Studio/Practice Room in the garden. Anyone done this?

mrkb

We had a green retreats garden room with acoustic pack built last year. Triple glazing, acoustic plasterboard,etc. My decibel meter says it gets to 100db when I’m playing my drums in there, the room attenuates about 35db, and the 10m distance across garden to the nearest house means the sound isn’t to bad - bit like someone has loud music playing in a house down the street. Cost a fair bit, over 4x OPs budget, but worth it to have a long term all year round space to make some noise in.


https://www.greenretreats.co.uk/garden-rooms/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr5HfvtqR4wIVi-F3Ch19HQZcEAAYBCAAEgJTXfD_BwE

blobb

I Built one of these in my garden. A while ago now so may not be the exact same company but worked really well. Easy to assemble but you need a firm level base (we got a local builder to lay down a rough patio slab type affair on top of some type 1). A flat bed arrives with it all in one go though so you have to quick off the mark. All the joists drop down on top of each other and you build it up. Simple as that. Bit of felt lap roof and your done. Double glazed too. Don't expect it to  be soundproof, and it needs a heater in the winter but  did the job. If want electric you need to get a qualified sparky in to terminate the cables back to a junction box in the house.

https://www.waltons.co.uk/44mm-log-cabins

Some pictures here (if the link works)

ToneControl

I have a large wooden log-cabin 44mm-beams  summerhouse with double glazing, cost over £6k to build in total
I already had a solid base (although not level, I had to correct for that). a concrete base can cost £1500-£2000

Freezing in the winter, and too hot in the summer

I only use it on summer evenings, or spring/autumn afternoons, which is fine for me, but probably not for your needs

You probably need the same specs as "garden office", and that it usually £10k - £20k

ToneControl

from TTony's link in another thread:
https://www.extrarooms.co.uk/sound-proofed-rooms/

WiresDreamDisasters

mrkb said:

We had a green retreats garden room with acoustic pack built last year. Triple glazing, acoustic plasterboard,etc. My decibel meter says it gets to 100db when I’m playing my drums in there, the room attenuates about 35db, and the 10m distance across garden to the nearest house means the sound isn’t to bad - bit like someone has loud music playing in a house down the street. Cost a fair bit, over 4x OPs budget, but worth it to have a long term all year round space to make some noise in.


https://www.greenretreats.co.uk/garden-rooms/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr5HfvtqR4wIVi-F3Ch19HQZcEAAYBCAAEgJTXfD_BwE

Those are beautiful looking. 

WiresDreamDisasters

Green Retreats garden office music room review:

Pablocrackers

Yeh i did exactly this, heres my build if you wanna look https://imgur.com/a/IdxBkDe its not fully sound proof too much coin but its bloody good i can turn the amps up loud and have had full bands in there - was a dull background sound by the house nothing bad. I built it myself but you can expect the materials alone to be over £5k easy good luck it will be worth it. 
Everyone deserves a decent man cave!!
Pete

Jalfrezi

Pablocrackers said:

Yeh i did exactly this, heres my build if you wanna look https://imgur.com/a/IdxBkDe its not fully sound proof too much coin but its bloody good i can turn the amps up loud and have had full bands in there - was a dull background sound by the house nothing bad. I built it myself but you can expect the materials alone to be over £5k easy good luck it will be worth it. 
Everyone deserves a decent man cave!!
Pete

That looks great, is the outside T&G, or some kind of pannelling that looks liek T&G?

Pablocrackers

Shiplap & batten cladded on membrane and 18mm osb sheets for the outside shell

lukedlb

Pablocrackers said:

Yeh i did exactly this, heres my build if you wanna look https://imgur.com/a/IdxBkDe its not fully sound proof too much coin but its bloody good i can turn the amps up loud and have had full bands in there - was a dull background sound by the house nothing bad. I built it myself but you can expect the materials alone to be over £5k easy good luck it will be worth it. 
Everyone deserves a decent man cave!!
Pete

Really good work. Is there anything you would do differently? Would a double door make an improvement?

WiresDreamDisasters

Pablocrackers said:

Yeh i did exactly this, heres my build if you wanna look https://imgur.com/a/IdxBkDe its not fully sound proof too much coin but its bloody good i can turn the amps up loud and have had full bands in there - was a dull background sound by the house nothing bad. I built it myself but you can expect the materials alone to be over £5k easy good luck it will be worth it. 
Everyone deserves a decent man cave!!
Pete

Tell me more about having full bands in there. How do you get along with the neighbours, and how much can you hear outside when the doors are closed?

What sort of construction techniques did you follow - it doesn't look like room-within-a-room ?

It looks great btw!

Jalapeno

This is pretty comprehensive home studio story, pretty realistic approach.

WiresDreamDisasters

That's a fucking cool video!

Jalapeno

'Tis !

Musicwolf

Aside from the amount of materials what comes through is the attention to detail that is required in order to attain that level of sound attenuation.  A really great effort by the chap.  I'd feel happier if he wasn't locked in an airtight room with a large Chinese battery bought off the internet.  Having gone to all that expense I hope that there is enough left in his budget for at least a fire extinguisher.

Pablocrackers

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Pablocrackers said:

Yeh i did exactly this, heres my build if you wanna look https://imgur.com/a/IdxBkDe its not fully sound proof too much coin but its bloody good i can turn the amps up loud and have had full bands in there - was a dull background sound by the house nothing bad. I built it myself but you can expect the materials alone to be over £5k easy good luck it will be worth it. 
Everyone deserves a decent man cave!!
Pete

Tell me more about having full bands in there. How do you get along with the neighbours, and how much can you hear outside when the doors are closed?

What sort of construction techniques did you follow - it doesn't look like room-within-a-room ?

It looks great btw!

Ok, i always wanted a proper full blown sound proof studio where i could make as much noise as id like but when you really get into it and break down the costs to do it properly it will cost you a small fortune, be twice as much work and the end product yes will be great but for what it costs you & the effort im not sure its worth it plus the fact that if you want to use it as an office as i do you want it to be nice with plenty of light etc not some dark dead cave in the garden!

The windows for instance its not just the UPVC outer ones with sound proof glazing which is serious cash (could be £700 per pane) you then need an inner wall also with another sliding window of sorts so you can get air. Air is a major factor the ducting and venting needed £££ plus all your plug sockets every one has to be isolated with putty the floor, ceiling, walls all need to be de-coupled from the outer shell, green glue is £££  i decided it wasnt worth it for a reduction of a few DB's, you also lose alot of your floor and head space - very important if you want it to feel like a nice room and not a shed you need a lot of head space from the finish floor height 2.1 - 2.2 is a nice height any lower will feel oppressive! You also need to consider building regs and the height you can finish at outside if your close to neighbours boundaries.

As said above the best thing to reduce sound is density, blocks, bricks etc is best but will cost alot more in time and cash!
So i went with concrete base floor (later membrane sealed, insulated and lam floor) Timber stud work, 18mm OSB outer shell, outer membrane, batten & shiplap, osb ply & rubber roof, 100mm sound insulation rockwool inside every joist walls & ceiling, inner membrane, then 2 sheets thick of sound board plaster board overlapped (i didnt bother with green glue either altho i think it probably would have been worth it but i have a wapping great big window which looses most of the sound anyway), i then plastered everything & finished electrics etc only thing i didnt do was connect it to the mains board. (you need to get this signed off & documented)

You can still hear it by the house when your outside which is 60-70 ft away but its quiet, when inside the house and they have the double glazing doors shut you can barely hear anything especially if the tv's on, which is great and the main thing - i doubt the neighbours ever here it unless all the doors are open and even then its muffled really nothing to upset anyone, so if done right you can achieve a decent reduction in noise without the double room but it will never be 100% even if you go to all the trouble of room in a room youll still have leakage so its where you draw the line really and what the budget stretches too.

I never paid for acoustic glass either mine is bog standard whatever was in it and if you wanna save some huge cash go down to your local UPVC fitters they always have cast offs from jobs unused in there yards they sell cheap i scored that large double glazed window for like £70! and the other window for £30! then you can design your build around them!

if i have a band in i block up all the windows with these sound proof rockwool filled panels and fit them into the windows - helps - i may stretch for the glass one day and putty for sockets but im not sure its worth it its not like its bothering anyone as it is.

Cheers
Pete