Closing in "The Drum Room"

B

BigSteve

Guest
OK, so I have one side of the garage I've set aside as my practice space. The garage is three car that is really a small two car with a small one car attached and separated by a short wall between the two. The problem is that the sound from the drums gets in the house through the open space and makes it hard for me to play on the kit when my wife is home.

I have started to close in the open space with a wall and a door hoping that this will reduce some of the sound coming in the house. I'm not looking for a sound proof studio, just some sound reduction in the living area.

I used a decibel meter to record the volume level inside the house where my wife might sit and watch TV. I played for a few minutes (loud!) to get a peak reading in the house. The peak decibel reading was between 74 and 75 decibels.

I have the project started and will post some pictures. I'll also post some finished pictures and the decibel reading when the project is done, just to see if $250 to $300 spent made any difference.

The space before the frame.
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The Frame
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The space after the frame is up.
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Next I'll calk/seal all the air spaces, install 5/8" sheetrock on one side insulate and install sheet rock on the other side once the hole for the door is cut out. Then tape up the sheet rock and measure the sound again....hopefully it's much less inside the house.
 
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Nice!

You should consider getting a set of numbers from your kit from inside the room so that you can determine the amount of reduction you are getting. I would expect you to be producing anywhere form 90-115dB.

Connecting that new wall to the house will certainly help leakage through the door, but it also stands a good chance of increasing the structural borne noise that is flanking into the interior.

I know that it is probably too late but... you might consider isolating the frame from the house with a layer of Green Glue, MLV or some other viscoelastic layer. Or go one better, stop the new wall short of the current wall and then build another wall at a right angle to it, leaving an air gap between the play space and the garage/house common wall. Wouldn't make it sound proof, but it would have a significant impact on the transmission to the interior space without going crazy on materials.
 
Hey Brundlefly, Thanks for the tips! Yeah a little late on floating the wall. It's in there and pretty well nailed down. I am going to add some material to the firewall as my budget permits. I read your blog on the studio, man that's a nice job. To bad you had to start over due to the city. Unbelievable!

Do you think Green Glue and a layer of quiet rock would help on the firewall? The space behind the firewall on the drum room side of the garage is a bathroom, just shutting the bathroom door helps the sound that gets inside. From what my meter tells me most of the sound comes straight from the hallway leading from the garage.
 
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Hey Brundlefly, Thanks for the tips! Yeah a little late on floating the wall. It's in there and pretty well nailed down. I am going to add some material to the firewall as my budget permits. I read your blog on the studio, man that's a nice job. To bad you had to start over due to the city. Unbelievable!

Do you think Green Glue and a layer of quiet rock would help on the firewall? The space behind the firewall on the drum room side of the garage is a bathroom, just shutting the bathroom door helps the sound that gets inside. From what my meter tells me most of the sound comes straight from the hallway leading from the garage.

Yes. One extra layer of QuietRock even without the Green Glue would go a long way to cutting the transmission through those common walls. But since you are only looking at maybe 6 tubes of Green Glue for this, you might as well throw it in there.

With the door, I'm pretty sure that code on that calls for the solid exterior kind. At least, that door looks exactly like the one on my garage. So it is probably pretty decent to start with. However, you might consider changing out/adding weather stripping along the sides and checking that the door seal sweep is in good shape and adjusted well. If not, consider replacing it with an updated one. Just making sure all the holes around the door are plugged is the cheapest, easiest and most effective thing you can do to improve it. And it has the bonus of improving your air/heating bills too. Here's a link to some good if ugly info on door mods.

If the bathroom door helps then you might consider adding some seals to it as well. Just making that room air tight might make all the difference.
 
Thanks Brundlefly,

The door leading into the house is solid and seals well. Sealing the bathroom door would be a snap...except for the bottom, I'll have to use a door sweep seal like your link suggests.

I will go for the extra layer of Quiet Rock on the fire wall, and throw in the Green Glue just because it wouldn't hurt anything and might help.

Thanks again and more pics to follow.
 
Now THAT is amazing. I bow down to thee, sir.
 
Just a little update,

Sheetrock and insulation went up over the weekend. I used 5/8" fire rated sheetrock and R-13 for the insulation. I've got to say that hanging sheetrock just ended up on one of my least favorite things to do list. lol It's really not that hard to do but cutting that stuff makes a $hitload of dust!

I did not use "Quiet Sheetrock" due to my limited budget...we'll see what the Decibel meter says about that decision later....

Now for the mud and the tape and more dust to follow. I'll get some pics posted.

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Last update, I'm finished for now and am really happy with the results. The project cost just about $300.00. I got a about a 10 to 12 decibel reduction inside the house.

The original readings were 75 decibels peak. Now the reading averages 63 to 65 decibels playing as loud as I can. My wife is thrilled and so am I! I can play when she's home and not bother her. I did add some sound board over the sheetrock firewall that connects the garage and the living area, that helped and cost about $8.00 a 4'x8' sheet.

I still need to trim the door and I may texture and paint at some point but for now I'm going to enjoy the space as it is.

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Wow that looks awesome....I cant wait for the day that I can have a good drum room...( my drums are in the garage, and don't have the money or space to close it in yet)...are you going to paint or add any sound treatments to the room. I would imagine the angles in the room are probably great for acoustics! Congrats again...looks awesome
 
Thanks nicotine25,

Yep, I'd like to paint and treat the room, I'll just have to put a little money aside for that. I think the angle does help...keeps the room from being a rectangle! It doesn't sound bad now but I think some paint and acoustic treatment would make it look and sound better.
 
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