Am I crazy?

:oops: Hello gentlemen, This is my first post to this forum after lurking for many months. Thanks for the inspiration and loads of knowledge! I am currently in the very early planning stages of building out a private studio in San Francisco. I am hoping that with the help of this forum I will be able to plan, start and finish this project within the next few months. With so many questions to ask I guess I will just start by asking whether or not it is feasible to build a control room, live room, vocal booth and computer closet with a $25,000 budget? I am planning on doing all the construction with the help of my band mates with the exception of the HVAC and electrical wiring. Here are the details... -Open warehouse/office built on a concrete slab -approximate height is 13 feet but has several obstacles like garage door rails and some water piping (I'll find out exactly where these obstacles are) -50 feet long and about 24 feet wide -2 existing rooms (one reception and one office which will be used as studio B for video production -2 other units flank our unit seperated by basic gypsum walls with no insulation -roll up steel garage door -exisiting wood storage rack which cannot be demolished as per the building owners request (but can double as a hallway; see attached drawing) -ceiling is bare beams and plywood -neighbors are 9 to 5 businesses -located in an industrial part of San Francisco Given our budget we are expecting to have to cut a lot of corners with our build out. We already discounted floating any floors and will probably just have the bare concrete floor for the live room and possibly some carpet in the other rooms. We know an HVAC guy who thinks he can get the AC done for less than $4,000 which leaves us $21,000 for the rest of the materials and electric work. Am I crazy to think this can be done? We are expecting to have a bare bones, no frills studio. We already have the gear and furniture. Our main goal is to have enough isolation between the rooms in order not to disturb our neighbors during business hours and to be able to work simultaneously in each room with good isolation. We plan to do double wall construction. Attached is a quick sketch of our potential space. I have seen some great spaces built on this forum with similar dimensions. However, we are trying to utilize the existing rooms which is why the plan shaped up the way it did. The vocal booth will be shared between studio A and B. Do you see any potential problems with our design and dimensions? Any suggestions or improvements would be well appreciated. Many thanks in advance! I apologize for the long post.

Attached is a quick sketch of our potential space.

so where is it?? ;) Hey - try and get those pipe measurements so we know exactly what we are up against. cheers john

Hi John, I will get those measurements as soon as possible. I am having problems getting the image on the web. It will be up momentarily. Thanks for your patience. Best, Chris

I'm not sure what material costs are like out your way, but where I'm at (Madison, WI) it could be done. Especially if the outer building is existing, and you'll be doing the carpentry yourself. That could be a real nice space if you put in the time to do it right. What are the outer walls and ceiling built out of? If they're substantial enough to use acoustically, then all you're building is the inside walls and ceiling. This isn't all that much, compared to starting from scratch. Good luck! Kase www.minemusic.net

Hi Kase, Thanks for the vote of confidence. We are plannning on doing the work ourselves even if it takes us many months to complete. The outer walls are concrete and the ceiling appears to be bare plywood, beams and two by fours. I assume the roof is just tar roofing material. The inside walls are finished gypsum/sheeet rock and taped but no insulation inside. Our only gotcha is we have neighbors on both sides seperated only by the gypsum walls so I think a two leaf system is going to have to be utilized for good iso. Any thoughts? Do you think the ceiling will have to be sealed with fiberglass and gypsum as well? I am not quite clear on how the ceiling for the studios should be built. Do they sit on top of the walls (not coupled to the building structure) and then are double layered with gypsum and one layer on risilient channel? Many thanks for your help.