Steel wall studs?

Hello everybody, I'm currently building a 2600 sq ft studio in Michigan. The rooms are being built on floating floors with double wall construction. Is there any argument against using steel 2x4s for wall framing in place of wood? Thanks to anyone that can help me out. Mike

Mike, To my understanding no... not in double wall installation. In fact I understand the lighter guage steel wall studs allow a little less structure born sound transfer because of their lack of mass and flexibility. Good luck with your build, 2600 sq/ft! wow !quite an undertaking if you are doing it yourself. I am getting near the end of a 900 sq/ft build and it seems sometimes I'll never get through. Tom

Mike, just wondering if you ever lived in River Rouge? I knew a Mike Oswald years ago, that i jamed with in a basement band. :?:

Hi Mike, Yes, I agree, steel framing should be fine... Although I prefer timber because it can absorb quite a bit of vapor moisture without rotting, whereas on steel, moisture condenses... :roll: ...So I think mold is probably more likely to occur on steel. But there's nothing inherent about steel that makes it a bad choice in double wall studio construction. I hope you'll start a new thread here with al of your plans. 2,000 is big! :-) Be prepared to answer a lot of questions about the floating floor plans... Search on the topic of floating floors/rooms here, and you're bound to find many threads where we recommend against it. It's extraordinarily difficult to get right. --Keith :mrgreen:

what about the 2and5/8ths steel, is that still strong enough to support two sheets of 5/8th drywall? the extra inch would be a big advantage for those framing in small rooms.

Hey everybody, thanks for the advice. First of all, yes I lived in River Rouge for a couple of years in the mid 80s, small world huh? if you go to my webpage it has my email and phone number, www.sdpstudio.com I'd love to hear from you. There's also a few photos of the construction under progress. Just to clear something up, the building is 2,600 sq feet, but about 1/3 of that space is going to be office, lobby, breakroom and rest rooms. Unfortunately there's also a long hallway that was neccessary per the fire chief from the front to the back that eats a lot of real estate. The studio itself is going to be about 550 sq ft and the control room will be about 475 sq ft, then a vocal booth and a small iso booth and a storage closet/mic locker. The floated floor is going to be 2x4 wooden joists sitting on Auralex U boats 16 o.c. and then the walls will be built on top the floors, and ceilings on walls. I'll check out the post on problems with floated floors, it's the first I've heard of this. Thanks again for all the advice, it's been a while since I've been on this forum. Mike

For the love of all that is righteous and holy, do NOT use U-boats!!! :evil: SEARCH, SEARCH, SEARCH!!! --Keith :mrgreen:

Thanks guys, I've done a lot of reading here, and it seems I'm cured of my floating floor obsession. I'm on cement right now, nice level even cement, and I want to use a hardwood laminate, can I put down moisture barrier, pad and laminate, or should I still frame and sheet a wooden floor minus the U Boats? Thanks again for all your help. Mike

Forget the floor frame; if you've got a good quality structural slab, most likely you can just use that as your base. Laminate flooring is fine... But you may wish to consider an etched stain on the concrete for a modern faux marble look... Extremely durable and cheaper than laminate. --Keith :mrgreen: