Drywall Vs Hollow Concrete blocks Vs bricks

Hello, I’m designing and planning the construction of 2 studio rooms + 1 Control room inside a house and, since we have a concrete mixer and experience building with bricks and blocks, we are wondering about the benefits in insulation that building with bricks or hollow concrete blocks might have against using drywall and iron framing. Moneywise it seems that building using bricks or blocks would be cheaper than building with drywall but we ignore the real “cost-effect” answer. I see that most of the projects are being executed using wood or steel framing and drywall + other materials to add mass and absorption, and maybe I should take that as an answer... :roll: According to this awesome chart... http://johnlsayers.com/Recmanual/Pages/STC%20Chart.htm ... I started to think I could build a brickwall as the first layer of my system, leave room for an air chamber and then use the existing walls of the house as the second layers of my walls. Am I nuts? Am I just wrong? I’d be very thankful if anybody could throw some light at us on that. Regarding hollow concrete blocks… Is a wall made with them considered 1 mass layer? is it considered 2 layers + 1 air gap? When we figure out a few loose strings we’re dealing with I’ll post a full overview of the project. Thanks a lot!

Hi. Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things! :) Concrete block, or bricks, are both excellent building materials for isolating a studio: They have a lot of mass (high surface density), which is great. So if you have the option of using that for one of the leaves, then yes, it's a good option. However, if you are building inside an existing house, there might be issues with weight. The existing floor / foundations may not be capable of handling several tons of additional weight: You will need to get a structural engineer to take a look at that, and tell you if it is safe and permitted by your local building code.

... I started to think I could build a brickwall as the first layer of my system, leave room for an air chamber and then use the existing walls of the house as the second layers of my walls.

If I understand you correctly, you want to build a new wall OUTSIDE the existing house, to surround the house? So the house would end up being inside the new brick building? Is that it?

Regarding hollow concrete blocks… Is a wall made with them considered 1 mass layer? is it considered 2 layers + 1 air gap?

It's one leaf, not two.

When we figure out a few loose strings we’re dealing with I’ll post a full overview of the project.

Great! I'm looking forward to seeing that. - Stuart -

Many thanks for your answer, Steve!

Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things! :)

You are right. I'm soooooo sorry. Updating and preparing an overview post right now.

If I understand you correctly, you want to build a new wall OUTSIDE the existing house, to surround the house? So the house would end up being inside the new brick building? Is that it?

No. I'd like to build a new wall inside the house (actually four walls for the room). Anyways, You'll get a full and complete overview on the project within this week so don't bother yet, I don´t want to waste your time. :) ... Not yet! :D I'll keep on reading and learning in the meanwhile. Thanks again! Niko

New post for the Casaestudio project: http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20642 :blah: Cheers