Basement Planning

I recently purchased a home in Sacramento, California that has a good sized basement (over 600 sq feet). I’d like to use part of the basement to build a room that can be used for recording (I play drums) and band practice. I would also like to build a small vocal booth in the room (space permitting) I have a full time job and family and will only be able to play at nights and weekends. The biggest question I have at this point is if it is possible to sound proof the basement to the extent that I could record drums or have band practice at night while my kids are sleeping (I would categorize my current band as medium loud rock band). I’m hoping to get feedback from this post so that I can decide whether or not to build in this location. Basement Description: Currently the basement is bare and is broken into three rooms by bare 2x4 walls (I believe they contribute to supporting the house above). I intend to build in the room that is towards the top of the attached diagram below, which lies directly beneath the kitchen. The rest of this description applies to that room. Dimensions: 19’x14’ rectangular room. The three perimeter walls are concrete (no windows) and there is a single 2x4 studded wall (it is bare at this point) on one of the short 14’ side of the room. There is a door on this wall to gain access to the room. Ceiling: The vertical space is 7’ from the floor to the bottom of 2x8 joists (spaced 16” apart). On top of the joists are spaced floor boards (1x6?), some kind of particle board material and linoleum on top (kitchen is directly above this portion of the basement). Floor: Also concrete like the walls. Other: HVAC ducts are attached under the ceiling and are connected to the air conditioning unit that is on the other side of the 2x4 stud wall. Also, there is a drain and small water pipe to/from the kitchen sink in the ceiling (also miscellaneous phone/electrical wires in the ceiling). Based on what I’ve been reading in Rod Gervais ‘Home Recording Studio’ book and internet posts my current thoughts are listed below. The main reason I’m posting this list is to give readers a general feeling of the level of effort I’m willing to put into the room. > Seal the room so that it is air tight (I haven’t thought through the exact details of this – i.e. materials, general approach, etc.) > Ceilings: Provided the ceiling can support it, add drywall to the ceiling and use resilient channels and 5/8” drywall as described in Chapter 4 of Rod Gervais’ book. I think any other approach would eat into the already minimal vertical space > Floor: Leave it alone and use rugs as needed for acoustic treatment > Walls: Build a single floating wall with a double layer of 5/8” drywall and insulation. Again, I haven’t nailed down how I will isolate the walls from the floor and ceiling – probably need to re-read the Gervias book. An alternative to building these walls is to leave the concrete walls as is with additional acoustic treatement. Based on what I have read, the benefits of building the floating walls are to promote isolation via additional mass and air-tight construction and to shape the space for better acoustics > Doors: Either double doors or the ‘super’ door from the Gervias book > HVAC: I do want to provide air to the room (should help that there are ducts already in the room). I have not investigated humidity and am not sure how it may affect the new walls. Recently I bought a decible meter and tested it out while my son played his kid drum set. While standing about 4 feet from the drumset, he was playing right around 100db (maybe up to 105db). From the kitchen above, the drums were ~80-85db. In the room where the kids would be sleeping, thie meter read 70-75db. My kids will sleep through my wife’s and I conversation and/or TB (I’ve read that normal conversation is between 50-60db). I’d appreciate feedback regarding the possibility of building in this basement such that I can play at night and (if so) any additional tips on how to design/construct the room. Thanks in advance

Hi "kwtj43". Welcome! It's really late here, and I'm too tired to go into much detail right now, but here's a couple fo quick comments, for whatever they might be worth. No particular order. Your basic plan seems OK. 7 foot headroom is already really low. This is your #1 issue. (But you already knew that. ) RC is probably the way to go to not lose height, but it may not be enough to get you the isolation you need. It also brings another issue: all of your mass for both leaves will be hung from the existing joists. Can they handle that huge extra load? Most likely not. You might have no choice but to build a second leaf, to split the load. 14' is a large distance to span. 2x4 wood joists are not going to cut it with that load. If you go to bigger dimensions of wood, then you lose head room. Maybe steel might be a better bet?

Floor: Also concrete like the walls.

Good!

HVAC ducts are attached under the ceiling

Which gives you even LESS head room, and an even LOWER ceiling! You will have to work around that duct somehow: Maybe build a soffit around it.

Recently I bought a decible meter and tested it out while my son played his kid drum set. While standing about 4 feet from the drumset, he was playing right around 100db (maybe up to 105db).

A full rock band is going to be more like 115 dB. Meaning that your other readings around the house are going to be 10 - 15 dB higher. Yo need isolation!

My kids will sleep through my wife’s and I conversation and/or TB (I’ve read that normal conversation is between 50-60db)

True, but converation is all in the mids. A rock band puts out a lot of energy in the lows and highs too. Lows penetrate walls much better than mids. Conversation is also usually smooth and monotonous: A drum it is repetitive sudden brief impacts, with lots of extreme transients. I have a hunch that even if your kids sleep through conversation at 60 dB, they probably won't sleep through a drum kit at 60 dB.

I’d appreciate feedback regarding the possibility of building in this basement such that I can play at night

I think it is doable, but the major issues here are your ceiling height, how much extra weight it can support, and how much isolation you need. No matter which way you look at it, the final ceiling is going to be very low. - Stuart -

Pictures Pictures Pictures!

Thanks for the feedback! You're right, if I can sound proof the room enough so my kids do no wake up, I'll have to live with the low ceilings. It sounds like the next step is to determine if the existing ceiling can support enough mass/material. I'm having a structural engineer over in a few days -- should I assume that need 2 layers of 5/8 drywall in the joists, r13 installation, rc channels and another layer of 5/8 drywall? Here are some pictures... View from oustide of the room looking through wall/door (kid's drums are seen in the room) View from inside the room looking towards wall/door Main HVAC duct running under joists Kitchen drain line and water lines View of ceiling and two HVAC ducts in joists

kwtj43 wrote:

The biggest question I have at this point is if it is possible to sound proof the basement to the extent that I could record drums or have band practice at night while my kids are sleeping

I'm no expert, but that just doesn't seem realistic to me. You are talking about a huge amount of sound isolation.

You're right, I guess it becomes about the 'level of effort' to acheive my goals. With that in mind, I think I need suggestions on alternative construction methods that would meet my requirements.