Help with Isolation

[davehewitsonuk]

Hi,

i am over in the UK, and i am thinking of converting one of my garages into a studio. It is (L) 19.8ft x (W) 10.5ft x (H) 7.3ft.

All i really need is a COntrol room and a live room. I will be mostly recording drums, electric guitars, vocals and bass.

The problem is that my garage is joined to my house and to the neighbours house, so Isolation is going to be quite a big problem here. I was thinking of basing my design on One of the SAE garage design studios, but i will still need some ideas on how to soundproof it enough from both the houses,

thanks

Dave

[Eric_Desart]

Hello Dave,

If this are joint structures, and depending on local regulations, it is virtually impossible to get an insulation high enough to fulfil those regulations.

Sorry for the bad news, but you will entirely remain dependent of the goodwill of the neighbors.
So if you can make an agreement with them to use the studio between specific hours, so much the better.
But physically within the space you have this is really exceeding the boundaries of what is possible.
You need insulation techniques typical for official certified acoustic labs.

If you want to proceed anyhow, you will need to hire a local acoustic expert (not a studio designer, but an acoustician specialised in building physics and environmental regulations). But even then, I'm rather sure he won't give any guarantees or even accept such a job.
It's certainly not something to solve via a forum.

Best regards
Eric

PS: It's most likely much cheaper to find a spot elsewhere.

[giles117]

Or,

you can build one of these rooms in a room.

I have had good success with isolation building a room in a room.

Even if I had to build the outer room 1st then build the inner room.

Only drawback with that is the size of your garage, you will lose about 1.5 feet off of the size of your garage (either way) SO you'd end up wioth a room roughly 9' x 18.3 ft

I have a small control room that was 10.5x13.5, after construction the interior was under 9'x11'

Room sounds great. (Big ups to John S.)

Bryan Giles

BTW My space was 10.5x25' and I had enough for both a live and control room of decent sizes.

[John Sayers]

What's the garage built out of Dave?? That's the first important part.

cheers
john

[davehewitsonuk]

Well, the two shorter sides are built of standard red brick. But the two longer sides are actually the walls to my house and my neighbours house, so in theory all thats been done is the two shorter sides have been built along with a roof just bridging the gap.

So the walls are just brick with whatevers on the inside of each house, and the roof is a flat design, with beams running across the width, and this funny stuff that looks like strips of newspaper that have been soaked in resin or something???

i was thinking maybe a design something like the one below, maybe? as isolation to my neighbours house is more important than my own house.
But change that design so that it is split with a live room and control room.

thanks

Dave

[knightfly]

What about the floor? How is it connected to the houses?
Are the brick walls rough, with the mortar showing, or have they been rendered (plastered)?
What are the roof beams resting on, and how are they attached?

Also, on your first drawing where are the various rooms of your neighbors' house?

These may sound like a lot of questions, but it is a large undertaking to accomplish major sound isolation in an existing building that wasn't designed for that in the first place... Steve