Massachusetts Single Room Basement Studio Build

[xSpace]

Your not going to have to worry about driving screws into the pressure treated plate. Installing a screw about 2-1/2 inchs above the floor, assuming you have minimum 1/4" space between the floor and the bottom of the the sheetrock, will secure the panel.

But if you just have to, purchase some exterior deck screws, a little less in price over stainless OR a phosper coated ringed sheetrock nail should be just as effective.

[Dolphran]

Doh! It never occurred to me that I wouldn't need screws that low.

So what should I put under the ACQ bottom plates? Anything? In case it matters, I plan to attach them with the nail driver that takes a .22 cal. charge.

[xSpace]

Many recommendations around here, but a good quality caulk will be real effective to sealing up the potential air flow under the plate, if it exists.

[Dolphran]

As I'm beefing up the ceiling I realize I haven't considered what if anything to do with the HVAC ductwork going to the room above. I'm not tapping into this HVAC system, but these ducts are running in between my two leaves and I don't know if I need to wrap them in something to reduce sound getting into them even though there is no air connection.

DuctsToUpstairs3.jpg

DuctsToUpstairs2.jpg

Any thoughts?

[Dolphran]

You can see in the top picture of my previous post that these ducts run in the outer room joist bays which are then filled with insulation. There are four of them branching of the main (insulated square metal) duct running down the center of the ceiling perpendicular to the joists like so:

MainCeilingDuct.jpg

I hadn't planned on doing anything with this ductwork except caulking where the penetrations to the floor registers above are. My inner room ceiling joists are going to be just under this main duct. I should say again I'm not using this HVAC system in the studio at all; I'm simply worried about the sound leakage to the upstairs caused by it being between my two leaves. It's now or never for anything I need to do here. Completely replacing this ductwork will really blow my schedule/budget. I'm hoping that I can live with it as is, but I don't want to come to find out that this made all the other work I'm doing completely worthless.

Should I put a layer of sheet rock just over the joist bays where the branches are to make an air tight enclosure? I know this is another leaf, but the duct themselves are another leaf anyway, right? Does the main duct need to be wrapped with some limp mass? How much difference will these kind of measures make?

I'm hoping to start framing the inner room as soon as a week from now. I really need to make any decisions concerning these duct immediately.

Sorry for the panic; as always thanks for you support.