic?

the previous owner fixed it up to be a play house for his kids & he told me there was none.

Yea, well what your talking of doing should help a lot! You might want to look into another way to heat this thing. doesn't that put off fumes or no?

its one of those redyheat heaters - the fumes aren't too bad. it heats the building up pretty quickly tho - i'm guessing if it was insulated it would be even quicker. I wish there was a way i could lift the building and create a real foundation for it - i mean i know there is a way but its way out of my price range for a hobby room. I believe the attic of it is empty too - so i'll try to blow some insulation up in there as well. Last summer it actually stayed cool in there for the most part - unless it got to be 100+ outside. Not sure how i will attach the foam boards to the underside of the building - that will be my biggest problem - there isn't tons of work room under there - just barely a crawl space. Anyone ever used that blown insulation for sound proofing? Wonder how well that will dampen noise?

that sounds like a good start on the cheap. seeing as though the original intent was a playhouse and seeing what it's constructed of, I would bet that it's a pretty "leaky" structure....cracks, misc holes, gaps around door, window, etc. I would suggest sealing up those leaks with acoustic caulk and door weather stripping. if water could get through, then sound can get through. use actual "acoustic" caulk, not the el cheapo stuff. it usually comes in the bigger contractor tubes, so ounce for ounce it's not that much more money.

Thanks for the tips - i have yet to see any water come thru - we've been here for 1.5 yrs. I'll look online to get some acoustic caulk or is that something that Lowes might carry? Yeah i'm not looking for professional studio design - just something that will keep the building insulated a little better and at the same time add some sound dampening. Thanks for your time.

I wasn't referring to leaks from rain or snow. What I mean is that an actual soundproof room (well, as close as one can get) would theoretically float if you threw it in a lake. So I'm talking little gaps at wall joints, the oversized holes for electric boxes or ductwork, cracks in floor boards, the window that doesn't seal so well, etc... I know that full blown isolation is not required in your situation, but just knowing how it's achieved should help you improvise if need be and improve your situation on a budget. I don't know off hand where to get acoustic caulk in your area, and I highly doubt you'll find it at Lowes. Try the yellow pages under drywall contractors and see if you can get some from them, or see if they can tell you where to get some....or just do a search here on this site and check the "building materials" forum. Personally, I've had good luck with USG acoustic caulk. Works great, the price is good, and it's not too messy to work with.