Opinions wanted on studio walls finished with fabric covering insulation

[PRuthenburg]

So heres the deal.We put a new family room on the house which
gives me another room downstairs I can use for the studio.

The room is concrete floor and walls with an opening to the rest
of the basement.It measures 17' x 19' I believe with low ceilings
at just under 7' which I know is not great.

I planned on drywalling the ceiling,but leaving the floor concrete
so I wouldn't lose any more heigth than neccesary.

I've been at some studios where the walls were just fabric
covering insulation;no drywall or hard surfaces.Obviously this
would be cheaper and easier than finishing with drywall on the
ceiling and walls.I also wondered if having hard surfaces on walls,
floor and ceiling in this room would be problematic.

Any opinions on the insulation/fabric walls?Obviously we're not
dealing with a great room here,just want it useable when I've got
larger groups in.Maybe amps,horns,vox possibly my Yamaha C7 when needed.

Thanks,
Pete Ruthenburg
more iso is needed

[PRuthenburg]

I plan to check out John Sayers site too,just wanted some
opinions here also.

Pete

[Waylon]

you def do not want to have a untreated hard ceiling paraell to a hard floor.... I would go for some strategic 2 x 4 sectins of 1" OwensCorning 703 wrapped with fabric on the ceiling... similar treatment on the wals, with some of the DIY bass traps, you could have a nice space.. def check out Sayers joint, lots of great info there.

[Dave Martin]

You're mistaken if you think that fabric covered insulation is cheaper than drywall - the stuff in my room is $20 a yard for the fabric (Guilford of Maine, bought through Silent Source), though the mineral wool 9and Corning 703) behind the fabric is relatively cheap (though more expensive than regular building supply insulation. And then there's the joy of putting it up...

[PRuthenburg]

Hey Dave,I guess your right about the cost issue.I hadn't really
priced it out yet.So the blue on the walls in your studio is the
fabric covering 703 panels?Would you say you have more of that
finish on the walls than just wood?

The reason I ask is the walls in the rest of my studio are cedar.
I've been wondering if I should do something with these walls too.

Thanks for the info,
Pete

[burst]

I have the area behind and to the side of our speakers being covered by 703, with an aesthetic layer of Guilford fabric over the insulation. This also makes it easy to cover the seams between fabric pieces by using wood trim boards over the staples holding the fabric in place.

One note if you decide to go this route - just to save you the pain of a lesson learned by others (me) :

I decided that putting studs in at 24" o.c. was the way to go.

I installed all the studs, everything looked great.

I went to install the 703, which I had purchased in 4 foot sheets, 2 feet wide (don't forget to get the unfaced kind, not the kind with backing on one side).

Ummmm... and I realize this may be obvious to many of you.... but 24" o.c. (on center) means I still had to cut each of the sheets of insulation by 1.5"!!!

So - if you install the studs with 24" between them, you'll have a much easier time pressing the 2' width 703 into the gaps (the friction of the insulation sides against the wood means you shouldn't need adhesive behind the 703).

There may be other reasons for leaving the studs at 24" o.c., but for the purposes of building a home work space I thought this info seemed practical.

Hope it helps. Hope your room turns out great.

[Riad]

Originally posted by burst
I have the area behind and to the side of our speakers being covered by 703, with an aesthetic layer of Guilford fabric over the insulation. This also makes it easy to cover the seams between fabric pieces by using wood trim boards over the staples holding the fabric in place.

One note if you decide to go this route - just to save you the pain of a lesson learned by others (me) :

I decided that putting studs in at 24" o.c. was the way to go.

I installed all the studs, everything looked great.

I went to install the 703, which I had purchased in 4 foot sheets, 2 feet wide (don't forget to get the unfaced kind, not the kind with backing on one side).

Ummmm... and I realize this may be obvious to many of you.... but 24" o.c. (on center) means I still had to cut each of the sheets of insulation by 1.5"!!!

So - if you install the studs with 24" between them, you'll have a much easier time pressing the 2' width 703 into the gaps (the friction of the insulation sides against the wood means you shouldn't need adhesive behind the 703).

There may be other reasons for leaving the studs at 24" o.c., but for the purposes of building a home work space I thought this info seemed practical.

Hope it helps. Hope your room turns out great.

When I built my studio I had the same problem. The issue is when you are putting sheetrock over the studs... the sheetrock is 4' x 8' so you can't nail the sheetrock to the studs correctly. In this case I ran the studs OC and just bent the Roxul in between. When I was building the outside frame to be covered in fabric I ran the studs with 2' of space so the Roxul fit perfectly.

Construction Pics

[Dave Martin]

Originally posted by PRuthenburg
Hey Dave,I guess your right about the cost issue.I hadn't really
priced it out yet.So the blue on the walls in your studio is the
fabric covering 703 panels?Would you say you have more of that
finish on the walls than just wood?

The reason I ask is the walls in the rest of my studio are cedar.
I've been wondering if I should do something with these walls too.

Thanks for the info,
Pete

Yeah, all the blue in my studio is material over either 703 or Mineral (rock) wool. I haven't tried to calculate the wood/cloth ratio - I just did it until it sounded right... But on consideration, I'd guess that depending on the room (each Iso is built a little differently), absorption is between 40 and 60 percent, and the rest is reflective (or more accurately, deflective).

And for those who noticed, 703 IS 2x4, so 24 inch centers won't work. you really have two options - building frames out from the sheet rock with 24" speces, or cutting the 703 to fit. I've found that a bread knive with a serrated edge works as well as anything else for that task.

[farside]

Originally posted by Riad
When I built my studio I had the same problem. The issue is when you are putting sheetrock over the studs... the sheetrock is 4' x 8' so you can't nail the sheetrock to the studs correctly. In this case I ran the studs OC and just bent the Roxul in between. When I was building the outside frame to be covered in fabric I ran the studs with 2' of space so the Roxul fit perfectly.

Construction Pics

I like how how your studio looks, thats about what I'm hoping to do (smaller project studio) ....what were your construction costs? ...did you do everything yourself?

[Riad]

Originally posted by farside
I like how how your studio looks, thats about what I'm hoping to do (smaller project studio) ....what were your construction costs? ...did you do everything yourself?

Thank you!

I did most myself. The A/C unit was professionally installed, as was the electric and plumbing.

All the framing, insulation, fabric, doors was all me. Without recording equipment the construction cost were around $30,000.

If there is something in particular you are interested about just let me know.

Rob