New studio construction in Cape Town

Hello from Cape Town We're in the process of building a new commercial studio in central Cape Town, South Africa. It's in a new building, which has been built on the site where we operated a studio for 20 years before the building we were in was demolished. The new building is 9 storeys high, has 45 apartments on the top 5 floors, three floors of parking, and we are in the basement and 1st floor. The studio was designed by an architect friend in Los Angeles, Ivan Kadey, who previously worked with Vincent van Haaff at Waterland. I've attached a pdf of the ground floor design (upstairs just has two ProTools booths, similar to the one in the attached drawing). The plans specify floating floors, dry-wall sound treatment, and suspended ceilings. We are supervising most of this ourselves, as there's not much call for professional studio-builders around here. We are finding that some of the items specified are not available at all here, so we are adapting as we go along, as our budget doesn't allow for importing lots of expensive materials. The main recording area is double-volume (around 6.5 m high - it extends up to the roof of the next floor), and all the other rooms are regular height (around 3.5m). The construction of the structural walls is complete according to the plan. We have floated floors in all the rooms (except the reception area!). The electrical conduits are in place, ready for the wiring to come through the dry-walling into ducting in the rooms. We are now getting ready for the dry-walling to be installed, and this is where our first question comes up: We plan to put it up using the steel track method, and our architect specified that the track be attached to the floor (resting on a 10mm layer of Machine rubber), using Hilti pins with a special rubber washer around them, to de-couple the track from the floating floor. We can't find a washer that looks anything like what is shown on the diagram, and we want to know how much we will be compromising the design if we just rest the track on the rubber, and attach it with the Hilti nail directly (no washer). I'm sure we will have many more questions over the next few months, but any advice on this would be appreciated. Alternatively, does anyone know of a substitute washer that could be used to isolate the Hilti pin from the track? Many thanks in advance. Murray Anderson

milestone wrote:

Hello from Cape Town We plan to put it up using the steel track method, and our architect specified that the track be attached to the floor (resting on a 10mm layer of Machine rubber), using Hilti pins with a special rubber washer around them, to de-couple the track from the floating floor. We can't find a washer that looks anything like what is shown on the diagram, and we want to know how much we will be compromising the design if we just rest the track on the rubber, and attach it with the Hilti nail directly (no washer).

Hello, Im from Cape Town too and I am preparing to build a small home studio in the deep south of Cape Town and so have been reading this and other fora (Is that right?) for about a year now. I have also been involved in timber frame house construction in the past. Could you post a picture or diagram of the Hilti pin with Washer, preferably with the steel track system cross section as well? I am reasonably sure that you could find some kind of washer to suit in CT somewhere. There are some interesting rubber / plastic supply houses, supplying all manner of specialised washers and grommets in CT. Probably on Voortrekker Rd somewhere ( I cant recall exactly and am out of SA at moment) There must be something close enough to do the job. As the idea is to isolate the Hilti pin from the steel track structure, this washer should not be too offbeat.... Also, most people on Studio / Acoustical fora(?) suggest using Neoprene as the isolating rubber material, which may or may not be the same as Machine Rubber? Possibly find the best material at the same supply house as above. Good luck on the adventure. Marius

Who did the engineering calculations for the floating floor -- resonance frequencies, elastomer point loads, dead load and live load limits, etc.? Have you seen the "Is a Floating Floor Right For You? Answer: Probably NOT" thread? I'm not saying that floating floors aren't necessary in your case -- they may very well be -- but if they aren't engineered correctly, you run the risk of having results that are worse than if you had not floated. In the case of non-slab-on-grade installations, the results could be catastrophic (i.e., collapse, injury, death...) :roll: I also see quite a few parallel wall surfaces (e.g., iso1 and iso2)... --Keith :mrgreen:

won't question your architects design - in fact - I find most of it very interesting ...... But their specification of this isolating design indicates a bit of lack of knowledge on their part....... A hard coupling of the inner box to it's corresponding slab is not different that the attachment of the ceiling to the wall........ as long as you maintain isolation fromthe utside box - there is no reason to decouple the members of the inner box. To support this - I provide the instructions from Mason Industries for the architectural design and specifications for isolated construction. I fhtey do not feel the need to specify this - I cannot see the need to include it. Just to qualify Mason Industries as being capable of these determinations please understand that they are a major American company whose only business is providing tbhe design and manufacture of isolating parts, assemblies and members for the mechanical, industrial,structural and architectural professions. They have been in business for over 45 years and have invested hundreds f thousands of dollars in testing to certify their methods, recomendations and materials. I have worked with their products over the past 30 years and have never found them to be wanting........ I too - have no little experience in this area - and would not recomend any company that I did not feel 100% confident in. Please read through the attached....... more specifically page 21 of 24 as relates to framed walls on elevated isolated slabs. http://www.mason-industries.com/masonin ... s102v3.pdf Sincerely, Rod

A question if I may? Would you describe your exact wallconstruction - beginning with the inner most face from one room - a single piece - layer - material at a time. Example: one layer 5/8" drywall - one layer MLV - one layer 5/8" drywall - 6", 18 ga. steel stud @ 24" o.c. - R-19 unfaced insulation - 1" air space - R-19 insulation - 6", 18 ga. steel stud @ 24" o.c. - one layer 5/8" drywall - one layer MLV - one layer 5/8" drywall Thanks in advance, Rod