Floating Floor

Hello all, This is my first post. I have not yet aquired a space to make all my studio dreams come true........(Pause for studio dream reflection) ahh. My present studio is more of a nightmare than a dream. My question is not about a specific space in a specific location and does not necessarily involve budgetary aspects. When I do find the right location, I would like to proceed in the DIY tradition. My strongest construction skill set is in the area of ceramic tile and stone installations. I would like to apply those skills to personalize my future studio space. The purpose of the future studio space is for personal use and enjoying the company of my "muso" friends. I'm presently looking for an empty factory or warehouse that I can fill with studio and living space. BTW I did conduct several searches on this topic prior to writing this post. Question: Can a mortar bed, sometimes known as Dry Pack, and if you want to get downright technical known as ANSI A108.1 Portland Cement Mortar.. be used as a floating floor rather than Cement or the wood framing method? My interest is primarily directed at its use over slab on grade. Question: Do you know of any links where the studio design incorporates various floor elevations creatively and with sonic purpose? Thanks in advance for your kind responses. I just wanted to state for the record that I've really enjoyed the sense of community you guys have as I read through the various threads. You guys really are an inspiration for following ones dreams. No BS Bryant

Question: Can a mortar bed, sometimes known as Dry Pack, and if you want to get downright technical known as ANSI A108.1 Portland Cement Mortar.. be used as a floating floor rather than Cement or the wood framing method? My interest is primarily directed at its use over slab on grade. That would depend on how the mortar bed was supported - if you were to float a mortar bed on top of, say, 3/4" marine ply with an appropriate seal material between them, and the plywood were supported with your floating method of choice, then you could end up with a sufficient mass-air-mass system to get resonance below audibility. However, I'm an "overkill" sorta guy, so I wouldn't recommend that; instead, I would float a heavily reinforced slab on one of the commercially available systems by Kineticsnoise.com or Mason industries, and then build my inner mass walls on top of that floated floor. Before I even did that, I'd do some sort of noise survey to make sure it was necessary at all; this is one of the main things to watch out for when picking a location, along with sensitive neighbors and any connecting structures that could flank noise elsewhere. Question: Do you know of any links where the studio design incorporates various floor elevations creatively and with sonic purpose? Typically people will raise the floor at the rear of a CR in order to maintain direct line of sight AND better acoustics in the "producer's couch" area - other than that, non-parallel ceilings are best to avoid flutter, along with as high ceilings as possible for better acoustics/less modal problems... Steve

Thanks for the reply Steve, Found a possible candidate for the space. Having a bit of trouble getting Sketchup beta to do what I want. I may use "Design Cad" to make a more accurate drawing since I have that software. I believe I can get a rough space for tracking that's 24'10" high by about 42' long and 20' wide. Have some problems working around some columns. I'll have to remove some of the 2nd floor to get that height. Only have a neighbor on one 42' run and the adjoinging space is only 13' high. I'm toying with the idea of creating some monster bass traps on remaining sections of the 2nd floor but am concerned as to their effectiveness without creating some reflective surfaces to send waves their way. My thought is that I might be able to conserve more of the tracking room's footprint by doing this. I'll attach the sketchups I have to give you an idea about what I'm talking about. I'm still struggling with getting sketchup to behave so I apologize for the weirdness. The two rooms that I've started on would have a rough ceiling height of 13'. The first floor is slab on grade approximately 6" thick. The exterior shell is brick/block and finished on the interior with plaster. (brown coat and white coat) The columns encase I-beams and form a gridwork at the floor elevations on 90 degree. (If I remove sections of the 2nd floor, there will be exposed I-beams at the existing 2nd floor elevation.) My drawing does not show it but there are verticle columns on the perimeter walls too but the I-beam is in line with the block which means the column only protrudes into the space about 6" on the perimeter walls. The long space is intended to be the main tracking space and would double as a performance space. The blocked out area to the back of the 1st floor has office space, kitchen space and workshop space. Load in needs to occur from back here. The existing service is also located in this area. The existing building has a Main Street type store front. I'm considering partioning off the front 16' or so that I might rent that space out. The interior wall along the hallway I created is where I'd likely run service to the front. My drawings don't show it but I'm thinking room in a room, even though the drawing shows big thick walls. Hmm, I'll run a search to see how you guys get the picture in the post rather than just the attachment. Anyway, here's the questions. Building bass traps literally on portions of the 2nd floor structure that are not removed and adjoining the upper elevations of the tracking space....Maybe on one end of the long run and again in the center above where I've begun to draw the CR. Does the idea have any merit? If so, am I correct in assuming the need for focusing waves their way? Does anyone see a way to get correct room dimension ratio's etc. for the control room that don't result in such a small space? where's there's not a column exposed in the room? (I prefer having the CR in a central location if possible so I can use the space to the left and right as isolation rooms.) I don't really want a "mothership" type studio. I do want BIG and OPEN and this building is pretty darn cheap and zoned for mixed use which means I can make the third floor my home (biocube). My market analysis pretty well shows I'll do more recording of my own stuff than anyone elses. :D SHH I haven't told my wife that yet! When I started this thread I was considering a different space, should I start a new thread now? OK I could keep on asking questions. I think I'd rather get some feedback to see if I'm the right track here. In the meantime I'll see if I can render a design cad that's more accurate. Thanks in advance for all comments, opinions, suggestions, input, $money$ :) (just seeing if you were paying attention) Bryant

"My drawings don't show it but I'm thinking room in a room, even though the drawing shows big thick walls. Hmm, I'll run a search to see how you guys get the picture in the post rather than just the attachment" Just use Export as 2D in SketchUp! This place you're having is looking darn interesting, but I'm not the right guy for answering those other questions.. but as far as I can tell the place looks nice. good luck andreas

Thanks for the tip Andreas. I'll repost them on the Design board along with some 2D Cad drawings I'm working on. Bryant