Floating floor or not??? Basement Belgium

Hey Guys, I'm new here, but am serieus about music. I'm going to build myself a home studio. I have read Rod Gervais homestudio build it like the pro's and have read a lot on this forum, but still I have no clear awnser if I would be beter of with a floating floor or not for my studio. Allright here we go with a as good as I can description of my basic situation i'm starting from, (there is a floorplan attached if you guys need a visual.) I want to build the studio in the basement. it excist out of a concrete slab of 30cm (11.8inch)thick reinforced with 2 nets of iron. The basement walls are concrete 30cm (11.8 inch) thick reinforced with iron. the basement is surrounded with dirt/sand/earth While the studio whill be build in the basement only half of the outside walls are the basements outer walls of 30cm (11.8 inch) thick with iron. The other half of the walls are normal concrete blocks of 14cm(5.5inch) thick with on the other side provison room and other stuff. The room I have is 52 square meters or 170 square feet. 12,4 m(40,6 feet ) long and 4,36 (14,3 feet) wide The ceiling height of the basement is 2,50 m(8.11 feet)high. The ceiling (floor of the kitchen/diningroom)excist out of +15cm(5,9 inch) concrete / 6cm (2,4 inch)PUR(liquid placed insulation) / 6cm(2,4 inch) concrete /1cm keramik tiles. My main concern is that when I'm in the studio, the people(family) upstairs don't bother me and that me and the band don't bother them.or as least as possible. The first priority is the floor. I've read so much about it I don't even know anymore wich way to go. I keep hearing about 10Hz resonance and more.. But whill I need a floating floor in my situation, or how can I find out if I need one? If anyone can enlighten me on this , I would be for ever gratefull! Thank you verry much! Goodluck to all the builders.

Hi "Shimmer". Welcome. Please check the rules for posting: You seem to be missing something. About floating floors: This might help: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8173 You have a concrete slab floor. That should be plenty. (And resonance of 10 Hz. is really hard to obtain, and really expensive, too...) But if you do decide to float your floor, this paper has a lot of information about various ways of doing it, and why most of them are no good for low frequency isolation: http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/p ... /ir802.pdf The problem in the room you describe is not going to be the floor: it is going to the weakest wall, the ceiling, and most of all the door and the HVAC system. Those are the things you should be looking at, rather than the floor. - Stuart -

Hey stuart, Thanks for the replie! I just updated my profile and add some extra info for this thread. Hope that's what you ment by your missing something? I Usually mix around 95 / 100 dB. But I also want to use the space as a rehersal room, so I guess this is much louder 140dB?? Concerning the floor, So you think it's enough to not float the floor and just put styrofoam plywood and hardwood on it, like suggested by rod in another tread. And spent my money on the ceiling / door and Hvac. greets

Hope that's what you ment by your missing something?

Yup! that was it! :)

I Usually mix around 95 / 100 dB. But I also want to use the space as a rehersal room, so I guess this is much louder 140dB??

Hopefully it won't get to 140! :shock: That's roughly the sound level inside the tailpipe of a 747 engine, at maximum takeoff power.... :) The level in your room is more likely to be around 115 - 120 dB, which is already REALLY loud, but still a hundred times quieter than 140.

Concerning the floor, So you think it's enough to not float the floor and just put styrofoam plywood and hardwood on it, like suggested by rod in another tread.

That would probably work, although I don't recall Rod mentioning Styrofoam. Do you have a link to that?

And spent my money on the ceiling / door and Hvac.

And isolating walls, doors, windows, ceiling, etc. And treatment! - Stuart -

Hey Stuart, Here is the link to the thread of the styrofoam. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8134 But it's more a way of keeping the cold out of the studio. Check it out. Bye the way I had one more question. Should it also be enough to treat the right wall(basement outer wall) like the floor. or is the rockwool 501 better for the wall. and create double walls on the left, because that's were the brick wall is.

But it's more a way of keeping the cold out of the studio. Check it out.

Yup! And he's also talking about HD Styrofoam there, where the "HD" means "High Density". So it's not just normal Styrofoam, and like you said, it is no intended for any acoustic purpose: just plain old thermal isolation. Plus, Rod also did make it very clear that you still have to attach the deck to the concrete, through the insulation.

Should it also be enough to treat the right wall(basement outer wall) like the floor. or is the rockwool 501 better for the wall. and create double walls on the left, because that's were the brick wall is.

You should be getting pretty good isolation from those concrete walls, floor and ceiling already (30 cm! :shock: Nice! ) So you'll probably be fine by just building a stud frame around the room, a couple of cm away from the walls, and putting one (maybe two) layers of 16mm drywall on that frame (if it is two layers, the both go on the SAME side of the studs, one layer directly on top of the other layer. Not one layer on each side!). Those new walls will NOT touch the existing ceiling: The stop about 15 cm short of the ceiling, and you build a new ceiling there, across the tops of the new walls. In other words, you are building a "room within a room". The inside "room" only touches the concrete floor, nothing else. That will probably be enough to give you pretty decent isolation. Your biggest issue then will be to build a pair of back-to-back doors that are good enough to match the isolation of the walls, floor and ceiling. And also to build your HVAC system well enough to match the isolation of all the rest. You can't just build one wall here, on one side of the room: maximum isolation requires the full "room-in-a-room". - Stuart -

You can't just build one wall here, on one side of the room: maximum isolation requires the full "room-in-a-room".-

What do you mean by this stuart? That on the left side(brick wall) I should build a double framed wall and on the concrete basement side a single frame wall? Something like in the picture?? + should I use resiliant channel on the walls or just put the drywall straight on the studs? I was also wondering, should i first build the framed room in the room and then build the floor with the styrofoam in it. or the frame onto the styrofoam floor, but i geuss the styro floor would'nt be strong enough to hold the load of the walls. thanks for all the effort!

What do you mean by this stuart? That on the left side(brick wall) I should build a double framed wall and on the concrete basement side a single frame wall?

Sort of, yes. First build a wall to complete the outer "shell" that will surround the studio. If you already have concrete walls around some of the other sides, then that's great! They are already your outer shell. No further work is needed on them (except to seal the surface with some type of cement sealer). It's the other side(s), where there is no outer shell yet, that need a stud frame with a couple of layers of drywall on only one side of the studs (not both sides). With the outer shell complete, you can now build the inner room(s). Each room is a separate stud frame, not touching the existing structure at all, with drywall on only one side of the studs (not both sides).

+ should I use resiliant channel on the walls or just put the drywall straight on the studs?

That depends on how the walls are built. If they are built as totally separate stud frames that do not touch any other structure (existing walls, ceiling, other rooms, etc.) and have drywall on only one side of the studs, then you don't need resilient channel. If there is drywall on both sides, or if the frame also touches any other part of the structure, then RC would help.

I was also wondering, should i first build the framed room in the room and then build the floor with the styrofoam in it. or the frame onto the styrofoam floor, but i geuss the styro floor would'nt be strong enough to hold the load of the walls.

Exactly. Build the room first, then fit the floor inside as needed. - Stuart -