Garage Practice/Recording Room Construction Thread

Alright guys... I think its time I started one of these threads so everytime I have a few questions I dont have to explain what I'm trying to do again--im going to try and put it all here. Overview I am going to be constructing a recording/jam room in a two car garage. Unfortunately for this project, its in a neighborhood setting. The houses aren't as close as some, but not far apart either (and one of my neighbors runs a massage business!). <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/outsideHouse.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/outsideL.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/outsideR.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/outsideStreet.JPG"> Incidentally, it was a beautiful day today! Seems more like California than Washington this past week. I will be constructing the room by myself, with the help of some friends and my dad. The room will serve two main purposes: A) I will use the room to record local bands and musicians in my spare time (im a full time engineering student). I anticipate most the projects I will be recording will be so-called 'post hardcore/screamo/rock' groups, but for most recordings I will be tracking each instrument separately. B) It will also be (at least for a time) a practice space for my band, which will definately be what pushes the limits of the soundproofing qualities i will be attempting to achieve. We are a pretty loud group, however we do not need to crank our volumes in order to practice. The band consists of three electric guitars, bass (me), and drums (with one of the electric guitarists singing). My goal for this space is for my band to be able to regularly practice in the room at reasonable volumes (if we have to turn down lower than we'd like in order to make it work, we will). Everything else taking place in the room will be at lesser volumes. I know this goal statement is extremely subjective and vague. I'm going to try and get some decibel readings of how loud the band typically is soon, but it might be awhile (few of the guys are out of town for awhile). Before I get too ahead of myself, here are some pictures of the inside of the garage. Sorry they are so dark! <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/DoorsCeiling.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/garageRightWall.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/garageLeftJunk.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/garageHouse.JPG"> The two garage doors will be taken down and outter walls built in their place. And yes, all the junk in the pictures will be leaving. Here is a sketch of the planned room (sorry im no graphics wizard!): <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/studio.JPG"> Garage Info The garage is about 20x20 with a ceiling height of 8ft 4inches. I will not be floating the floor or isolating the concrete slab due to considerations for money, time, and ceiling height (not to mention that ultimately the room is temporary). It will be a room-in-room construction. The plan for the walls: three layers of 5/8" drywall on the inside of the room, with green glue in between the last layer (or a 50/50 spread) then a 12" airgap filled in with insulation, and then three layers of 5/8" drywall on the outside of the outside wall. Plan for existing garage wall For the existing garage wall, 2-3 layers of drywall would be put inbetween the studs as 'beef-up'. Here are some pictures of the different materials in the existing garage wall: sheetrock <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/cornerSRbeef.JPG"> an unknown compressed fiber type board <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/RightWallBoardBeef.JPG"> and plywood <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/RightWallPlywoodBeef.JPG"> The Beef-Up For the plywood, I figured I could mud/screw in layers of drywall onto the plywood. For the sheetrock and the compressed fiber type board, I was thinking of putting the drywall sheets up and then fastening them into place with cleats that would be nailed into the studs (like ive seen done on this forum). Ceiling Plan I was planning on 3 layers of 5/8" drywall for the interior ceiling, but i am not sure what i am going to do for the actual garage ceiling. I want to keep the room height as tall as possible, so i have yet to decide on how large of airgap to use between ceilings. See my next post for more information and pics on the ceiling. HVAC thoughts A full HVAC will not be necessary for this room. I am interested in some sort of inline fan that would pull air from inside the house through some air ducts. Sound isolation to the inside of the house is appreciated but not my first priority--that is isolating the noise from my neighborhood and (more importantly) the neighbors. Also, the air from the house will already be more controlled (not freezing or really hot as if pulled from outside). Now for the fun part--a few questions: - Would building walls with 3 layers of 5/8" drywall on each side with a 12" airgap in between be overkill if im not going to be floating the floor? (I am not sure how massive the concrete floor slab is...) Just how soundproof could the room be with this limitation? - Do I even need the outside wall Im planning to build in the middle of the garage, considering there is also the existing garage wall further back (it would technically be three/four leafs if built the way in the picture, but i am not sure if this is a problem because of the distance between them). Would something like this be a better idea? <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/STUDIOnowall.JPG"> Initially, we were only going to tear down one of the garage doors, hence the reason for the wall, but now we are planning on tearing them both down and building walls in their place. so maybe i dont even need that outside wall there?? Then again, that would mean id have to tear down ALL the drywall in the garage and then beef up all the walls (itd probably be easier just to build that wall.... hmmm) - any comments/failures in the design you guys see? Well those are all the questions I have for now, I guess. My first step will be beefing-up the existing garage wall with layers of sheetrock. I need to go back to some of the other threads here and grind out all the details (and learn more about that backing rod stuff!). Hopefully I'm not forgetting too much in this first post. Thanks for all your help already in this undertaking... hopefully i can make this work! -dan

Alright, here are some details and pictures of the existing garage ceiling: The original plan was to tear down the sheetrock on the ceiling, and put OSB board on top of the rafters. Then I would add a couple layers of beef-up drywall between them. HOWEVER, then i actually looked into the attic and im not sure how this would be done (there are many support beams connected to the rafters). Without any reference I thought the pics would be very confusing to everyone, so I took the liberty of creating a crude "key" so you guys hopefully might understand the perspective in which the pictures were taken. <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/studioREF.JPG"> in each picture, theres an arrow showing in which direction the camera was pointing to take the picture from the attic entry. will this make them easier to understand? probably not, but hey it was a midnight thought.... <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/FrontAttic.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/FrontL1Attic.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/FrontL2Attic.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/FrontR1Attic.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/FrontR2Attic.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/CeilingAttic.JPG"> <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/CeilingL1Attic.JPG"> I'll try and get some better shots to understand whats going on. If it is unclear, two different support truss "systems' meet at the main 2x8 beams. They are perpendicular to each other. Alright, thats it. Thanks guys, -dan

lemme help ya a bit img]http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/FrontL2Attic.JPG

cool thread man! as far as your ceiling, it's starting to become very clear to me as i approach the outer leaf portion of my ceiling, which will be built above the existing joists, how much of a pain in the ass this is going to be. still i have 2x6 joists so i gain 5 1/2 inches. also i had only an 8 foot ceiling to start with. you have 8 ft 4 inches and 2x4 bottom chords, plus just dealing with the webs of the trusses makes it hugely more painful. for me, was it really worth the extra 5 1/2 inches i'm wondering. or could i also have gained some of that 5 1/2 inches by decreasing the airspace in the ceiling and using green glue to make up the difference. but it's too late to turn back now. well actually it isn't. i could still put drywall back on the underside of the joists i guess. but i won't, so i guess there's the answer, it is worth it. but if i had trusses like you plus 8ft 4 inches i don't know. what you realize as you build is that it's easy to design stuff on paper that is a pain in the rear to actually do. how high of a ceiling does one really need. what if that extra few inches was going to cost you 30 percent of the time building your project. i guess if you just add layers of drywall to your ceiling (assuming it is safe to do weight wise) then you will end up with maybe 7 ft 4 or 7 ft 6 ceiling depending on joist size and airgap etc., that isn't too bad. it will save you a lot of headache to do this because where the celing meets the wall it gets very complicated and a pain to connect the wall leaf and ceiling leaf. just my 2 cents. glad to see you are underway.

Thanks for the help, Ro. im not exactly sure what the problem with the pictures was--were they not showing up or something? I don't know if it makes a difference that I used HTML for the images rather than the BBcode stuff? Anyhow, thanks. Hey Dan! Thanks for droppin' in... glad you enjoyed the thread (i was slightly worried no one would read it considering its length heh). I figured the more pictures I could throw in the better! On the ceiling issue, I have to say I'm leaning more in the direction you're recommending. The more I think about it, the more hesitant I am to put the OSB boards on the rafters. For sure, it would be a HUGE task (and not a fun one either) and I bet I could save lots of time and energy by going the other route. Ceiling height *is* precious, but I am willing to sacrifice a few inches. The band doesn't need to be jumping up and down during practice (only at shows ;)). However, I also need to keep in mind that I will be treating the room with rigid fiberglass absorber panels once it is completed, so that will further decrease ceiling height. I was hoping the inner ceiling would be no lower than 7' 6". But, with this ceiling height, this means the airgap would only be about 7-8" which is a good deal less than the airgap i was planning for the walls (i can sacrifice more square footage than ceiling height). This would make the ceiling the weakest link. On top of this, I am not sure how to determine if my existing ceiling could handle another layer of drywall (it looks like there are already exists 2 layers of what i am told is simply sheetrock on the ceiling). Here's a pic of the attic "peekhole": <img src="http://home.comcast.net/~photoresistor/images/ceilingMaterial.JPG"> Both layers add up to be about 2 1/8" thick. This is actually thicker than 3 layers of 5/8" sheetrock would add up to be (1.875"). Maybe I don't even need to add another layer then?? Perhaps I could do four layers of 5/8" sheetrock on the inner ceiling to try and overcome the smaller airspace factor? I will have to look around to see the relationship between adding more sheets and increasing/decreasing the airgap. Does anyone happen to have any information on this? By the way... the reason I originally decided to go with the 5/8" sheetrock was it seemed (at least at the time) that this would be the most cost-effective solution to get the most mass on my walls. On Beef-up Dan, I was wondering if you might be willing to shed some light on the steps you took during your beef-up? From reading your posts and from your pictures, ive deduced that you leave a 3/8" gap between the studs on all sides of the sheetrock you are putting in. Then you fill the gap with the backing rod.... and then do you caulk over this? And do you do this for every layer of sheetrock? Sorry if these questions have been answered a million times before. I will do some more searching of the forum's archives as well. Again, thanks for the reply--I really appreciate it. I should also thankyou for your very insightful and helpful studio build thread. Im sure it will only become more useful as my build progresses. Does anyone have any comments on the original couple of questions I asked in the first post (more theoretical/planning than construction)? Thanks, -dan ps: this is totally off-topic but im currently extremely frustrated at differential equations. i just got a C on the first test... :x i should have done MUCH better but I made a lot of really stupid mistakes (few other things make me as upset as stupid mistakes).... anyways, just wanted to get that off my chest! :)

if you truly do have 2 1/8 inches of drywall on your current ceiling, then you are good to go. i don't think you need to add more. then do your walls to be about the equivalent mass. if you want better performance, make your inner leaf walls and ceiling extra thick. but again, if you have over 2 inches of gypsum or equivalent mass on each leaf that is pretty darn good. 5/8 is good because it is thicker so for the same amount of work you end up with more mass. your description of my beef up process is right on. i do use backing rod and caulk each layer, for redundancy in case any of the seams fail. this seems like a lot of work but actually backing rod and caulking are one of the easier parts of the beef up. the hard part is just cutting the odd widths of gypsum to fit, that is the biggest PITA. the gap that you end up with between the gypsum and stud can be anywhere from non-existent to over 1/2 an inch, just because everything is not straight i guess. so i have different sizes of backing rod on hand for different size gaps. the ceiling may be a weak link but then again the roof will provide some additional decrease in db. i had an idea i might throw some insulation ABOVE my ceiling outer leaf, not sure if it is worth it though. but insulation helps deaden sound and decrease resonances. it's more a question of cost/benefit.

Sounds great Dan... thanks for the real quick rely!! I just have a couple more questions: - should i shoot for the smallest gap then, or would such a small gap make it real hard to caulk/back rod it? - is there any sort of mud or adhesive or anything that should be put inbetween layers of drywall? or between the plywood and the first layer? - I should have had this in the original thread, but I forgot... I want to hang a lot of things on the walls of the room when completed. Besides rigid fiberglass panels, my band was thinking about using those 6" hotspot speakers that go on microphone stands for monitors. This way we wouldnt have big floor monitors taking up huge space. We were even thinking about trying to wallmount the speakers and microphones so they could be folded back against the wall when not in use. Another example is I'd like to try and mount our small practice mixer on the wall as well to save space and be accessible. Would using OSB as my first inside layer let me be able to mount some of these things anywhere along the wall? or would that not be enough? and what would be the repercussions of using OSB instead of a layer of drywall in regards to sound transmission loss ? (im assumming OSB is less massive than sheetrock?). Thankyou once again! -dan

well i shot for a 1/4 inch gap, but as i said the results varied some :) i tried to use 1/4 inch rod and it's easy to put in the crack with a window screen roller tool (looks like a pizza cutter wheel). the worst thing is actually to have no gap, because having a littel space to put caulk in is a good thing. you do not want to stick the panels together, it is better that they can vibrate independently instead of as a unit. doing the OSB layer sounds like a good idea. however one thing to watch out for is that if you do an OSB layer you may think you can just screw in teh next layer of drywall anywhere, but in reality you still want to hit the studs. if you use OSB you may take a small hit on performance because it is probably a little less massive than the equal thickness of gypsum. offhand i don't know what the difference in weight is, it mgiht not be that much. then again there is some theoretical benefit to using different materials in your wall so maybe that's a plus. also if you use OSB i think that was recommended in your other thread in design, that this will keep the walls from being able to "rack" ... which is actually a good thought and i may do that myself.

Excellent thread. :) No, you're not posting too much information. If you're ever discouraged by providing a lot of detail and not getting a lot of action, it's just because posting replies to threads where there is very little detail is a lot easier than actually having to think about one's project. ;-) :lol: (I poke fun at myself!) Anyway... How do you know/think you have 2 1/8" of drywall on your existing ceiling? :roll: I don't believe that's what you have. I think you might be measuring the mud around the peek hole. Measure the bottom of the ceiling to the top of the joist, then inside the attic measure the top of the joist to the bottom of the joist. Subtract the two numbers and you'll have the thickness of your current ceiling. I predict it's one layer of 5/8". Be aware that you may not have the luxury of adding more than maybe one layer of drywall to that existing ceiling of yours. In fact, you may not be able to safely add any. It all depends on what your trusses were engineered to hold. Be sure to check with your local building department on minimum ceiling height. You're probably looking at 7' 6", but you might luck out and it could be 7' 0". Let us know what you find out. It's obvious to me that you've done a lot of research here before starting your thread, and I'm willing to bet you've spent some time in my thread too. :) We like that around here! 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

Dan Fitzpatrick wrote:

well i shot for a 1/4 inch gap, but as i said the results varied some :) i tried to use 1/4 inch rod and it's easy to put in the crack with a window screen roller tool (looks like a pizza cutter wheel). the worst thing is actually to have no gap, because having a littel space to put caulk in is a good thing. you do not want to stick the panels together, it is better that they can vibrate independently instead of as a unit. doing the OSB layer sounds like a good idea. however one thing to watch out for is that if you do an OSB layer you may think you can just screw in teh next layer of drywall anywhere, but in reality you still want to hit the studs. if you use OSB you may take a small hit on performance because it is probably a little less massive than the equal thickness of gypsum. offhand i don't know what the difference in weight is, it mgiht not be that much. then again there is some theoretical benefit to using different materials in your wall so maybe that's a plus. also if you use OSB i think that was recommended in your other thread in design, that this will keep the walls from being able to "rack" ... which is actually a good thought and i may do that myself.

Ah thanks, this is great information! I'm glad I'm able to ask these things before I start the actual task! I am hoping to be able to continue borrowing my friend's digital camera (mine broke) and if I can swing it I'm going to try and document the process as much as possible. And yeah, it was recommended for me to use OSB in the corners of the inner room for stability. I will check out what the difference in weight is between OSB and 5/8" drywall next time I go to the home depot (luckily one just opened last year less than 10 minutes from my house).

It's obvious to me that you've done a lot of research here before starting your thread, and I'm willing to bet you've spent some time in my thread too. :) We like that around here!

Yeah, I've been doing a fair amount of reading on a couple of great forums like this one and studiotips, etc. but its still not nearly enough! its all really quite fascinating to me, so its not a chore to do all the reading (some of those studio build threads are looooonnnnggg!!). And yup, Ive even spent some quality time reading in your thread and was hoping youd chime in here. [boring non-studio-construction-related-personal stuff:] Accoustical engineering has actually been a big interest of mine for the past year or so... for now, I am going the mechanical engineering route, but if im still interested after i get my bachelors I might be going to the university of pennsylvania's accoustical engineering program. (and then I might actually be a *resource* around here and not just a leech haha!) [back to topic!] On ceiling height, if I remember correctly the ceiling has to be at least 7' 6" tall in these parts but I will make sure to double check that.

Anyway... How do you know/think you have 2 1/8" of drywall on your existing ceiling? Rolling Eyes I don't believe that's what you have. I think you might be measuring the mud around the peek hole. Measure the bottom of the ceiling to the top of the joist, then inside the attic measure the top of the joist to the bottom of the joist. Subtract the two numbers and you'll have the thickness of your current ceiling. I predict it's one layer of 5/8".

ahehe heh.... :oops: I feel stupid now lol. Yeah, thats exactly what I was doing. I guess that was wishful thinking! In reality, it looks like there is a layer of 5/8" drywall on the ceiling (though this might be off an eighth, but Im *pretty* sure its 5/8"). And yeah, I'm definately going to make sure the ceiling can handle any extra weight I'm thinking of putting on it before I do anything... this is kind of funny because I'm actually taking the 'strength of materials' engineering course this quarter and we're talking about stress/strain/deformation/thermal expansion/yield strength/etc. and (some) of the (non-crazy) trusses are pretty similar to problems from my statics textbook! who knows, maybe i should be able to figure this out?? I think I'll ask a couple of my engineering teachers about some of this stuff on monday... Thanks again guys, I'm starting to get excited about this heh. :D

I'm behind Sharward; you most likely have 1 layer of drywall on your ceiling, except I will lower the prediction to 1/2" drywall. (Wanna make a bet :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: ) I remember seeing that pic of your attic door on another thread. I think I made a guess over there too, but if not here I go again... What makes the "square box" of that door or proper name scuttle hole is 2x4's. 2 of which are bottom chords of truss (or ceiling joists) and the other 2, 2x4's are perpendicular to truss... right :?: What I clearly see and I think what is miss guiding you is the drywall that is in the box, if the box where a window that drywall is making a sill, and your scuttle whole cover (the plywood) is resting on the edge of vertical drywall. In the pic I can see nails or screws holding that drywall to the 2x4's and the corner metal pieces for drywall (making the corner from ceiling drywall to inside of box drywall). If that's what you are getting 2 1/8" measurement of vertical drywall inside the “sill” of the scuttle hole box, that is believable. Recently I made an access door to my attic, inspired by busting out a 2' by 6' piece of drywall in my garage ceiling and luckily I didn't fall through the hole :shock: . Thanks to Sharward questioning me on making the new scuttle hole :roll: I looked up all the code and proper way to do it. :idea: The way that your scuttle hole is built is not to code and I'm guessing every time you remove the scuttle hole cover pieces of drywall are falling out. Right? I'll point you to where in my thread, where I talk about this with Sharward. Marc's Patio & Garage Studio Page 1: post on Feb 15 I take the time to babble and whine about my attic :cry: . Page 2: post on Feb 18 I bust the whole in garage ceiling :shock: Page 3: at the top Sharward and I discuss scuttle holes :shock: Page 6: There’s a pick of new scuttle hole. And a warning, I do a lot of "slightly related to studio build", babbling in my thread :twisted: I see see that you too go off topic for short blurbs... mine can go for pages :twisted: If you don’t want to bother reading my babbling you can skip to conclusion and my recommendation for you :shock: See here: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/do ... /26450.pdf Look for the scuttle hole cover and rebuild yours, if it bothers you. AND be safe in that attic, always take some plywood or 2x4’s to put your weight on… drywall that is in a garage ceiling takes more humidity than it’s suppose too and can become weaker over years… unless it’s really green board which is meant for wet locations. Marc :twisted:

Oh yeah.... measure the drywall in the sill.... the stuff that your plywood door sits on, I bet the thickness of that is the thickness of the drywall on your ceiling!

Yes, that was what I was measuring when I got that 2 1/8" measurement (if only). It is like a little 'sill' type thing and that is what the cover rests on. In reality, there's just one layer of what Im pretty sure is 5/8" drywall on the ceiling. btw, as reference, the house was built in 1974. I'm not worrying about it too much right now, though, because with my current room plan we'll actually be taking that access hole out and be putting in a new one elsewhere. I'll be sure to check up on some of that info when I get to the point of making a new access hole. Thanks for that info and the warning! Right now I'm figuring out all I need to purchase for the beef-up... - 5/8" sheetrock - spool of 1/4" backing rod (i suppose ill have to try and figure out how much ill need oh boy) - that pizza cutter tool thing for the backer rod - the right size screws for each layers of drywall - that nifty power drill tool that makes it so it screws to the right depth - caulking I seem to remember a really cool drawing on one of the threads here showing where screws should be put for multiple layers of beef-up... ill have to find that again to reference. See anything I might be missing or something that could come in handy? Thanks guys, -dan

Being built in 1974, I'm willing to bet a large sum that your ceiling is 5/8" thick, not 1/2". If it were 1/2" it would be really wavy. That's why they use 5/8" on ceilings. That and fire rises. :roll:

Just curious... why would 1/2" thick sheetrock be wavy? anyways, i made a couple of rough measurements in regards to how close some of my neighbors are. The closest part of my neighbor-on-the-right's house is about 25 feet away from my garage. The neighbor-on-the-left is more like 50 feet away (and even more for neighbors across the street etc). oh man but i FORGET TO MENTION, in between my neighbor-on-the-right's house and my garage is a FENCE!!! its probably a 120db STC structure. heck i dont even need to build the room anymore. (...if only things were that nice... :)) -dan

Alright, well I picked up a few sheets of 5/8" sheetrock, nails (1", 1 5/8", 2" to be countersunk a bit... they didnt have 2 1/4"), and some other miscellaneous tools at the depot. I didn't pick up the backing rod or acoustic caulking, but I figure I could go ahead and put up the first layer of sheetrock while I am waiting on the other stuff. And by golly that 5/8" sheetrock is more expensive than I remember! $9-some for each sheet... the 1/2" was only like $5.50/sheet or so. I'm not sure if I could save money by going for four layers of 1/2 or not because all the extra backing rod/caulking/screws/my time (ha ha). I was wondering if there was a recommended distance between screws on each layer? I imagine id want to leave a bit of space and mark each layer of drywall so i know exactly where all the screws are... and I only want to put screws in along the perimeter of the board right (not near the middle)? I checked Home Depot for that USG acoustic sealant stuff and they didnt seem to have it... they could probably special order it in since the sheetrock they carry is USG though. Anyone know of any other place that carries the stuff? Oh and Dan--you recommend that place you linked to on your build diary for the backing rod stuff? (http://www.loghelp.com/backerod.html) I think I am going to start off with a spool of 1000 feet of 1/4".... and is it closed or open cell stuff that I want? Thanks! Hopefully I will get a chance to do a bit of the beef up over the weekend. -dan

photoresistor wrote:

I was wondering if there was a recommended distance between screws on each layer? I imagine id want to leave a bit of space and mark each layer of drywall so i know exactly where all the screws are... and I only want to put screws in along the perimeter of the board right (not near the middle)?

Yes, there is, but it's not a "recommended distance" -- it's a required distance according to code. You need to touch base with your local building department on that.

I checked Home Depot for that USG acoustic sealant stuff and they didnt seem to have it... they could probably special order it in since the sheetrock they carry is USG though. Anyone know of any other place that carries the stuff?

I picked mine up locally at Acoustical Material Services (AMS), which unfortunately does not have any locations in the Northwest. :( Check the Yellow Pages for commercial drywall and/or insulation suppliers.

Oh and Dan--you recommend that place you linked to on your build diary for the backing rod stuff? (http://www.loghelp.com/backerod.html) I think I am going to start off with a spool of 1000 feet of 1/4".... and is it closed or open cell stuff that I want?

Yes, Dan has highly recommended that place. I plan to buy a spool (or two?) when I get to that point in my project. OK, so now I've got to ask... You have bought your drywall, but there's nothing in your thread about having a building permit yet... :roll: --Keith :mrgreen:

photoresistor wrote:

Just curious... why would 1/2" thick sheetrock be wavy?

It's less rigid, so it would dip between the joists/trusses. --Keith

yeah the loghelp folks are cool 8) ... you want the closed cell. it might be wise to do a split of 500' 1/4 and 500' 3/8 or maybe even a 3 way with some 1/2. variety is good i have found, no need to commit to 1000' of just one size. i have i think 5 sizes.

Thanks for all the advice guys... I've been really busy lately so I haven't actually started anything yet or done anything new. As far as the permit, I'm looking into that at the moment (have been planning on calling down to the local building office the last few days but keep on forgetting). I found a place online that sells the USG acoustic sealant (whitecapdirect.com) but I'm unsure as to how much I should go ahead and order? Does anyone have any experience with how long a 29oz tube lasts? BTW, the price is $4.95/tube or $4.57/tube if you're buying at least 12 tubes. (seems like a fair price?) Thanks again, -dan

does that include shipping etc? if it does, that's not too bad of a price.

No, it doesnt include shipping but as I was going through the checkout process I saw that you can pick up your order if you wish and one of the will call locations is portland, so I could pick it up myself.... sweet! -dan

I bought mine for just over $4 per 28 ounce tube, in person, at a local acoustical materials supplier. I bought five cases (60 tubes) at one time, expecting that it would be more than enough for my entire project. Ends up that it only lasted for about half of my outer leaf! :shock: Granted, I could have saved a ton of it if I had known the wonders of backing rod... Dan hadn't gotten that far in his project yet (or, perhaps he did, but I was just too thick-headed to pay attention). Find out how much the stuff is with shipping included. The stuff is really heavy, so it wouldn't surprise me if your unit cost goes up almost double when you add shipping to the equation. You might be able to find it locally -- check the yellow pages for wholesale drywall suppliers. --Keith :mrgreen: