NEW attic studio build! advice anyone?

been about 5 years since I was last here for advice but don't have access to the email account I signed up with so...had to make a new one as I forgot the password. Ok here we go... I moved house about 6 weeks ago into a new place with a huge attic. It's about 30' x 36'. I tore apart very carefuly my last studio in the old place and am recycling most of the materials including all the timber & rockwool. Obviously the plasterboard couldn't be saved so that, caulk and screws should be the biggest part of my budget. The floor joists up there are 6"x2" with 4" of mineral wool between them. I've done a floating floor before and intend to rubber puck the joists and run new (used) 2x2 in the opposite directions so the beams cross at right angles. I'll have my 50mm rigid Knauff RW45 between my 2x2 then particle board tongued floor sheets. So my floor from the bottom up is 19mm plasterboard on the ceiling below, 6" joists with 4" of mineral wool, 1" rubber pucks, 2" floor joists with rigid RW45 in between, tongued particle boars, good quality rubber underlay then carpet. ... and the good news... I don't record acoustic drums. I have a roland TD3 kit and superior drummer 2.0 So for the walls and ceiling up there I'm not really sure how to attack it. I have some angled 4x2 supports and 5x2 trusses 2/3rds of the way up the roof. I've already cut and moved 3 of the angled supports on each side making an inlet for my desk on one wall and an inlet for my couch on the opposite wall. The trusses I plan to raise 10" each to claw back some of the height I'm losing with the floating floor to 7'2" Would panneling up the supporting trusses first then floating the floor and building a new room on the floater be overkill? I'm thinking if I double plasterboard the outsides, fill with RW54 and maybe, plasterboard..maybe just carpet halfway up and plasterboard the rest on the inside thisa will be enough. I done the whole room within a room in the last house and it worked well but an attic isn't exactly a room. For one there's a hatch to down stairs to which I've already fitted a good quality folding sprung ladder and plan to have the control room behind a door away from that as I know it's the weakest spot for sound transmition to the rooms below. I'll be back up there tomorrow with the camera and get some pics taken. Anyone done an attic studio before that can offer me advice? Oh yeah..it's a semi...we have neighbours but they are party animals so I don't see any problems there. I know I'll be making less noise than they do so I'm more concerned about not hearing them than them hearing me. Thanks, Alex

Dude - It's my Dad's 81st birthday today, yet still, even with recording going on, I've found time to type this. Please be kind enough to read the: 'Don't even think about posting until you've read this' Stickie. Regards, Lou. 8) Just in case you don't get time to look! :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3231

Lou, please tell your dad that he has the absolute best possible day of the year to have his birthday! There just cannot be a better day than December 3!!!! Only really, really great people are born on 3-Dec :) :yahoo: :) :!:

No shit Sherlock!....Very many happy returns my friend, All the best - Have a great evening! :D Warmest regards, Lou. 8)

Thanks Lou, it's been so long since my last build I forgot my password and had to make a new account but the sticky is much the same. I'll try and structure my post a bit better and include some pics/rough sketches where possible. What I'm trying to do: make a nice space for recording and mixing. No acoustic drums, I have a roland TD kit, pods etc for guitars. My monitoring level is usualy around 82Db The house: it's 4 in the block 2 up and 2 down built just after the war about 1948 I think. Really solid construction all brick with that wicker weave and plaster on the inside walls. Here's a pic from the attic skylight, same houses as mine... the attic space is (on floor level) 27' x 25' from which 13' x 16' has a standing height of 6'1" from the back of the hatch to the brickwork wall is 16', The floor space between the angled roof supports is 7' wide but with 4 supports (from 15 on each side)removed the space is 13' wide couple of pics.... couch in this recess and other side... mix position in this recess I have the control room at 13' L x 10' W x 7' high (still to move these. Waiting on one being delivered that I'll fit and remove the one below and cut to fit above the next one along) Here is a pic of what will be outside the control room, the hatch side which I hope to use for vocals or sticking an amp out there it's 5'9" x 7' would have been bigger but for the water tank (noise I can deal with). The floor joists are 6" x 2" that's 100mm loft insulation that's been put in on top of the old 50mm stuff when the house was rewired and double glazed a few years back so there's 150mm of loft insulation. I decided to float the floor because this is what I had in the old house and it worked in an upstairs room within a room with great results. I'll be floating it on THIS STUFF It's actualy safety rubber they put in swing parks/play areas over here that the grass can grow through. Here's part of the framework already floating... no it isnt...6 attatchments reached lol I'll continue underneath TBC

...continued Floating floor framework I'll put my knauff RW45 (got about 40 bats from the old place) between these joists..should rest on the rubber puck overhangs as it's rigid. In the background is some packs of the tongued flooring. I have enough to do two layers if need be but I think one for my needs will be enough. Here's my problem... Last place I built was a room withing an existing room. Should I treat the roof as the walls of the room or double plasterboard all the inside framework? I thought about double drywalling the outsides of the control room framework with RW45 on the inside like the outside in wall idea. I'm not looking to make it soundproof...I know that can't be done. I just wanted to reduce the transmitions to down stairs. I wouldn't even have floated the floor but the e-drums will be on the brick wall which straddles across the main bedroom and the living room. Just looking for some ideas. If you need any more info ask awai, I can take more detailed pics if needed. Many thanks, Alex

"I've already cut and moved 3 of the angled supports on each side... " You are playing with fire trying to retrofit a roof structure. With each brace you remove, the potential for overload due to snow increases dramatically. You need to get Qualified building HELP. And you require it immediately for your safety and for those around you.

I was wondering about that. Those braces are there for a reason. Taking them out with compensating by some type of additional bracing, is asking for trouble. I'd put them back in right away, until you can get competent advice. It's not safe like that. It is winter right now where you live, and the photo you posted shows snow on the roof, so there is a major load up there right now, without the correct support.

My neighbour IS a builder, been in the trade for 30 years. He has ALL of his braces removed and angled upright and has 2 rooms in his loft for his photography stuff. I only removed 4 from each side because I want the angles for bass trapping. He's had his conversion done for over 5 years. There is a load bearing wall bellow that runs the line of the apex of the roof. I don't see what better advice I could have gotten. Maybe it's time to call someone in for a second opinion :cry:

Consider where the rafter supports are after you moved them, versus where they originally were. There is a wall beneath and somewhere close to where the original position is. There is no wall beneath the newly afixed area...my guess. Don't think that snow is the only reason, it is not. The roof itself is heavy. Do you have a tile roof? It just got heavier. In unison, the supports help deflect wind loads as well, while maintaining the structure support. Each time you take one out, two things happen. The roof gets weaker in that area and the roof load is transferred to your exterior walls. Now, where once you had a support system per rafter you now have rafters on either side of the unsupported rafter trying to hold each other >plus< the unsupported rafter up. There are ways to do this, if in fact, it can be done in your environment. But pulling out structural support with no idea what it is you are doing other than your neighbor did it and got away with no problems, is not the recipe for a good design. And since I'm on it, whatever pressure points you develop in this build with your attic walls most certainly require support from the wall directly beneath it. If it is not there...all the above apply to that as well. And this process continues all the way down to the base foundation level. Doesn't matter if you want to hear this or not, you need to hear it. You do not know what you are asking of this structure and at what point a fatal collaspe will happen. There will be little warning. I do not even know how a load bearing wall under the roof ridge applies?

Maybe it's time to call someone in for a second opinion

Sounds like an excellent idea! Maybe a structural engineer would be the best guy to get. After all, they put those braces in there for some reason. Contractors certainly don't just install large wooden beams in places that don't need it, just for fun! It would be really sad if you built a really cool top-class studio up there, then had the roof collapse on top of it one day: Even sadder if you were in there at the time... If I were you, I'd be listening very carefully to what xSpace says. Words of wisdom.

Soundman2020 wrote:

Words of wisdom.

It's what I do. ;)

I'm listening VERY carefuly, infact it's almost 5am and I haven't slept a wink worrying about it. I'll have it looked at first thing in the morning. The only thing I'm holding onto right now is that everything else up there is 6"x2" and the's supports are 4"x1" and there was a lot of play in them before I removed them. I pulled them off with my hands most of them. You really do have me worried though. I'll get it seen to first thing. Thanks again for the heads up. Alex