New studio

[Yiannis]

Hi everyone!

I am living on the first floor and I would like to build my new studio on the second.My question is if there gonna be problem with isolation or if the construction is going to be too heavy!

Thank you.

[giles117]

Propbably not. I have built my studio on the 1st floor above a basement. in a single family home. House seems to be holding up pretty well.

Bryan Giles

[knightfly]

Yiannis, first could you please update your profile to include your basic location ?

Second, I would NOT jump into putting more weight of construction into your house until you find out just how it's built. Bryan got lucky - others have died doing the same thing.

You need to know what's there before there is any way of knowing whether it's marginal and will collapse with additions, or if it was built by someone with a brain and a conscience... Steve

[giles117]

Thnaks steve. After I placed my post I meant to amend my answer to include the standard cautionary warnings.

Bryan Giles

[knightfly]

No prob, Bryan - BTW, just in case I've not linked to it before here' a free span calculator from the Canadian Wood Council - it's a html doc, so no spreadsheet required. Get the "portable" version of Spancalc 2002 -

http://www.cwc.ca/design/design_tools/

Enjoy... Steve

[frederic]

Hi everyone!

I am living on the first floor and I would like to build my new studio on the second.My question is if there gonna be problem with isolation or if the construction is going to be too heavy!

Thank you.

Most houses are constructed well enough you can add sound enhancing/isolation materials without falling through the floor, but if you have serious doubts, or concerns, contracting an architect for an evaluation of your floor is never a bad idea. Its better to spend several hundred dollars up front for such a survey, than to find out the hard way after 10K worth of studio equipment fall through the floor.

An inaccurate way of measuring floor movement is to go into the floor below, place a bathroom scale in the center, then run a 1x3 from the top of the scale to the ceiling. Make sure its snug, and the scale reads about 20-30 lbs. This is tight enough to hold the stud in place, yet not damage the ceiling if its plaster. You might want to put a horizontal 2x4 across the top to spread the load across multiple joists, as not to damage your ceiling.

Once you have the scale on the first floor, have someone watch the scale then jump up and down on the floor above in the center of the room over the scale.

If the scale doesn't move at all, you're good to go assuming you aren't 70lbs

If the scale does move, you might want to have an architect take a look see to make sure it can handle the weight you plan to put in the room. Add up all the materials, the gear, yourself, furniture etc, then double it. Thats you're target support weight.

[knightfly]

Frederic, great idea for getting a ballpark idea of support situation - one way to "preload" the scale would be to use two slightly shorter boards and a couple of "one-handed" clamps - slide the boards along each other lengthwise til you get the necessary reading on the scale, then clamp - add a second clamp a couple feet away for 2-point support so the boards don't fold up.

Heaviest person gets the "upstairs duty" Steve

Mind if I "steal" this (with proper credit of course) when needed?