Ductwork Advice for New Construction

Hey gang. Some of you may remember helping me out with decisions on selecting a house to buy in regards to a studio space in the basement. That post was here: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2128&highlight= Here's my next question. The bulder wants to know ASAP where I want the duct work placed in my basement (in which I will later bulild the studio). The ceilings are now ten feet high. I tentatively plan to build rooms within the basement room. The tentative plans are shown below (many thans to John et al.). I don't know how us studio guys are supposed to handle ductwork/vents to the sound rooms. Should I have them install the all the vents to the basement to non-studio rooms? Should I have them install their vents in what will be my control room, studio, and isolation booth? It's my assumption that the vents they put in will not be anywhere near acceptable for sound isolation. It's also my assumption that whatever they do, I'll have to modify or redo later when I build my slanted room's ceiling. Do you see what I'm saying? Basically, I'm clueless about ducts and vents and am hoping that I'm painting a clear enough picture of my plans to get good advice from you all. What can you tell me? Thanks!!! Grant

It's maybe too early to start laying out ducting. I would imagfine that when you get to build the studio your duct work will run in the ceiling in the entrance hallway area and feed individual ducts into each studio section. You can then have a false ceiling in the hallway that hides the ducts. cheers john

That's understandable. But the contractor needs to install ducts to the rest of the house now. That means ducts will be run in the basement now. They'll want to know where those can go and where vents should be placed in the basement now. So I'm a little puzzled.

UPDATE: I just met with the HVAC installer and electrical guys. (They didn't give me much lead time). I think I understand the ins and outs a little better, having spoken with them. They'll be doing and finishing their install work within the next five days. To clarify: these are the guys (subconctractors) who are building my house. The house will have an unfinished basement that I plan to later finish as a studio. I'm trying to coordinate with them (and you) to plan this thing as best as possible. So, they're going to put in standard, "cheap housing" duct work--nothing acoustically advanced. This will be in the celing of the basement. Since I'm building a room within a room, I wasn't sure how to get that duct work, if using it was viable, into my control room, studio, booths, and so on. The HVAC guy mentioned a flexible attachment that could be put on the end of the existing ducts to extend them into my rooms when finished. So that may likely be 50 to 100% of the answer I was asking you guys to provide. I just didn't know how it was done. But one question that remains has more to do with acoustics: In constructing studios, what products, installation techniques, and the like are advisable for acoustically sound HVAC?? (I've done some searching on the site here, but haven't seen extensive posting on the topic). Thanks, Grant

Ok - I see what you mean. I'd get them to install the ducts running along your outer walls and up into the house from there. They usually run them down the middle which creates problems when you want to build room within rooms around them. I'd also get them to supply a feed to the entrance area so you can feeed off that later on to supply to studio. There are 4 kinds of ducts as I see it. 1. standard galvanized steel duct with no insulation. 2. the above but with semi-rigid fibreglass internal lining 3. Semi-rigid fibreglass duct with no outer gal iron sheath. 4. flexible duct made from light aluminum with a fibreglass outer lining wrapped in plastic. Version 2 is the best IMO as it is the best for sound isolation - and I'd request that version to feed the house and for the duct running to the entrance area if you want isolation from the studio to the house. From that central point in the entrance area you can then run version 4 to the respective rooms. hope this helps cheers john[/list]

They usually run them down the middle which creates problems when you want to build room within rooms around them.

Is the only problem the most obvious one--that the ducts become a physical obstacle that affects room sizes and dimensions adversely? Or is there another problem with a more central installation of the ducts? Thanks, Grant

that the ducts become a physical obstacle that affects room sizes and dimensions adversely

That one. for example in your case you'd have a lower ceiling (because of the ducts) where you right speaker is in the control room. cheers john

Good. In that case, I think everthing is okay. The ducts that drop below the joists do so alongside the steel I-beam that sits atop the two pictured posts. Even better they will run along the lower side (as pictured). The ducts that will run up and down will be nestled between joists, thus forfeiting no more of my studio height (I'm assuming). Regarding that, isn't it advisable to have a lower ceiling height at the speaker end, while gently sloping upward toward the producer's end? This is the reason I oriented the control room in that fashion. Thanks again, grant