Qualifications

Hello all. My situation at this point is such: I would like to construct a small project studio with tracking room and control room facilities. It will be constructed in my basement which has quite the limitation of only having a 7'3" ceiling. This completely leaves a floated floor and independent ceiling out of the quesiton as far as I'm concerned. The basement is all concrete with unfinished walls. I plan on doing nothing more than new interior walls with 2 layers of drywall green glued, backing rodded, and caulked, with the ceiling getting the same treatment. I've contemplated using liquid nail to try and alleviate the flanking that will obviously happen through ceiling and floor and would like advice as to wether it would be worth it or not. However my real point is that through reading this forum and Rod's book, I just don't feel qualified enough to do it myself or with the help of others. This is not the kind of investment I'd like to question later on down the road with "Did I do this well enough/right" etc. Also, my local permitt office instructed me that due to the use of the room, I would need a buildin permitt which would require inspection. I am no where near qualified enough to know the laws/codes. My question is, how would I go about qualifying a contruction company to handle this type of build and know they are doing it right. I've read the horror stories of contractors using hat channel instead of RC-2, or thinking caulking every seem isn't nessecary etc. I do want to try and do the best I can with isolation and hopefully have the contractor point me in the right direction with everything. I know the basics, but I feel a lot of the information on this site and in the book are too much for me to compute through no fault of anyone's on this forum or Rod. There is just so much information that it boggles my mind. I tip my hats off to those that can handle all of it. Anyhoo, back to the point. Are there any general rules for qualifying a contracter or questions I should ask off the bat? If any more information is required of me please let me know, I assumed this isn't a build quesiton persay I didn't really need to include pictures and every little detail. Thanks

Welcome to the forum. And I feel your pain. Rather, felt it. It took me almost a year of research, most of it here on this forum, prior to Rod's book being published, before I had a plan good enough to submit to my city's building department to obtain my permit. Whether or not you actually do the work yourself, in order to have any hope of the project being a success by the definition you wrote, you have to educate yourself. I know, it's overwhelming... And sometimes very confusing, because there are topics that seem to have contradicting information about them, either depending on when they were written about (as conventional wisdom tends to change/improve over time, floating floors being one high profile example), and on who's doing the writing (sometimes experts disagree, or well-intentioned helpful non-experts will miss the mark in their contributions). Your best bet is to relax, keep studying here, review Rod's book again (a few times if necessary), LEARN as much as you can, THINK about your situation, DEVELOP a design, and then start your own very detailed project thread where you can post all the details and ask whatever questions about aspects of it about which you are uncertain. Learn as much as necessary so that you could do it all yourself if you had to. I believe that is a prerequisite to being able to effective supervise your contractors if you choose not to do it all yourself. You may find that the more you learn, the more confident you'll be in your abilities. We'll help get you through it. Just take one step at a time. You've already taken some good ones -- consulting with your building department on the need for a permit and thinking ahead about your "investment" are key. --Keith :mrgreen:

I think that something to keep in mind is that a 'perfect' studio is a very very expensive construction, and that the grand majority of studios (including the ones on this most excellent forum) have had to make compromises of one sort or another due to time, budget, or other reasons. I don't think you need to 'know it all' to be able to build a very good studio. What you do need to know are the basic principles...how sound travels through rooms & structures. Understand the following: 1. STC (Sound Transmission Class) 2. TL (Transmission Loss) in particular at low frequencies 3. Decoupling (importance of air gaps) 4. Mass Law 5. Flanking sound 6. Structure borne noise 7. Damping If you really understand these 'first principles' of studio construction, then you're well equipped to work out any problems in your contractor's work. Cheers, Kris

Ooops I didn't really flesh out my point about being prepared to make compromises (was distracted by my daughter). What I'm trying to get across is that it should be very clear what your objectives are in the construction of your studio. How much isolation do you really need for your intended use? Where do you need more isolation, where can you get away with less? What are the limiting factors in your design, and the constraints imposed by your existing space and budget? Knowing this stuff cold and having a clear vision will help you stick to your budget and let you navigate any unforseen issues that come up in construction with relative ease. Now, as far as contractors go, I don't think they need to necessarily be experienced in studio construction. But, you do want a contractor that is prepared to listen to your requirements, and is prepared to follow them. If your contractor asks lots of questions about your design, then I see that as a good thing...educate them as to WHY you came to those desicions, and then they will require less supervision. I think that rather than find a contractor that say "yeah yeah I can do it", the first criteria is to find one that is trustworthy and reliable, and who does high quality work. Consider it your job to educate them on the details of studio construction. Give them lots of information up front when they're quoting the job so there's less surprises for them (and you in terms of $$$). Don't be surprised if the contractor questions a big chunck of your design decisions...stick to your guns and explain to them why (as opposed to just outright not accepting alternate solutions...this makes you seem inflexible, and may lead to corners being cut when you'r not around to supervise). Final thing....if your contractor hasn't installed on RC before, then you might want to consider the isolating clip + furring channel apprach. This approach costs just a little bit more but offers a bit better isolation, and the advantage of being easier to install (RC can get 'shorted out' by the use of the wrong screws). Cheers, Kris