New build small size high isolation project

[Purelythemusic]

Hi All,

Managed to get the photos uploaded!

Forgot to take a picture of the double sealed more or less finished external door!

Bit of a weird week, got some concreting done on the outside for van parking, loading etc... it rained, was a pain, but I’m fairly happy with it.

First fixed the electrical layout in the corridor and had a door fitted to the w.c. Have ordered the basin, w.c, smallest kitchen sink ever and the bits to install under sink water heater. Should be enough to keep me busy if/when we get lockdown here...not enough people taking it seriously enough.
Also got the frame for the inner studio door started!

No Sorbothane yet... hopefully soon! The silencers are a bit in the way!

[endorka]

Impressive! The door frame you have laid out on the sheet of OSB looks super sturdy, I'm wondering what thickness of wood you used for it?

Also, having never seen or used the stuff myself, I'm intrigued by the shiny white covering on top of the duct liner in the silencers. I'd always imagined the fluffy part would be facing outwards. Since these will be venting to the outside is it a vapour control layer or similar?

Cheers,
Jennifer

[Purelythemusic]

Hi Jennifer,

It is super sturdy, I’m assuming we’ll need it’s bulk to carry the crazy heavy door! Probably 150kg door!

It is 2”x6” Sapele hardwood. 44x145 when it’s planed.

The shiny white stuff is Glasswool mat to keep the fibres in but allow the sound in...

[Soundman2020]

Weird it keeps coming up with an error on all my pictures...

Please try again, Tom! I've been fiddling with the server behind the scenes, also in "flood control" mode... a flood of spammers! For some reason, some spammers in Russia think we need to know all about their cell phone jammers, dating services, and porn.... so I've been real busy dealing with them (which has kept me from posting much the last few days... Sigh!), and at some points I made changes that might have messed with uploading capabilities. Sorry about that! Hopefully it is OK now, but if you still have trouble, let me know and I'll track it down.

Great work on the silencers and door, by the way! I also have the design completed for the studio doors: I'll send you that shortly...

- Stuart -

[Purelythemusic]

Great timing Stuart!

I’m just embarking on some self quarantining for a couple of weeks so I’ll be able to get back to it!... in between helping the Mrs out with childcare...

[Purelythemusic]

Hi All,

Been a bit slow this last week or so, started the new job then after 3 days had to quarantine as the smallest offspring had a constant cough for a night and morning. No sign of anything for 12 days now so probably wasn’t the Covid-19.

Anyway, partly worked on the studio on my own, partly worked on the kids.

Got the electrical boxes cut in, board finished and skimmed. Gave it a couple of coats of white.
Self levelled the floor and 2nd fixed the electrics. Then plumbed in the macerator, finished the waste run under the house (not a fun job), fitted the toilet and plumbed in the hot water immersion. Lots to plumb in on a small immersion system for safety.

As all this is fitted up against the tanked walls below ground I fixed scraps of OSB to the walls for the services. Most if not all will be hidden and probably painted at some stage.

Had my friend fit the code latch to the external door and the door closer amd started rebating the beefy hardwood frame to make as wide a door as possible fit in as after getting the design we realised the opening would be too small!

I received the Sorbothane after paying a hefty import tax bill so when we can have 3 people on site I plan to get the massive silencers fitted.

One more bitty day on it tomorrow then back to work!

[John Steel]

It's really taking shape and looking good Tom - great to see some positive progress. I'm guessing that your first session has been delayed due to the lock down.

[Purelythemusic]

Hi All,

Wow it sucks not be able to carry on full time...hardly at all in fact! At least I can take stock of the finances...geeze, so thin on the ground I’m not going to be able to pay anyone else to do anything apart from help lift up the silencers when it’s safe to have 3 or 4 people around one space again.

Anyway, I’ve sort of fitted the kitchenette worktop and it all works a treat, installed an ethernet switch and one poe cctv camera (so I can check for issues as I’m not around that much).

I made use of the room! Had a singing lesson with an American lady who I made contact with around 10 yrs ago as her website is great. It worked well, 200mb internet soeed : ) I sang loudly playing the guitar till around 11:30pm then went out to the silent night. My wife in the bedroom in the house with both windows open couldn’t hear a thing, so I got an old hifi (lofi) out and did a bit of a test today.

Now I know the speakers won’t be producing any volume down below about 50hz I imagine, aaand the building only has one door, so the inner room has one big hole for a door and 4 medium holes for the silencers. No HVAC penetration in the outside wall.

I got around 95db out of the hifi 100db ish peak all on c weighting.
Right outside the door at the dead of night tonight (ambient noise of around 45db, I got around 50db, it was just audible...through the seals in the door. A couple of metres away and it was almost inaudible. Pretty happy with that. I’m going to do an rew graph only to test what sort of frequencies the hifi can produce.

[Starlight]

Nice report, Tom. Thanks.

I do like your kitchen worktop and great news about the TL so far. It can only get better. I know exactly what you mean about the finances. I read that builds usually end up exceeding the budget. I hope you find some help as doing it all yourself can be tough.

[John Steel]

Plus one for that sentiment Tom! Great news that your studio is clearly on course to achieve what you hoped it would. May I ask if you developed a preference for any particular type of caulk? I'm just about to start cladding and although I know low modulus (stretchy) sealants are recommended for this, I haven't read any recommendations based on real-world experience. Good luck - I'm looking forward to your next instalment!

[endorka]

Excellent stuff. It might be worth checking the accuracy of that meter, if you've not done so already. I have a very similar one and when I checked the readings alongside a calibrated UMIK-1 mic noticed the dB meter read 3dB too quiet below 80dB, but true at 105 dB. So the reduction of sound between rooms was actually 3dB lower the meter indicated, i.e. worse.

Of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating so to speak, and ultimately your ears when outside the studio will be the judge of the attenuation. Sounds like you are well on track. Where it stung me was when I started measuring with the accurate UMIK-1 instead of the meter, and the measured improvements in sound attenuation didn't seem as good as my ears told me. And for once it was actually the tools fault, LOL!

Cheers,
Jennifer

[Starlight]

Source of the postMay I ask if you developed a preference for any particular type of caulk?

I am not Tom but if it is of any help, Stuart posted his recommendations in post no. 17 in my studio build topic (here). I could not find any of those where I am but I am using MAPEFLEX PU45 with great results. I have no idea what Tom is using.

[Purelythemusic]

Nice report, Tom. Thanks.

I do like your kitchen worktop and great news about the TL so far. It can only get better. I know exactly what you mean about the finances. I read that builds usually end up exceeding the budget. I hope you find some help as doing it all yourself can be tough.

Thanks Starlight! Ha, seems crazy to have spent time on the corridor, but I was waiting on the Sorbothane at the time but I must say it does make it a more pleasant space to spend time in and I get a feel for how nice it will be!

[Purelythemusic]

Source of the post

Source of the postMay I ask if you developed a preference for any particular type of caulk?

I am not Tom but if it is of any help, Stuart posted his recommendations in post no. 17 in my studio build topic (here). I could not find any of those where I am but I am using MAPEFLEX PU45 with great results. I have no idea what Tom is using.

I tried Sikaflex EBT from screwfix, said all the right things and when I used it was very impressed so kept buying that. It’s still very flexible rubber like.

[Purelythemusic]

Source of the post Excellent stuff. It might be worth checking the accuracy of that meter...

...And for once it was actually the tools fault, LOL!

Cheers,
Jennifer

Oh yea good call, when I get to the stage of room testing I’ll get more precise, I am hoping to get the inside door done in the coming weeks and hopefully the HVAC silencers in place, then I can finish my isolation wall and probably prioritise building the front wall treatment before getting the expensive hvac fitted.

Yea I have used some pretty pants tools so know well that they can be a limitation ; )

Thanks for the support guys!