Build studio or treat existing building?

Mikedawg · Post by **Mikedawg** » Sat May 03, 2003 9:08 am

I'm in the early planning stages of starting up my own low budget recording studio. I have recording experiece but not much along the lines of construction and sound proofing. I've done alot of the reading and have some basic ideas but I just don't have the experience to decide which path to take.

I would love to build a seperate structure on my property, but I'm not sure what all this brings with it. One idea I've tried looking into is building one of those 30ft x 55ft metal building "kits" on a concrete foundation and then building rooms inside of this for isolation puropses. Would this be a waste of time, money, and effort? I should add that I will probably have to hire someone to do air conditioning but I've got a connection for electricity and building.

Another option is to find an existing structure, probably an old office or commercial building, and transform it as best as possible.

I need to keep this under $50,000us, $35,000 if possible (the less I spend here the more I spend on equipment).

Thanks for any help.

Post by **John Sayers** » Sat May 03, 2003 10:58 am

I moved this post to Steve's forum because he has some good ideas about cheap external buildings and has posted on this subject before.

cheers
john

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat May 03, 2003 11:27 pm

After looking at several alternataves, and trying a couple (1 bedroom, 1/3 of an existing barn) this is the method I've decided on -

http://www.polysteel.com

Approximate costs on a 36 x 48 ft shell with 16' walls (just for shell)
This is figured as semi-DIY, having slab done and DIY walls, hiring help with roof -

Slab - 5k
walls, 8" thick - 10k
roof - 10k
2 layers 5/8 firecode sheet rock (perimeter, inside) - $500
2 layers 5/8 firecode sheet rock (ceiling) $900
outer siding (vinyl) - 3.3k
sound lock (2 doors) - 1.2k
misc. fasteners, caulk - 1k

Total for shell - approx. $32,000

Beyond that, you would need to figure costs on power, plumbing, interior walls/finish, etc - I plan to build interior a room at a time if necessary, starting with control room (most functional first)

The main bennies of this construction are that the shell with just one layer of 1/2" sheet rock can be STC 50 if properly done, and with an inner air gap and 2 more layers of 5/8 rock closer to STC 70. Heating costs should be about 2/3 that of 6" stud construction, and the Polysteel method is Class 4 earthquake rated also.

John, just noticed the other day on their site that they now have reps down under... Steve

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Tue May 06, 2003 9:49 am

Did some costing yesterday, and if budget is tight and you can find someone who has built concrete block walls and can get them straignt, it could lower costs on a 36 x 48 x 16 foot high building by about $8,000 - this is a VERY rough figure, as I've not yet nailed down the added costs of more sheet rock per wall leaf to compensate for 6-8 dB worse wall performance.

With EITHER method it's not very practical to try to do without hiring a concrete pump (around $60-100 per hour with operator) or renting one (haven't checked on price/availability of this yet)

With the Polysteel forms, you do NOT rod the concrete unless you like bulges/breaks in your walls - with filled concrete block, you DO want to rod it. I've not built concrete block walls anywhere near that tall, so I'm not sure what other pitfalls exist (like, how do you rod concrete that's in a web hole 16 feet deep - do you do it in stages? I would think so, which means hiring a concrete pump at $100/hr would be ridiculous)

I'm still waiting for Polysteel to email me re the quote I asked for, so don't know what they want for their "leggo blocks" - the 8" x 16" x 48" ones take 1 yard per 10 blocks, so at $70 a yard the concrete for walls on my building would run about $3600, plus $100/hr for 5 hrs for the pump.

The same walls, built from 8" block and filled with concrete, would run about $3600 for blocks and concrete. (That's 16' by 168 feet of wall) - the filled block is about 6 dB worse than the claim for the Polysteel so would need a couple more layers of sheet rock to be equal - still may be cheaper, I'll post more when I know more... Steve