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Thread: Garage Conversion

  1. #1
    Join Date: Mar 2008

    Location: South Yorkshire

    Posts: 418
    I'm Glen.

    Default Garage Conversion

    As per the title, I have an opportunity to build a room within a room in my brick built garage. As I said the walls are single brick sat on a concrete pad. I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible, so it'll be a floating floor and then 3x2 stud wall with rock wool insulation throughout. I'm getting a joiner to do the stud work for me.
    So there are two points really, first does anyone have any useful tips before I start? And secondly and probably more importantly, what size should I make it? Two of the dimensions are fixed. The width will be 9ft, maybe a couple of inches more. The height will be about 7ft, possible reducing toward the back of the garage. So what length should I make it? I can go to about 16ft. Should I make it as long as I can, or does the golden ratio come into effect? I have no clue about these things, so any input would be most welcome. I use Harbeth P3ESR's at the moment.

    Thanks for any input...
    Last edited by walpurgis; 20-07-2019 at 21:17.

  2. #2
    Join Date: Nov 2015

    Location: Anlaby, Yorkshire, UK

    Posts: 44
    I'm Scott.

    Default

    Golden ratio (or any other acoustic ratio for that matter) certainly doesn't hurt. Generally, being of the caveman persuasion I'd suggest 'as large as practical' and if it's golden or another acoustic ratio then so much the better (although if you can avoid a direct multiple, well & good). Thing is, the dimensions of the room are only one factor and usually aren't the dominant one since construction materials are quite likely to have a larger effect and there are always things you can do to disperse or damp things out as required. Like speaker cabinets, it's generally better to have them over-sized. If you've got too much of something, there are things you can do to get rid of what you don't need. It's generally harder to increase what doesn't exist in the first place.

    A floating floor isn't the beau ideal, ditto for stud-walls, but then, most houses are built like that, so you've plenty of company. I suspect it'll leach out some bass energy though. If possible, you might want to look at a couple of concrete plinths coming up through the floating floor to put the speakers on. Granted that does tie you to specific positions; you could use George Cardas's guidelines http://www.cardas.com/room_setup_main.php which may help provide a general guide. Not a panacea, but they should serve as a starting point. That's my quick & dirty take anyway. Of course, it's all very easy for us to make suggestions since it's not our money. Hence the reason I suggest doing what you can to hedge your bets rather than necessarily following any fixed / proscriptive formula.

  3. #3
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

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    Some of the soundproofing plasterboard might help a bit with the bass leaching.. just hope your strong coz they weigh a ton lol
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
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    “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    "You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”

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  4. #4
    Join Date: Mar 2008

    Location: South Yorkshire

    Posts: 418
    I'm Glen.

    Default

    Thank you Scott, that looks like a good place to start at least. Thanks for taking the time to reply...

    Cheers buddy

  5. #5
    Join Date: Mar 2008

    Location: South Yorkshire

    Posts: 418
    I'm Glen.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by struth View Post
    Some of the soundproofing plasterboard might help a bit with the bass leaching.. just hope your strong coz they weigh a ton lol
    That's a good point too, thank you

  6. #6
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Surrey

    Posts: 7,103
    I'm Rob.

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    I did what you are intending to do about 7 years ago. I have a large double garage and built a room in half of it. As it was single skin I (yes I did all the work) put Synthaprufe on the external walls (lovely job!) then battened it all. A carpenter friend sourced all the materials for me which included fibreglass insulation that he said was not only for heat insulation, but had acoustic deadening properties as well, Cellotex sheets and acoustic grade plasterboard (a 1200x2400 sheet weighed about 80lbs) Two of us tried to put the plasterboard sheets up for the ceiling.......even with supports we failed and ended up with one "holed" board. it took three of us to do the ceiling.

    My room is about 9.5ft x 19ft. Not an ideal shape but it is as it is. I get an LF boom prob around 200Hz, but with clever tuning it is not too much of a problem. What it does give me is :-

    A virtually sound-proofed room
    Somewhere I can listen with no hassle
    It is a shit-hole most of the time

    Mine is a concrete floor. I painted it, and put 2 layers of underfelt and an old carpet that we just renewed in our bedroom and it is very good.
    Buy Bose...And get your parking validated!.

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  7. #7
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: http://www.homehifi.co.uk

    Posts: 6,288

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Puffin View Post
    It is a shit-hole most of the time
    One man's shit hole is another man's paradise .

  8. #8
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Puffin View Post
    I did what you are intending to do about 7 years ago. I have a large double garage and built a room in half of it. As it was single skin I (yes I did all the work) put Synthaprufe on the external walls (lovely job!) then battened it all. A carpenter friend sourced all the materials for me which included fibreglass insulation that he said was not only for heat insulation, but had acoustic deadening properties as well, Cellotex sheets and acoustic grade plasterboard (a 1200x2400 sheet weighed about 80lbs) Two of us tried to put the plasterboard sheets up for the ceiling.......even with supports we failed and ended up with one "holed" board. it took three of us to do the ceiling.

    My room is about 9.5ft x 19ft. Not an ideal shape but it is as it is. I get an LF boom prob around 200Hz, but with clever tuning it is not too much of a problem. What it does give me is :-

    A virtually sound-proofed room
    Somewhere I can listen with no hassle
    It is a shit-hole most of the time

    Mine is a concrete floor. I painted it, and put 2 layers of underfelt and an old carpet that we just renewed in our bedroom and it is very good.
    Aye my son in law sometimes uses it.. says its heavy, even for him, and he is a big lad.. as you say a 2 man job just getting it in position sometimes.
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
    .... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
    FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -

    Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?

    “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    "You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”

    “There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”


    ***SMILE, BE HAPPY***

  9. #9
    Join Date: Jul 2011

    Location: lancashire

    Posts: 802
    I'm brian.

    Default

    Interesting thread.

    Ive been thinking about trying to do something similar.

    With no prior knowledge or experience, I thought of building a breeze block room, straight off the concrete floor.

    I would want it as sound proof as possible but my worries were noise escaping through the roof of this new room and through the door into it.

    Any thoughts on how to overcome the noise "bleed" problem.

  10. #10
    Join Date: Sep 2012

    Location: East Anglia UK

    Posts: 1,219
    I'm Marc.

    Default

    What are your priorities? Sound proof or 'nice' sounding? (you can (sort of) do both but it's exceptionally costly and difficult for a space that size).

    There are a whole bunch of calculators online for working out what the problems are going to be based on the dimensions you have, I'm afraid you're unlikely to have sufficient adjustable space to make a significant difference to the modes/nodes that will occur with those dimensions - you need something at least as long as the lowest frequency, a 20Hz wave is something like 13m long.

    Anyway try searching for room mode calculators, theres one here: http://amroc.andymel.eu/

    Also worth looking at the john sayers studio forum, lots of thoughts, plans and discussion around the various issues of soundproofing and acoustic treatment. http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

    I converted my garage in to my studio room, I set in a very large gap between the exterior and interior walls - enough to put celotex in for thermal regs and a bunch of super dense rockwool for the acoustics. My initial gut reaction tip on what you've said so far is don't float the floor (unless you have a very clever plan to isolate it from the walls.

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