John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi,
I'm not sure if this question should be here or in the design section but I'll try here.... I have an existing studio and recently it became possibly for me to extent the space by taking over another room in the building. Its marked in the floor plan below as "New tracking Room". The other 2 tracking Rooms, Booth & Tracking Room A, are part of the original studio which I built within an existing residence. The exterior walls of this house consist of what we call here in Ireland 4" block cavity walls which is a little misleading, the wall composition is actually 4" solid concrete block, 4" air cavity and another layer of 4" solid concrete block, the two block layers are tied together with steel ties bedded into the mortar for stability (I think) Aeroboard insulation is also in the cavity. The pre existing internal walls diving up the rooms and are simple 4" solid concrete block with 1" plaster/ render on each side. Some of these walls are load bearing for the floor above and roof. The building sits on a concrete slab.
The Control Room is on the 1st floor along with a machine room and an office. Booth & Tracking Room A are both constructed using the Mass Air Mass design and I am very pleased with the results. The internal leaf walls are composed of 3 x 2 stud walls with 2 layers of Gyproc FireLine plasterboard with a total density of 1732 kg/m3.
http://www.gyproc.ie/sites/default/file ... ine%20.pdf

My questions pertain to the New tracking Room and how best to maintain the Mass Air mass consistency of the build. The inside leaf of the North & East Exterior Walls will again be composed of 3 x 2 stud walls with 2 layers of plasterboard. For line of vision and to open up the space I cut a hole in the south internal block wall of the new tracking Room or north wall of Tracking Room A depending on which room you are in.
Question 1. How do I go about dealing with the issue of the South & West inner leaf Walls of the new Tracking Room, Do i just build the new inner leaf walls and accept the unavoidable triple leaf scenario.

Question 2. How will I deal with the opening, is there anything special i need to consider here or do I just build the new inner leaf around it. (i hope this makes sense)

I appreciate any help or insights anyone can offer
Regards
hally

You'll need to continue your stud-framed wall around the other two sides of the new live room, then put one window in that new stud-framed wall, and the other window in the original "Tracking room A" stud framed wall. Pretend that the green 4" concrete block wall is not there, for these purposes. Use thicker glass on those two windows.

Do i just build the new inner leaf walls and accept the unavoidable triple leaf scenario.

Right. It's an unusual situation, but there's not much choice here. The "middle leaf" has plenty of mass on it, so it probably won't be a big issue, except for the window opening, which is why you need thicker glass there.

Question 2. How will I deal with the opening, is there anything special i need to consider here or do I just build the new inner leaf around it.

I would make the openings on the two inner leaves a little smaller than the opening in the concrete block wall, so that you cane easily have some type of soft "disguise" running across between the two window frames, without it running into the middle leaf. EG, 703 wrapped in black fabric, or something like that. That's to cover the gap, all around the window, but also stuff both cavities with as much 701 or 703 or something similar, as you can get in there. And don't forget your desiccant! It's important, to prevent the glass from fogging.


- Stuart -

Thanks for the advise Stuart.... much appreciated