Advice for best use of space in semi-basement studio

[patrick.williams]

Hi there,

I'm so glad I found this forum - such fantastic ideas and a really friendly community!

I am working on a design for my studio at our new house we are renovating. I have settled on the shape/size in the drawing attached, to maximise space without having to move windows or encroach too much on the playroom/cinema. (It's bigger than my current studio, so that's a good starting point!)

We have the army blowing things up on nearby Salisbury plain, so ideally I'd like to isolate the room from the worst of the LF rumbles and Chinooks(!) but more importantly from noise within the house. We'll be lifting parts of the floor above (the bedroom marked on the plan) so I can add acoustic treatment there, and I've also marked to hang a false ceiling in the studio, but with only 2.3m to work with there's not a lot of height to play with.

I've included on the PDF the wall, ceiling and floor construction we've planned so far. I would be really grateful for any feedback on this. And of course, if anyone has thoughts on alternative layouts that would be awesome

I haven't looked into acoustic treatment yet, so I'd be grateful for any initial thoughts on this, but might be worth looking into once I've settled on a layout.

Thank you!

Patrick

[gullfo]

so no options to increase the ceiling height? it's going to be hard to not only get the isolation but you're going to be hunched over...

so first effort would be increasing the mass between the joists - adding 3x 16mm (5/8") type-x drywall (or equiv) to the underside of the flooring, and if there are a lot of nails which cannot be clipped, using a solid insulation (like 12mm) "blue" foam to mask the nails, then adding the drywall. same for "exterior" shell walls. and lots of caulk. once that is completed you should have a pretty heavy exterior shell for your room. test it. if you need to then build the interior shell - isolator clips+hat channel and 2x drywall w/ green glue (or equiv viscoelastic damper) so the interior mass on the ceiling is only 10-12mm below the joists. on the walls - regular framing with a 20-25mm gap between the frame and the exterior shell frame or basement wall. proper vapour barrier practices etc.

before all of this - HVAC. fire safety, and seismic concerns? but fresh air, temperature control, humidity control and filter are critical for hyper insulated spaces. leaving stuff like that for last will cause much more pain than getting it planned upfront.

you'll find that your structural transfer will likely be the only thing making its way through but there is not much you can do about the ceiling so it's wise to not try to over invest in the walls because it won't matter past a certain point.

getting out and protesting for peace would also help with the explosions and helicopter attack training.

[patrick.williams]

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for your advice! Yeah - the ceiling height it low, but I found out that the upstairs floor already has a good acoustic construction so I'm hoping I might get away with fewer layers in the studio. Building control has already spec'd a larger window + fixed step to meet the regs, but they're happy with the booth 'inner inner room' on the basis that it has adequate escape in the adjacent room and is only intermittent mostly supervised use. Thankfully we don't have too many seismic concerns in Wiltshire (other than the shells exploding on the army training ground!) We have an AC firm fitting the new heating/cooling system, but I'm looking at a few options for air intake. The only thing I'm not sure about with AC is how they'll acoustically isolate the pipes coming into the studio...

Thanks again for your advice!

P.