beefing up thin exterior steel walls

good morning all.........fine forums have been lurking, listening, and LEARNING quite a bit about studio construction, design, and what not to post...Would like to increase mass and reduce leakage through thin sheets of exterior steel siding fastened to a metal skeleton supporting my "accessory structure" recently built on our property. Planning on room-within-room interior construction, but what are suggestions on adding mass to these walls ?

gypsum... is what people use to add mass. a :arrow:

Is the steel corregated? If so, I don't think it would be a good candidate for beefing up with gypsum. You may have to do a three-leaf system with wide gaps between all leaves and thoroughly vent the area between the middle and steel leaf to mitigate its effects. --Keith :mrgreen:

IF the walls a corrugated, isn't there a good idea to fill them up with gypsum? not gypsum board.. and then add gypsum to get a flat surface. a :arrow:

I'm not sure... I'd think it would be difficult to get a plaster-like product to adhere to the steel. This issue/challenge was discussed quite thoroughly on jal's "starting totally from scratch" thread. The thread takes a turn towards concrete block construction, but for good reason -- the conclusion is drawn that the corregated steel shell of the building was a really crappy way to start a studio build. :roll: Sorry... It just is... :( --Keith :mrgreen:

Morning all I'm in that boat ATM too, Was almost too embarrassed to mention that my outer building might be corregated iron(colourbond) The cost is right and I have no nieghbours but will no doubt have to fork out for brick.

i think that you should just ignore the existence of your steel wall, and build a mass-air-mass system inside the steel ... the closer to the steel the better, maybe, but also, throw some insulation in there too. the insulation will dampen the steel in case it might vibrate. if you have a mass-air-mass wall that doesn't let much if any sound out, the steel outside wall isn't suddenly going to make that system ineffective. in theory it does have an effect, but i wouldn't worry about it myself. it's very theoretical, just like two hotel rooms separated by a hallway is a quad leaf system, but you don't see hotels tearing off the inner leafs of their hallways to make room to room soundproofing better.

Yes the steel siding is corrugated...wondering if a layer of "blackboard" or "temlock" directly against inside surface of steel would dampen the steel...then at least one layer of gyp...then r-19, then another layer(s) of gypsum over the steel frame. then probably the interior wall......thanks for suggestions, I should have known this topic was discussed previously, just didn't locate it......

I know I'm going against the grain here, and I'm sure I'll hear about it. :) However, I've done exactly what you're talking about. My studio is inside a corrugated steel building for much the same reasons most people think about it. It's cheap. For me, the structure was here and the price was right. I had seen a number of homes built this way and they're real tight and quiet when built well. I figured with a little more work, it would suit my purpose and it has. Having done it, I can tell you that it may not be the best way, but it works. I haven't taken measurements, and I'm not going to say that it's as good as having a heavier mass for an outside wall, but it's awful quiet in here, and not a lot gets out. Granted, I'm not recording heavy metal. I do orchestral, jazz, chamber music work in here and I'm not having any problems. Also, I live in a place that's relatively quiet. I'm out in the country a bit and about 100 ft from the road. I've made a few mistakes along the way, mostly because I found this forum a little too late :) but everything has turned out pretty well. I'm still not finished yet, but so far I'm pleased with the results. Like anything else, it depends on your budget and what you plan to do with the room. It's typical room within a room and you can see the floor plan and construction method here. It's at the bottom of the thread. http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... highlight= I didn't beef up the exterior wall - probably would have if I could have found a practical way. The plan is that if there turns out to be a problem in the future, I will attach to the outside of the structure. In my case, that seemed to be the most reasonable. Unfortunately the most difficult issue is attaching to the inside of the steel without having tons of fasteners showing from the outside. I looked for information on this issue myself and came up empty. As stated, no one on this forum has really done this, and there are no tests done on the walls anywhere. Safer is always better, and going with what's known is definately a plus, but just because no one has done it, it doesn't mean that it can't be done. :) If I can lend any information, email me privately. I've been too busy working in the studio to be working on the studio lately. :D So, I haven't been able to keep up here. Let us know how it goes! Scott