How much is too much? and overbuilding...

I'm getting ready to finalize the design for the new studio. My designer has a tendency to overbuild... So I want to make sure I am on top of my game, so I don't spend money that need not be spent. I'm mainly thinking about our double wall situation. The studio is 2000sq ft. It is contained within a 12,000 sf ft. building. The other space belongs to another business. There are 2 walls that will potentially be in common with the other business. I need to overbuild these walls to minimize sound leakage into the other business. My idea is this: For those 2 walls... Double wall m/a/m of course... Quadruple Drywall-2.5"/12" air gap plus 3" mineral fiber/Quad drywall 2.5" So that's: 2.5"/15"/2.5" for a total of 20" between us and them. Do you think it will work? Too much? Not enough? Thanks in advance

Let me elaborate. I want to make sure I have this correct. 1) First Part Here are the possible options: Option 1: 2"Quad Drywall/20" air/2" Quad drywall Option 2: 1.25" double drywall/24" air/1.25" double drywall What I would like to know is at what point do I start to get diminishing returns for both adding drywall layers and adding airspace. 2) Second Part a-My live room south wall will be shared with the other business. If I am understanding proper room mechanics my wall should be the first mass, then air... Then their wall should be the 2nd mass. b- Would this be a large 3+ leaf system if we were to do this: mass/air/mass... Then 4' hallway...then mass/air/mass for their wall? So it would be 2"mass/20"air/2"mass then 4' then 2"mass/12"air/2"mass. To me, that describes a 3 leaf system

vicksburgstudio wrote:

:

Option 1: 2"Quad Drywall/20" air/2" Quad drywall

Better of the 2 - but even better yet with 4 layers of 5/8" each face (2 1/2")

Option 2: 1.25" double drywall/24" air/1.25" double drywall

2nd choice is 2nd best.

2) Second Part a-My live room south wall will be shared with the other business. If I am understanding proper room mechanics my wall should be the first mass, then air... Then their wall should be the 2nd mass.

Yup

b- Would this be a large 3+ leaf system if we were to do this: mass/air/mass... Then 4' hallway...then mass/air/mass for their wall?

If you have a full corridor - then don't even bother worrying about it -

So it would be 2"mass/20"air/2"mass then 4' then 2"mass/12"air/2"mass. To me, that describes a 3 leaf system

Well it might describe that to you - but it's telling a fib - because that's a 4 leaf system - not 3....... you have 2 physicasl leafs on your system - and they have 2 physical leafs on theirs - thus it's MAM - 4' MAM = and each "M" is one leaf......... By the way - for what it's worth - fanking will take over lng before these walls ever really accomplish much - so don't expect much out of them. If you don't botherto build a room within your room then don't expect much in return.............. Sincerely, Rod

from what I said earlier... Basically there will be a wall 2.5" thick with its own framing... Then I am going to go with 20" air space. Then there will be another 2.5" thick wall with its own framing. I don't understand where there will be flanking.

ahhhhh, this is killing me. I've come to the conclusion that I have to do whatever is necessary to make sure I can operate my studio without causing problems for the other business in the building. Cost is not a problem. How can I make sure they won't hear my noise?

First you need to make a barrier wall between your studio space and your neighbours. This wall should have only a skin on the neighbour side. The other skin will be the walls of your studios. we really need a plan of some kind to follow this any further. cheers john

here is a rough basic layout of the building... It used to be an Eckards pharmacy. What can I show you that would make it easier to conceptualize?

different size picture

the part Rod mentioned - flanking - this can be due to the floor or other structure conducting the sound around your nice walls. to get a high level (>50db) of isolation means you're going to need to consider how you avoid flanking. some options include floating floors and room-in-a-room, isolated HVAC, etc... to keep it contained within your space. Rod's book on studio construction has a lot of information related to proper isolation, including floating floors. also, is that the actual layout proposed for your studio?