Studio build in Ecuador, complete novice!
Posted: Tue May 19, 2020 3:00 am
Hi everyone,
I'm Steve, from UK but now living in Ecuador. Just bought a new house which has a perfect space for a studio. Apologies in advance for the length of this post, I really am a novice and, despite the hours of reading I've done, I could really do with some help and advice on my plans! thank you for your patience and taking your time to read in advance!!
A quick bit about myself and my needs:
I am a composer, my wife a vocalist. I want a space that I can work, and that she can sing (ie one main control room/work space for me, and a decent sized vocal booth for her to be able to practice/sing in, without feeling like she is in a toilet cubicle). I track some instruments, but not much (acoustic, electric guitar (without cab), percussion, violin). One day I may bring my drum kit over to Ecuador from UK, something to consider.
The space I have (and I currently work in) is an extension the previous owners built. It sits between what used to be the external wall of our house, and the perimeter wall that separates our property from that of the neighbours. They have built it by running two wooden ledgers down the length of each of these walls, setting joists along them, and then laying sheets of glass on top of the joists. Its essentially a glorified pergola (glorified in that the two other ends are closed with a wall and glass sliding doors.) I'll attach pictures to better demonstrate. Obvious problems of this construction for my needs are:
1) Glass ceiling, despite having some dark material covering it, makes the room like a green house under the equatorial sun! So, very hot very quick in the day.
2) Glass ceiling furthermore does nothing for sound insulation. Neither do the glass sliding doors at the rear end of the room (which open up onto the garden).
3) There is an opening between this room and the rest of the house, which is just that - an opening (ie no door). So its nearly impossible to track anything during the day with my mother in law watching her TV novellas...!
My requirements, therefore, are to convert this space into a well-isolated room, where the noise from outside doesn't come in, and my noise doesn't escape (obvious/basics!) Thankfully, the other side of the perimeter wall into my neighbours property is outdoor space (ie not their house), so I', not overly concerned with my noise getting to them. I am more concerned about my noise travelling into the rest of my house (I'm frequently up at 2am working, and realistically I'd never be working too loud at this time, but I want it to be completely cut off from my house, if possible). Furthermore, if I do bring my drum kit over, the daytime playing of this would be, ideally, isolated from my house, and outside too. The sound coming in from outside is also a concern - given the location of the house, the room currently backs onto a tiny garden via the sliding glass doors as described above, and the garden then backs onto a road. It's a small quiet road, but the cars are very close (picture attached). Furthermore, the neighbour has an Alsatian dog on his roof, which barks almost 24/7, very loudly. So, stopping these noises coming in is very important.
My other requirement is a vocal room for my wife. We have two options - 1) build it inside the current room. The room is a good size, but not huge (plans below), so my preferred option is number 2) - extend into the garden, and build her room separately. Again, her room will need to be fully sound-proofed/isolated, so she can sing her heart out without any fear of disturbing anyone. The best scenario is that she can be singing/practicing/writing in her 'room' (I stress room as I want it to be a reasonably comfortable space for her, not just a poxy cubicle), whilst I am working in the control room, and we don't bother/disturb one another. Similarly, as she will be recording in there, external noise will need to be cut out (this is a pretty major concern right now, as the planned extension will basically end up backing directly onto the road - I need to be as sure as possible in advance I can cut out the road noise, if I am to execute this idea. More on this later...) There are currently two walls that exist that will form this vocal room (the continuation of the perimeter wall, which extends right to the end of my garden, and then takes a 90 degree turn and continues for a little while along the back end of the garden, the other side of which is the road - again, pictures attached will hopefully demonstrate this a bit clearer).
As the three walls (excluding the glass sliding doors) of the current room are roughly/a minimum go 6" thick masonry (the external masonry of the house), I assume they will provide reasonable insulation in itself, once all air gaps etc are properly sealed. However, I feel that to completely minimise sound transmission, I have to create a 'room within a room' structure. Having read Rod Gervais' book, I know that the two-leaf design (gypsum+gypsum w/ green glue > Insulation > Air Gap > Insulation > Insulation > gypsum+gypsum w/ green glue) gives the best isolation/space ratio, so this is my 'starting point'. I obviously want to weigh up the necessity for this, given that it will eat into real estate in the space of the studio, and also financially be kind of expensive. However obviously I don't want to try cut corners to save money, only to discover I haven't achieved the level of isolation I require! So this is my 'worst-case scenario' plan (in terms of highest budget/most floor real estate). I figure if I plan for this, I'll only end up changing it for a cheaper solution/one that uses less space.. The same approach goes for the vocal room.
So I believe that pretty much covers everything up until where I am now. I believe that there are two main phases involved in this process. They are:
PHASE 1: MAKE THE CURRENT SPACES 'GOOD'.
By this, I mean the following:
1) A door needs to be added between the main space, and the house, as it is currently an opening. The 'frame' of this opening is solid masonry, roughly 6" thick. This will at least isolate the studio from the house a bit more successfully. (I think this step has to happen first as there will be various moments that the studio room is exposed to the elements, so adding the door first means the rest of the house will not be exposed).
2) The glass sliding doors at the rear of the room need to be removed, and replaced with a wall (masonry). I say masonry as I suppose this is an extension of the outer shell of the room, and should therefore match the rest of the outer shell. This wall then needs to be extended out at a 90 degree into the garden, to form the missing wall of the vocal booth (as I will be utilising the current walls that exist in the garden, only one wall remains to be built). Essentially, an L-shaped construction.
3) With the new walls in place, I need to construct a proper ceiling. Ie, remove and replace the current glass ceiling of the control room with a proper ceiling (again outer shell only, as there will be a secondary roof given the 'room within a room' approach). This roof will also be extended onto that of the vocal room.
PHASE 2: INNER SHELL
This will come later. but it involves the construction of the room within the room, designing and implementing HVAC, electrical/wiring, inner doors, etc etc.
As mentioned above, I need to start with the outer door. In Gervais' book, he details a 'super door', which would only require the one single door for the studio. As I plan on doing two doors, I feel this is perhaps overkill. So, My first port of call is to plan and implement the installation of the first door! This will probably the most complicated and difficult bit to do - I realise the importance of getting the door right, as its probably the weakest link in the chain. It also involves reasonably unique components.
The current vertical frame of the opening is the masonry of the house, at a width of 1m. I still have to look in the market over here for what kind of doors are available, but I know it has to be a door with significant mass (ie not a hollow shell). Furthermore, I'm aware that there are specialist types of seals to put around the vertical and horizontal stoppers. Finally, the threshold at the bottom - again in Gervais' book, he details some of reasonably complex design, coupled with the base of the door having a drop mechanism, to fully seal the gap once closed. If I'm totally honest, a lot of these things will be difficult to source over here in Ecuador, so I suppose my first question is:
1) To what extent are these specialist components (such as the specialist seals/threshold mechanisms) crucial to the success of the door? Does anyone else have a more DIY approach, with more commonly available materials, that would be equally (or almost equally) as successful?
Finding a door - no problem; a door with significant mass - still probably not a problem; the specialist sealing mechanisms - a problem!
Once I'm able to source the materials, I need to install it. As the width of the door is unknown, but the width of my opening is very much fixed, My next question is:
2) How should the door frame be attached to the wall? Does it need isolating in some way from the masonry outer shell? Depending on the width of the door frame, I envisaged vertical studs (either attached directly to the masonry if the door is almost 1m wide, or perhaps a little bit narrower, running the height of the opening), and the door frame then attaching to those studs..? I will obviously need a header inserted between the masonry,. presumably supported by studs.
And finally...
3) The opening is going to be higher than the frame of the door. How do I address filling in this extra space above? I can see many diagrams online as to how to construct the woodwork framing, but this clearly needs filling with something dense top match the density of the masonry shell/the door.
I am very sorry for this incredibly long post! In summary, I want to figure out the door first. The rest comes later, which I will go into more detail as I progress through the process. But anyone that can give me some pointers at this stage would be greatly appreciated!
One last point - I have a very experienced constructor/builder here in Ecuador who will be implementing all of the designs to me with his skills. However he would not know how to achieve what I am after, which is why I am trying to learn and plan everything myself.
Thanks again!
I'm Steve, from UK but now living in Ecuador. Just bought a new house which has a perfect space for a studio. Apologies in advance for the length of this post, I really am a novice and, despite the hours of reading I've done, I could really do with some help and advice on my plans! thank you for your patience and taking your time to read in advance!!
A quick bit about myself and my needs:
I am a composer, my wife a vocalist. I want a space that I can work, and that she can sing (ie one main control room/work space for me, and a decent sized vocal booth for her to be able to practice/sing in, without feeling like she is in a toilet cubicle). I track some instruments, but not much (acoustic, electric guitar (without cab), percussion, violin). One day I may bring my drum kit over to Ecuador from UK, something to consider.
The space I have (and I currently work in) is an extension the previous owners built. It sits between what used to be the external wall of our house, and the perimeter wall that separates our property from that of the neighbours. They have built it by running two wooden ledgers down the length of each of these walls, setting joists along them, and then laying sheets of glass on top of the joists. Its essentially a glorified pergola (glorified in that the two other ends are closed with a wall and glass sliding doors.) I'll attach pictures to better demonstrate. Obvious problems of this construction for my needs are:
1) Glass ceiling, despite having some dark material covering it, makes the room like a green house under the equatorial sun! So, very hot very quick in the day.
2) Glass ceiling furthermore does nothing for sound insulation. Neither do the glass sliding doors at the rear end of the room (which open up onto the garden).
3) There is an opening between this room and the rest of the house, which is just that - an opening (ie no door). So its nearly impossible to track anything during the day with my mother in law watching her TV novellas...!
My requirements, therefore, are to convert this space into a well-isolated room, where the noise from outside doesn't come in, and my noise doesn't escape (obvious/basics!) Thankfully, the other side of the perimeter wall into my neighbours property is outdoor space (ie not their house), so I', not overly concerned with my noise getting to them. I am more concerned about my noise travelling into the rest of my house (I'm frequently up at 2am working, and realistically I'd never be working too loud at this time, but I want it to be completely cut off from my house, if possible). Furthermore, if I do bring my drum kit over, the daytime playing of this would be, ideally, isolated from my house, and outside too. The sound coming in from outside is also a concern - given the location of the house, the room currently backs onto a tiny garden via the sliding glass doors as described above, and the garden then backs onto a road. It's a small quiet road, but the cars are very close (picture attached). Furthermore, the neighbour has an Alsatian dog on his roof, which barks almost 24/7, very loudly. So, stopping these noises coming in is very important.
My other requirement is a vocal room for my wife. We have two options - 1) build it inside the current room. The room is a good size, but not huge (plans below), so my preferred option is number 2) - extend into the garden, and build her room separately. Again, her room will need to be fully sound-proofed/isolated, so she can sing her heart out without any fear of disturbing anyone. The best scenario is that she can be singing/practicing/writing in her 'room' (I stress room as I want it to be a reasonably comfortable space for her, not just a poxy cubicle), whilst I am working in the control room, and we don't bother/disturb one another. Similarly, as she will be recording in there, external noise will need to be cut out (this is a pretty major concern right now, as the planned extension will basically end up backing directly onto the road - I need to be as sure as possible in advance I can cut out the road noise, if I am to execute this idea. More on this later...) There are currently two walls that exist that will form this vocal room (the continuation of the perimeter wall, which extends right to the end of my garden, and then takes a 90 degree turn and continues for a little while along the back end of the garden, the other side of which is the road - again, pictures attached will hopefully demonstrate this a bit clearer).
As the three walls (excluding the glass sliding doors) of the current room are roughly/a minimum go 6" thick masonry (the external masonry of the house), I assume they will provide reasonable insulation in itself, once all air gaps etc are properly sealed. However, I feel that to completely minimise sound transmission, I have to create a 'room within a room' structure. Having read Rod Gervais' book, I know that the two-leaf design (gypsum+gypsum w/ green glue > Insulation > Air Gap > Insulation > Insulation > gypsum+gypsum w/ green glue) gives the best isolation/space ratio, so this is my 'starting point'. I obviously want to weigh up the necessity for this, given that it will eat into real estate in the space of the studio, and also financially be kind of expensive. However obviously I don't want to try cut corners to save money, only to discover I haven't achieved the level of isolation I require! So this is my 'worst-case scenario' plan (in terms of highest budget/most floor real estate). I figure if I plan for this, I'll only end up changing it for a cheaper solution/one that uses less space.. The same approach goes for the vocal room.
So I believe that pretty much covers everything up until where I am now. I believe that there are two main phases involved in this process. They are:
PHASE 1: MAKE THE CURRENT SPACES 'GOOD'.
By this, I mean the following:
1) A door needs to be added between the main space, and the house, as it is currently an opening. The 'frame' of this opening is solid masonry, roughly 6" thick. This will at least isolate the studio from the house a bit more successfully. (I think this step has to happen first as there will be various moments that the studio room is exposed to the elements, so adding the door first means the rest of the house will not be exposed).
2) The glass sliding doors at the rear of the room need to be removed, and replaced with a wall (masonry). I say masonry as I suppose this is an extension of the outer shell of the room, and should therefore match the rest of the outer shell. This wall then needs to be extended out at a 90 degree into the garden, to form the missing wall of the vocal booth (as I will be utilising the current walls that exist in the garden, only one wall remains to be built). Essentially, an L-shaped construction.
3) With the new walls in place, I need to construct a proper ceiling. Ie, remove and replace the current glass ceiling of the control room with a proper ceiling (again outer shell only, as there will be a secondary roof given the 'room within a room' approach). This roof will also be extended onto that of the vocal room.
PHASE 2: INNER SHELL
This will come later. but it involves the construction of the room within the room, designing and implementing HVAC, electrical/wiring, inner doors, etc etc.
As mentioned above, I need to start with the outer door. In Gervais' book, he details a 'super door', which would only require the one single door for the studio. As I plan on doing two doors, I feel this is perhaps overkill. So, My first port of call is to plan and implement the installation of the first door! This will probably the most complicated and difficult bit to do - I realise the importance of getting the door right, as its probably the weakest link in the chain. It also involves reasonably unique components.
The current vertical frame of the opening is the masonry of the house, at a width of 1m. I still have to look in the market over here for what kind of doors are available, but I know it has to be a door with significant mass (ie not a hollow shell). Furthermore, I'm aware that there are specialist types of seals to put around the vertical and horizontal stoppers. Finally, the threshold at the bottom - again in Gervais' book, he details some of reasonably complex design, coupled with the base of the door having a drop mechanism, to fully seal the gap once closed. If I'm totally honest, a lot of these things will be difficult to source over here in Ecuador, so I suppose my first question is:
1) To what extent are these specialist components (such as the specialist seals/threshold mechanisms) crucial to the success of the door? Does anyone else have a more DIY approach, with more commonly available materials, that would be equally (or almost equally) as successful?
Finding a door - no problem; a door with significant mass - still probably not a problem; the specialist sealing mechanisms - a problem!
Once I'm able to source the materials, I need to install it. As the width of the door is unknown, but the width of my opening is very much fixed, My next question is:
2) How should the door frame be attached to the wall? Does it need isolating in some way from the masonry outer shell? Depending on the width of the door frame, I envisaged vertical studs (either attached directly to the masonry if the door is almost 1m wide, or perhaps a little bit narrower, running the height of the opening), and the door frame then attaching to those studs..? I will obviously need a header inserted between the masonry,. presumably supported by studs.
And finally...
3) The opening is going to be higher than the frame of the door. How do I address filling in this extra space above? I can see many diagrams online as to how to construct the woodwork framing, but this clearly needs filling with something dense top match the density of the masonry shell/the door.
I am very sorry for this incredibly long post! In summary, I want to figure out the door first. The rest comes later, which I will go into more detail as I progress through the process. But anyone that can give me some pointers at this stage would be greatly appreciated!
One last point - I have a very experienced constructor/builder here in Ecuador who will be implementing all of the designs to me with his skills. However he would not know how to achieve what I am after, which is why I am trying to learn and plan everything myself.
Thanks again!
