John, If you would like to become intimately familiar with the term "Red Tag" and your city's Building Dept., follow Gumps advice. Roof trusses are an engineered product, leave them as they are. Since I am also in the SF Bay Area, please call me over when the plumbers tape diagonal bracing is looked at. The City may take photos for their "wall of shame". My definition of an "unnecessary expense" would be The City's requirement that you demo this now non-complying structure and rebuild to current code from approved drawings. Figure about 85 bucks a foot by following Gump off the cliff. My suggestion might burn up 2500 and add twice that in equity. Tough choice... Z.
concrete slab vs/ wood floor - pros and cons
Audiogoners, given the choice, with sound quality being a top priority, which choice is usually better?
I have been given the green light from my wife, bless her heart, to convert our stand-alone 1935-era garage into a dedicated music/theater room - woo hoo!! The fact that it's a separate structure will be ideal for playing loud movies whenever without bothering anyone in the house. The space is roughly 11.5 x 17' and I think it will make a terrific intimate theater. It's completely unfinished inside and has a sturdy stucco exterior. It's a very solid structure. However, the concrete floor has some large cracks lengthwise due to settling so it is pretty crowned in the middle. If I keep the concrete, I will need to build a floor over the slab and shim it quite a bit to level it out enough to install the underlayment. Headroom is limited as the walls are just over 7 feet, although the roofline peaks at just over 10' in the center, enough height to hang my projector.
If I removed the concrete, then I could dig down and build a normal floor over wood joists with a nice hollow space underneath. My house is built over a crawlspace with hardwood floors and I like the quality of bass and overall sound I get in our living room. The downside is that it would be more difficult to convert the garage back later to use for parking a car if we move. I was thinking it might be cool to design this type of floor and then have space below for insulation, wiring, etc. without sacrificing any height. Maybe the floor could even be designed as a sort of bass trap to help with the sound. Any thoughts? -thanks, -jz
I have been given the green light from my wife, bless her heart, to convert our stand-alone 1935-era garage into a dedicated music/theater room - woo hoo!! The fact that it's a separate structure will be ideal for playing loud movies whenever without bothering anyone in the house. The space is roughly 11.5 x 17' and I think it will make a terrific intimate theater. It's completely unfinished inside and has a sturdy stucco exterior. It's a very solid structure. However, the concrete floor has some large cracks lengthwise due to settling so it is pretty crowned in the middle. If I keep the concrete, I will need to build a floor over the slab and shim it quite a bit to level it out enough to install the underlayment. Headroom is limited as the walls are just over 7 feet, although the roofline peaks at just over 10' in the center, enough height to hang my projector.
If I removed the concrete, then I could dig down and build a normal floor over wood joists with a nice hollow space underneath. My house is built over a crawlspace with hardwood floors and I like the quality of bass and overall sound I get in our living room. The downside is that it would be more difficult to convert the garage back later to use for parking a car if we move. I was thinking it might be cool to design this type of floor and then have space below for insulation, wiring, etc. without sacrificing any height. Maybe the floor could even be designed as a sort of bass trap to help with the sound. Any thoughts? -thanks, -jz
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- 30 posts total
- 30 posts total