New studio build in Van Nuys, CA

I've read Rod's book twice now, so I feel ready to start a new post about my build. I'm doing a garage conversion studio in the house I just bought in Los Angeles (Van Nuys, CA) My budget is around $3,000. The existing room is 19x17. I plan to duct in AC from the house. The unit is about 4 years old and is oversized enough to allow for the extra Sq. footage in the new studio. I intend to do a room in a room construction. Aside from the ceiling which I'm thinking I would like to vault using one layer of OSB and a layer of 5/8" drywall over the OSB. The roof is 3 years old and is on it's second layer (composite shingle). Any thoughts or ideas on the ceiling would be greatly appreciated. I've already begun doing a beef up with 2 layers of 5/8" drywall in the existing stud bays. It's an attached garage, the firewall is very thick lathen plaster. Approx. 1 inch thick. I realize it would be ideal to remove it and do a beef up but I'm going to take my chances with it. I plan to frame in a new wall in front of the garage door with 2 layers of 5/8 drywall on the outside before beginning my room in the room build. I would like to end up with a vocal/gtr booth in one corner also. My biggest concern at this point is the ceiling and what is the best route to take with it. I've attached a few photos. Thanks in advance, Heath

My intentions are to create a large control room with a vocal/gtr booth in one corner. When I track drums or other live room instruments I will track them in the control room with headphones.

what will you do about the large door? is that going to be replaced with a framed in wall? on the ceiling - couple of thoughts - make sure it can support the additional mass, and as you're now moving from a storage space to inhabitable space, check on your seismic requirements - a structural engineer would be invaluable to make sure this is safe.

Thanks for your response Glenn. I plan to frame in a new wall in front of the garage door. And then frame in the new room within the confines of that new wall and the other 3 existing walls. I'm unable to make this a permitted endeavor without ruining the overall curb appeal of the house. The city rules here say you must have to 2 covered off street parking spaces. So in order to permit the studio conversion I will have to build a 2 car awning over the driveway out front, which I do not wish to do. Do you think I will still get decent isolation out of the ceiling with only the two layers?

I wish I could just frame in the garage doorway but I have to make it appear as if it's still a garage. That's why I opted to build a new wall in front of it.

one option is to remove the door, frame it then either hang the door on the exterior wall for decoration or paint it. this way you can ensure you have a consistent set of mass on the exterior.

Is it possible to accomplish an ideal room mode as far as new inside wall dims with a vaulted ceiling? If not, what is the best way to figure my ending inside wall dims? My vaulted ceiling is not centered. One side falls from peak to top plate 8 feet and the other side is 12 feet from peak to top plate. I'm building out new inner walls and will mount the ceiling with RSIC clips. Anyone know of a good place to buy the clips? I've also changed my original plans of piping in AC from the house and I now plan to do a mini split. Does anyone know of a mini split that does fresh air?

Hi, How is this going? I am doing the EXACT same build in West LA. We should swap stories! Interested to hear what you did with your roof. Also whether you have managed to stay within your budget. Cheers!

It's going well. I'm doing RSIC clips on the ceiling with 7/8" 20 gauge hat channel. I just finished framing the new room. I'm definitely still within my budget as I'm doing the lion's share of the work myself.

Here's some updated photos. I've completed just about all of my beef up and insulation. All that's left is the small portion over the garage door. I ended up using furring strips around the outside perimeter of my garage door and then caulking and painting it to match. On the inside I framed a wall out of 2x2's inside the garage door cavity with the door mounted on it. The wall was fitted with 1 layer of 5/8 gypsum before I lifted it into place. Once I had it nailed in I caulked the inside and then stuffed in one more layer of gypsum in the 2x2 stud bays followed by insulation. I just finished the framing on the walls this weekend. I angled the two longer walls 6% to avoid standing waves in the room. I also ended up going 24" on center since they are non bearing walls. It's awesome to finally see the room take shape!

That's looking really really good! A couple of questions.... 1. How are you going to get electricity in there? 2. What mineral wool did you use in the walls? 3. Did you draw up your own plans? I am in a bit of a fix as I am moving house ( and studio ) in a month and I need to have the studio built in the new place by the time I move. I can't have any down time. I am also working every day so I can't spend the time to learn Sketchup and draw up plans and do the build myself. How long has this project taken you so far? Thanks so much for any info!

Mira Music wrote:

That's looking really really good! A couple of questions.... 1. How are you going to get electricity in there? 2. What mineral wool did you use in the walls? 3. Did you draw up your own plans? I am in a bit of a fix as I am moving house ( and studio ) in a month and I need to have the studio built in the new place by the time I move. I can't have any down time. I am also working every day so I can't spend the time to learn Sketchup and draw up plans and do the build myself. How long has this project taken you so far? Thanks so much for any info!

Thanks! I ran a new line in for electricity and piped outlets primarily on the stringers over head so that I won't have to worry about making any holes in the walls afterwards. I ran one of the outlets through a switch that's at the doorway and I plan to plug all of my track lighting into that plug so I can flip on all of my lights with one switch. I just used R-13 in the walls. I plan to use Roxul Mineral Wool and Knauf (Owen's Corning 703 equivalent) on my interior walls for sound absorption when I'm finished. All of my plans were roughed out on paper and in my head. I felt the same way as you, I didn't want to waste too much time making really fancy plans on sketchup. Just wanted to get building! We moved in on July 1st and I began my beef up right away. I've had my studio set up in the house since i've been building and I've been fairly inundated with work so I haven't had a ton of time to be out building. I just go out and do it when I can.

My total cost on this project as of today is $1881.30 Still lots left to do but not too bad of a dent for what's accomplished so far.

I found a used mini split yesterday on Craigslist for $150. It's only a year old and was used sparingly. The unit runs around $800 new. So I saved a good chunk of dough which I will put towards the installation costs. Found an AC guy today who will install the unit this Wednesday for $475. I also need to run a new electrical line over to the condenser outside. That's getting done this afternoon for $150. So $725 grand total for my HVAC costs! :yahoo:

Great news! So funny, I was looking for a mini split yesterday on Craigslist. Hope it works out for you! I found a Frigidaire unit, new for $505 so I might go with that. If I can't find someone to install it for a decent price can I use your guy?

I scoured the city for the best price on mini split installs. I would be surprised if you found a better price than I did for a licensed guy who specializes in mini splits. If you want the guys info. let me know. The guy selling the mini split on craigslist was down in Redondo Beach. He was asking $300, I offered him $150 and he said yes. Caught a really sweet break on that one. I made sure to start looking on craigslist long before I was going to need the unit so I could hopefully snag a deal on one. If you have time I would definitely suggest you do the same. Being as frugal as possible has saved me a lot of money on this build. But at this point I'm sure I will end up over budget. :|

Had new line for power run this morning for my mini split. Also had them run a new circuit at the same time for my gear. I had already previously run all of my general electrical for lighting, etc. off of the existing garage circuit. Ended up costing $260.00 for all the new electrical. HVAC installer comes tomorrow morning to install my mini split ($475.00). For anyone interested, my mini split is as follows: Fujitsu Halcyon Model #: AOU9CQ 9700 BTU 14.3 SEER

60 sheets of drywall arrived this morning.Now I just have to finish up new interior wall insulation before starting to hang drywall. I used twine and lined the inside of my new framework horizontally at roughly 24" intervals from top to bottom to hold the insulation in place on the backside. For the front I just crosshatched the twine in a zig zag from top to bottom.Ceiling insulation is complete. Ready to install RSIC clips and hat channel. I'm thinking i'll probably get order Genie Clips from sound isolation store online. And then pick up my hat channel some place locally. Mini split is installed. I had to throw up two sheets of drywall before the installer came. I planned to stagger my drywall seams but I wasn't able to do the entire wall before he came so this will have to do. I will be sure to stagger the rest of them. It's been really nice working in there ever since. This summer has been HOT! I built a silencer box for the wall inlet outside. Made it out of MDF, then caulked all of the seams and lined it with insulation. I used vinyl rain gutter to wrap the lines the rest of the way down. Then painted it all to match the exterior paint. Things are coming along nicely and I'm finally starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel! :) -Heath

Total cost as of today is about $3600.00

I also built two silencer boxes for a send and return for my ISO booth. I was thinking of installing some quiet 5" computer fans in them. Aiming in on the send and out on the return. Then wiring both fans to a wall wart that I could plug in whenever I have a vocalist in the booth. Anyone know of a suitable fan for this? And is it a bad idea to leave the insulation exposed in a silencer box? -Heath

I just finished my first layer of drywall on my walls. I decided today to do quiet glue on my final second layer. I'm going to do 2 tubes per sheet so it will run me around $300 for all 4 walls. I'm trying to cut costs at this point and wanted to get your opinions on my ceiling. My ceiling is vaulted and I plan to install genie clips and hat channel and two layers of drywall. Do you think it's a bad idea to skip the quiet glue on the ceiling and bank on the genie clips providing good isolation? Or should I bite the bullet and spring for the quiet glue for the ceiling as well? My budget is spread really thin at this point, but I don't want to make any sacrifices that might have poor ending results. Your thoughts? -Heath

Quiet glue and genie clips accomplish two different things. Genie clips decouple the drywall from the studs. Quiet glue adds constrained layer damping between sheets of drywall. Two different concepts. - Stuart -

I just called my local drywall supplier this morning and it turns out they sell quiet glue a lot cheaper than I've found it online. So I'm gonna do the ceiling as well. Thanks for the info!

Tons of progress to update... Completing final beef up up in the gables. And last few chunks of insulation. 1st layer of drywall up and muddedDoor needs to be pulled out and rehung the opposite direction, so it will open out instead of in. Door is flipped! (That's my dog Curtis)

1st layer of drywall. 2nd layer going up with 2 tubes of Quiet Glue on each sheet. Surface mounted my light switch for better isolation. I plan to build a neater looking box to cover the ugly electrical box. Here's my exterior door flipped around with final trim moulding, caulked and painted. Still have to paint the door itself though. Genie clips and hat channel going up... 1st layer drywall on ceiling up. Still needs a bit more caulk and screws on one side. 2nd layer of drywall with Quiet Glue will go up this afternoon!