Garage Conversion to Dedicated Music Room

[tyrion]

I'm considering converting my garage to a music/home theater. I am considering doing it with my brother in law. He is a pretty handy and with a good set of plans, should be able to do this with my limited assistance. I've been searching for plans online but I haven't been able to find actual plans and/or materials needed. I realize this will vary depending on size, etc. This brings me to my question. Is there anyone here that would be able to do a design for me? I would be willing to pay for the assistance.

The garage is 20' x 18'. I am figuring the room would be 15' x 12' (could be a bit bigger or smaller). I want to leave some room for storage. Electrical work, flooring and A/C will be handled by professionals.

[Old Pa]

I am considering doing it with my brother in law.

That's not a separate thought, right?

Anyway, congratulations. Concrete floor should supply a good surface to spike mount to and isolate speakers and components. You may want to dig out copies of F. Alton Everest's "Master Handbook of Acoustics" and Robert Harley's "The Complete Guide to High-End Audio" for their sections on acoustic treatments for rooms. For example, by using Sonex acoustic panels on the wall behind my B&W Nautilus 800s, I was able to avoid having them another foot or two out into the room. Reduced slap-echo, too. Planning is important, but have fun.

[tyrion]

Definitely not a separate thought, not that there is anything wrong with that.

I will definitely do the research in terms of soundproofing and acoustic treatment. Thanks for the suggested reading.

[n_maher]

The first thing that I would suggest is framing a wood floor over the concrete. While the concrete is certainly a solid base to anchor to it is also more than likely pitched to provide drainage which could be annoying for setting TT's up and so on. Most are pitched anywhere from 1/8 to 1/4" per foot, if you have a level garage floor punch your contractor the next time you see him. Also, most garages are 6 to 8" below the main house floor so this would allow you to bring it up level with the rest of the house. The false floor also would provide a nice chase space for wiring, plumbing, etc. so that you don't have to get into walls or run stuff over floors. This is the time to do things right so plan ahead and save future headaches. I'd also think about framing double walls around the perimeter of the room (staggered studs or otherwise) to provide isolation from the main house and limit sound transmission. I can provide more details if you're curious.

Those are my first couple thoughts, I'll post more if the appropriate synapses fire.

[aerius]

The garage is 20' x 18'. I am figuring the room would be 15' x 12' (could be a bit bigger or smaller). I want to leave some room for storage. Electrical work, flooring and A/C will be handled by professionals.

Since the room's going to be a fair size smaller than the garage, you can frame it with non-parallel walls on the sides to reduce echo bounce. You might even be able to go all the way and use a sloped ceiling so your room is basically a mini concert hall.

[tyrion]

The floor seems to be pretty close to level using a 3' level. I am sure there is a slight slope. It is about 8' below the main floor. I don't mind it remaining below the rest of the house. I am more concerned with making the floor level, although if it's a slight slope I might leave it as is. I was thinking the wiring would go over the top of the room since I would not use the garage ceiling for the room. I want to leave room for the garage door to go up. I just measured and the lowest point with the garage door up is 7', with the garage door down it's about 8'. Assuming a minimum of 3 or 4" of clearance, that leaves conservatively 6'8" for the ceiling. I don't know if that will be enough. I leave the garage door locked down, remove the door opener, I have 8'7" and can use the garage ceiling. There is a power outlet in the middle of the ceiling that I may be able to use. This would make the job easier and I can keep my access to the attic which is in the garage for that side of the house.

Since the room's going to be a fair size smaller than the garage, you can frame it with non-parallel walls on the sides to reduce echo bounce. You might even be able to go all the way and use a sloped ceiling so your room is basically a mini concert hall.

Interesting idea but I will probably use the room for a home theater so I would want to have the as much room as possible for seating. I also want to keep it as simple as possible. I've seen some rooms done in the manner you have suggested and the must sound great but considering my listening area at the moment, I'm willing to sacrifice some room acoustics for added space.

Edited December 28, 2008 by tyrion

[Old Pa]

Definitely not a separate thought, not that there is anything wrong with that.

Whatever; to each his own. I believe it was Woody Allen who suggested it roughly doubled your chances for a date any given Saturday night, and he would know. Just clear it with him and the wife before the first big "double feature".

Now, is this going to be the first drive-in home theater on your block? Are you going with the standard southern drive-in motif or branching out?

I had to buy both of those books since I could not get them from my library. If you could borrow them, that might be better as I have found little use for mine since I finished the project.

[tyrion]

Whatever; to each his own. I believe it was Woody Allen who suggested it roughly doubled your chances for a date any given Saturday night, and he would know. Just clear it with him and the wife before the first big "double feature".

Now, is this going to be the first drive-in home theater on your block? Are you going with the standard southern drive-in motif or branching out?

I had to buy both of those books since I could not get them from my library. If you could borrow them, that might be better as I have found little use for mine since I finished the project.

I'll send you my address to ship the books when I'm ready.

[n_maher]

Mike,

I'd definitely remove the garage door, opener and the rails and either replace it with doors that swing out or slide (barn door style) or just infill the opening completely. And while wiring over the top might work for some stuff I'm thinking of how slick it would be to have recessed panels in the floor that had the connections for power or rear channel surrounds and the like. I mean if you're going to go HT along with the 2-ch you don't want wires running amok in your new room.

[tyrion]

Mike,

I'd definitely remove the garage door, opener and the rails and either replace it with doors that swing out or slide (barn door style) or just infill the opening completely. And while wiring over the top might work for some stuff I'm thinking of how slick it would be to have recessed panels in the floor that had the connections for power or rear channel surrounds and the like. I mean if you're going to go HT along with the 2-ch you don't want wires running amok in your new room.

I can easily remove the hardware for the opener but the door has to stay. I would never get permission to change the door from my HOA. I would have to build a soffit to cover the rail on the one side as I plan to use one wall (the one that is a common wall with my living room. The soffit comes down 18" from the ceiling and probably a foot off the wall.

The recessed panels would be cool but if I had to choose, I would go with the easier build (use the floor and wire from attic down side of walls into the walls near the floor level).

Come on Nate, you know you want to design it for me. . You are way more than qualified and I'm sure would give me a bit of a discount off your normal hourly rate. Of course, I would include a round trip ticket for you for the unveiling.

[Old Pa]

I'll send you my address to ship the books when I'm ready.

And I will forward that address to the guy I gave the books to a couple of years ago.

Why does this thread have me hearing SCOTS' "Dirt Track Date" playing in the back of my head?

[tyrion]

And I will forward that address to the guy I gave the books to a couple of years ago.

Foiled again. . I just hope I have some money left over to buy them after I pay Mr. Maher for his professional services.

[Dusty Chalk]

Acoustic Treatment and Design for Recording Studios and Listening Rooms

He had some preplanned rooms somewhere on his site or on his forum that follow Aerius' suggestion -- you'd be surprised by how little room you lose -- but I can't find them right now. It's not a continuous taper, you can taper in sort of a terraced approach, ends up having a sawtooth look to it. I mean, you're going to lose a little bit of space anyway, since garage walls are thinner than house walls -- you're going to have to build them out into the room anyway. Unless you completely demolish the room and start over, which shouldn't be necessary.

Also -- as much as he seems to know about room acoustics, he doesn't seem to know (or care to know) anything about soundproofing, so don't go to him for advice in that area. He specializes in minimizing reflections, mostly bass reflections.

Another suggestion: humidity control. And I don't mean just get a dehumidifier -- there's a way to design a room to let it "breathe", so you don't have airflow nulls where humidity will accumulate -- make sure that whomever you hire knows this already.

Edited December 28, 2008 by Dusty Chalk

[Hopstretch]

I would also suggest having a good read around the "Dedicated Theater Design & Construction" area over at AVS Forum -- where there are many, many chronicles of garage-to-HT conversion projects that should help you ID and avoid some of the more common pitfalls of the design phase.

[morphsci]

I cannot agree with Nate more about building a raised floor. In addition to the advantages Nate lists, it will be important to add a vapor barrier since the floor is concrete. Our "home theater" is our family room. Having the crawl space beneath is handy (as is the attic space), but everytime I'm under there I wish I had more easily accessible runs under the floor. Whether you decide to go with a raised floor, a good vapor barrier is essential. You may also want to build a riser for the front area, that can be filled with sand for speaker isolation. Lastly, start thinking abou how you are going to store the electronics. I use a small closet at the back of the room that is fitted with a mid-atlantic equipment rack. Last thing, depending upon location relative to other rooms and how noisy it is outside, think about soundproofing. There is higher soundproofing gypsum board as well as things like Quiet Barrier, Ultra Barrier and the Iso-Trax system. There is some good general advice HERE, especially the ones from the Corey Greenburg hosted segments (DHTW) on building your own home theater. If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me, as the home theater is a work in progress and I have lots of mistakes under my belt to share.

[crappyjones123]

feel free to call me if any manual labor is required. i work weekends and am cheap . sounds exciting mike, looking forward to see how this plays out. good luck.

[tyrion]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will start doing some research. As to building up the floor, I think I am going to leave it as is. I need to keep the project as simple as I can. The house is built on slab so all the floors in the house are over the slab. In terms of vapor barrier, that would be used when the floor covering is installed. The room will be set up as a two channel music room initially so the amp/preamp will be set up between the speakers. I hope to have the sources closer to my sitting position on the side of the room.