PVC Pipes?

i havn't found a thread on here yet that details how to install pvc piping under a floating floor.(for cables/ect.) I've been reading around here for a couple weeks and this is my first post...a few questions 1) if i run piping through the CR room to the live room, and both floors are floated...doesn't that reduce ISO.? i mean if the piping connects the two rooms...or there is a hole cut in the wall...doesn't that defeat the purpose of two seperate isolated rooms? 2)what is the best way to attatch a ceiling? i'm still confused on this, is building a ceiling on top of the walls(on top of floated floor) the best way to do it? or hanging it from the existing ceiling better? im in a basement, and trying to isolate from the upstairs as MUCH as possible... 3)what is the difference between gypsum board, drywall, and sheetrock? 4)what is the best econo. floor covering? i've read that carpet is a bad idea. but i can't afford hardwood floors...any suggestions? I'm sorry im a newbie...maybe someone could point me in the right direction

heh...i said CR room. *control room

Running the PVC would be the same as running duct work, no straight lines, and at the ends, stuffing with insul where the wires protrude. JMO bryan Giles Q #2 So far as attaching a ceiling, look at the SAE sight for info. and search around the site for the various plans for trapping a basement ceiling. I have attached one such digram for your vewing pleasure. Q #3 theay are all different names for the same product. Q #4 i used wood parquet flooring. Cost about 1.30/ sq ft.

wow thats a lot of layers...i'm not sure i have that type of budget...

HR, that was a drawing I did for someone with VERY minimal headroom, so they didn't want any sheet rock hanging down from the ceiling joists - there are much simpler construction methods - if you have a normal amount of headroom, and your ceiling joists will support two more layers of drywall (sheet rock) then you will only lose about 1-3/4" of headroom below the bottom edge of your existing joists for a reasonably quiet ceiling. You would likely still need to put the layer of sheet rock up against your subfloor, but then all you'd do is put rockwool batts (or similar) in the joist cavities, put Resilient Channel across the joists, and hang your two layers of sheet rock. The stickies give most of the details on this approach... Steve

is floating a celing on top of the walls a nono?

Nope, if you have the headroom, go ahead and build a false ceiling that sits on top of the interior stud walls. This is probably the best solution for sound isolation, just because it'll give you almost complete structural isolation. But it also takes up the most room. It'll help the headroom a little bit if you stick the false ceiling joists up in between the existing floor joists above, tho- set their bottom faces an inch or 2 down, and just drywall over that. There are ways to hang the ceiling off the floor structure above, but isolating that kind of thing is always tricky. If you can build it up off the interior stud walls, you're better off. Good luck!

Here's what I'm doing. Just hanging 2 layers of 5/8" on RC... Also, if you haven't yet, check out my thread on the floating floor. It shows some pix w/ the pvc conduits. It may help give you some ideas. http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... &start=209

The question about the PVC i have...has to do with the transition between two floated rooms...doesn't that violate the air space rule??? and thanks for the suggestions on ceilings...(how much room does a floated ceiling need? 8"?)

First - any conduit can carry sound where it's not wanted - best way I've thought of (haven't tried this, but don't see any problem) is to buy some of the rubber pipe couplers that are typically used for DWV service (no pressure) available at Home Depots, etc - they are just a big rubber tube with a metal wrapper and two attached hose clamps, normally used to attach sections of large (3-4") drain pipes together. I'd use these where the conduit passes between rooms, to isolate any flanking noise - if you also stuff the conduit full of insulation (after wires are in place)between rooms, keeping the 2-leaf principle in mind, this should work as well as anything (along with at least 2 bends in each room's conduit) For metal conduit, they make special isolator joints with a removable plug that you fill with expanding foam - I've not seen those for plastic, though they might be available. second - depth required for a floating ceiling depends on the span - you need enough room for adequate frame depth above the wall caps. The actual wallboard can go inside the room's walls, hung on Resilient Channel. Couple examples: both consider two layers of 5/8 sheet rock, which weighs around 2.3 pounds per square foot per layer - for this reason, we need to use a minimum of 10 PSF dead load when calculating spans - with that in mind - 24" centers, 20 live, 10 dead load, using Douglas fir #2 and better (also called standard and better) spans - 2x4 - 7 ft. 3 in. 2x6 - 10 ft. 8 in. 2x8 - 13 ft. 6 in. 2x10 - 16 ft. 5 in. 2x12 - 19 ft. 1 in. above, with 16" centers instead of 24" - 2x4 - 8 ft. 11 in. 2x6 - 13 ft. 0 in. 2x8 - 16 ft. 6 in. 2x10 - 20 ft. 2 in. 2x12 - 23 ft. 4 in. It's possible to use 12" centers for longer spans, not common so I'll just give one example - 2x12, std + better, 20/10 load, ceiling joists, 12" on center - span max is 27 ft. 0 in. - (for minimal headroom, using 12" centers with 2x4's would span 9'10", 2x6's would span 15 ft. 0 in. Hope that helped... Steve

steve...im not quite sure i understand what you are saying. when you say a span... thats from one end of the ceiling to another. so if i used a 12" center, and some 2X6's i could get 15 feet by 15 feet?(im thinking that is all i need....i think thank you so much for the help on the PVC...i get it now...i think. heh.

Actually, you could do a ceiling that's 15 feet by whatever length you want - that span value is the maximum length of the joist; however, it only limits the dimension that coincides with the long way of the joist - you could put 120 joists parallel to each other and 12" apart, as long as each joist had support that was no further apart than 15 feet along its length. That explanation didn't sound very clear to me - if you still don't understand, let me know and I'll do an illustration... Steve

i think i understand Steve. Is it best to use the same ceiling for say, both a CR and a live room? or should one build two seperate ceilings?(if it is floated on top of the walls any suggestions on econo floor coverings??? (i'm not sure i have the headroom to spare now that im looking at it all, i really need to get the deminsions for my space...and re-chcek out where exactly the HVAC ducts stuff is, and other things like water...electric yea...) thanks so much for your help.

2 separate ceilings. If it's one complete ceiling, the sound will travel from one room to the next.

thats what i thought, i think i saw a design somewhere...either on here, HR.com, or SAE....that had 1 ceiling. any suggestions on floor coverings?

There are times when a single ceiling makes more sense, such as when it's more important to minimise sound getting upstairs than to have max isolation between rooms within the studio - although, here's a way to get most of the best of both - check the drawing about 1/3 the way down this page - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... c&start=75 This is by no means the ONLY way to build, Rod prefers alternating ceiling and wall layers while leaving the same gaps and filling with acoustic caulk - my drawing might be a bit more forgiving of ceiling joist sag, while Rod's is undoubtedly more structurally sound. Either will work, the main thing is not to violate the mass-air-mass rule of isolation - more on that in the sticky section titled "complete section" - Floor coverings - nothing's cheap any more. Normally you want a more live floor and dead ceilings (mic interference, ceiling reflections to mix position, etc) - Since you're floating a floor, probably the least expensive would be vinyl floor covering (with a throw rug or two if necessary) BTW, don't forget that a floated floor makes a really good drum head if not damped - it needs to be stuffed with insulation or sand (ask Rod a lot more questions BEFORE construction if you decide on sand filling) Hope that helps... Steve

knightfly wrote:

BTW, don't forget that a floated floor makes a really good drum head if not damped - it needs to be stuffed with insulation or sand (ask Rod a lot more questions BEFORE construction if you decide on sand filling)

what?I don't get that... also one other thing. on the wall in my basement, where the live room would be...there is a circuit breaker pannel. this obviously needs to be accessed. what is the best way to build around it...build a door? or....

A floated floor can vibrate at its own resonant frequency, which is likely to be in the audible range - just like a drum head does. To stop this from happening, there needs to be either sand or insulation pressing against the underside of the floated floor panels, so they don't vibrate. Can you do a basic drawing of your wall where the electrical panel is? Show type of wall construction (concrete, hollow block, stud frame, etc) and where in the room the panel is located... Steve

Sorry to revive the thread, Hopeless...check out my floating floor thread... http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=839 There's some pix on pvc conduit runs in the floor.