Multi-purpose Music/Home Theater/Recording Studio

#1

Hello!

As a reminder, I built a 24x40 building and I am now ready to create a room for a gym (in the front) and a large room for the studio. The first step is to finish the gym so I can transfer things from the studio into the gym.

Although my design thread is currently in progress and I will continue it soon (see https://www.digistar.cl/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1229), I thought I could start the construction of the gym and the walls that separate the gym from the studio, and that's what I did with the help of a friend who is an electrician and has more experience than me in construction.

He first installed (temporarily) a few electrical outlets, two lights, and the switches at the entrance. This has already been planned in my electrical plan (which I will soon publish in the design forum). The breakers for the studio equipment will be on one phase and the other things (lights, fridge, treadmill, etc.) on the other phase. However, the breaker for the radiant floor system must use both phases.

The dividing walls start about 11 feet from the front wall. Since there was no 2x6 stud at that distance in the left exterior wall, we added a stud to secure the first dividing wall. But we didn't add a stud for the second wall because the next stud isn't far away. This results in a 4-inch gap between the two walls (between the end of the 2x4 on one wall and the beginning of the 2x4 on the other wall). However, in order to align with the other exterior wall, we had to add 2 studs in the other exterior wall. For each stud, one bracket at the bottom and one at the top (on the same side of the stud), plus 2 nails. Finally, re-nail the Enermax strip and red tape.

Since the interior walls have to rest on the floor and the floor is a few inches lower and further back than the exterior wall (the bottom of the Enermax is 7 inches higher than the floor), there needed to be a way to secure the interior wall and also decouple it from the exterior wall.

We first attached a decoupled 2x4 to the Enermax. To do this, we used anti-vibration rubber pucks and pieces of rubber tubing inside the 2x4 to insert a lag screw. The tubing protrudes a little on each side, so by screwing the lag screw into the 2x6 (through the Enermax), the washer flattens the tubing on one side and on the other, the tubing merges with the puck. 4 washers for each 2x4.

But the 2x4 attached to the Enermax is too far from the floor, we need another layer of 2x4. So we attached 4 pieces of 2x4 just above the lag screws to attach the interior wall, which rests on the concrete.

#2

We then built the walls but without permanently fixing anything in order to properly build the frames for the 2 sliding doors and make sure everything fit together. When the structure was finished, we permanently fixed everything. Unfortunately, I didn't think to offset the studs on the second wall, which would have been better. But by putting wool between the 2 walls I might be able to reduce the impact of this mistake.

The sliding doors are placed on 1/4 plywood that will be glued to the concrete. Under the threshold of the doors, I will try to find a material like neoprene to decouple the doors from the plywood. In the end, I left only 13 inches between the 2 thresholds instead of 24: this allows for a step and leaves more room for the studio.

Since I have a glycol radiant floor, I can't risk puncturing a pipe by nailing the bottom plate. I glued it with PL Premium glue, but first I removed the concrete sealant to allow the glue to adhere better. And I put in a door to create a weight.

Since the walls are quite long (22 feet) and the patio doors are very heavy, I decided to also attach the walls to the ceiling with the same system as the side walls.

After building the door frames, we removed the doors to make it easier to move materials into the studio.

Next Monday we will finalize the structure of the small walls on each side of the doors and the one above.

Questions:

1) the doors are house doors so they have sloping thresholds that result in a large opening at the bottom. Do you have any suggestions for filling this gap before sealing?

2) I plan to install Owens Corning Pink Next Gen Fiberglass Quietzone Insulation in each wall, which is almost 3X cheaper than Rockwool Safe'n'Sound. Is this a good choice in my situation?

3) In addition to putting wool in each wall, should I also put some in the 4 inch space between the walls?

Obviously, any suggestions will be welcomed with the greatest interest.

Stef

#3

add some more king studs on either side of the door jam jack stud to reinforce it. which seems to be the plan...

on the threshold - consider replacing them with proper drop seals and match thresholds - zero international & pemko are good ones.

e.g. https://www.pemko.com/en/products/door- ... emko_12036

#4

I'm going to put fiberglass wool in each wall (see the 2 pink lines). If I also put a 7.5 inch strip between the studs that face each other (see the blue line), will that make a significant improvement or is it not worth it?

#5

no, you DO NOT want to connect the walls - otherwise you could have just skipped the dual wall approach... you do need to brace up on either side of the door - on each wall - NOT connecting the walls. you also need to add some blocking on the walls to A) strength them, B) support the insulation :-)

#6

Looks like I almost made a big mistake! Thanks Glenn!
Yesterday, I just reviewed Auralex's Acoustics 101 document (page 21) and was planning to follow their advice to use stringers.

So, 1+1=2

Stef

#7

Instead of the 2x4 stringers, we put a slat to strengthen the walls and prevent the fiberglass from sagging between the walls. I hope I didn't do something stupid! :roll:

#8

usually you would place the "blocking" or "noggins" between the studs to support it, i think having it behind the insulation will be less effective. as a note, sofy or semi-rigid insulation contacting between the frames is less of an issue than simply having it sag and leaving open spaces on the walls or between them. so consider adding some insulation hooks onto the straps so it's a positive grip on the insulation.

Soundman2020 - Studio Design Forum