space saving splayed wall construction

Hi, Inspired by the Sayers inside out wall, I was just brainstorming over ways to try to save even more space and splay side walls. Can anyone think of anything wrong with this type of wall construction? Or maybe we could think of a way to make it work? Here is my late night scatter brain thought behind it... I was trying to find a way to splay a wall without taking up interior space. Saw tooth accomplishes the splay effect right? But I wanted to find a way to do it without eating up interior space. As I understand, one of the reasons for the insulation / rigid fiberglass is to dampen the mass, right? so does it matter what side it is on? It could be completely on the outside, or the inside, or half on each side. It may be more expensive to use osb rather than drywall, but this could help with sheer strength as well as the osb could be used to combine / screw the drywall to. On a 2"x6" stud, there should be enough space on each side of a centered 2"x4" stud to have 1" of mass on each side of it. The 1"x1" strip will help stop leaks through the base and header. Can anyone think of why this would or would not work? or what the pros and cons would be? Also, I apologize if this has been brought up before. I couldn't find a thread on this type of wall. Beau

here are some screen shots so you don't have to download the sketchup file..

Hi, You need insulation behind the wall for isolation, how do you propose to mount that? With that many breaks in the board, that would be a nightmare to seal properly. While feasible, ultimately impractical, easier to not splay the wall and treat it with absorption. Steve

If I understand your sketch correctly, the rear edge of each "saw" tooth would be in contact with the outer leaf, thus creating a flanking path. Or if not, then the air gap is greatly reduced on that edge, thus lowering the isolation considerably. Don't forget that the depth of the air gap is a key part of the MSM equation: reduce that, and you raise the resonant frequency well into the audible range, thus reducing your low frequency isolation considerably. I also do not understand the purpose of the 1"x 1" strips: what are they there for? You would not need the thin strips of drywall on either side of the studs either: Studs are roughly the same density as drywall, so the thickness of the stud is already providing more mass than the thickness of the drywall. Also, 1/2" drywall and 1/2" OSB are too thin for good isolation: too flexible, low mass, etc. 5/8" is much better. - Stuart -

Thanks Stuart! The thin strips at the bottom would be for caulking and holding the drywall / osb in place securely. Similar to the strips placed in between studs when beefing up mass on already built walls. The inside piece would overlap the length of the outside piece, creating support the whole length. With a much larger stud spacing, I was thinking that would help with low frequency absorption due to a much lower resonant frequency. Either way, I'm seeing that it's not a very practical design. But it was fun for a moment to think that I may have been able to contribute a small idea or even inspire an idea from someone else in a field that I am so consumed with at the moment. Thanks again for your time. Beau

"You need insulation behind the wall for isolation" You need mass for isolation.