1 car garage > 1 room studio

Hello folks. Thanks for all this info. I'm in the process of ordering materials and starting construction next week, so it may be futile to post here, but I'm interested in any opinions of my plan. I am in the area of Santa Cruz, CA. My room is about 13x23 wth several unusual corners and angles at one end. 8' height. The walls are mostly exterior. It is on a concrete slab. I don't need a seperate control room. Neighbors are close, and I play and record everything from quiet acoustic to loud electric music, professionally, so I need good sound insulation inside and out. However I want to keep my construction costs around $5K and don't want to sacrifice much space, as the room isn't that big. This budget includes labor for my buddy the carpenter/studio owner who is great. Here's my plan: The existing walls are stucco exterior, standard framing with insulation, and 5/8" sheetrock interior. I am sealing off the big garage door to match the existing walls. To this shell I will attach 2x4s laid flat on the wall (1 3/4" cavity) with more fiberglass insulation between those sideways studs, then a layer of 5/8" rock/Green Glue/5/8" rock. The ceiling will not get any framing, just 2 extra layers of 5/8" rock with Green Glue between. And a bunch of fiberglass insulation stuffed above in the attic. On the floor, just the slab and carpet with the thickest carpet pad underneath. The other 2 doors, 1 exterior and one exterior, will be replaced with solid-core doors with green glue and 1 or 2 layers of rock attached and hung to seal tight with the best weather stripping I can find. Double doors aren't practical here. Whata y'all think of that? One more question: Is this Green Glue turning out to perform as well as it looks like it will? The website now says that you still need to screw in the sheetrock layers to the studs and that worries me a little. Do those backing strips help with the coupling issue? Interested in your opinions. Hope this is enough data to suffice for my questions. Thanks, Jim

Jim, welcome; you're in my old stomping grounds, you're welcome to the traffic/congestion :? Not a bad first post, but you missed the part about updating your profile with a location http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3231 Even though you gave your address in the first post, later on people may not be able to find it if it's not with every post and won't know what to advise you, since not all materials are available in all locations (worldwide, an' all that) I'm outa time for now, but if you'll check out that link again and follow as many of the bold points as possible I'll be back before too long... Steve

Thanks, Steve, for your reply. I've updated my profile and I have been following these links for 2 nights now, like some madman lost in a maze of caverns. Great stuff... :shock: My construction plans include a 3-leaf wall and some other problematic issues, I'm sure. Just trying to make smart compromises, all things considered. I don't really want to remove the existing drywall. The weak spots will probably be the door and ceiling anyway. Interested in your thoughts. Thanks for sharing your expertise with all of us. Jim

Got any plans you'd care to post, so we can REALLY make fun of you?? :wink: JK; I'm the only one here that's allowed to do that, and only rarely :? Seriously tho, if you have drawings it'd sure help us save you from yourself (if it's actually necessary)... Steve

OK, here's a sketch of my dimensions. I'm almost done with the walls, and I don't have the time or money to undo any mistakes, so I'll just live with them... Still have a few days to adjust my plans for the doors and the ceiling treatment. The old construction in the ceiling isn't that beefy so I have changed my plan to just one layer of 5/8 rock sandwiched with green glue to the existing 5/8 rock. Above, the attic will get only fiberglass insulation. Unfortunately with all the tight angles up there, plus the electrical main line for the house running across, it won't be affordable to put in some kind of attic floor that would seal up at the edges and all. The ceiling is probably my weakest link. Well that's where I'm at. Go ahead and laugh, I can take it. When I'm a rich rock star I'll be the one who's laughing!! Of course I'll probably be in my 60's by then... Jim