Just finished the framing on a 12x19x7’ room, those are the inside dimensions once two layers of drywall are added.
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Nice. I guess you can improve on your listening chair?! 
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Update:
I’ve insulated the walls with 3.5" mineral wool insulation, then hung two layers of 5/8" drywall. The ceiling is a layer 5/8", then RC1 channel for isolation, then another layer of 5/8".
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Use headphones.
No room, no problem.
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Very nice indeed. I have my room built and is open like yours. Have not started to insulate yet. This is my main project for this year.
What is the RC1 channel for isolation you are referring to?
Thanks,
–MD
There’s a great guide here
In the USA everything seems to be made of sticks. My music room walls are brick, so I used a range of materials and it cost a lot more than $2k.
Hey Max, I’ve been following your post, looking good. I’m interested because we did the same or similar thing last year to our living room with 9’ walls and 11’ vaulted ceiling, 12’ wall of glass with a patio slider door on one side and 12’ windowed wall with a 54" wide opening to the foyer on the other side. Had to add a barn door to close the opening to the foyer and very expensive window treatments. I’m envious, yours will be so much better with solid walls all the way around. Wishing we had that kind of space to work with but no basements where we are. Enjoy!
RC1 is a metal channel that decouples the drywall from the surface it’s attached to. In my case, it’s drywall-RC1-drywall, so there’s about a 1" air gap between sheets. This helps to lessen the sound transferred from the floor overhead.
I’m working on this one myself, following a guide to make my own from 1x4’s and rockwool, with fabric fronts. I’ll link the guide later and my layout too.
What are your room dimensions, wall material? It’s easy to do the insulation yourself, took me about 4 coughing-filled hours and $800 worth of mineral wool insulation from Owens Corning.
Ok, I’ve seen those metal channels on You Tube. Was debating on whether to use them or not. I was considering the mineral wool insulation also, then 1/2 plywood, then 2 layers of 5/8 QuietRock drywall.
I guess I could replace the plywood with the RC1 channel and save some time and money.
I have a 650 square foot room with a cathedral ceiling. Because of the ceiling I am going to need scaffolds, then was thinking about hiring someone for that and I was going to do the walls.
This is currently a work in progress that has been a long time coming. This year is the year I finish.
–MD
Hello MikeD, There are numerous articles online with different methods and materials for soundproofing. We used green glue whisper clips with hat channels instead of RC1 but the goal to have an air gap in the wall is the same. Also used Rockwool insulation, mass loaded vinyl, 5/8 plywood screwed to the hat channels then green glue compound with 5/8 Quietrock screwed to the plywood. My reasoning for one layer 5/8 plywood and one layer of 5/8 Queitrock instead of 2 layers of Queitrock was simply so I could hang stuff on the walls without trying to find the studs. It’s all good with similar results.
I looked at that also. That is not cheap.
–MD
Correct, not cheap, and its heavy stuff. 1 lb per square foot for the 1/8 inch think version. But it helped with the goal of stopping the rumbling sound from the HVAC closet on the other side of the wall in our older home. That was adding a lot of ambient noise to the media/living room. Along with noise from other areas of the house, and the military flyovers doing touch and goes at our small local airport 2 miles away. My goal was to keep the ambient noise outside and the music inside. Material alone was around 15K and we did the work ourselves. It worked for almost all outside noise, nice and quite most of the time, but one would need to be in a concrete bunker to muffle the sound of those twin engine fighter jets at full thrust and the c130’s. Wish we had a basement, or lived in a quieter place, would have been easier and much less expensive.
Glad to see that I am not alone. Was looking at about the same numbers to sound proof my room. I was skeptical and that this cannot be right.
–MD
It adds up quickly. The 5/8 Queitrock was $53 for a single sheet, here in the Brazos Valley, vs $12 to $15 for regular Sheetrock that comes in pairs. Can’t imagine the cost to hire it out.
It took me 5 months, including demo down to studs and concrete, with my wife as a helper when needed.
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This is what I do and any room is the perfect room now I have the Fiio M11 Plus as it’s Roon Ready and fully mobile and sounds superb.
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That is where I am now.
I am hoping for the end of summer or early fall to be completed. Hoping.
–MD
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My total costs so far:
- $450 for lumber for the framing
- About $100 for the electrical boxes and outlets, $70 for a Caseta dimmer, $90 for 4 wafer lights
- $800 for mineral wool insulation
- $650 for drywall and RC1 channel
- Predicting under $200 for primer and paint
- Predicting $600 for carpet and pad
- Predicting $300 for all lumber, rock wool, and fabric for my DIY room treatment panels/bass traps
Total comes out to under $3500, even leaving some room for miscellaneous parts. This is for a 19x12x7’ room built in a basement. I began construction about one week after posting this topic, and currently the drywall mud is drying.
Granted this is with no labor costs, I’ve been able to trade electrical services in exchange for help framing and drywalling.
Here’s the guide to DIY room treatment panels I’ve been following:
https://acousticsfreq.com/how-to-build-your-own-acoustic-panels/
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Sounds like you’re a much better accountant and planner than I am. Hope my wife doesn’t find out, I’ll never hear the end of it. I just tried to keep track of total expenses without itemization. Our medai/living room space is roughly 17’ by 25’ with 9’ walls and 11’ foot ceiling. It’s an older house built in the 60’s and needed lots of framing repairs/replacement and additional framing. The Rockwool insulation was probably close to the same cost you mentioned but everything else seemed to be more expensive. I’m sure I could have done better if it had been planed and budgeted. Besides the framing lumber cost there were roles of mass loaded vinyl, 5/8 plywood, 5/8 Queitrock, green glue whisper clips, hat channels, fasteners. Green Glue soundproofing compound and sealant. New electrical wiring, switches and outlets. In-wall flexible conduit with junction boxes. Audio wiring, 500’ 12 gauge speaker wire and 300’ of Audioquest subwoofer cables for a 7.4.4 arrangement plus all the wallplates. Over 100’ of Fiber HDMI cables and terminations. 8 recessed ceiling lights, commercial 84" ceiling fan, commercial vinyl plank flooring. That is just what I can recall. It makes me sick to think about the cost (we’re retired) and to remember all the work that went into it. That was the last remodel for me, too old to do it again. But my wife and I are happy to have the house back in livable condition and a nice quite media space for TV, movies and surround sound music. Yours is looking good, hope it turns out well for you. Sounds like your getting there quickly.