KurtVerbose
Junior Member
Hi Everyone,
I've decided to take up the drums again after a break of more years than I'd like to admit to, and so far have found this website invaluable - so big thanks from me.
I know soundproofing has been done to death on this forum and it is very annoying when someone asks if egg boxes will work, but I'm about to create my practice room and am a little unsure if I have the numbers correct.
Firstly, this is just a practice room, so I'm only at the moment concerned with sound proofing, not sound absorbing.
Secondly, I live alone in a stand alone house, so I don't care if the noise carries throughout the house, but I don't want my neighbours to hear, even if I play in the middle of the night.
Ok, so here's what I have. This is the room I'm thinking of using, it's a small room 2.7 m by 2.5m (9ft * 8ft) that joins my garage to my house and it's made of solid reinforced concrete, like the garage. The walls are 25cm thick (10 inches) and the ceiling is 30cm thick (12 inches).
This is the doorway going into the house.
And this is the doorway going to the garage, the doorway on the left.
I think for both these I can put two thick sealed doors made of fermacel (gypsum board) either side of a 25cm (10 inch) gap - the thickness of the walls.
The door to the garage is far back from the entrance of the garage, it's where the red cross is in this picture. The front of the garage is some 11m (36ft) towards the camera.
Panning out you can the proximity to the neighbours to the left.
Drums are probably 120db when they hit the door/wall of my garage. If the doors are STC 60 it's going to be about 58-60db in the garage. Walk the 11m out of the garage and turn 90° and then another 6m (20ft) to my neighbours and it's likely to be only 22db, which I think will be ok. There is a garage door, but it doesn't perform anything much in the way of sound proofing.
My neighbours the other side are much further away. I've put a red cross where the practice room would be.
The sound would have to go through the 25cm (10 inch) concrete, travel through 3 m (10ft) of air, turn 90° and then travel another 15 metres (50ft) which again would put it at about 23db by my calculations.
The other door in this room is to a very small room with some heating plant in. The heating plant has pipes that go through the wall to the house and there are some holes drilled that don't have pipes in them. I've marked with an arrow where the pipes are. I plan on rigging up the ventilation through here.
These are the pipes from the other side - in the house. Notice the proximity of the window, which is double glazed.
I will try and plasterboard over this. This floor is scheduled to be refurbished next year anyway when this will all be panneled in and insulated, for warmth as well as sound.
This is the window from the outside.
Panning back you can see the proximity of my neighbours to the rear, about 7m (23ft) from the window, and again the path isn't direct as there's the concrete in the way.
The practice room is directly below the red rectangle in this picture. As you can see, one side of the practice room is underground. Please forgive the state of the terrace, it's due to be decked next year.
Ok, now my questions. Two layers of gypsum board have an STC of 55-57, so that would seem to be the weakest point of my room. That STC is at normal frequencies but the low frequencies of bass drums I've heard I might only get an 18db reduction, and even the concrete will reduce by only a little over 30. This would throw all my calculations out.
Also, what is the STC of concrete? I can find it for 8 inches, but not 10 or 12.
If anyone has any experience, knowledge I'd be grateful for you feedback. I don't want to do the doors and then find the room is really unsuitable.
Thanks,
Kurt
I've decided to take up the drums again after a break of more years than I'd like to admit to, and so far have found this website invaluable - so big thanks from me.
I know soundproofing has been done to death on this forum and it is very annoying when someone asks if egg boxes will work, but I'm about to create my practice room and am a little unsure if I have the numbers correct.
Firstly, this is just a practice room, so I'm only at the moment concerned with sound proofing, not sound absorbing.
Secondly, I live alone in a stand alone house, so I don't care if the noise carries throughout the house, but I don't want my neighbours to hear, even if I play in the middle of the night.
Ok, so here's what I have. This is the room I'm thinking of using, it's a small room 2.7 m by 2.5m (9ft * 8ft) that joins my garage to my house and it's made of solid reinforced concrete, like the garage. The walls are 25cm thick (10 inches) and the ceiling is 30cm thick (12 inches).
This is the doorway going into the house.
And this is the doorway going to the garage, the doorway on the left.
I think for both these I can put two thick sealed doors made of fermacel (gypsum board) either side of a 25cm (10 inch) gap - the thickness of the walls.
The door to the garage is far back from the entrance of the garage, it's where the red cross is in this picture. The front of the garage is some 11m (36ft) towards the camera.
Panning out you can the proximity to the neighbours to the left.
Drums are probably 120db when they hit the door/wall of my garage. If the doors are STC 60 it's going to be about 58-60db in the garage. Walk the 11m out of the garage and turn 90° and then another 6m (20ft) to my neighbours and it's likely to be only 22db, which I think will be ok. There is a garage door, but it doesn't perform anything much in the way of sound proofing.
My neighbours the other side are much further away. I've put a red cross where the practice room would be.
The sound would have to go through the 25cm (10 inch) concrete, travel through 3 m (10ft) of air, turn 90° and then travel another 15 metres (50ft) which again would put it at about 23db by my calculations.
The other door in this room is to a very small room with some heating plant in. The heating plant has pipes that go through the wall to the house and there are some holes drilled that don't have pipes in them. I've marked with an arrow where the pipes are. I plan on rigging up the ventilation through here.
These are the pipes from the other side - in the house. Notice the proximity of the window, which is double glazed.
I will try and plasterboard over this. This floor is scheduled to be refurbished next year anyway when this will all be panneled in and insulated, for warmth as well as sound.
This is the window from the outside.
Panning back you can see the proximity of my neighbours to the rear, about 7m (23ft) from the window, and again the path isn't direct as there's the concrete in the way.
The practice room is directly below the red rectangle in this picture. As you can see, one side of the practice room is underground. Please forgive the state of the terrace, it's due to be decked next year.
Ok, now my questions. Two layers of gypsum board have an STC of 55-57, so that would seem to be the weakest point of my room. That STC is at normal frequencies but the low frequencies of bass drums I've heard I might only get an 18db reduction, and even the concrete will reduce by only a little over 30. This would throw all my calculations out.
Also, what is the STC of concrete? I can find it for 8 inches, but not 10 or 12.
If anyone has any experience, knowledge I'd be grateful for you feedback. I don't want to do the doors and then find the room is really unsuitable.
Thanks,
Kurt