Studio Design for a 28' by 22' garage

Hello all and thanks for this amazing website. Ive been reading and reading and ive finally got a plan on computer. Mr Knightfly your knowledge and advice has been incredible yet undaunting. I dont know how you do it. If anyone has feed back on my plan id love to hear it. th reason im going side to side is cause my roof pitches that way and I think my ceiling in control room should slope up towards the back..thanks again

Welcome to the board, Mike. Awesome -- another Northern Californian! My opinion on layout isn't worth much, but I think it's cool! 8) But wait to see what the real experts have to say here. One thing I see missing is representation of the door to the control room. Are you planning on being sealed up in there? ;)

yes im done with the real world... na i forgot and havent decided yet....i just fineshed that pic for a friend whos gonna design me an ac system...ill update it later

Layout looks fine; what's the purpose of the extended double wall at the sound lock entry at the bottom of the drawing, besides wasting space that can reduce claustrophobic spasms upon entering? Also, has your friend done any STUDIO type AC systems? If not, there are a few things different than standard (or even quiet) home installs - maybe we can help a bit there too. What about isolation; have you figured out how much you need, and how you're going to get it? Read the COMPLETE SECTION sticky near the top of the Construction forum yet? CR - don' need no steenkin' door, as long as you have a pass-thru slot that will fit a large pizza and pop/beer cans, and a porta-potti... 8)

the double extended wall was because my contractor put in a in swinging door, i decided that lock could serve as a small iso booth to track scratch vox during tracking. i dont expect it to sound great just to track disposable traks. As to my friend he is a musician but has never designed studio AC. he has had extensive experience in general. I have read a little (180 degree turn etc.) but its a little ahead of me. I will report his ideas and would love any feedback ISOLA??TION? do you mean insulation treatment, floating floor, i am building double walls with 2 layers of drywall on rc Im looking into sway braces from Kintetics if not to expensive. i am floating the control rooom floor. i have more to read and im trying to do it as right as i can within budget. i havent figured hot how im running cables I also accidently posted this in studio design and john fllipped my contol room aroundd. Im not sure if i face the pitch roof or away and im not exactly sure what i can do with this... any help much oblidged mike

Just a quick observation on the design. If it were me, I would get rid of BOTH of those little rooms at the bottom of your drawing and incorporate them into that area to the right of your control room. It would open up the larger room and use up that somewhat useless space to the right of the control room.

VSpaceBoy wrote:

Just a quick observation on the design. If it were me, I would get rid of BOTH of those little rooms at the bottom of your drawing and incorporate them into that area to the right of your control room. It would open up the larger room and use up that somewhat useless space to the right of the control room.

I initially thought the same thing. However, it occurred to me that would do away with the sound lock. That's assuming the entrance door is not movable. Mike, there's no surrounding/adjacent space represented in your illustration. Is this an attached garage? If so, what's on the other side of the perimeter walls? Is this a garage conversion, or new construction? I'm thinking that the answers to these and other questions might lead to more discussion. :)

it is a detached garage in which i added 4 ft to. The origanal garage doorway is still there and is 7 ft high . the angled bottom is only 7ft high and above that a storage space up to the rafters( a kitchen nook). The door isnt moveable without added money and im trying to live with the mistake of a in swinging door. the door on the far left is the origanal walk in door and im makink that a closet. Awierd work arond but i got 4 more feat without pouring a new foundation.

mikeklooster wrote:

it is a detached garage in which i added 4 ft to. The origanal garage doorway is still there and is 7 ft high. . .

Ahhh, that explains what looks like a pillar on the right side, and the small door on the left side, on a wall that connects to the left outer wall. (That may not have made much sense the way I wrote it, but this is making sense to me!)

. . . the angled bottom is only 7ft high and above that a storage space up to the rafters( a kitchen nook).

Does that mean that a kitchen nook is currently stored up there? Or that a kitchen nook is being used as a storage platform?

The door isnt moveable without added money and im trying to live with the mistake of a in swinging door. the door on the far left is the origanal walk in door and im making that a closet. Awierd work arond but i got 4 more feat without pouring a new foundation.

Got it. Well, this information does present some new questions from me. First of all, let's talk about the closet in the lower left corner, which is obvious that you must live with since that wall is very load bearing. I see you're going with double-wall construction all the way around, which is good. However, it looks like your inner left wall is connected to your original outer wall between the door and the left outer wall. If that's firmly connected, flanking will occur there. An idea that I have is taking that original entry door (far left) off its hinges, and putting your inner leaf door in that general area, a few inches from that doorway. You'd lose your closet, and you'd also lose your "straight shot" entry into the space. However, you would gain uninterrupted wall space and, I would think, better isolation. Also, if you'll be running this studio as a business, even some of the time, don't miss this post about ADA requirements that may further dictate what you can do with your entrance design, among other things. It may be time to provide more detailed illustrations of your existing space, photos, and as many details about your constraints and the existing construction materials as possible. I'm only guessing at this point what your questions are or might be, beyond just providing the initial "feedback" you asked for. Perhaps you can be more specific about what questions you'd like to have answered as well, following the "info first, questions after" format that serves Steve (knightfly) so well.

thanks sharward. I checked out your idea and I think that left turn would suck for bringing in heavy gear. I tried to meet you half way. Although its starting to create a confusing situation above the garage door. Tough one.

heres another option What do you think? Ive got this overlapping that i guess will cause flanking.Above the 7 feet garage door is a 4x8 beam and the old outer wall all the way up. My inner wall shrinks to 7' and if I come out to put wall in front of old door way on left do i take inner wall all the way up. then I have both old outer and new inner as the upper back wall. This has gotta be wierd. I dont know what to do..

i got one more possibility. theres still a possibility for flankin but at least there are always only two leafs, and the sections do not connect

actually i think this one. would i keep the walls in thr lock fiberglass then fabric coated? how about dry wall in between the studs for more mass?

finally i likethis best

Ha! See what happens in the wee hours of the morning when your mind gets churning? You see all kinds of possibilities! :-) I'm kind of leaning towards your final iteration myself... However, there are others whose opinions would be of more value, particularly in terms of the acoustic qualities of the space. In any event, I believe you have successfully resolved your decoupling problem. At least, that is true in terms of the two dimensional world. I expect that you'll have challenges with your ceilings. Do you intend to have a new inner leaf ceiling framing structure sit atop your inner walls, as I have done in my design? If so, then you'll have major issues with your ceilings as they "duck under" your original doorways, including the 16x7 vehicle entrance. For this reason, I would think that your first illustration in the new series would be the easiest to construct. For relative simplicity's sake, you may want to go with a soffit-type ceiling in the 16x7 vehicle entrance area, rather than attempt to go up once you clear the header. Or, maybe you can vault it, starting at about 8' a couple feet away from the opening, angling downwards at 45 degrees towards your newer outer wall. That would be a cool place for a drum kit, at least aesthetically -- not sure about acoustically though. I still don't see any doors or pizza slots in that control room -- maybe dual sliding glass doors would be your ticket. There are lots of illustrations of those on the main site here. You have quite a project ahead of you, sir! :) I've done my job stirring your creativity pot -- I'll bow out and let you chew on that a while, maybe post some updates, and we'll see what the real experts here have to say. ;)

Man it sounds like your close, and i apologize for me incomplete drawings. Im using photo shop( rediculous) OK after the header(16x7) i plan a upper storage area supported by 2x4 joists from the bottomn of header to the outer wall ( my contractor has them temporarily attached to the inner wall but im pretty sure we got to redo that)So after the header is a 7' ceiling nook with a storage on top. The interesting problem is the old outer wall (with the garage door space and old walkin door is now an inner wall ( i guess) but is connected to the outer structure. Ive built my new inner wall so that it does not touch the old outer wall or new outer wall. (exept if i need sway braces. Right now the old outer wall (above the header) has ply wood and shingles still.( a leaf? ) on its outer side. the new outer wall of course has it leaf outside as well. theres 4 feet between them and all this starts at 7' (above the header. 1) is this my 2 leafs or being 4' apart is it considered a small room? 2) The inner side of my old outer wall(garage door wall) is bare now but if those are 2 leafs then do i dry wall that or do I insulate and cover in cloth or something? 3) Do i need to consider the impact of sound on that wall and keep it hard? 4) is it ok to have a 2 leaf between my new outer wall and my new inner wall up to 7' where the storage starts? I kinda painted my self in a corner but im gald for the extra 4 '. I just hope there is a solution. thanx PS green is the old outer wall/garage door

Back in March, I wrote:

I'm at a loss to know how the heck you're going to get access to these storage areas once you're built out. Perhaps you're making a cocoon-type time capsule, hiding your stored items between your leaves to be discovered 40 years from now. ;) Hey, you going to put Jimmy Hoffa in there? Good plan! 8)

Not that I'm saying "I told you so," but, uh, well, I told you so... ;)

thanks again for some honest input. As you can see this one a little tricky. I have started cons. but only the four added feet and my contractor temporarily framed one wall. Weve stopped production until all is arranged. i think you had a good grasp of my dilema but im not sure you understood something. Ill call the new outer wall "outer wall" and the old outer wall "garage door wall" and the new inner wall "inner wall". up to the 16x7 rafter from ground up the wall IS essentialy pillars except for its connection to the frame of the garage. The only spot where there is any studs is between the garage door and the people door. There i sonly 2 studs (1.5' or so) and is currently totally unleafed (bare). After 7' the ceiling begins vaulting and that part of the garage door wall still has a layer of plywood and shingles. Unless strucually damaging i can remove that still which would leave me with a bare load bearing frame. At 7' also are the joists connecting the garage door wall to the outer wall. Actually currently attached to the inner wall, but im pretty sure this needs to change( no big deal ). these joists form a 7' cieling over theright side of the picture, which will serve as a floor for the storage area. They will make me a drop door and with a step ladder I can put some drums up there. Not expecting to walk on it. Where the new door is the storage will end. I am not totally committed to the storage like it is or the shingles so I think I have some options as long as someone can comprende and shovel out those daunting horrific facts. I noticed your in Sac. Im in Stockton Ca. maybe you can come over tonight and finish my studio I have a session booked tomorrow (LOL)

maybe if i remove shingles and dry wall the top of other side it will be 2 leaf proper with the inner wall taking over leaf duties at and below 7'

mikeklooster wrote:

. . . up to the 16x7 rafter from ground up the wall IS essentialy pillars except for its connection to the frame of the garage. The only spot where there is any studs is between the garage door and the people door. There i sonly 2 studs (1.5' or so) and is currently totally unleafed (bare). After 7' the ceiling begins vaulting and that part of the garage door wall still has a layer of plywood and shingles. Unless strucually damaging i can remove that still which would leave me with a bare load bearing frame.

I don't believe that the shingles are adding any value, structurally speaking... But the plywood might.

At 7' also are the joists connecting the garage door wall to the outer wall. Actually currently attached to the inner wall, but im pretty sure this needs to change( no big deal ).

Yes, I'm fairly certain that will need to change.

these joists form a 7' cieling over theright side of the picture, which will serve as a floor for the storage area. They will make me a drop door and with a step ladder I can put some drums up there. Not expecting to walk on it. Where the new door is the storage will end. I am not totally committed to the storage like it is or the shingles so I think I have some options as long as someone can comprende and shovel out those daunting horrific facts.

Horrific facts, indeed! I dunno -- I'm going to put my money on the "no way, no how" square, regarding that storage area and the drop-down ladder. Assuming you care about isolation, I can't imagine a drop-down ladder type door that would be heavy enough to offer the isolation you need, yet be light enough to operate and spring-lift into place... And that's not saying anything about the spage-age seals you'd need to develop to make it airtight. I like loft storage just like the next guy, but methinks you're going to be in an awful lot of hurt trying to make it so. You'd probably do much better, costwise, timewise, frustrationwise, just getting yourself a good old fashioned Rubbermaid shed to put outside the building. ;)

maybe if i remove shingles and dry wall the top of other side it will be 2 leaf proper with the inner wall taking over leaf duties at and below 7'

Hmmm... I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish with that, but it doesn't seem good. You do realize that you're aiming for exactly two leaves, not simply an "even" number of leaves -- correct? And you realize that if you have two leaves, plus some space, plus another two leaves, you have four leaves -- right? Consider sound traveling from point A to point B and how many leaves it must travel through. That's how you count the leaves. I'm not sure if this is news to you, but if it is, then rereading the posts to which I previously linked would be in order. (Well, it's never not in order, actually. ;)

I noticed your in Sac. Im in Stockton Ca. maybe you can come over tonight and finish my studio I have a session booked tomorrow (LOL)

:lol: I got a kick out of that! :lol: Actually, vair327 is a fellow Sacramentan and we're talking about getting together to go over each others' plans. Maybe you can join us for such a thing. The only thing scarier than two crazy-ass studio design wannabes is three crazy-ass studio design wannabes! Photos... Post photos.

I can get with all of that. Ive looked around since I last posted and that plywood is just a 1x4 to mount shingles on. Im thinkin a bare frame and beam. cieling the other side, skip the storage and bring my inner wall up to the top and ive got 2 leaves no bullshit and more roof space. I remember a string where someone got scolded on how they dealt with a beam so if i find that i can evaluate that and all good GREAT hopefully. ANd id love to hang out sometime. I get up to sac pretty often thanx again later...ill take pics later but i think im gonna go drink abit asta

mikeklooster wrote:

Im thinkin a bare frame and beam. cieling the other side, skip the storage and bring my inner wall up to the top and ive got 2 leaves no bullshit and more roof space.

Seems like that would be a lot simpler. The simpler it is, the less opportunity there is to screw something up in a way that's hard or impossible to unscrew. ;) Now, what exactly do you mean by "bring my inner wall up to the top"? Have you considered having a very short wall, then a 45-degree angle vaulted wall that would clear the beam in the 16x7 area, kind of like the wall shown in this attic photo?

I remember a string where someone got scolded on how they dealt with a beam so if i find that i can evaluate that and all good GREAT hopefully.

Yeah, there's a lot of scolding that goes on here! ;) It's good scolding though -- we're all here to learn how to do stuff right, and sometimes it takes someone else's hard lesson to teach us the easy one. ;)

ive been going over possibilities and i dont understand the header problem. If anyone knows if my inner wall can wrap around the header as long as they are sealed, will that work. i cant find the string with the guy who has a beam. anyone had this situation? ps ive added an bare picture and 1 idea i have

Mike, you've posted so many different drawings and called things by different names and yet so FEW actual DETAILS are shown; if you can review Keith's drawings you will see some of the details that are necessary in order to figure out whether you will have multi-leaf, flanking, decoupling, etc, problems; If you can, start over and draw a floor plan showing frame locations and where any solid masses are located; label EVERYTHING, and stick to those names in any descriptive text to avoid confusion (mine:=) - also, look at your existing and proposed construction with this basic idea in mind - If you have one available, digital pix of what's already there and how it connects to the rest of structure will help a lot too... Steve

sorry about all of the confusion, thats how i felt till i figured out there were 20 namews for drywall. Anyway, I believe that my last designs are at least correct in the 2 leaf rule. But the situation is a little peciluar. I did my best to present it in a more logical fashion. Please give me any feed back im ready to move on to more details. 1) my garage as it stands with 4 ft extension. 2) now add recording room