Pylot
Senior Member
I recently acquired a killer set of early 70's Ludwigs in good to excellent condition. I have not played drums since about the same time.
Got em set up in my basement and quickly found out that I would get kicked out of the house or the neighborhood depending on who got to me first, the wife or the neighbors.
So I set about creating a drum room in my basement. I initially thought oh yeah two weekends and I will be back at it. Well, here we are about 10 weeks later and I still have one layer of drywall to apply to the ceiling before I am actually done! I have a whole new level of respect for people who frame and drywall houses!
It has been an interesting experience so I thought I'd share the story.
I did a lot of homework and decided on a floor with a mass loaded vinyl (MLV) layer under particle board and then a standard frame of 2x4's and double sheets of drywall with green glue on the inside walls and ceiling. The floor dimensions are 10 feet by 10 feet. The walls are 7 feet three inches high. My basement is a raised wood floor.
Craigslist has a fair amount of stuff on it from other peoples projects and I found some MLV for about half price. Also scored 23 tubes of green glue and 9 tubes of sound sealant for less than half of retail. You have to be aware of the manufacturing date, the green glue is guaranteed for 12 months from date of manufacture and should last longer but may not depending on how it is stored. Mine was 11 months old, stored inside and has worked fine. I did have to order 6 more tubes to complete the project.
It took about 70 2X4's and 28 sheets of 5/8 drywall that was in 4'x8' sheets. At 70 pounds a sheet it is about 2000 pounds of glue, screws, wood and drywall!
I got a 4 foot drywall T square, had a 2 foot drywall right angle ruler, a tape measure, a box cutter, a 20V battery powered drill, a pair of knee pads and the large tube dispenser for the glue. I also used a large bucket with a few inches of water that the green glue cleans up with.
I laid out the MLV and placed the chipboard over it. I had the chip board pre cut at Home Depot so this part was pretty easy. I put the box in a corner of my basement but it is only connected to the floor and is otherwise free standing to reduce vibration transfer. Had to think it over for a while to get the placement right. I minimally screwed the chipboard thru the MLV to the underlayment.
Then I commenced framing the walls. I ended up with two walls the full length and the front and back walls capturing the side walls which caused me to give up about 6 inches of width. Engineering on the fly. I used 2 1/2 inch Teflon coated deck screws instead of nails. I bought 6 pounds of screws and have probably used 3 pounds of them. As the frame came together it stiffened up nicely. I used 24 inch spacing on the vertical 2x4's and a semi random spacing of braces between the vertical studs.
I built a couple of what look like ladders for the ceiling and used four additional 2X4's to tie the ceiling and walls together.
Each wall takes 2 1/2 sheets of drywall to make a layer. I had all of the wall sheets trimmed to 7' 3" at Home Depot to save some work.
Several things have to be considered. Electrical, lighting and ventilation. When you vent you let sound out so I used a 2 1/2 inch hole saw and cut a hole in the upper corner and one in an opposite lower corner. I have a short vent hose to change the direction of the vents and have rocked it in with some insulation on the outside of the box. I pulled an extension cord in thru the upper vent. I used an overhead led light that looks like a florescent light and so far one seems adequate.
I bought 5 pounds of 1 1/2 inch drywall screws and have probably used half of them.
I put up three walls and left the front wall open so that I could get more drywall into the space. Instead of a door I created a hatch that is about 3 feet wide and about 5 feet high. Getting a door to seal up is not an easy exercise and would add to the cost.
I fitted the drywall to the front wall but left it unattached.
I used the sound sealant to cover every seam and screw head and to put a bead in every corner of the dry wall. The idea is to totally seal up the cracks and the screws in the first layer because they will transmit sound into the wood and outside of the box.
You have to let the sound sealant cure for 48 hours before you cover it. So after it cured I double rocked the three walls and used the green glue. I used the equivalent of about 2 1/2 tubes per sheet, five tubes to a wall.
It gets to be a bit of a puzzle at one point. I ended up moving all of the drywall into the box then putting up the front wall and building out the hatch. I rented a drywall jack for $22 for four hours and got the first ceiling layer put in place.
Then I sealed the ceiling and the front wall. Next I double rocked the front wall and hatch.
Now I am down to just putting the second layer on the ceiling and I will install one more layer of MLV under carpet.
I secure the second layer of drywall with screws but they will all come out and the holes will be plugged with sound sealant.
I am putting up the ceiling tonight so I will have my drums moved back in there by tomorrow or Thursday.
Total cost has been about $1200 thanks to some scrounging. I had figured about $1500 if I had to go retail on everything. But between Craigslist and getting half off on some damaged pieces of drywall (we cut the damage off when they were shortened) I managed to save some on the total.
The big test will be this week. The green glue is supposed to improve with time and be optimum at about 6 months.
I have a carbon monoxide detector I will put in there for the first few months to make sure the ventilation is adequate.
If this does not work the wife and the neighbors will be getting free earplugs from me! But I am hopeful that this will let me keep the peace.
Got em set up in my basement and quickly found out that I would get kicked out of the house or the neighborhood depending on who got to me first, the wife or the neighbors.
So I set about creating a drum room in my basement. I initially thought oh yeah two weekends and I will be back at it. Well, here we are about 10 weeks later and I still have one layer of drywall to apply to the ceiling before I am actually done! I have a whole new level of respect for people who frame and drywall houses!
It has been an interesting experience so I thought I'd share the story.
I did a lot of homework and decided on a floor with a mass loaded vinyl (MLV) layer under particle board and then a standard frame of 2x4's and double sheets of drywall with green glue on the inside walls and ceiling. The floor dimensions are 10 feet by 10 feet. The walls are 7 feet three inches high. My basement is a raised wood floor.
Craigslist has a fair amount of stuff on it from other peoples projects and I found some MLV for about half price. Also scored 23 tubes of green glue and 9 tubes of sound sealant for less than half of retail. You have to be aware of the manufacturing date, the green glue is guaranteed for 12 months from date of manufacture and should last longer but may not depending on how it is stored. Mine was 11 months old, stored inside and has worked fine. I did have to order 6 more tubes to complete the project.
It took about 70 2X4's and 28 sheets of 5/8 drywall that was in 4'x8' sheets. At 70 pounds a sheet it is about 2000 pounds of glue, screws, wood and drywall!
I got a 4 foot drywall T square, had a 2 foot drywall right angle ruler, a tape measure, a box cutter, a 20V battery powered drill, a pair of knee pads and the large tube dispenser for the glue. I also used a large bucket with a few inches of water that the green glue cleans up with.
I laid out the MLV and placed the chipboard over it. I had the chip board pre cut at Home Depot so this part was pretty easy. I put the box in a corner of my basement but it is only connected to the floor and is otherwise free standing to reduce vibration transfer. Had to think it over for a while to get the placement right. I minimally screwed the chipboard thru the MLV to the underlayment.
Then I commenced framing the walls. I ended up with two walls the full length and the front and back walls capturing the side walls which caused me to give up about 6 inches of width. Engineering on the fly. I used 2 1/2 inch Teflon coated deck screws instead of nails. I bought 6 pounds of screws and have probably used 3 pounds of them. As the frame came together it stiffened up nicely. I used 24 inch spacing on the vertical 2x4's and a semi random spacing of braces between the vertical studs.
I built a couple of what look like ladders for the ceiling and used four additional 2X4's to tie the ceiling and walls together.
Each wall takes 2 1/2 sheets of drywall to make a layer. I had all of the wall sheets trimmed to 7' 3" at Home Depot to save some work.
Several things have to be considered. Electrical, lighting and ventilation. When you vent you let sound out so I used a 2 1/2 inch hole saw and cut a hole in the upper corner and one in an opposite lower corner. I have a short vent hose to change the direction of the vents and have rocked it in with some insulation on the outside of the box. I pulled an extension cord in thru the upper vent. I used an overhead led light that looks like a florescent light and so far one seems adequate.
I bought 5 pounds of 1 1/2 inch drywall screws and have probably used half of them.
I put up three walls and left the front wall open so that I could get more drywall into the space. Instead of a door I created a hatch that is about 3 feet wide and about 5 feet high. Getting a door to seal up is not an easy exercise and would add to the cost.
I fitted the drywall to the front wall but left it unattached.
I used the sound sealant to cover every seam and screw head and to put a bead in every corner of the dry wall. The idea is to totally seal up the cracks and the screws in the first layer because they will transmit sound into the wood and outside of the box.
You have to let the sound sealant cure for 48 hours before you cover it. So after it cured I double rocked the three walls and used the green glue. I used the equivalent of about 2 1/2 tubes per sheet, five tubes to a wall.
It gets to be a bit of a puzzle at one point. I ended up moving all of the drywall into the box then putting up the front wall and building out the hatch. I rented a drywall jack for $22 for four hours and got the first ceiling layer put in place.
Then I sealed the ceiling and the front wall. Next I double rocked the front wall and hatch.
Now I am down to just putting the second layer on the ceiling and I will install one more layer of MLV under carpet.
I secure the second layer of drywall with screws but they will all come out and the holes will be plugged with sound sealant.
I am putting up the ceiling tonight so I will have my drums moved back in there by tomorrow or Thursday.
Total cost has been about $1200 thanks to some scrounging. I had figured about $1500 if I had to go retail on everything. But between Craigslist and getting half off on some damaged pieces of drywall (we cut the damage off when they were shortened) I managed to save some on the total.
The big test will be this week. The green glue is supposed to improve with time and be optimum at about 6 months.
I have a carbon monoxide detector I will put in there for the first few months to make sure the ventilation is adequate.
If this does not work the wife and the neighbors will be getting free earplugs from me! But I am hopeful that this will let me keep the peace.