What do you think of this idea

Larry

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
For the people who have the space to put a seperate above ground building for drums that needs to be soundproofed...Go ahead and chuckle but I was thinking...instead of doing the whole room within a room thing...Why not get a backhoe and a concrete truck. Maybe a dump truck or relevel your lawn. Dig a hole, Form it out, and pour your soundproofing mass in. I just think it's much less problematic to control environmental air than soundwaves. It may not need cooling in the summer. But it would need circulation and de-humidifying most likely. Heat in the winter. But again, it's starting from what 55 degrees instead of 32 or lower air temps. No drafts. A little crypt-like but when I'm in my basement I'm underground. Hide the concrete with nice stuff

The roof and the entrance...I figure the roof could stick up enough for an entrance, like an old spring house. With a Batpole, preferably. Then I'd be walking on a combo floor/roof that would somehow have an opening for the Batpole.

I know it's not perfect, I'm just spitballin' and wanted to hear your thoughts. It seems like it would be a lot less expensive for the structure part. No green glue, blah blah, 2 actual rooms, shingles, siding, soundproofing material, foam, bass traps, and every other little costly detail that has to be done for an above ground structure. Someone could rent a minidig machine and dig the hole themselves for cheap. Sell the clean fill or rent a dumper and haul it away. I'd want to frame it out with cedar, (not PT) and get that moisture proof purple sheetrock. I had some extra scraps of the purple stuff out in the rain for months after I redid my basement a few years ago and I couldn't believe how perfect it stayed.

The electric and heating and cooling are a wash, both structures would need climate control and electric in some form. Fiber optics for natural sunlight?
 
Last edited:
There's a guy up in Michigan, I think, who plays drums in a concrete bomb shelter that he found on his property. (I can't remember if he is on this forum or not.) He posted a pic. It looked awfully dark, cold and damp down there.

When I was a kid staying on an island in Lake Muskoka one summer 50 years ago, a fellow put his drum set on a pontoon boat and motored around the lake playing. Seemed a lot more pleasant to me than a concrete bunker.
 
There is nothing wrong with an evil dungeon , I prefer underground HQ though..
 
I think you'll need to consider that it's more than just pouring the foundation walls. Since it's entirely underground, you'll need to water proof the exterior side of the foundation wall. You may also need to include some sort of water management system in case you do get water penetration. Sump pump. And that will have to be fairly beefy since you're pumping the water up a good distance. You are correct about dehumidification. Heat. And a batpole might work to get in but how the heck to you get out? And how do you get drums and equipment in and out? And since you're going through the trouble, you probably want it to be big enough to be able to fit a guitarist, keyboardist, bass player, sax player, maybe another guitar player. I don't know man. I think dedicating a room in the basement of your house is a heck of a lot easier. And most likely a lot less costly.
 
I like the idea, but location is key. I couldn't do that here. Our bedrock in this area is no more than 6" below topsoil. To dig a hole here is a monumental task.

When I lived in upstate NY I could dig a hole so deep I couldn't get out of it. Here I cant even plant tomatoes.
 
My eldest brother's home was in a neighborhood and his back was a hill that a previous owner had build a earthen either a wine cellar or fallout shelter into the earth (bermed). It was literally cool LOL. During the Cuban missile crisis they started building fallout shelters in my hometown-we kids would watch any new construction-mainly to pilfer building materials to build forts and skate boards and what not-and one family had one in an underground bunker. It was coated with an asbestos ceiling that when we would jam in there it would snow down flakes yikes!
 
My home, built four years ago, has a finished basement with distinct rooms, one of which I use as a practice studio. I have a basement only because I live in a very cold climate, making it structurally beneficial to place the foundation beneath the frost line. In general, though, I very much dislike basements. Regulating their temperature and humidity can be troublesome, and they're vulnerable to mold and water infiltration. Moreover, I'm not a corpse or a member of a subterranean species. I prefer to be above ground whenever possible. Should I ever reside in a warm setting again, avoiding basements will be something to celebrate.
 
C.M. Jones said:
My home, built four years ago, has a finished basement with distinct rooms, one of which I use as a practice studio. I have a basement only because I live in a very cold climate, making it structurally beneficial to place the foundation beneath the frost line. In general, though, I very much dislike basements. Regulating their temperature and humidity can be troublesome, and they're vulnerable to mold and water infiltration. Moreover, I'm not a corpse or a member of a subterranean species. I prefer to be above ground whenever possible. Should I ever reside in a warm setting again, avoiding basements will be something to celebrate.
Click to expand...
I grew up in New England, and spent long stretches of my life in New York and Virginia, almost always in houses which had basements, before ending up in Southern California for over a decade in a place which did not have a basement. Now I’m up in the Pacific Northwest and of the many things I love about it – – and there are very many – – the fact that we once again have a basement is way the hell up on the list. I loves me my hidey hole.
 
GretschedHive said:
I grew up in New England, and spent long stretches of my life in New York and Virginia, almost always in houses which had basements, before ending up in Southern California for over a decade in a place which did not have a basement. Now I’m up in the Pacific Northwest and of the many things I love about it – – and there are very many – – the fact that we once again have a basement is way the hell up on the list. I loves me my hidey hole.
Click to expand...

I hear you. I understand the purposes and advantages of basements. I'm probably averse to them for the same reason other folks love them. I'm a Native Texan who grew up with slab foundations, and I like the contained simplicity of a single-floor design. On the other hand, a finished basement is a useful resource, so I don't have much to complain about, though my ideal home would be basement free.
 
C.M. Jones said:
My home, built four years ago, has a finished basement with distinct rooms, one of which I use as a practice studio. I have a basement only because I live in a very cold climate, making it structurally beneficial to place the foundation beneath the frost line. In general, though, I very much dislike basements. Regulating their temperature and humidity can be troublesome, and they're vulnerable to mold and water infiltration. Moreover, I'm not a corpse or a member of a subterranean species. I prefer to be above ground whenever possible. Should I ever reside in a warm setting again, avoiding basements will be something to celebrate.
Click to expand...
GretschedHive said:
I grew up in New England, and spent long stretches of my life in New York and Virginia, almost always in houses which had basements, before ending up in Southern California for over a decade in a place which did not have a basement. Now I’m up in the Pacific Northwest and of the many things I love about it – – and there are very many – – the fact that we once again have a basement is way the hell up on the list. I loves me my hidey hole.
Click to expand...
I miss having a basement. Dont really need them here in Arkansas unless you are on a hill. It's cheaper and easier to go half basement/crawl space than flatten bedrock in my area. I would never put drums in there though. Closest thing to a full basement I've seen here is a tornado shelter. Those arent big enough for drums really.

When I lived in NY, my room at my dads house was in the basement. It was a finished basement converted into a bedroom. It was huge, I had drums and a small living room in my bedroom. It was always the perfect temperature too.

We lived in a house before moving here that was built in the 1840-50s. It had a creepy basement. Hand dug, dirt floor, native stone walls, giant beams fashioned from trees with an axe. It had a coal room and some kind of antique furnace. It also had modern a furnace. Single bulbs hung from a wire strung across the ceiling like a horror movie. There was a hidden room in the back we could never get the door open to. It didnt leak, but had this smell from the dirt floor. Looking back at it now I see it as cool. As a kid, that place was scary.
 
Last edited:
MrInsanePolack said:
We lived in a house before moving here that was built in the 1840-50s. It had a creepy basement. Hand dug, dirt floor, native stone walls, giant beams fashioned from trees with an axe. It had a coal room and some kind of antique furnace. It also had modern a furnace. Single bulbs hung from a wire strung across the ceiling like a horror movie. There was a hidden room in the back we could never get the door open to. It didnt leak, but had this smell from the dirt floor. Looking back at it now I see it as cool. As a kid, that place was scary.
Click to expand...

My house, being a new build, doesn't have a storied heritage, but evil always taints my impressions of older basements. My wife and I got married back in 2000 and moved to NYC. Upon our East Coast arrival, we lodged with her grandmother on Long Island for a while before getting settled in the metropolis. The house was quaint and charming, but the basement was ominous and uninviting. The washer and dryer were down there, and I hated making the descent to attend to laundry. Even with lights on, darkness dominated the setting, and demons mocked my every step. I was shocked each time I made it back upstairs alive.
 
C.M. Jones said:
I hated making the descent to attend to laundry. Even with lights on, darkness dominated the setting, and demons mocked my every step. I was shocked each time I made it back upstairs alive.
Click to expand...
I feel this way about my crawl space. I hate it in there. I went in there 5 years ago and found a squirrel skeleton. Last year I saw a copperhead slither in there. Even thinking about going down there gives me the willies.
 
sort of a good idea, but I would rather put the money that that would probably cost into buying 20 acres of land in the middle of nowhere and building a house with a drum room...it would scratch some of my other itches as well...
 
C.M. Jones said:
I hear you. I understand the purposes and advantages of basements. I'm probably averse to them for the same reason other folks love them. I'm a Native Texan who grew up with slab foundations, and I like the contained simplicity of a single-floor design. On the other hand, a finished basement is a useful resource, so I don't have much to complain about, though my ideal home would be basement free.
Click to expand...
I admit, the first time in my adult life that I can recall walking in a large and new house that had a slab foundation, I was gobsmacked at how solid it felt and how ninja like my normally elephantine footsteps were.
 
Basements and bomb shelters in my realm get flooded very easily due to the “high water table”. But they’re desired to avoid tornadoes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top