BASEMENT Studio thoughts

[albert_d]

I’m thinking the same thing (basement set up) but not considered the humidity aspect. I’m not much help but am interested.

[Cadgirl]

@albert_d , yes the humidity is a biggie. Guitars can develop some pretty big cracks on the surface.

[ChuckS]

@cadgirl, I refinished my basement room back in 2017/2018 before I got back into Guitar. Once I joined TAC in May 2020 it became my own little Guitar room/studio/whatever. I have it all set up with a small desk like thing for the computer and music stuff and an armless, comfy chair, and easel etc. It is probably about 225 square feet give or take. I now have a 5 Guitar Guitarseal and they are all hanging on the wall for ease of access.

I am in NJ, so lots of humidity in the summer and dry in the winter. I watch the humidity like a hawk and try to keep it in the high fortys % or around 50% (Martins seem to like it right about there). Monitoring the humidity is very important. The room is insulated with something called Insofast, but it officially has no heat or air conditioning. Tends to be in the mid-sixties in the winter and mid-seventies in the summer. I have been thinking about adding a mini split system to maintain a more consistent temperature. If we go away for any length of time, all the guitars go into their cases again to maintain that humidity.

Bottom line: It works great and it is a remote space where the door can be closed and I am not bothering anyone, more specifically not driving my wife nuts by playing the same thing over and over again (:

[Cadgirl]

Thanks @ChuckS . My guitar room is a combination of office/art room/cat room/fish room. I just added a bigger aquarium so now…. I have run out of room and I’m afraid one of my guitars are going to get knocked over. I put a humidify gauge in the basement this morning. It’s registering 35 degrees. Which is dry, but not too bad. I live in Michigan and once winter sets in, It gets dry in the house. Right now, the remodel looks like January or February. Thanks for your insite and thanks for the comment about the cases. I can do that easy.

[N-lightMike]

Hey @Cadgirl ;

The dryness is more dangerous than the wetness. Since you are in a humid area with a dehu, the guitars should do great. The winter will be the problem. Up there in Michigan, if you are far away from the lakes, you could get very dry and that would be the problem you’d need to watch out for.

But as long as it’s always humid, the dehu will keep it around 50% which is ideal. Now, all of this changes when you add heat. That could dry out the air. You will have to find out if you still need the dehu, or if the heater will keep the humidity down some.

Remember, mostly, this is a witch hunt. It is only extreme dry or extreme wet that will cause problems. The extreme wet isn’t the direct problem, it is the drying out that causes problems because it can dry too fast.

That having been said, you maybe fine. But you do need to watch and make sure. Your guitars can withstand a fair amount of dry, and an awful lot of wet, as long as it is slow when it swings back. Most problems with guitars are because of very low humidity during the winter for an extended period. And I’m talking 15% or below for several months.

I hope this helps.

MG 😀

[Cadgirl]

@N-lightMike ,Thanks for getting with me on this subject. 50% humidity would be hard for me to hit in the winter. It’s pretty dry right now. Once we get some fluffy snow it will be a little better. I usually stay around 30% humidity in the winter, so maybe that isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It might drop a little more but not much. I do have a humidifier that I used last year upstairs and it kept it better. Now, in the basement…. That is a different story. I’ll see what I have tomorrow since I shut the dehumidifier off today.

[N-lightMike]

Yes, @Cadgirl ; 30% is that middle ground that “probably” won’t hurt. But no one wants to hear “probably” when it comes to their guitar. And it definitely depends on how long. 30% for a couple weeks? No worries. 30% for several months. No, that’s gonna be bad. So yeah, you want to bring that up to at least 40%.

Humidifiers just crank out steam, but dehus actually measure the humidity and try to keep it at a certain point. So maybe run the humidifier and the dehu at the same time? Maybe that would keep the room at 50%? I don’t know. Or maybe just use the dehu to measure and you turn the humidifier on and off as needed? Or did you say you have something that measures the humidity?

I would think, though I don’t know for sure, that a basement would be easier to regulate and wouldn’t get as dry. But I guess you’re gonna be the expert by the end of the winter. I don’t have to worry about things where I live. Low humidity here is 40%. And though it gets up to 95% occasionally, it’s never for long.

MG 😀

[HowardM]

This is a very interesting topic of which I know nothing. I will follow your posts to attempt to learn the subject as it concerns all guitarists.

[Cadgirl]

@HowardM , It would work out better for me anyway. I get up early (5:00ish) and my husband doesn’t. It would be nice to go in the basement so he doesn’t have to hear me pluck away at my guitar 🙂 . I could set up my guitars nicer downstairs. I would still keep one upstairs. But, the rest of them would go in the basement. I have never had a guitar crack, but I don’t want to start now. If your curious just start out with a humidifier gage, they cost about $30. It will give you the temp and humidity level. I picked up a nice humidifier last year, but it really only seemed to work in the room it was in. I put a fish tank in my office thinking it might help with the humidity but it didn’t. This forum has given me a lot of ideas of things to do (and buy). So good luck.

[Cadgirl]

@ChuckS @N-lightMike @albert_d @HowardM . Just to let you know. I set my de-humidifier up to 40% last night and this morning the gauge registers 40% in the area I would be keeping my guitars. Yeah, I’ll keep the gauge in the basement and just keep an eye on it. I’m happy with 40%. Thanks everyone for your comments.

[ChuckS]

@cadgirl, I am kind of shocked that you are still needing a Dehumidfier up in Michigan this time of year. Would have thought that went into storage weeks ago (: Assume you do have a good Humidifier for winter? I was using a smaller one originally and it could not keep the humidity up where it needed to be and so I posed a question to the crowd on the Acoustic Guitar Forum for recommendations. Based on their feedback (there are a ton of folks on that forum with decades of experience) I picked up a Vornado Evap40 4-Gallon Evaporative Humidifier. That did the trick. It has no problem keeping up. Also important to add some Bacteriostatic solution in the tanks each time to prevent mold and other nasty stuff like that.

[Cadgirl]

@ChuckS Normally this time of year we are in just cold and dry weather. It’s been raining just about every day so the humidity is up in the basement untop of being cold. The temperature has been going up to the 50s and down into the teens at night. Once we get into December a little more it will just be cold and dry. Yes, I have a AirCare Evaportive and put a bacteria stuff in it with every fill. Which is usually every day. Pretty happy with it. Thanks for the input. Not putting it out till the rains stop for good.

[That_Guy]

I finished my basement in 2020 in originally used for my guitar room. It has a low 7 foot ceiling and a tiled floor. The room is about 15 x 15’.

At first I didn’t realize what the problem was but it has horrible acoustics being super echoey and boomy. It was impossible to record anything and I first I couldn’t figure out why am I recording sounded even more horrible than normal. Adding furniture such as soft couches certainly helped. An area rug on the floor also made a huge difference. I eventually bought some cheap acoustic foam on Amazon to put in the corners of the wall that i was facing. Everything I did made a big difference but the room was just way too small for the acoustics.

If your room is suitable you really just have to worry about temperature and humidity.

[Cadgirl]

@That_Guy Thanks for the information. My room now is about 10’ x 8’, not so hard to regulate. I just bought a 90 gallon aquarium and it is taking up a lot of room that was for my guitars. Since I’m afraid of the guitars getting knock over now, I’m planning on moving my guitars into the basement with has Low ceiling and it’s about 35’ x 20’. It’s built like a studio room. Actually pretty awesome right now, but wide open. A kitchen area, entertainment area with furniture and wide screen TV and then a sitting area with furniture along with rugs. I did purchase some Humidipak 2-way humidification system. I’ve never used them before. I hate to start putting my guitars back in their cases. You know… Out of sight, out of mind syndrome.

[That_Guy]

Basement temps are usually fairly steady all year. The worst is a fast change in temp. If you can control the humidity there should be no need to case the guitars. I havent cased my guitars in 2 years except for when going on vacation. The worst part is basements tend to be damp so the dehumidifier will need to be emptied constantly. Most of them can be connected to a hose that you can run into a sump pit. Alot of them can also pump if you need to get up and over i to a sink.

[Cadgirl]

@That_Guy , We have 1/2 the basement remodeled, we will be entering phase II, probably not till January. We were going to do the demo before we went on vacation but then decided not to and wait till we are back. Right now, not as much dampness in the basement, but it still needs to be emptied every few days. I’ll be shutting it off completely soon. Yep, I do the same, box up my guitars for vacation. I’ll post a picture of the remodel once completed. My husband was going to hang my guitars on the wall but not sure I want to do that yet. Thanks for your comments on this. I would hate to see a huge crack down the front of my Taylor. I think i’d faint.

[Kitman]

Hi @Cadgirl , my guitar room is in the basement. It is about 12′ x 15′. The room is fully finished (ie. Insulation, drywall, carpeted floor, doors to close off from rest of basement). The humidity in the summer runs around 40 to 45. In the winter it can drop to 35. This winter I purchased a small humidifier and target between 40 to 45. So far so good. I don’t know a lot about humidifiers and so went with something lower cost to see how it worked. I bought LEVOIT LV600HH 6L Warm and Cool Mist Ultrasonic HumidifierLEVOIT LV600HH 6L Warm and Cool Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier. So far so good.So far so good.

[Cadgirl]

@Kitman Just watched your improve. Assuming you are in your basement studio, it’s awesome! My basement is wide open. No plans to section off the room either. I’ll have a better idea after the remodel in the basement is done. I wasn’t thinking about insulation and drywall being a factor. We’ll be adding insulation in the walls (which we don’t have in the now in the unfinished half. But, the remodel won’t be completed fill January / February time frame (if I’m lucky). I purchased the same type of humidifier the guitar store near me uses. I’m happy with it. I think it holds 2 gallons and I have to fill it up every day once I set it up. Glad to hear members are able to use the basement for a studio without any issues. I think I’ll like it better down there anyway. Thanks for your input.

[ChuckS]

@cadgirl: 20′ X 35′? Wow, you have room for a lot of guitars there😀 Room to host open Mics, etc. 🤣 Sounds to me like you are on top of things wrt setting up the basement and all the humidity stuff. Just as fyi, I used Luxury Vinyl Planks (look just like wood, but much better for basement situation) for the floor and they don’t have any negative affect on acoustics like some mentioned here. Lucked out as I was not back into guitar when I did the basement.

Also used something called Insofast for insulating the walls. It consists of 2′ X 4′ tongue and groove foam insulation panels (either 2″ or 2.5″ thick) that form a nice tight seal. They have embedded polystyrene studs so you can screw drywall in and also preformed channels for running electrical wire.. Again, great for helping to control basement environments. Something to consider.

[Cadgirl]

@ChuckS ha ha ha, yep I could have a hootenanny down there with all that room, ha ha ha. We used the Lifeproof, rigid core Vinyl planks floating floor on the 1st half of the remodel and really liked them. We’ll continue with it on the 2nd half. I really don’t remember what type of insulation we used in the walls? I wasn’t even thinking that once the walls and floor are done that it will make it much nicer humidity wise. It is a heated basement too. My husband is all geeked to start, so we might be able to demo the phase 2 of the basement before vacation and then come back and get to work. I’ll mention the Insofast to my husband. He is in charge of that type of stuff. I just point.

[GerryB56]

Interesting discussion! I can’t really advise any better than others on the humidity issue, but as a renovation carpenter, I will suggest one thing. Seems like you have planned for insulation in the walls, but what will you do on the floor? Assuming it’s a concrete slab, if there isn’t insulation underneath, or if you have any moisture issues, consider using Dricore panels (https://dricore.com/products/dricore-subfloor/) as a subfloor surface. They are not cheap, but will make the floor significantly warmer and help with any moisture problems. Otherwise, I’d agree with ChuckS that vinyl plank flooring is the best choice to go directly on concrete.

Anyway, congrats on getting such a great new space for your “music studio” – it might well inspire you to spend even more time playing😀

[Cadgirl]

@GerryB56 , Thank for your comment. We already have ½ the basement completed. Full bath, kitchen area and entertainment area. The flooring that we’ll be using is Lifeproof, rigid core vinyl plank flooring. It’s a floating floor so no worries about moisture. I don’t remember if there was insulation under the flooring or not? We are already using it on the side that is completed and it’s really nice. Since it’s floating it’s easier on your back and never freezing cold. I only have one egressed window, so the room will stay large. If I section off a room I have to put another egressed window in. Now that we have been talking about the remodel I’m getting anxious to start on the project. Thanks for all your comments and glad to hear your recommendations.

[the-old-coach]

Cadgirl–

I have an “irrelevant-to-the-thread” comment if I may.

I have installed a LOT of Lifeproof Flooring…….

Maybe there is better out there- but I haven’t seen it– it is good stuff!!!

[Cadgirl]

@the-old-coach it’s pricy, but well worth it. Glad to read the comment.