Wolverinebass Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Hi all, I recently moved house and one of the things that was on the agenda was that it had to have a garden big enough to do a studio in the garden. Okay, so I need some advice on various aspects of it as I'm drowning in stuff I don't quite understand. The building will of course be brick built and will be at least 50 feet from any house nearby. It's going to have a full drumkit in it so sound reduction will be the order of the day. This is one of the problems. Mrs Wolverine thinks that as it's going to have a workdesk in it, it'll affect the resale value of the house if the building doesn't have patio doors on it otherwise it'll have no natural light and you couldn't potentially say it was a home office. I think that's going to be a bit of a problem in terms of sound leakage. Would it be possible to do something like what Happy Jack did with a big sound dampening board which can be wheeled over the doors? Would this work? It'll be air conditioned and alarmed and all that jazz. It'll mostly be for rehearsing with say drums and guitar (aside from myself) but I'll be doing some recording in there for myself. The sort of size I'm talking about will be about 22 feet by 15 feet. It might have say a second area with a seperate storage bit for lawn mower and various gardencrap which might be say 5 feet square. So, suggestions and opinions would be gratefully received on how to go about this and get the noise down to something tolerable. Please when you're talking about materials, be gentle, I'm not the most building minded person on here.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Savage Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Sheer mass is about the only route to go for proper soundproofing; personally I'd recommend getting hold of a copy of 'The Master Handbook of Acoustics' and/or plowing through some of the excellent material on the Sound on Sound website & forums. About the only way of getting decent soundproofing whilst including a patio door would be two sets of double-glazed sliding doors, and as long as the brickwork/plasterboarding's done right that'll STILL be the weak link as far as noise leakage goes. Have you thought about security implications of having all your gear on show through big glass doors, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Wolverinebass is right on the money here. Natural light in a studio is hard to implenet and mainly not done as the door because that will leak like a sieve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 If it only needs the patio doors when you sell, why not build it all of brick, leave a space for the doors and fill it with studwork+acoustic plasterboard+membrane [url="http://www.soundstop.co.uk/solutions/wall_solutions/wall_solution_3.php"]http://www.soundstop.co.uk/solutions/wall_..._solution_3.php[/url] then rip it out and replace with glass when you move? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 You're welcome to come over and have a look if you want. I'm in Chiswick W4, about 100 yards from Gunnersbury tube. I was genuinely surprised at just how effective my end result was. The same approach, but based on a double-skinned brick-built structure, would probably startle you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Just chuck on heavy duty doors which will fit into the same fittings as patio doors? That way best of both worlds, studio when you want it and quick fix later and it's a home office. Ofcourse keep it all dark and it's a home cinema room instead!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 [quote name='bremen' post='1356367' date='Aug 30 2011, 03:03 PM']If it only needs the patio doors when you sell,[/quote] ^^ This. Plan to install patio doors at some point, do it if/when you need to at a later date. No point living in a house you don't want to live in just because some fictional future buyer might not like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Savage Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 [quote name='charic' post='1356389' date='Aug 30 2011, 03:17 PM']Ofcourse keep it all dark and it's a home cinema room instead!!!![/quote] Genius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 This is gonna be an interesting read. I've got a 15' x 40' brick built outhouse at the far end of my garden that I'm planning on starting to convert over the next few months... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 [quote name='icastle' post='1356460' date='Aug 30 2011, 04:12 PM']This is gonna be an interesting read. I've got a 15' x 40' brick built outhouse at the far end of my garden that I'm planning on starting to convert over the next few months...[/quote] Is it possible to die of envy? Nurse! The screens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Incidentally, bear in mind that my garage has two big doors and I only need one ... so there's stud walling inside one of the two doors. Ain't no law to stop you from building (de-mountable) stud walls inside your big sliding French windows ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 [quote name='bremen' post='1356462' date='Aug 30 2011, 04:14 PM']Is it possible to die of envy?[/quote] I've been buying odd bits and pieces for it for the last few years - electrical fittings, cable, recording equipment, a new sink, replacement doors - basically stuff that's been on 'special offer' and small enough to store. It already has mains and water supplies, I ran a bundle of ethernet cables down there in a buried plastic pipe water a few years ago while I was doing some other work and being at the far end of the garden there are no houses nearby. On the minus side, it used to be a dog kennels, so the interior has numerous breezeblock walls that need to come down and it needs a new roof. I'm gonna call it 'The Doghouse' as it's in keeping with it's original purpose and describes the place that many of us spend far too much time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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