First, some background on the HT project.
While taking a break from the construction the other night, I started to think about the hundreds or even thousands of posts I've read over the last year and a half and all the information, ideas, and expertise that people have openly shared in their posts. I then realized that I haven't shared anything of what I'm up to with the Forum. Fortunately, I have taken a couple of hundred pictures to this point, and its time to post some pics of the progress.
When initially deciding which techniques I would employ in building the room, I asked myself 2 questions.
1. What can I do to keep as much sound in the room as possible, and then deal with it acoustically later?
2. When sound gets past the drywall (and it will), what reasonable techniques can I apply to get in its way before it makes it to the rest of the house?
One question I know that I am going to get asked is "Why did you go through the expense of using Mass Loaded Vinyl and building a room within a room"?
Answer: When I originally started this back in 2002 it looked like Mass Loaded Vinyl, mounted to the studs, under the drywall, was a good solution. I ordered 800 sq' of MLV from a company in MA. While awaiting its arrival, I read a lot of posts about the room within a room design and decided that was a better solution (for me). When the vinyl arrived I stored it thinking I would sell it off some day. As I built the walls of the HT I realized that hanging limp in the 1" air gap between the walls was an ideal place for the mass loaded vinyl. Plus, it was no longer on a pallet in the middle of my garage floor...LOL, problem solved!
HT Specs:
Room Dimensions
- 12'w x 21'd x 7'h
Room Construction (to this point)
Double wall with floating ceiling (room within room)
- 2x4 walls assembled with screws for rigidity
- Internal walls are set at 1" from external walls and sit on a strip of mass loaded vinyl to give some disconnection from concrete floor
- Internal walls are bolted to concrete floor with 3" Tapcon concrete screws (somewhat negating the disconnection of the vinyl)
- 2x6 floating joists are doubled up to control twisting and give a 3" surface to install the ceiling MLV and drywall to
- Floating joists are bolted to the top plate of the internal walls for rigidity and to also help control twisting of the joists
- Internal Walls and Floating joists are set 1" below the existing joists for disconnection clearance
Room completely encased in Mass loaded vinyl
- MLV is installed very-very loosely on the inside face of the outside walls
- MLV comes over the top plate of the internal walls and under the floating joists and is joined to the MLV that is installed on the underside of the floating joists there-by sealing the entire room. (Not as bad as it sounds, see the pics)
- All seams of the MLV are taped with Nashua metal HVAC tape (Very sticky)
- MLV is sealed to the floor with silicone caulk (sticks really well to concrete)
- MLV on the 2 concrete walls comes down 24" to cover the basement windows, help negate flanking, and to maintain the airtight integrity of the room. Since the metal tape does not stick well to concrete, the concrete was treated with construction adhesive as a base for the tape to stick to (worked very well)
Roxul AFB insulation in walls
- Purchased this (1.5x cost of FG) before I read some threads questioning its ability to stop sound better than FG (had to stick it somewhere)...LOL
Owens Corning R13 in ceiling (multiple layers)
- Easier to stuff between the staggered joists than Roxul
Double 1/2" drywall (opposing directions) (glued and screwed)
- Have to hang 70 sheets of 1/2" drywall, couldn't bring myself to hang 35 of 1/2" and 35 of 5/8" X type
Double Safe and Sound doors (Owens Corning) with a 3" air lock
- Doors will open in opposing directions
- Doors will be jammed with 1" poplar (dense)
- Doors will be jammed individually within 1/4" of each other and then joined with acoustic caulk
- Doors will be completely sealed to jamb and threshold
Please feel free to comment, criticize or just ask (why did you do that...LOL)
Zoomer
While taking a break from the construction the other night, I started to think about the hundreds or even thousands of posts I've read over the last year and a half and all the information, ideas, and expertise that people have openly shared in their posts. I then realized that I haven't shared anything of what I'm up to with the Forum. Fortunately, I have taken a couple of hundred pictures to this point, and its time to post some pics of the progress.
When initially deciding which techniques I would employ in building the room, I asked myself 2 questions.
1. What can I do to keep as much sound in the room as possible, and then deal with it acoustically later?
2. When sound gets past the drywall (and it will), what reasonable techniques can I apply to get in its way before it makes it to the rest of the house?
One question I know that I am going to get asked is "Why did you go through the expense of using Mass Loaded Vinyl and building a room within a room"?
Answer: When I originally started this back in 2002 it looked like Mass Loaded Vinyl, mounted to the studs, under the drywall, was a good solution. I ordered 800 sq' of MLV from a company in MA. While awaiting its arrival, I read a lot of posts about the room within a room design and decided that was a better solution (for me). When the vinyl arrived I stored it thinking I would sell it off some day. As I built the walls of the HT I realized that hanging limp in the 1" air gap between the walls was an ideal place for the mass loaded vinyl. Plus, it was no longer on a pallet in the middle of my garage floor...LOL, problem solved!
HT Specs:
Room Dimensions
- 12'w x 21'd x 7'h
Room Construction (to this point)
Double wall with floating ceiling (room within room)
- 2x4 walls assembled with screws for rigidity
- Internal walls are set at 1" from external walls and sit on a strip of mass loaded vinyl to give some disconnection from concrete floor
- Internal walls are bolted to concrete floor with 3" Tapcon concrete screws (somewhat negating the disconnection of the vinyl)
- 2x6 floating joists are doubled up to control twisting and give a 3" surface to install the ceiling MLV and drywall to
- Floating joists are bolted to the top plate of the internal walls for rigidity and to also help control twisting of the joists
- Internal Walls and Floating joists are set 1" below the existing joists for disconnection clearance
Room completely encased in Mass loaded vinyl
- MLV is installed very-very loosely on the inside face of the outside walls
- MLV comes over the top plate of the internal walls and under the floating joists and is joined to the MLV that is installed on the underside of the floating joists there-by sealing the entire room. (Not as bad as it sounds, see the pics)
- All seams of the MLV are taped with Nashua metal HVAC tape (Very sticky)
- MLV is sealed to the floor with silicone caulk (sticks really well to concrete)
- MLV on the 2 concrete walls comes down 24" to cover the basement windows, help negate flanking, and to maintain the airtight integrity of the room. Since the metal tape does not stick well to concrete, the concrete was treated with construction adhesive as a base for the tape to stick to (worked very well)
Roxul AFB insulation in walls
- Purchased this (1.5x cost of FG) before I read some threads questioning its ability to stop sound better than FG (had to stick it somewhere)...LOL
Owens Corning R13 in ceiling (multiple layers)
- Easier to stuff between the staggered joists than Roxul
Double 1/2" drywall (opposing directions) (glued and screwed)
- Have to hang 70 sheets of 1/2" drywall, couldn't bring myself to hang 35 of 1/2" and 35 of 5/8" X type
Double Safe and Sound doors (Owens Corning) with a 3" air lock
- Doors will open in opposing directions
- Doors will be jammed with 1" poplar (dense)
- Doors will be jammed individually within 1/4" of each other and then joined with acoustic caulk
- Doors will be completely sealed to jamb and threshold
Please feel free to comment, criticize or just ask (why did you do that...LOL)
Zoomer
