jerimma

Hi all!,

Think this is actually my first post here... I've been a reader here for some time, thanks for all the great contributions! I'm going to be working in a new room soon and would love to get some advice on my building plans. I've done some reading online and to your advice off course read Rod Gervais and Everest's book.

I'll try to explain the situation as it is. I've got a couple of questions but for the most I hope you guys are willing to help me with any advice you might have. Thanks in advance! Here it goes:

I will be getting a large room in a creative office building in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). The room is 55m2 and I will mainly use it for electronic music production. Except for the occasional vocal recording it will be mostly that. During office hours I will try not to exceed 90dB so I can hopefully keep making music a little longer . I will be using a subwoofer. The room is located on the first floor of what used to be a dentist school. So I'm hoping for thick floors...

On one side (A) there is a thick exterior wall next to which another building was added later (an annex?). People will be working on the other side but as this building was added later I'm not that worried about that side.

Then there is a glass wall (B), which leads to a corridor with no neighbors across from it. This wall will have to be removed and rebuild.

Wall (C) is my main problem. On the other side there will also be someone working (do not know what kind of work though) and for now its just a brick wall. With holes above the drop ceiling for air conditioning (luckily the pipes aren't used any more and I can probably remove them).

Then there is wall (D), which is mostly windows.

Furthermore I'm on the first floor, with no one above me but there are work spaces below me. As it seems now there will be a karate school right below me.

I was hoping to first just move to the new place, do some work there, see how noisy everything is and what might need to be done. However the owners want me to present a plan for isolation before I move in. As this is my first serious studio and I'm officially also still a student I'm kind of on a budget and I don't think it will be possible to pour an isolated concrete slab as a new floor (as a matter of fact is the floor is the biggest isolation problem I'll probably have to move again). So to begin I've made a plan to install a new, doubble leaf wall where the glass wall is (B) and add insulation and a layer of drywall to wall (C) (again a two leaf system if I'm correct). In order to do this I will have to remove the drop ceiling so I can make the wall go to the ceiling above it.

I'm aware that by not building a completely isolated box there will be flanking issues but am hoping it will still provide me with some descent isolation and a cost effective way to start working there. Should ceiling/windows (wall D) flanking be to big of an issue I'm thinking I can always add an extra wall at (D) and an extra ceiling.

My questions are:
- What do you think of this idea? Am I underestimating the flanking noise? Troubles with downstairs neighbors?
- Would it be smart to decouple the new walls from the floor?

I've added some pictures to clarify the story a bit. (photo 3 shows the space above the drop ceiling. There seems to be a metal ceiling there which I assume goes over wall (C)).

Again, I would greatly appreciate any advice and help!
Kind regards,
Jeroen.

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