New studio build progress

I will keep updating this thread with pics and progress of my studio build, comments and suggestions on my progress are appreciated! Here are a few pics so long, i will be updating the thread with more detailed pics and plans soon.

some pics

It looks great. How deep are the foundations? Andre

Hi Andre, thanks for the positive response! Its been a nerve wrecking experience to this point seeing that the contractors follow instructions!! The foundation was thrown 350mm deep into the ground and its about 600mm wide.

Thanks for the foundation information. Most studio construction here (JLS RSD) is driven very much by by cost and weight restrictions. Several people must be loving your construction with double brick walls. That will control low frequency transmission very well. Please keep the pictures coming! Andre

they started compacting the earth this morning with a wacker compacter so that we can throw the cement slab tomorrow, i was pretty excited to find that the machine made a ton of noise inside the building mostly low frequency and it was obvious that the walls were helping alot because outside it was clear that most of the sound heard was pouring out the door hole and over the roof wall where the ibr sheeting has not yet been place for the roof, placing my ear against the outer wall i almost dont here the compacter i can however feel the vibrations! Are you not allowed to build cavity walls where you are from? in south africa it was standard procedure close to the gold mines due to frequent blasting.

Congratulations on hearing the LF reduction from the cavity wall.

Preludetojune wrote:

Are you not allowed to build cavity walls where you are from?

Cavity walls are permitted, but they are not the usual construction. The acoustic advantages are well known by acoustics professionals, but not by the general public, or that matter, most architects. Keep us updated on the progress of your build! Andre

edited

I'd make a standard wooden roof. Make sure it's got some mass (add extra layers for example) and on the inside a false ceiling. stuff stuff in between and yer stuffe.. eh done. Okay, that sound simple... well it actually is. There's no magic, its just another roof. But you've got the advantage of building is from scratch, so you can make it soundproof (atleast more than standard build roofs)

Thanks for your post RO, i dont totally understand what you mean though but i need to keep my options open, its too late for me to replace the IBR sheeting as its been built into place already, i have however got the option now to build from inside the studio outwards towards the IBR, i need to get this right or else i am stuffed! I'l take some closer pics of the roof and post them

okay.. :? Too bad the stuff's already in there. That roof will not have much mass hence it will not be "soundproof". But also, it won't be able to hold much on top of it. So I'd advise no partying goin' on there :twisted: And, won't that stuff make a ton of noise when the rains starts poring down? Maybe reconsider and remove it all again in order to have a descent roof over your head..

dunno, maybe it's better to stop all building activities and laydown your plans here on the forum?

Slightly off-topic but maybe useful info in this thread... A while back a client of mine who's doing a documentary on poor people living in the outskirts of big cities in India asked for the particular sound of rain hitting on those little houses made out of junk. I actually used the roofing sheets that were shown in one of the pictures here. Believe me.... they ARE noisy (whereas "noisy" is the understatement of the year). I recorded the 'rain' -actually an extended bathroom shower- from 5 meters distance, and from underneath the thin metal sheets. Overall sound levels easily exceeded 85dB, imagine what will happen when a real cloudburst or severe thundershowers hits. Don't think you want that if you're not doing sound effects... so I'm with Ro's last comment. My Naf 0.02 (two Antillean cents)

Ro wrote:

dunno, maybe it's better to stop all building activities and laydown your plans here on the forum?

YES! Andre

edited

o.k build is now on hold and we are ripping out the IBR sheets, extending the roof angle and replacing the sheets with a tiled roof, this is how serious i am about building a decent studio, how does this sound to the more experienced studio builders or what would you suggest?

Good. Can you give a drawing of what the proposed roof ceiling system is? It may here but I haven't seen it. Have you posted the plans? Good studio building is 90% design and 10% construction. Andre

I have not yet drawn up the plan for the proposed new roof, here are pics of the ibr roof, the short term plan for now is more or less the same principle but with the front end of the roof extended another metre higher to create a bigger angle for the tiled roof so that water can run off, any ideas and suggestions on this would be really appreciated at this point as the carpenter is planning on taking down the whole roof tomorrow and rebuilding the rafters on the ground before placing them back onto the walls. my original plan was to lay concrete lintels next to each other over the width of the studio and then support the lintels for three weeks with jacks and poles after pouring concrete over the lintels but its now too late for that as i have bought alot of wood rafters and a few builders advised not to go that route. Pic below is how the roof is at the moment, at the moment the new plan is to use the same principle as i mentioned above with the rafters but with a greater angle, so the look from inside the studio should still look similar, my plan is to then, place rockwool against the tiles and seal it between the tiles and softboard, 1 leaf, i will then leave a air gap and create my second leaf by placing in my ceiling for the room (notty pine) or drywall (2 layers against each other with pink stuff or rockwool laying on top of the drywall or (notty pine ceiling). below are pics to make it a little clearer (this is my starting point idea however)

please excuse my drawing im not a painter im a musician

For effective sound isolation you ned mass. Think of your double brick cavity wall as an example. The IBR and tiles are light weight and not connected to each other and create a cavilty in between. The idea you had of pouring concrete over the IBR is a good one acoustically. Why was it rejected? Andre

IBR cannot support the weight its only 0.4mm thick, the tiles will atleast help against the rain noise and are alot heavier than the ibr mass wise, so in my oppinion its a better start for the roof, i can then just seal up between the tiles and my studio ceiling with acoustic products ect.... below are some of the products recomended and available to me in south africa the first is a product is - Wood fibre cement bonded boards with superb acoustic & thermal properties; fire, water and frost resistant - application examples added and the second - Non-eroding, waterproof, natural stone wool providing superior long term acoustic & thermal insulation performance - im sure this is what you call "rockwool" here are some stats on it

I think your main problem is those "beams" (rafters). They are way to light to carry anything serious. With a good foundation underneath your room and brickwalls it's a good option to place heavy beams ontop of the (inner) brickwall and place a descent roof on that. You should even have the option to poor concrete on such roof. It will support much, much more load. In my opinion, that's the way to build. And it's a very standard way of construction too. Prelude, it would be very advisable to draw up some plans, make sketches and present'm here. This is THE ultimate resource to have your studio(!) plans looked at for sure.

thanks Ro, i will do that, we are now adding alot more beams and wood i willtake some pics as the process carries on but we are replacing the ibr with tiles for the moment

PreludetoJune (May?) :wink: Typically Metal Sheet roofing (IBR) requires about half of the number of trusses as Tiled roofing. As a fellow South African and ex builder, normally SA tiles are Cement or Clay tiles and they are heavy. You will need to double the number of Trusses, along with battens approx every 30cm instead of the heavier purlins you have now, depending on size of the tiles. Perhaps as Ro suggests, you could even put a Concrete slab on top of your walls, though I could suggest a concrete slab (Tar sealed and options for extra rooms later!) on your outer walls and a timber inner ceiling on your inner walls. The tiles are going to be a weak leaf in the system, or potentially a 3rd leaf at the end of the day. I am pretty sure that you cannot put tiles on a roof with such a shallow angle, a Tiled roof needs a steeper pitch to aid water runoff, IE 30deg pitch or more. Again as Ro suggests, try to provide some diagram of the final roof system and you may save some time / pain and money. Where abouts are you in SA? Good luck Marz

PreludetoJune, WRT Insulation: Did you try www.isover.co.za ? This is the ex Owens-Corning company in ZA, just taken over by Saint-Gobain which is a big UK insulation manufacturing company. Their CavityLite - Energylite 47.5 is the closest thing to 703 fiberglass insulation, just with different name. This is effectively 3 lb / cubic ft. Approx R475 per 5m roll They also supply Sonic Liner in different sizes for Duct linings. They also supply equivalent of Rockwool, but I was told that SA is short of this for next couple of months. This also has a different name, but if you ask them about their Stonewool products, they will be able to help you. Confusing that they cant use the same names as their original products. The CavityLite comes in Batts 1200 x 600 mm wide or in rolls 1200mm wide x 5m. I think the Rockwool may be the same. regards Marz