John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I have a large room which used to be a two-car garage attached to my house. A raised floor with a crawl space has been added along with a flat ceiling. If money were no object I would love to take out the flat ceiling and make a vaulted ceiling, and maybe also the raised floor, but since the rafters above the ceiling weren't designed to be open, I would need a structural engineer and a major overhaul. The raised floor also could become beneficial for easy cable conduit runs, but I'm slightly worried about the fact that it's a big empty resonant space sitting under my proposed studio.

As such, right now I'm just thinking about a relatively simple renovation. Further down the road I might consider more in-depth renovations. Right now I'm simply trying to decide how to effectively divide my space into a control room and tracking space. If you take a look at my sketchup model, you will find that the positioning of the windows and an HVAC intake make it difficult to create a sensible division in the room (the fact that HVAC runs through this room is another problem entirely but one that I can work with for now).

I would love for a fresh pair of eyes to check out my model and help me decide where or how to divide the room up! But hmm, I'm not sure how to bypass the file size limit on this forum. Someone please let me know how I can post my model!

but since the rafters above the ceiling weren't designed to be open, I would need a structural engineer and a major overhaul.

It's not as hard as you think: I've done that in a couple of places, by converting simple Howe (or similar) trusses to collar-tie trusses. Here's one example:

Original trusses:


After modification into collar-tie (raised-tie) trusses: We gained a couple of feet of headroom like that, in the areas that matter most.

but I'm slightly worried about the fact that it's a big empty resonant space sitting under my proposed studio.

Yep. Without any doubt, that's something that you should be worried about, and more than just "slightly"! Here's why:

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... f=2&t=8173

Yes, your is not a floating floor in that sense, but it still suffers from some of the same problems.

There's another issue here: you need to build new walls and ceiling on top of that floor. They will weight tons. The floor very probably cannot handle that huge extra weight.

It has to go.

Right now I'm simply trying to decide how to effectively divide my space into a control room and tracking space.

It's not that simple. Both of your rooms need to be built as fully decoupled single-leaf systems that are contained within the garage shell, which provides the other leaf. All of that works together as a tuned system, so it all should be designed together.

If you take a look at my sketchup model,

I would love to, but you didn't post any images from it! You also didn't post any photos of the actual garage itself.

Someone please let me know how I can post my model!

You can post images taken from your model in the same way as for posting any other images, and following the same rules.

For your SKP file, upload it to a hosting service, such as DropBox, then post the link here.


- Stuart -

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_kWs ... kdtaUtDMG8

Here is the link to my sketchup file. You're right about the weight concerns...I have considered bracing the floor but the easiest method would be to remove it and have a solid concrete slab underneath. The other issue is that it will not truly be decoupled due to the fact that the whole space shares a single slab (not separate slabs for each room). I can decouple to the best of my ability with neoprene pucks or whatever other solution might work, but nothing will be truly ideal. A room within a room obviously would be best but I don't know how to best make use of the space. Any ideas?

bump for a reply...I have linked to an skp file of my room...it is a somewhat oddly shaped room so my main dilemma right now is dividing it into a control room and a tracking room (I would rather one be larger and one smaller but doesn't matter which)

The other issue is that it will not truly be decoupled due to the fact that the whole space shares a single slab (not separate slabs for each room).

Unless you are aiming for extreme isolation, that's not a problem: You can have very good isolation between two rooms that are on the same slab, provided that it is a "slab on grade". If it is above an air cavity, such as another room, or a crawl space, then you would not get good isolation like that, but with a slab-on-grade, you can.

I can decouple to the best of my ability with neoprene pucks

Not a good idea! For this reason:

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... f=2&t=8173

- Stuart -