Thank you Tom. I will shoot you an email later, as my knowledge of construction is very limited at best... I do think the builder we have chosen is using the "I beam" joists under the floor, but I will have to confirm that. Thanks again for all the input.
Help / Comments - New Construction - Sort of...
Thanks for taking the time to read this if you are... It is a bit bittersweet for me, but the wife and I have put an offer in on a new home and it has been accepted. It is a bit sad after years of hard work into our current home, however situations with her business really dictate we move and build custom.
Now with the sweet of the bittersweet... The "better half" has also allowed me to use the "bonus room" as my dedicated listening room. It measures roughly 15'8" x 21'9" with a ceiling height of 9'. I have made some "minor" requests to the builder at this time. There is to be a "coffered ceiling" which consists of 6" wide by 8" deep beams... square pattern to consist of nine roughly 5'x7' rectangles. I am hoping this will help with diffusion. I have also requested the entire room be hung with double layers of sheetrock. The room is located on the second floor. Also to have 5 dedicated 20 amp lines ran to the room. On the short wall (behind my listening position) is the "chute" for the chimney from the greatroom below. This is approx 18" deep by 3 feet wide. I have made arrangements for cabinets (waist high) and bookshelves to the ceiling (for vinyl) to flank either side of the chimney chute. Only other option at this point was a solid door as well. I am planning on providing the cryo'd romex and duplex' and plan to have the breakers all on the same leg at the top of the box...
All else is yet to be determined. I have a wife that does not want *any* type of "tacky" sonic correction stuff anywhere... the best I have gotten so far is my Eighth Nerve room pack up...
So any suggestions, must do's... let me know. I am not certain I want double drywall, but was told that the stiffer the wall, the better the bass, and livlier the room, as well as help to isolate the sound.
At this point, we just signed the contract this evening, thus all *could be* changed... however budget is about zip, zero, zilch, nada, you get the idea... thus I worked the above into the room with the builder at this point. However, they estimate it will be 6 to 7 months until closing so if there ARE any "MUST DO" suggestions (afraid there will be many...) I do have time to react.
All help is greatly appreciated. My system link has all my gear, minus my TT that is on the way... Nottingham Spacedeck with Ace Space Arm, ZYX Airy3-S-SB with the Whest phono stage...
Now with the sweet of the bittersweet... The "better half" has also allowed me to use the "bonus room" as my dedicated listening room. It measures roughly 15'8" x 21'9" with a ceiling height of 9'. I have made some "minor" requests to the builder at this time. There is to be a "coffered ceiling" which consists of 6" wide by 8" deep beams... square pattern to consist of nine roughly 5'x7' rectangles. I am hoping this will help with diffusion. I have also requested the entire room be hung with double layers of sheetrock. The room is located on the second floor. Also to have 5 dedicated 20 amp lines ran to the room. On the short wall (behind my listening position) is the "chute" for the chimney from the greatroom below. This is approx 18" deep by 3 feet wide. I have made arrangements for cabinets (waist high) and bookshelves to the ceiling (for vinyl) to flank either side of the chimney chute. Only other option at this point was a solid door as well. I am planning on providing the cryo'd romex and duplex' and plan to have the breakers all on the same leg at the top of the box...
All else is yet to be determined. I have a wife that does not want *any* type of "tacky" sonic correction stuff anywhere... the best I have gotten so far is my Eighth Nerve room pack up...
So any suggestions, must do's... let me know. I am not certain I want double drywall, but was told that the stiffer the wall, the better the bass, and livlier the room, as well as help to isolate the sound.
At this point, we just signed the contract this evening, thus all *could be* changed... however budget is about zip, zero, zilch, nada, you get the idea... thus I worked the above into the room with the builder at this point. However, they estimate it will be 6 to 7 months until closing so if there ARE any "MUST DO" suggestions (afraid there will be many...) I do have time to react.
All help is greatly appreciated. My system link has all my gear, minus my TT that is on the way... Nottingham Spacedeck with Ace Space Arm, ZYX Airy3-S-SB with the Whest phono stage...
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- 30 posts total
Ok, I stopped by the subdivision this evening. Our house hasn't begun construction yet, however another with almost exact floorplan is near completion of the framing stage. I think the builder is using what I think I have heard termed as "engineered lumber" ... all of the boards seem to be precut to certain specifications for this "Earth Craft" home... The joists holding up the flooring on the second story bonus room appear to be a 10" long piece of plywood sandwiched with what appears to almost be the size of 2x4's on either end by about 16 feet long (the width of the room)... side view they appear to look just like " I ". The total height/depth of the " I " joists was about 14" tall by the width of the room. The spacing seemed quite wide to me, about 18" or so... I wasn't able to get an extremely accurate measurement. The flooring was 1/2 or 5/8" plywood nailed in. I will most likely go back through when mine is being built and at least screw the floorboards in as well... Any suggestions on what I saw? - Thanks again. |
Audiofanki, they are called engineered I joists. The ones with the 2X4 on the top and bottom are the best. 18" centers, I would think more like 16" centers, hopefully not 19.2" centers. With these I joists the builder usually does not install any bridging supports between them. I would find out how much he would charge you to install solid bridging at least down the center span of the I joists. Sub floor 1/2" or 5/8"? Are you installing a hard wood flooring over this? another 3/4"? If not and it is carpet usually the subfloor is 5/8" min and even 3/4". An above post suggested a min of 1" to 1 1/4 thickness, that is a good idea but you need to get on the ball and talk to the builder. You may have a floor thickness issue of the area just on the other side of the room entry door to contend with. As for your wall construction you may want to check out this site. http://www.asc-soundproof.com/iso-diagrams.htm Jim |
Tom - Thanks for the email & advice! Jim - It has been a monsoon here lately, I will most likely try to get up to the subdivision and get a better measurement on the I joists. From what I have seen so far, you are correct. There is no bracing between the I joists, and they seem to be spaced fairly wide at about 20" between the I joists. Is there a rule of thumb to follow or look up? Yeah the sub floor was either 1/2" or 5/8" - I will try to nail that down tomorrow as well. I will not be going with hardwood in that room, as the wife and I plan on turning it into a family room/children play area in 5 or 6 years, thus she wanted it carpeted. At that point I will move the system to the basement which will be a 16' x 24' room. But that may happen further down the road as well, thus I would like to make sure the floor has minimal bounce. Do either of you feel that putting solid bridging supports down the center span will reinforce the floor enough? Or would you try to add a few more I joists and minimize the spacing between the I joists a few inches? If either of those are done and I am going with carpet, should I ask for another 1/2" layer on top of the initial 1/2" or 5/8"? Or does 1" thick exist and just request that? As for the noise "isolation" I have a fairly accepting wife. She really isn't worried about me "containing" the sound much at all. Since the back wall (behind the speakers) of the listening room will back up to our beds headboard in our master bedroom I will be installing the "wide green insulation tape" ( found here : http://www.soundproofing.org/infopages/Tape.htm ) on the both sides of the studs on that wall. The isolation tape basically seems like a gasket material that will provide for some isolation to reduce the vibration and sound transmission from the drywall to the studs and through to the other sides drywall. Also, do either of you feel the request for a second layer of drywall will be advantageous? I was thinking more rigidity of the walls would be helpful. If it really isn't helpful to double up the drywall, I will most likely transfer the funds allocated for the additional drywall to the flooring or joists. FYI- I do have some time to work on this for a few weeks, as our contract just went in last week, they are working on the permits now and should be breaking ground in a few weeks... so by the time the basement is poured and the framing begins, I anticipate it to be at least 6 weeks or so away. Thanks again for all the help. |
- 30 posts total