Ethan and Glenn

[deadroom]

Hey guys,

You all are both extremely knowledgeable and helpful. That's why I always ask for you guys!

Someone mentioned in a post earlier today about having a 7.5ft cieling and wanting to kill it...
As you guys may know by now im nearing the final stages of my garage to live room conversion.

The sheetrock cieling in my garage stops at about 8ft up, however when I was in my attic I noticed that the the area above is MUCH taller.

It comes to a peak in the middle about 6 ft OVER the sheet rock cieling. If I remove the sheetrock cieling I would have a room about 14 feet tall *in the middle* with a bunch of wooden beams over my head.

Im sure someone has done this before. What are the pros and cons of doing this, if any?

And, if I did do this, how would I need to treat the cieling above me?

Im sorry If my description is not clear or nonsensical...in my mind it makes sense haha.

Heres a link to the floor plan of my house so there is some visual to the shape of my garage cieling:
Adams (P40-1201)

Thanks!

[Glenn Kuras]

You can go 2 ways. The easiest is to just treat the ceiling you have but if you remove the ceiling it will make the over all room bigger which is a good thing. You would though want to treat the peak with bass traps, by straddling the peak with panels.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by deadroom

If I remove the sheetrock cieling I would have a room about 14 feet tall *in the middle* with a bunch of wooden beams over my head.

That would be great!

As Glenn said, you'll want absorption under the peak. I have a similar ceiling (but finished, no beams) in my home studio. Photo below for ideas.

--Ethan

[Brainchild]

That's awesome. I am in almost the exact same situation dimensionwise in my current home studio. Right now the tentative plan is to knock out the ceiling, span fabric across the underside of the beams, and lay a couple of feet of pink fiberglass above and between the beams all across the false ceiling. I am going to be shopping for relatively stretch-free (and strong) fabric in the new year. If anyone has any suggestions, they will be appreciated.

[Glenn Kuras]

If the beams are 1' or more I would just stuff the beams and put fabric over that. No need to put anything else below it.

[deadroom]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

If the beams are 1' or more I would just stuff the beams and put fabric over that. No need to put anything else below it.

Would the difference in sound be justified by all the work it would take to remove my cieling?

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by deadroom

Would the difference in sound be justified by all the work it would take to remove my cieling?

That really is up to you. I don't want you cussing me out after the fact. Would I do it? Yes, but then again I would just pay someone to do it!
Honestly though if you covered the ceiling with absorption you would be pretty darn happy also.

[deadroom]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

That really is up to you. I don't want you cussing me out after the fact. Would I do it? Yes, but then again I would just pay someone to do it!
Honestly though if you covered the ceiling with absorption you would be pretty darn happy also.

Haha. I think *per my budget* i will stick with my existing cieling for the time being.

I've been speaking with Bryan over the phone about a few different GIK panels for the garage once i've finished the last wall.

My room is 20 x 19 x 8 and hes made some suggestions *again, per my budget* about some panels, the 242 and the 244 in particular.

I think he said with my budget I could afford 3 sets of 244 and a set of 242, and that id benefit from that pretty well.

He mentioned that i should hang 2 242's over where my drums will be recorded to control the slap and then straddle the corners with the rest.

I did have a ton of auralex purple 2x4 sheets he said I could make some use of as well on the walls up top to kill the unnecessary high end.


I want the room to be as good as possible and im currently experimenting w/ some 2x4 sheets of OC703 and mineral wool to see if I can save myself some cash.

Ideally I want this live room to serve multiple purposes in recording drums, guitars and vocals, so i don't want it to be TOO dead.

Other than in the corners and 2 hanging over the drums, where else should I hang these guys if I had money for more or made some myself?

[bpape]

Well, if you removed the drywall and had the peaked ceiling, that would mitigate the need for the cloud over the kit and those 242's could be used under the peak.

Bryan

[jproc]

!!! One word of caution:

The ceiling to your garage will probably have rafters running perpedicular to the length of the a-frame peak.
When you remove the drywall "ceiling" between the garage and the attic above it, _DO NOT_ remove the rafters as well... they are doing more than just holding up the ceiling.... they are actually preventing the displaced weight of the a-frame roof from pushing the side walls apart.......

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by jproc

!!! One word of caution:

The ceiling to your garage will probably have rafters running perpedicular to the length of the a-frame peak.
When you remove the drywall "ceiling" between the garage and the attic above it, _DO NOT_ remove the rafters as well... they are doing more than just holding up the ceiling.... they are actually preventing the displaced weight of the a-frame roof from pushing the side walls apart.......

[PaulP]

I believe that if the garage attic is open to the attic over the house (which
it looks like from the pictures) then you're required to have 5/8" gypsum
board on the ceiling of the garage to slow down the spread of a fire burning
in the garage.

An example, from the NY code :

309.2.2 Horizontal separations. Where horizontal construction is used to
separate the garage from the living space or its attic, such construction
shall be protected with one layer of 5/8-inch thick, type X, gypsum board,
installed in accordance with the requirements of §RR805.1.

If the attics do indeed communicate you might be able to put up a wall in
the attic between the parts over the house and the garage. I'd check with
someone in the field.

Paul P