DINGO's DIARY - Studio construction pics

Dingo wrote:

Q1: Will cinderblock will give better isolation than wood frame + plasterboard? Q2: If I build the recording booth from cinderblock, do I still need to fill the air gap with rockwool, or is this a waste of time & cash? Q3: If I build with cinderblock, how should I treat the wall differently than plasterboard? Cheers, Dingo

Q1: Since CB density is a bit higher than GB (1000kg/m3 vs 800 kg/m3), I'd say yes... but: Q2: Yup, fill with sand for mass. When building a double leaf wall, fill THAT space with wool. Filling the gaps in the blocks is necessary 'cuz of resonating issues Q3: it's different material, different way to build. Dunno much specs on them block, gonna have to search the internet which is a job you can do yourself. Is it, for instance, cheaper than wood frame + gypsum? Is is easier to build? That having said, be sure your room can handle such weight. So info in your plan is needed to give good advice

If you've already poured the floor and did NOT include a heavy footing where the wall goes, you're stuck with frame construction or a massively cracked slab - even hollow block are HEAVY, and when you add sand in the holes it's even more so. Here's a basic chart for an idea of what it takes to equal/exceed a block wall - keep in mind that even hollow block acts as a single mass, so it's fairly easy to exceed the isolation with design. http://www.saecollege.de/reference_mate ... 0Chart.htm Steve

Thanx guys. I have a question regarding the wood frames: I'm going to be attaching 2 sheets of drywall on the wall frames - what thickness should the wood be for the frame to handle the extra weight? D.

I'd say standard 45x95 for walls and ceiling just to make sure it holds. Did you ever consider using metal studs? a :arrow:

Metal studs aren't all that common over here. Update on the floor:

and...

Recording booth framing begins...

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Ro wrote:

Nice work. I hope you planned to do seperate concrete floor for CR and tracking room

guess not....

Keith wrote:

I sure wish I could see some actual plans though... Exclamation ...At this point we're only seeing what you've done and not what you're going to do, so there's no opportunity for you to get feedback before you spend the money and exert the effort. Rolling Eyes

Plans are here: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=57103#57103 D.

I've seen your "plan", it's a drawing of your studio design. Now, how about your construction plan (details etc). Ofcourse you don't need to share them here, but would be nice in order to gain some feedback. right? anyways, keep them pix coming

The recording booth will occasionally be recording instruments, maybe even drums – but that will be rare. 90% of the time we will only be recording vocals. Being a smaller room, we decided to have the ceiling frame not touch the existing ceiling for a bit of extra isolation, using the room in room 2-leaf principle (existing walls are over 1 foot thick stone). The room will have a live half and a dead half. The control room is larger. We will be using RC on the existing ceiling to hand the drywall in the control room. (Anyone know where to get RC in Germany? Or the German name for it at least??). We are intending to have 2 layers of drywall throughout both rooms, and we got a great deal on 3.2 inch thick rockwool to line the ceilings and walls. We’re still searching for appropriate acoustic caulk over here. Hard to find. We haven’t decided on a color scheme yet, however seeing as space will be tight, I’m leaning towards a lighter shade to try an give both rooms a larger feel. Framing is almost complete. Electrical starts this weekend. More pics on the way… D.

Did the Sparky work on the weekend...

...and today I started installing the rockwool...

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it sure *looks* nice. Progress is always good (when having a bulletproof plan that is). Are you gonna hang some heavy doors on those small beams of wood?

Yep, was intending to follow Rod's 2-door plan from his book. The beams are 8 x 6cm (roughly 3.2 x 2.5 inches) and I thought that would be strong enough, but I really don't know for sure now. Do you think there'll be a problem with hanging solid doors on beams this size? I'm 85kg (175lbs) and I was doing chin-ups on the cross beams of the vocal booth and they were holding up no probs. You're making me nervous now :wink: Cheers, Dingo

Dingo, Looks like you are spending a lot of money and effort and its coming along nicely. But as Ro and Sharward have several times suggested that you post the contruction plan details to help them to help you, I think you missed a great opportunity. I guess Timber Frame construction is not very common in Germany, but typically the members (Studs and Rails) would be built the other way around. IE the wall would be at least 8cm deep, preferably 10cm (with the classic 2 x 4 's for those used to inches or 100 x 50 mm) and not 6cm deep as yours are. The strength of any beam is not in its thickness, but in its depth, which will affect the strength of the door frame to hold a heavy door when it is open, and the force is not directly downwards. This would make the walls much stiffer as well and allow effectively more space for Fiberglass and Air to increase isolation. Usually there are also Jack (Shorter) Studs under the header of the door frame, and the header is also usually a bit more of a heavily constructed box. There are several threads referencing this in this forum, somewhere. Hopefully you can beef up the door frames before adding doors. See pic below, from elsewhere on this forum or referenced from this forum. (Apologies for lack of credit) Good luck Marius

Marz, thanks for the input. We spent yesterday increasing door frame strength - should no longer be a problem. The drywall goes up over the next few days. I'll post more pics as we go. Dingo :wink:

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