Double brick wall or double gypsboard wall

[doubledecker]

This is something that i am not quite clear about.
Everybody is always talking about double wall construction using gypsboard or drywall.
Why not double wall made out of brick?
Its cheaper and easier to build, its easier to fit sliding glass door to it.
I am considering building my inner double wall with brick.
Somebody talk me out of it or help me understand.
Thanks

[avare]

It is good. Most construction here seems to be US related, where drywall is the usual building product. Double brick with insulation in between makes an excellent sound isolation wall.

Andre

[doubledecker]

Thank you Andre.
I am from Europe so i guess there is difference in preferred building materials.
Would i finish brickwall just with regular plaster or mortar and be done with it?
Also how would you fix rockwool between this two walls without having it fall down?
Thank you for your answer

[Disjointed]

wow, i dont know about the EU, but in the states bricks are around .50c each, and drywall (5/8" 4'x8') is around $12 .... the cost for brick walls here is 10 times ++ what drywall would be, and labor would be even more on top of that...

as for affixing the rockwool to it, you could insert wire sticking out of the mortar lines, poke this through the rockwool, and fold it over.. you should only need a few per panel to hold in in place...

gl

[DRC]

And how high is the wall going to be? It will need a foundation of some sort poured if it isn't already. I don't think placing a brick wall on a slab is a good idea in the long run. I wish brick were not so expensive or I would have built a place a long time ago.

[doubledecker]

Bricks are around 50-60 cents and Knauf regular size gypsboard is 3$ or less.
Labor cost to build brick wall would be less than to do drywall.
Thank you for suggestion with rockwool.
About the heigth of the wall.
Its about 3 meters high.
What do you mean by foundation?
I never heard of foundation,apart from mortar, to lay down brick.
Thank you for your answers

[andrebrito]

Double brick wall is better than double gypsum since it has higher mass for air borne sound... but for vibrations is terrible so you always need to use something to rectify that.

there are 2 advantages on gypsum : easier to create rooms with splayed walls and it provides a bit of low-med absorption where brick walls are highly reflective..

Maybe I'm forgetting other details...

[SVC]

I've been gathering some info on both drywal/wood based and brick based wall assemblies as i'm planning to build myself in the near future.

Using only STC values for reference - that's what i found so far, no actual experience when it comes to isolation of a wider frequency spectrum, but i assume that brick has more problems with vibrations (as said above). Personally i'm leaning towards a combination, but here are some STC value examples i came across :

4" external brick/cinder/CMU layer - 1" air gap - 2" rigid insulation (f.i. styrofoam) - interior 8" brick/cinder/CMU layer = STC 65
With a 3.5" air gap and 2.5" fiberglass insulation instead of 1" air/2" rigid = STC 79

2x4" wood plate with batt insulation with 1x 5/8" drywall on each side and an air gap = STC 56-59
adding one layer of drywall on the outside (never on the inside) = STC 58-63

My idea is to use 14 cm (common width of bricks here) outer brick layer, then 2cm air gap, 2.5cm rigid insulation, another 14 cm brick and then either a single or double layer of medium denisty insulation with air gap and one layer of drywall. No idea yet how good/bad this is tho. That's what i'm trying to find out, i'll post here again if i have more info.

As for foundation, i'm no expert on the matter but in general when dealing with brick walls you want at least a minimum of foundation. This could be a simple as extending the brick wall downwards in the earth for 30 cm or even better, dig a trench, slightly wider than the wall of 30-40cm deep whereever your outer walls are and fill with reinforced concrete. But i suggest letting someone who knows what he's doing calculate the strength of the soil and see how much and what kind of foundation is needed. For my project i'm leaving this to a contractor as i don't want to mess with it.

[DRC]

Originally Posted by doubledecker

Bricks are around 50-60 cents and Knauf regular size gypsboard is 3$ or less.
Labor cost to build brick wall would be less than to do drywall.
Thank you for suggestion with rockwool.
About the heigth of the wall.
Its about 3 meters high.
What do you mean by foundation?
I never heard of foundation,apart from mortar, to lay down brick.
Thank you for your answers

Well it depends on where the wall is going but I would guess that a 3 meter high wall is going weigh enough that it would eventually crack a slab floor over time. I would talk to a contractor before doing brick. Digging out the trench and laying the concrete footing will be the less expensive part of the plan.

Good luck.

[doubledecker]

Originally Posted by DRC

Well it depends on where the wall is going but I would guess that a 3 meter high wall is going weigh enough that it would eventually crack a slab floor over time. I would talk to a contractor before doing brick. Digging out the trench and laying the concrete footing will be the less expensive part of the plan.

Good luck.

I dont know what kind of concrete you are using but i can assure you that i could build three times the weight if i wanted to with no problem whatsoever.
I asked and that was the answer i got from construction engineer.
I must say i am surprised with lot of people mentioning that i should check with construction people if i can build brick wall.
99% of houses and buildings here are build with brick and concrete.
We dont use wood or gypsum, well maybe only to finish the brick wall.
Maybe thats the reason why we always watch pictures of houses in America being destroyed by strong winds in disbelief.
It would take like 32 of those tornados to move my house an inch

[avare]

Originally Posted by SVC

Using only STC values for reference - that's what i found so far, no actual experience when it comes to isolation of a wider frequency spectrum

STC is not right for judging music isolation. It ignores low frequencies. Use the TL (Transmission Loss) curves in test reports looking carefully at the low end. Two to start with are NRC IR-586 and IR-761. They are both available on the web here.

Andre

[SVC]

Originally Posted by avare

STC is not right for judging music isolation. It ignores low frequencies. Use the TL (Transmission Loss) curves in test reports looking carefully at the low end. Two to start with are NRC IR-586 and IR-761. They are both available on the web here.

Aye, i was aware that STC is not perfect for judging music isolation, but i used it as a starting point (maybe wrongly so) as it is the only rating i'm somewhat familar with.

I had a quick look at the site you linked and found some very informational documents, thanks for the clarifaction as well. I'm very interested in learning more about the physical/technical sides of studio construction, looks like i'll be absorbing some more numbers and data from this site

[DRC]

Originally Posted by doubledecker

Maybe thats the reason why we always watch pictures of houses in America being destroyed by strong winds in disbelief.
It would take like 32 of those tornados to move my house an inch

Ok. Good luck with that.

[passenger]

Originally Posted by doubledecker

Maybe thats the reason why we always watch pictures of houses in America being destroyed by strong winds in disbelief.
It would take like 32 of those tornados to move my house an inch

the building codes in the US are a little lax due to how warm it typically is in the south. In canada, we build out of wood and drywall, and our homes can withstand all natural disasters, hurricanes, wind, tornadoes, winters, etc.

We have a home in Italy too, and it is 100% concrete..... gets humid as hell, but since we are a ground floor its not so bad. Thats how hey build almost every where in the world except north america and a few northern european countries... all cement all the time!