Gleeman Studios Construction

Great then that is the one I will use! Anyone have any thoughts on the the floor?

Steve? You do a lot of these calculations. I'm a lot less up to par on construction applications. Did you have a number for Jester on the floor pucs, or a vote on the floating floor? I understand your pain, Jester. A few inches and extra expense. Your own suggestion sounds like a pretty good alternative - floating the CR. Eric

Has any one come up with a formula for figuring out how much weight it takes to compress a 1"x1"x1/2" puck of 60 dur. rubber 20-30%? It would be easy if I could find some way to covert durometer to PSI. Anyone?

Why not use the classic approach detailed in the stickies? Get a sample and stack wieights (weights, books, etc) and measure the deflection? A ruler would be accurate enough for what you are going for. Andre

Guys, according to the info available here - http://www.earsc.com/HOME/engineering/T ... asp?SID=61 I was being overly cautious about NOT loading isolators enough to cause them to act as a proper spring - more like 5-15% maximum, at least for the EAR products... Steve

Well it's been a while since I have posted but I have been slowly working away. I am getting close to putting up the walls and have a few questions. I pulled all if the insulation out of the ceiling and the walls and I am wondering if I can reuse it or if I should replace it with rockwool. The ceiling had Johns Manville R-19 Kraft-Faced, Formaldehyde-free Thermal and Acoustical Fiber Glass Insulation. The Walls had Owens Corning R-13 Fiber Glass batts. Even if I reuse the insulation in the walls they will be double walls and will have rockwool in the second half. So what do you think I should do? I hate to waste insulation but I will do what I need to do. Thanks, Lief

Jester - Looking at your plans, I'm concerned about those stairs down to the Live Room. What kind of insurance are you putting in against someone opening a door in the middle of a take, at the top of the stairs? Would another, smaller air lock be a bad idea to put at the foot of those stairs?

I think you are looking at it backwards. The bottom of the stairs enters the air lock. The arrows are going up perhaps it would have been more correct to have them going down I'm not sure.

I see no reason why you can't re-use the insulation; I'd try to ditch the facing though, this can act as another membrane and decrease isolation in some cases, plus it can act as another air barrier and cause condensation problems. On the airlock; does the stairwell open directly into the soundlock without a separate door separating them? If so, I think this is what Eric was concerned with. Any sounds on the stairs would only have one door to get through in order to enter either the CR or the Live room, unless I'm reading it wrong... Steve

There is a door at the top of the stairs as well. Do you think I need to put one at the bottom of the stairs?

This would depend on whether you have energetic kids who like to run down the stairs in hard-soled shoes to "see what Daddy is doing", or even make lots of noise UP stairs - it also would depend on how good the two doors into the LR and CR are sealed, whether the stairs are carpeted, etc - I'd say that for now, leave the option open - in other words, don't do anything to the bottom of the stairs that would keep you from adding another door later - if you need it, you'll not have to ask US :roll: ... Steve

Sounds like good advice. So I have been sheet rocking between the studs on the outer walls. I have the first layer up. I am wondering what the difference in STC is between 2 layers on each side of a double wall and 1 layer on one side and 3 layers on the other? If there is not a lot of difference then it would be a lot easier to put up 3 layers on the inner wall and just have the one layer up between the studs.

"one layer up between the studs." - this comment is both confusing and worrisome - can you post a pic or diagram of your ENTIRE wall construction, from the inner-most layer all the way through to the far side? BEFORE you build it... Steve

Sorry if I was confusing this is what I meant.

OK, acoustically you're good; now, if you can edit your Profile to include a location, and tell me where/if you will have vapor and/or air barrier material in the construction... Steve

It looks like there is a layer of plastic between the vinyl siding and the wood. Should I put up more of a vapor barrier? The wall has so far always remained dry.

While I am on the subject of walls, I should run my other walls by you guys. I have decided for a number of reasons not to float my floors. So all of my walls will connect directly with the concrete slab and the joists in the ceiling. I have considered floating the walls but am not sure on this. I have also wondered if my walls are directly connected to the floor would it be wise to use RC-1 on the walls? I have decided against using inside out walls as I am far more comfortable with regular walls.

If your inner wall frames will bear under the ceiling joists, then you DEFINITELY want the RC under that wall's gypsum layers; otherwise, you have a serious flanking path up into (and down from) the living space above. Are the concrete blocks in the one drawing hollow, or?? Basically, anything that comes into hard contact with main structure should be resiliently mounted - floors are not QUITE as critical since they are (slabs, at least) in contact with earth which will damp them a little. A better option, where possible, is to use free standing wall frames and resilient sway braces, with NO RC - this stiffens the wall panel by making the stud frame and the gypsum into almost a "monolith", so will improve LF isolation some... Steve

I have no idea if the concrete blocks are hollow but the other side of the wall is underground. Where do I get resilient sway braces and how do they work?

Jester wrote:

I think you are looking at it backwards. The bottom of the stairs enters the air lock. The arrows are going up perhaps it would have been more correct to have them going down I'm not sure.

Ah-ha... so I was. :-) And there's a door at the top of the stairs? M'okay. I'll shut up now. :-D

"Where do I get resilient sway braces and how do they work?" - Several pertinent pieces here, check out each link - http://www.mason-ind.com/architect_engin_index.htm http://www.kineticsnoise.com/arch/walls.html Haven't dealt with mason, but kinetics tend to ignore small guys - they have area reps that are supposed to get your requests and call you, sometimes the actually DO... Steve

Well I have been building like crazy! I will try to post some picture soon. I am getting to the point that I need to figure out how to hook up my HVAC. I have a heat pump that is heating and cooling the up stairs and I am planing on tapping into it to it for the studio. I'm planing on running flexible duct to each room and running returns back to the unit. The runs will be done in the ceiling. Will I get good isolation by simply putting 3 or 4 90 degree turns in the duct? Do I need to build insulation lined isolation boxes like the ones I have seen on some of the studios under construction? Is there a particular kind of flexible duct or vents that I should use? Thanks, Lief

Check out this page - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... 1&start=15 Beyond that, I'm a HVAC idiot; you might try PM-ing Rod Gervais to see if he will comment. I know he doesn't like flex duct (with some good arguments) but he won't pull any punches so whatever you get will be REAL... Steve

Hello gang it's been a long while since I have posted anything. I have been hard at work on the studio. I have sheet rocked and insulated the outer frame of the building which took forever. I ran all of the ducting and am now about 85% done with the framing. I went with steel studs and it seems to be going well. I'll try to post some pictures of my progress soon. I have a question regarding doors. I bought some solid core interior doors and am planing to attach 5/8 OSB to both sides. What is the best way to attach it? Wood glue, liquid nails, screws? The doors have a ProCore interior and I'm planing to use drop seals and a good closer. Thanks, Lief Stevens

Well all of the framing is finished and I'm almost ready for insulation and Sheetrock. I have a bunch of big projects approaching so I'm getting very motivated to be finished. Here are a few pictures.

so.... after 2 years you decided it was time to actually do some framing eh. haha, looks good man. Keep up the progress and keep sending them pix!