Jim Ittenbach's Adventures in Soundproofing

Phase VII:

Well the walls are just about complete. They are completely connected. The only thing left to do is to build another doorway to house the interior door. The exterior doorway is complete. I did this so I would have the option of using a two door system. If I decide to go with a single soundproof door I will simply use the exterior doorway as a decorative gatway to the studio. You may notice a gap in the wall just to the left of the I-beam. I ran into some difficuty because I failed to account for a water supply pipe running below the joists. It was not as visible as it was before because of the plastic covering the insulation. I had to take a sawzall to the new wal so i could stand it up. Since it was a 2x6 wall it was quite heavy. The fix is quite easy and really does not effect the wall integrity. I need to fix it so I will have a place to attach the sheetrock. The really good news is that I did not harm the water uplly pipe because I realized the issue in time. The price of a soundproof door will likely make me decide to use two external steel doors with soundproofing likts to handle the jambs and thresholds. The other advantage is that the external doorway provides an added level of strength for the doors. I was voncerneed about the structual capability of a 2x4 decoupled wall to support a heavy door so a switched to 2x6 for the wall that will house the door(s). The doorways themselves are still 2x4 and are integrated into the 2x6 wall. The external doorway is a 2x6 wall that sits outside the main 2x6 wall and has a 2x4 doorway built into it as well.

Here is a view of the main part of the room from the doorway. You can see the slots for the beams that will surround the I-bam and all my plumbing for upstairs. I am going to use the same strategy of 2 layers of 3/4 inch plywood with quiet glue in between, so I will always be able to access my plumbing if I need to.

Here is a view of what will be my mixing area. This view is from the doorway.

Next phase begins the sheet rock. I found a good deal on acoustical caulk that was a week after its experation date. At less than half price I picked up four cases. I am using quiet glue instead of green glue and the first two cases are on their way.