Building quiet space in walkout basement

Greetings Forum! In July of 2005 I bought a 5 year old 2 story wood framed country style house located 50 miles west of Chicago, IL. I dedicated the entire walkout basement for my Mac/Protools studio. I am now in the process of upgrading an existing 10' x 12' corner space so that I can track vocals, acoustic guitars, ect. without planes, dogs and harleys bleeding into the recordings. Not too concerned with the neighbors complaining but would like to be able to track drums on summer evenings till 10 pm. Nearest house is 50' away and brick. Have more time than money but figured to spend about $5K. I started the room in room/double leaf process by ripping out the existing floor/ceiling/walls/insulation. Exterior walls - I applied a layer of 1/2" and 5/8" drywall to the exterior walls in between the 2x6 frames. Each drywall layer is attached with drywall screws that are just long enough to go all the way through the 3/4" OSB but not through the vinyl siding on the outside of the house. Half schedule on layer 1...full on layer 2. Each layer has closed cell foam backer rod pushed in the gap and OSI sealant applied. I closed in 3 outside window openings with 2 x 2's and 3/4" plywood, then applied drywall the same as other exterior walls. Interior walls - On the 2 interior walls I added a layer of 5/8" drywall to the existing 1/2". Will foam and OSI as well. Floor - The floor is concrete under a 2x4 frame with stringers (ala auralex website plans) resting on u-boats and topped with 3/4" T&G plywood then 3/4" MDF. I installed the chickenwire insulation support system underneath as described in this forum to keep the fiberglass batts off of the floor. Will finish with hardwood. Exterior Ceiling - The ceiling is 3/4" T&G plywood with 3/4" T&G hardwood floor above that. Its the upstairs kitchen floor. My youngest is in college so I'm not too worried about people walking up there while recording. HVAC - I either lined adjacent HVAC ducts with Linacoustic or converted to flex, then surrounded the ducts with fiberglass insulation and built a soffit around. No more HVAC noise at all. I plan to build mufflers inside and outside the room and draw outside room air through the tracking room for ventilation and conditioning. Maybe add a space heater in winter. The basement is very cool in the summer with AC on. Outer leaf interior windows - I have 2 existing window openings in the outer leaf that look into the control room area. The big one is 5' x 3.5' and the small one is 4' x 3.5'. I already have 1/4" laminated glass for these windows. Will upgrade to 3/8 when possible, $$$. Already finished the framing of the big window per the drawing on this forum. Seems pretty tight. Inner leaf interior windows - This past weekend I found 1/2" float glass shelves, beveled slightly and 2' x 4' in size for $3 a piece. It was a Mikasa store that was going out of business. I bought 10 pieces. I want to set them side by side, 4 feet high for the inner leaf window openings. 3 across on the large window and 2 across for the small. I am trying to take my time with the outer leaf thinking that I should stop noise now where I can. I plan to finish the outer windows and door so as to shut the door and get the feeling that I'm on the right track before going ahead with the inner leaf. Hope I don't pop an eardrum! Q - On the exterior walls should I cleat the drywall in between the studs and should I paint the drywall and studs to produce a bit of a moisture barrier? Q - Should I beef up ceiling in between joists like the exterior walls to dampen noise from outside of the house? Q - Does the HVAC solution sound adequate? Q - How would I butt the 2' x 4' x 1/2" glass lites together? The inner leaf large window would be 3 lites, side by side, for a total of 6' wide and 4' high. Q - Any ideas on how I could make the existing outer leaf door usable? See pic. I would like to give proper credit to the people in this forum. Seriously, it's the only reason that I was able to get this far and learn so much about this type of construction. Thanks to all who give their time to this forum. Charlie [quote][/quote]

Charlie, sorry we didn't get to your questions earlier - I'll see what I can come up with. Q - On the exterior walls should I cleat the drywall in between the studs and should I paint the drywall and studs to produce a bit of a moisture barrier? Cleating the drywall inserts wouldn't be a bad idea, even tho you've used plenty of screws. I wouldn't put more than a light coat of latex paint though, you only want ONE vapor barrier and in Chicago it goes to the inside, just under the inner drywall. Q - Should I beef up ceiling in between joists like the exterior walls to dampen noise from outside of the house? Probably not as necessary as it would be if you didn't want to bother upstairs occupants - but if you DO, be sure and check span/loading before adding ANY more weight to existing frame. Very few builders these days allow much room for extra dead load. Q - Does the HVAC solution sound adequate? It does to me, but Rod's the HVAC expert here (along with 1 or 2 of our other members who work in that field) Q - How would I butt the 2' x 4' x 1/2" glass lites together? The inner leaf large window would be 3 lites, side by side, for a total of 6' wide and 4' high. You'd almost have to have a frame with each piece of glass set into it like a single window - check out the reference section for window methods. I can't think of a safe/soundproof way to do it without framing each pane. Q - Any ideas on how I could make the existing outer leaf door usable? See pic. Are you talking about the enclosed door frame with the cripple studs? Not sure which pic to look at... Steve

Thanks Steve. No worries on the time, I settled into this project months ago and have become more or less philosophical about the whole thing... Anyway, I think I get you on all points.. hopefully Rod or others may have time to take a look at the HVAC issue. The door is shown in the 2nd and 4th pictures, its part of the outer leaf with 12 small glass panels. I thought since its already installed I might put some pictures behind the glass and then add more panel mass to the back side to get it up to par with the rest of the shell. It's probably less work to just hang a more suitable door but I hate to replace it unless its just a poor choice for this application. I think I'm answering my own question? Philosophy sucks! Charlie

Almost finished!! Need acoustic treatment help! Please follow link to acoustics forum. Thanks, Charlie http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=61846#61846