Home Depot shed - ok for studio?

Location: Upstate, South Carolina Here's the plan: My band and I are wanting to build a storage shed rehearsal space/studio in my back yard, using a Home Depot shed like the one pictured below. It will be about 30 yards or so from my house, and 50 or more from neighbors. Our main concern is isolation. Acoustics are important because we want to use it as a studio too, but the big thing is isolating the sound from elderly neihbors. We are a pretty loud rock band, with two loud guitars, bass, and drums. We have played in my house before (not soundproof) and the neighbors didn't complain, so as long as we can keep it at this volume in the new studio, we should be fine. We also want to run electriciy to it and have a window a/c unit. Our budget is around $8,000. I have been looking at the Home Depot sheds like the one below: That one pictured is a lot smaller than what we want, but the 12X20's run around 5k. Can anyone offer any advice or show examples of someone doing something similar? What kind of isolation materails should I use? Do you think 8k is enough? Thanks in advance.

Hi, I newly joined but have been hanging around for quite some time doing a lot of studying. I am actually a general contractor so I can give you some insite regarding your question...is $8k enough? In my opinion it isn't. If you plan on buying a shed for $5k you are left with around $3k. Then you have the issue of sound proofing and treatment. Depending on what kind of STL (sound transmission loss) you are looking for you may be able to cut corners but not much. You will have to reinforce the floor of the shed, most of those sheds are built using 2x4's for the floor. You will have to elevate it from the ground due to water and moisture, and to properly do that without any danger you will need footings dug and poured and then properly fasten the shed to the footings. I guess you could do a turned down slab but that is more concrete and labor. By the time you do all of that, you will have no money left. You are in SC I think you said. Don't you have a basement or garage you could use? You should really read some of the other threads to get an idea of what it takes to isolate a room from the outside. If you are far enough from neighbors then you may get away with heavy insulation and double layers of sheetrock thoroughly calked. You may have to go with an elevated slab to better isolate as well. It is do-able but I think you may need more money. All the best, Teek

Hai there folks, could you please fill in your profile as mentioned in the stickies? The shed is useless for a sound-isolated-room. Why? Well, read the forum and you'll find out in a minute. Please do your homework. You'll thank me later when you "know" what yer doing :)

Thanks everyone. So it looks like the word on the street is the HD shed isn't going to work.. I may try building one from the ground up (which I've been told I could do for 8k), but I've never built anything in my life other than Lego's.. lol I do have a two car garage.. But I'm not sure I want to build anything permanent (like room inside a room) because I do plan to sell my house someday..

I'm thinking about installing a wall in my garage, separating it to create two rooms. The band would rehearse in the room away from the garage door. I could build the wall with 1 or 2 layers of sheet rock, with insulation (hopefully rockwool if I can find it). I looked around the site and didn't see anyone with this same scenario. I know the sound will still be escaping through the three walls other than the one I build, but do you think this will at least isolate the sound some? At least more than the garage door does of course..

How is the garage built? (what materials). Concrete or brick walls would be great! Typical garage construction, not so much. And it's not just the "other 3" walls that you need to worry about: it is the other FOUR walls, #4 being the ceiling. Plus any doors, windows, vents, or other orifices. Those are all weak points. In order to isolate effectively, you need to have a total airtight seal around you. Even a small hole, just a half inch in diameter, will destroy your isolation. So if you can seal up the garage well, and put plenty of mass-air-mass around you, then you'll be fine. Having said that, a garage sounds like a MUCH better idea then an HD shed... A lot of what you need is already there. You just need to add some more. - Stuart -

Soundman2020 wrote:

How is the garage built? (what materials). Concrete or brick walls would be great! Typical garage construction, not so much. And it's not just the "other 3" walls that you need to worry about: it is the other FOUR walls, #4 being the ceiling. Plus any doors, windows, vents, or other orifices. Those are all weak points. In order to isolate effectively, you need to have a total airtight seal around you. Even a small hole, just a half inch in diameter, will destroy your isolation. So if you can seal up the garage well, and put plenty of mass-air-mass around you, then you'll be fine. Having said that, a garage sounds like a MUCH better idea then an HD shed... A lot of what you need is already there. You just need to add some more. - Stuart -

Thanks Stuart. I wish the garage was made of brick/concrete, but it's attached to my home with sheet rock walls. All three walls are insulated, and the ceiling has a large attic above with insulation (giving me some mass and definitely space) What do you recommend I put on the walls to create a seal? Some sort of soundproofing material I assume.. I also want to put a door in the wall that leads to the garage door, but that's probably going to be the trickiest part, as far as isolation goes. Thanks again!