Basement recording studio in Columbus Ohio Build Diary

The design is ready and I will begin building this coming weekend. Here's the studio design link and all of the progress made. http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15301 I am picking up the 2x4's this weekend and will begin building the walls! Here's my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/freakshiftdialect?feature=mhum#p/a. I have 3 videos up so far and will document this whole process. Thanks again Glenn for putting so much time into helping me and thanks John for creating a great community!

I got the wood today. I20 Pieces of 2x4 wood. Ready to build!!

Remember step 1 is prep - rerouting ducts, pipes, eletrcial if need be, beefing up under the floor joists, etc. Then you'll be ready :)

Ok so for my cold air intake. I asked a professional and they said that there is no way I can go any smaller/shorter... so it looks like I'll have to build the vocal booth 6' 8inches tall. Is there a way to do the ceiling differently in this area since I will not have joists to connect things to? Maybe support the ceiling by using the walls? As far as rerouting the sump pipe and the duct that will fit in the soffit I will work on that this week.

Ok I do have an idea. Maybe I can use my basement as the cold air return and take the air return vent out completely? Here's a few pictures of what I have to work with. and here's where my vent comes up from the floor above.

Ok so I re routed my duct that was running through the middle of my basement. Here's pics And the sump area

I am going to fix the duct work and not use the flex piece with the main duct work. I will use the flex duct for the hvac in the CR and the Vocal booth. Glenn, I had my contractor friend come and see if I can do anything with the Cold Air Intake duct above the vocal booth and he said that I can not. Is there a way to make the door enterence area (about a foot and a hald long and 7 foot wide) be supported by the walls then do the rest of the vocal booth ceiling using the joists?

you could move the door slightly if needed and just adjust the treatments accordingly. it might be simpler to box in the pipe rather than build joists on the walls..

Yeah that sounds good to me!!

it might be simpler to box in the pipe rather than build joists on the walls..

What exactly do you mean by this? Should I just not use joists for the vocal booth at all?

if you're using isolation clips and channel to support the drywall ceiling, then you could use that same tactic to box in the pipe - using some 2x4 etc to build a frame to attach small sections of the decoupled ceiling to.

Ok so I have the duct work moved and now I will be running electricity. Once thats all run I will begin building. I'm gonna get the neoprene this week.

Ok so I have enough durafoam for all of my wall. I'm going to begin building walls today.

So I will finally begin building at the end of March!

We have started framing! Check out the video. I'm gald to finally being! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHqv3uAo3RM

I just found out through private messaging with Glenn that I build the walls incorrectly. I nailed the the walls to the joists above using neoprene as the barrier between the two walls. After searching a similar construction diary I see a post from john Sayers that states "This is the correct way to build a wall" (see below) So now I have to tear all of the walls down and take about 2 inches off then put them back up right? So what is the neoprene for if the walls don't connect to the joists? Does the neoprene go on top of the walls? Glenn you said a tight fit. So how close should the neoprene be from the joists above? Touching... almost touching?? I want to do this right.

Hi Esco, I checked out your build video ... Something that caught my attention ... it had looked like you had a stud frame wall built against the concrete wall [red ??]. Couldn't tell if you had an 'air gap' there. I know 'my' instructions were to build an inch or two away from the foundation wall. It was hard to tell from the vid ... but just mentioned it for clarification. Sorry to hear of the 're-build' ... glad it was spotted before it was too late ! :roll:

Your right! It's my fault though. I had a contractor friend come over and he recommended that I build it that way. The issue is that I have never build a wall before so I just took his word for it and now I'm paying the price. So yeah, back to square 1 :( I will try to tear the walls down and fix then asap. I'm still trying to figure out what "neoprene and lag screws with neoprene tubing and washers" for the walls means! lol

Esco wrote:

I just found out through private messaging with Glenn that I build the walls incorrectly. I nailed the the walls to the joists above using neoprene as the barrier between the two walls. After searching a similar construction diary I see a post from john Sayers that states "This is the correct way to build a wall" (see below)

Not preserved: building walls.jpg

So now I have to tear all of the walls down and take about 2 inches off then put them back up right? So what is the neoprene for if the walls don't connect to the joists? Does the neoprene go on top of the walls? Glenn you said a tight fit. So how close should the neoprene be from the joists above? Touching... almost touching?? I want to do this right.

The picture you show is one of >several< ways to correctly build a framed assembly. ISO clips/track applied to the joists above with the sheetrock attached to the ceiling going to the interior side of the new framed walls. But if you have a true decoupled, e.g. framed walls and joists on the the top of these walls, you still have a correctly framed assembly, with a better transmission loss. As to neoprene, if you use it at all, it would be on the rat sill (sometimes call a sole plate or bottom plat) to seal an uneven floor. I have glued plates and caulked plates, which ever I had handy, in the event of an uneven floor. But sealing up the bottom plate is still a good idea, but neoprene isn't something I would even waste my time trying to purchase since caulking is a better overall seal.

Thanks for the help xspace. I have seen your posts on the forums and you seem to know what your talking about. So nailing the walls to the joists is the wrong way to do it right?

It creates a direct flanking path which will allow vibration/sound a direct path into and out of the environment. The second issue is that the deflection of the existing upper floor system will become rigid, your floor upstairs will loose the flex it currently has and the potential for upward thrust (from the basement floor thru the framing to the upper joists) can create a problem with the stability of the structure( in the event of upward thrust) I suggest to people to install 1/2" or 5/8 inch OSB plywood to the interior of the newly framed room(s) to allow the frames to stand by themselves. It is always assumed that a joist ceiling will be placed on top of the newly framed walls when this is recommended since the walls can stay erect with the OSB sheathing but the length of the wall runs require framing joist members at standard layout per the room width, nailed directly to the top of the wall to ensure that the wall framing isn't or rather doesn't have ability to be pushed in or out of alignment an subsequently create something that could collapse.

Ok I see what your saying. Thanks for the help. I'm pretty new to the whole thing.

I have a question for everyone. I built the walls then at the top of the walls I applied a layer of neoprene as a sound barrier between the joists and wall. I then nailed this into the joists..... Why does this not work. Wont the neoprene act as a sound barrier?

two things...the nails create a flanking path(already said that). The scope of your job is to create a decoupled environment. Second is that the neoprene is not a sound barrier but a filler. A filler for a void, an empty space, nothing more and nothing less. Vibration will take the path of least resistance, given that path, vibration can channel a 12D nail into a low frequency issue.

Xspace. Sorry for making your repeat yourself. I see what you mean. However Glenn has me using rubber bolts to connect to the joists. Wont the vibration still occur with bolts? I guess I'm very confused. To me it seems as if I should not have the walls connecting to the joists at all. I am not questioning Glenn's knowledge because I know hes spot on with his designs. I am just trying to understand the theory behind using rubber bolts to connect to the joists.