advice on building a programming room

hi. i have been reading as much of this forum as i can before asking any form of questions, and im hoping you will bear with me. i need to make a little studio in my back garden and it will be built inside the shell of my current shed, the shed is a metal shed sat on a 4x2 rafter that has got 22mm cdx ply on top which the shed is screwed down to, the whole thing is raised at the front on 4x4 tannelised and sealed legs , all teh legs are sat on concrete under neath the soil. im just looking to build a little programming room that will enclose my synths, mixing desk and a few other things, prehaps a little vocal booth also. now i have read the forum rules and i usnderstand you want me to get some pictures and do some form os sketchup drawing, this i will try and do tomorrow. i have to say try simply because i am a multiple mini stoke sufferer and there are certain things im not able to do, hwever i will do my best. the reason i am using the shed is because i cant have naything built out there for the purpose so i have to make do with what i have got. one question i have though is because of the raised nature of the platform and shed i was going to do a room within a room and the base of the floor would be a grid of 3x2 beams fixed to the main floor, then each square section filled either with sand to remove all the air that would be in the cavities or to fill them with some form of rockwool and then put strips of neoprerne rubber accross the beam tops and then lay 2 layers of cdx ply over the top, would this be a good idea? i have attatched a picture of what i mean to do. the sides will be packed with an expanding foam and lots of good rockwool also. the roof cavity will also be filled with rockwool. this is my only option to have a nice little programming room for all my equipment, i will take some pics and photos of the shed i have to use later if thats ok, i will take pics of the underneath and inside with some measurements and another drawing, i will try my hand at sketchup and see what i can do. i have included pictures now uploaded to this site and not linked elsewhere

ok i have got sketchup and ii will try my hand at it today, i like to work in millimeters so i will do it that way if i can. i have updated my profile also. with reguards to neighbours, i would like to prevent sound leaks and be able to turn the levels up occasionally without any outside noize coming from the setup. i will be mostly doing electronic music, a little jarre stuff and some trance music with the odd vocal. i will measure the inside today and try to put that in sketch up, please bear with me while i try to follow the forum rules as best i can. thanks for a great site :D Internal size (H)205, (W)300, (D)357cm / (H)6ft 8in, (W)9ft 10in, (D)11ft 8in. i have had a little go with sketchup , i still have a great deal to learn, im a solidworks user myself and find doing things in that much easier as i have used it for so long, i havent tried this one before so it will take a little time to learn it, but using one of john's designes i have an idea of the sort of thing i want in there. i used the components from his small studio design, i have to figure out how to make things size properly and figure out doing the joists etc but it gives an idea of what i want to have. im hoping that even a small room is possible just for me to play my keyboards and synths in, i do now have another option which is our attic, this is quite large but would require some intensive work to achieve and then some serious soundproofing and isolation making it not really feasable. putting this in the outside shed is a better option. edit: pictures a little large so i adjusted them to 700pix or under

im not sure if i have missed anything out there, i am still reading a few threads on the forum. im hoping this will suffice details wise. the shed is in the read of our large garden away from neighbours, it is built on a 4x2 joist system with 22mm cdx ply shhet on top to provide a level surface. the legs are 4x4 tanellised legs that are sunk 18 inches into the ground, they sit on a large concrete block and are then surrunded by a large concrete ball. the shed is a galvanised sheet steel shed with a set of double doors at the front, the shed is built on an incline and the front is raised, whereas the rear is only several inches off the ground to prevent moisture creeping into the wood, although the wood is all pre-treated. i have attached a rough picture of the way the leg sits on the block and the concrete surrounds the block and leg. levels wise yes i would like to have it raised occasionally on rare occasions quite loud, i will be monitoring through some alesis monitor ones, luckily my neighbours are ok with soundlevels and never hear anything from the set up anyway, i have spoken with them about setting the studio up at the top of the garden and there is no issue as thier son has a massive workshop at the top of thier garden and make copious amounts of noise when hes working in there. the front of the shed will shortly have a set of steps leading to a front landing with extended roof area and ballistrade budget wise as myself and my brother are experienced carpenters and my cousin is an electrician and i have someone to do the hvac side of things im covered on that so im budgeting about £1500 simply because i can get most things at trade or free and i have a lot of items already.

im wondering if i have missed something out here or if there is something i havent followed or something i havent done in the section/forum rules? as the thread has had 56 hits an no replies. i understand the mods and admin are very busy thats ok, but as i have a very limited grasp of things and this thread will be read by my brother and friends i need to make sure i have been detailed with my info as from what i can gether if even one thing isnt done right the thread gets ignored and un-answered. im still practicing with sketchup so i can make a good plan, but in the merantime any advice or info would be great. is there anything more i need to add to the thread please? so i can make sure its as the rules? please excuse any typos its something im living with words seem right even when they are wrong.

Good Evening PK1, I don't have much to offer in the way of help, but it should be helpful ;) My thinking here is that this shed does not have the capabilities to support much more weight then it already has. Is that a fair assessment? The best you can do with this space is to add insulation and sheetrock on the inside.But I caution you that you should consider the help of someone local that has experience in building...local to you. Fact is, this type of structure cannot support much more weight then it already is supporting. BUT, it can maintain the additional items like insulation and sheetrock. But then you have a concern with getting fresh air in and stale air out, warm air in, in the cold climate, cold air in, in the warm climate...

thanks for the reply xspace the shed will take quite a lot of additional load, the load capacity over the area is quite a lot, there are 12 legs going in to the ground, luckily the ground is quite firm and quite stony underneath the concrete and the main block footings. after being there for in excess of a year and a half and having massive amounts of tools from lathes to pillar drills, bench planers and small table saws it took that lot very well. now the shed has a few tools in and one large 8x4 worksurface and some shelving, the shed has not moved at all. i have asked my wife if i can have a blockwork shed built but, let say shes not keen on me taking up anymore garden space, in woman talk (which basically means no) so what im thinking is to do the floor framework, fill with densely packed rockwool then cover with two layers of cdx, build an inner frame wall and spray some thermal foam in the gaps and pack with rockwool, then double layer some gypsum board on the studs, the floor will have a good thick underlay then a nice thick carpet on top. then using the small studio plan as a basis built speaker cabinets with traps and side panels etc as per the plans. the roof area will also be sprayed and packed up and covered with 2-3 layers of gypsum and a couple of clouds mounted, the doorway will have an inner door attached to the new framework, i have a set of double sliding doors i can use from an old conservatory that are still good and give good noise soundproofing. equipment wise im looking at a new console furniture i have built along with desk, some out board and my synths etc. now if john or one of the more experienced guys says "look your on to a no winning solution here " then so be it, i can show my wife the thread and then she may be more likely to let me build a blockwork room ( i hope) otherwise i will have to do the best i can with what i have and try to make the shed idea work. failing this, i have been looking on the net for a storage container, if i find one i will buy one and do a conversion similar to the one john did for spark. once again thanks for any advice.

well i have spent the past few days reading and reading on the site, so im just going to go ahead and get on with things. hopefully what i have worked out on paper is correct and all positioning is right. i did try and put it into sketchup but im still learning it. i have it all insolidworks already and im following that plan. i will try and put some pics up as and when i can.

"now if john or one of the more experienced guys says "look your on to a no winning solution here " then "so be it," :) You guys can be so funny...

xSpace wrote:

"now if john or one of the more experienced guys says "look your on to a no winning solution here " then "so be it," :) You guys can be so funny...

sorry xspace, im still reding through the site so i dont know whos more qualified to answer or not, i didnt meant to be presumtious in any way as to your abilities. i was hoping one of the mods or mr sayers would have had the courtesy to answer the thread though, as i went to great effort on my part to give as much detail as i could about what i wanted to do, given my physical limitations getting the information that was needed took quite some effort on my part. however with a little help i am going to just get on with it and see what i come out with. thanks for your replies xspace it was appreciated.

pk1 wrote:

sorry xspace, im still reding through the site so i dont know whos more qualified to answer or not, i didnt meant to be presumtious in any way as to your abilities.

I guess that is a fair statement. The most common issue with why the "big boys" do not get involved is due to the poster not doing the proper amount of homework, not having a structure that can be used in any way or budgets not being revealed. In the DIY environment that prevails here at this forum, it only takes a few seconds to gather enough information from the poster to know with a strong degree of accuracy, if the build is doable and if it is doable, can the poster do it with either brute force or proper monies or some devision of the two. For me, posters here should look deep into what it is they are doing and examine how real they are being with a proposed build. This is the kind of thing that will get the real experts, as you guys call them, out of their caves. Good luck :) Come see me @ http://www.buildthisroom.com

pk1 wrote:

sorry xspace, im still reding through the site so i dont know whos more qualified to answer or not, i didnt meant to be presumtious in any way as to your abilities. i was hoping one of the mods or mr sayers would have had the courtesy to answer the thread though, as i went to great effort on my part to give as much detail as i could about what i wanted to do, given my physical limitations getting the information that was needed took quite some effort on my part. however with a little help i am going to just get on with it and see what i come out with. thanks for your replies xspace it was appreciated.

FYI xspace is one the heavies, and one willing to help people get through the difficulty of describing what they want to do and telling what they can do. It is a team here, and where one heavy takes a lead, the others will sit back and keep track, Not too heavy, Andre

I appreciate your support Andre, you are a shining star in a sea of stars :) And my hero!