Home studio design - first step, a door!
Posted: Sun, 2020-Jul-12, 20:21
Hi everyone,
My first post here, I will do my best to adhere to all the forum rules, excuse me if I dont!
UK-born composer, living in Ecuador now for 2 years. We have just bought our first house, and it has a great space off the side of the house that the previous owners created. This is the space I plan to convert into the studio. I will try and describe the space as much as possible, but as briefly as possible. SketchUp design included which detail the space...
1) The space used to be part of the garden. It sits between what used to be the external wall of our house, and the perimeter wall of our garden (the two long walls). The other side of the external house wall is our living room, and the other side of the perimeter wall is the neighbours driveway. The two other walls are the shorter walls, one of which is part of our house, the other side being another room of the house. The final wall is actually a set if sliding glass windows, leading onto the garden (this is far more clear in the sketch diagrams below!)
2) The ceiling is glass. It is supported by a series of wooden joists, which themselves are supported by two other joists bolted to the two long walls running the length of the room. It's basically a pergola.
3) The access from the house to the 'studio' is just an opening. It used to be a window out to the garden, but this got knocked out, leaving a big opening. So, no door.
As mentioned above, I am a composer. A lot of my work is midi-sequencing, but i track a lot of acoustic guitar, percussion, violin etc. I also plan on bringing my drum kit over to Ecuador at some point, so I want to future-proof the space for a drum kit, if possible. My wife is a vocalist, so I plan on building an extension to use as a vocal room for her, where she can write, practice, and of course record.
It's a brief overview, but that covers the very basics of now. I've been going over various forums, and absorbing loads of materials such as Rod Gervais book, John Brandts online resources, trying to understand everything that needs to be achieved, and there's a lot still to learn. Now, my overall goals for the space are this:
Build a room within a room to achieve as much isolation as possible inside the room. I often work late, and given the proximity of my house and the neighbours, I'm hoping to achieve a space that can be worked in at any time of the day with minimal disturbance to people around. I also have a huge Alsatian dog living next door who never stops barking, so keeping him out would be ideal...! To achieve this, I first fo all need to make my current space what I'd consider 'normal' - ie, ditch the glass roof for something more normal, and ditch the glass sliding doors for something more normal. From there, I can approach the inner leaf given I have a normal room to construct it within. This also applies to the vocal room I want to build off the studio main. The idea being my wife can be in the vocal room practicing, and I can be in the studio working, and we don't interfere with one another. The same above applies to this room - first of all construct the vocal room so it is a normal room, and then approach the inner leaf etc after.
My understanding is the following: As my outer leaf currently consists of differing materials (the most massive being the walls that already exist, of 6" concrete), I need to match the thinner parts (ie the glass roof, the glass sliding doors, and the opening which will need to be a door) to the same mass as the concrete walls. This is somewhat a separate issue which I will come to later in this thread (hopefully!). However, I believe that before I can begin any form of construction, I need a door in the opening. Inevitably, I have to remove the current roof and glass sliding doors, and I cant do that if there is no door separating the studio from the house, otherwise the whole house will be exposed to the elements. So, while I still have many many steps to work through, I feel that I have to have a door in place before continuing further with any other type of construction.
So... Door time!
Again, I've been reading forum posts, looking at images, researching parts etc (hard to find stuff here in Ecuador), and also trying to design/plan how to implement the door, based on the design Rod Gervais provides in his book. I will now go into my thoughts/process/plan for the door below. (Worth mentioning now that I do plan on a double door design, as I plan on a room within a room, but for now I am talking about the outer door which will form a part of the existing outer leaf ie the concrete wall).
It has been recommended all over that the mass of the door should match the mass of the leaf. As my outer leaf is solid concrete, this is quite massive(!) Therefore, I have decided that a 'Super Door' style design is perhaps most suitable for the outer leaf. I don't know if this is overkill, given that I also plan on a secondary door as part of the inner leaf. But it has been stressed a number of times that the door should match the mass of the leaf - an ordinary solid core door would be less massive than the concrete wall, which is why I am going this way. Please advise if you disagree with this logic..!
- Solid core doors are reasonably priced here ($40 for an MDF door, $80 for solid pine, 36mm thick). I've seen that you can attach two of these together to make the door more massive, which is my plan (the door supplier can cut the door to whatever size I want for a small fee, to achieve the recesses for the seals etc). So far, so good.
- Hardware: Automatic drop thresholds are non-existent, and given the current climate, I don't feel like going through the process of international shipment. Therefore I think I will rely on the seal of a normal threshold. Perhaps in the future when I visit there US or UK, I'll order one and brink it back and get it fitted at a later date. Heavy-duty hinges and automatic closers are no problem to find.
- Seals: The trunk rubber for the seals is also not an easy find, but I've found something that appears to have a very similar shape (photo of the cross-section supplied below). If anyone can advise whether this looks suitable, that would be very helpful. Similarly, I think can source the magnetic weatherstripping (not confirmed yet but working on it).
DESIGN:
There are a load of resources online which are extremely helpful at detailing the approach/process that I could/should use, and along with an experienced carpenter, I am not too worried about implementing this (in general). However, I am having a number of queries, which leads me to my first problem.
SIZE OF DOOR/DOOR OPENING
Unlike a lot of the designs and examples I've seen online, where the opening for the door is planned at a specific size, I am dealing with an already-existing opening, with its own dimensions (again a SketchUp of this is below). This means that, given the width of the door is also set in stone by the supplier to a maximum of 910mm, I am unsure of how to fill in the gaps either side, and above, the door.
The thickness of the wall that frames the opening is approximately 158mm (6 inches). I therefore plan on using 5/4 stock lumber for the jambs (140mm). I do not intend on using a thru-jamb connecting the two leaves, purely due to the thickness of the wall which creates the outer leaf. I will basically have a space between the outer leaf and the inner leaf, covered up with some form of fabric to hide the innards. The 5/4 will be the frame of the whole door (please advise if you disagree!)
The width of the opening is 1055mm, the width of the door is 910mm. Taking in to account the thickness of the 5/4 jamb either side (approx 25mm), the total width of the door construction will be roughly 960mm. This leaves 95mm in total of space (47.5mm either side).
Similarly, the height of the opening is 2390mm. The door is 2150mm high, plus the jambs on top and bottom makes a total of 2200mm. This leaves a gap above the door construction of 190mm.
These gaps obviously cant be filled with caulk etc, so what should I do? I have tried sketching a number of combinations of additional jambs to increase the thickness of the frame, but nothing really adds up to a nice fit horizontally. Also, I wasn't sure if it was a god idea to fill the space with wood, or maybe more concrete to match the existing wall.
Once I've got this problem solved, I think I'm in a good place to proceed with building the door. So to summarise, these are my general/overall questions:
1) Given I will be doing a double-door design, is a super-door for the outer leaf (in an effort to match the mass of the outer leaf) overkill, or is it sensible?
2) Does the rubber seal I've managed to source appear to be a suitable replacement for the suggested type K from Rod Gervais book?
3) I plan on keeping two separate jambs, and covering the gap between the leaves eventually with fabric - seem ok?
4) How should I go about filling up the remaining space that will be left over around the door construction?
Once I've got the door constructed, I will feel more confident in continuing with replacing the glass roof and glass sliding doors without causing issues in the house. I will of course post specifically related to this once I pass the door...!
Thank you for reading everyone, and thank you for this great forum!
My first post here, I will do my best to adhere to all the forum rules, excuse me if I dont!
UK-born composer, living in Ecuador now for 2 years. We have just bought our first house, and it has a great space off the side of the house that the previous owners created. This is the space I plan to convert into the studio. I will try and describe the space as much as possible, but as briefly as possible. SketchUp design included which detail the space...
1) The space used to be part of the garden. It sits between what used to be the external wall of our house, and the perimeter wall of our garden (the two long walls). The other side of the external house wall is our living room, and the other side of the perimeter wall is the neighbours driveway. The two other walls are the shorter walls, one of which is part of our house, the other side being another room of the house. The final wall is actually a set if sliding glass windows, leading onto the garden (this is far more clear in the sketch diagrams below!)
2) The ceiling is glass. It is supported by a series of wooden joists, which themselves are supported by two other joists bolted to the two long walls running the length of the room. It's basically a pergola.
3) The access from the house to the 'studio' is just an opening. It used to be a window out to the garden, but this got knocked out, leaving a big opening. So, no door.
As mentioned above, I am a composer. A lot of my work is midi-sequencing, but i track a lot of acoustic guitar, percussion, violin etc. I also plan on bringing my drum kit over to Ecuador at some point, so I want to future-proof the space for a drum kit, if possible. My wife is a vocalist, so I plan on building an extension to use as a vocal room for her, where she can write, practice, and of course record.
It's a brief overview, but that covers the very basics of now. I've been going over various forums, and absorbing loads of materials such as Rod Gervais book, John Brandts online resources, trying to understand everything that needs to be achieved, and there's a lot still to learn. Now, my overall goals for the space are this:
Build a room within a room to achieve as much isolation as possible inside the room. I often work late, and given the proximity of my house and the neighbours, I'm hoping to achieve a space that can be worked in at any time of the day with minimal disturbance to people around. I also have a huge Alsatian dog living next door who never stops barking, so keeping him out would be ideal...! To achieve this, I first fo all need to make my current space what I'd consider 'normal' - ie, ditch the glass roof for something more normal, and ditch the glass sliding doors for something more normal. From there, I can approach the inner leaf given I have a normal room to construct it within. This also applies to the vocal room I want to build off the studio main. The idea being my wife can be in the vocal room practicing, and I can be in the studio working, and we don't interfere with one another. The same above applies to this room - first of all construct the vocal room so it is a normal room, and then approach the inner leaf etc after.
My understanding is the following: As my outer leaf currently consists of differing materials (the most massive being the walls that already exist, of 6" concrete), I need to match the thinner parts (ie the glass roof, the glass sliding doors, and the opening which will need to be a door) to the same mass as the concrete walls. This is somewhat a separate issue which I will come to later in this thread (hopefully!). However, I believe that before I can begin any form of construction, I need a door in the opening. Inevitably, I have to remove the current roof and glass sliding doors, and I cant do that if there is no door separating the studio from the house, otherwise the whole house will be exposed to the elements. So, while I still have many many steps to work through, I feel that I have to have a door in place before continuing further with any other type of construction.
So... Door time!
Again, I've been reading forum posts, looking at images, researching parts etc (hard to find stuff here in Ecuador), and also trying to design/plan how to implement the door, based on the design Rod Gervais provides in his book. I will now go into my thoughts/process/plan for the door below. (Worth mentioning now that I do plan on a double door design, as I plan on a room within a room, but for now I am talking about the outer door which will form a part of the existing outer leaf ie the concrete wall).
It has been recommended all over that the mass of the door should match the mass of the leaf. As my outer leaf is solid concrete, this is quite massive(!) Therefore, I have decided that a 'Super Door' style design is perhaps most suitable for the outer leaf. I don't know if this is overkill, given that I also plan on a secondary door as part of the inner leaf. But it has been stressed a number of times that the door should match the mass of the leaf - an ordinary solid core door would be less massive than the concrete wall, which is why I am going this way. Please advise if you disagree with this logic..!
- Solid core doors are reasonably priced here ($40 for an MDF door, $80 for solid pine, 36mm thick). I've seen that you can attach two of these together to make the door more massive, which is my plan (the door supplier can cut the door to whatever size I want for a small fee, to achieve the recesses for the seals etc). So far, so good.
- Hardware: Automatic drop thresholds are non-existent, and given the current climate, I don't feel like going through the process of international shipment. Therefore I think I will rely on the seal of a normal threshold. Perhaps in the future when I visit there US or UK, I'll order one and brink it back and get it fitted at a later date. Heavy-duty hinges and automatic closers are no problem to find.
- Seals: The trunk rubber for the seals is also not an easy find, but I've found something that appears to have a very similar shape (photo of the cross-section supplied below). If anyone can advise whether this looks suitable, that would be very helpful. Similarly, I think can source the magnetic weatherstripping (not confirmed yet but working on it).
DESIGN:
There are a load of resources online which are extremely helpful at detailing the approach/process that I could/should use, and along with an experienced carpenter, I am not too worried about implementing this (in general). However, I am having a number of queries, which leads me to my first problem.
SIZE OF DOOR/DOOR OPENING
Unlike a lot of the designs and examples I've seen online, where the opening for the door is planned at a specific size, I am dealing with an already-existing opening, with its own dimensions (again a SketchUp of this is below). This means that, given the width of the door is also set in stone by the supplier to a maximum of 910mm, I am unsure of how to fill in the gaps either side, and above, the door.
The thickness of the wall that frames the opening is approximately 158mm (6 inches). I therefore plan on using 5/4 stock lumber for the jambs (140mm). I do not intend on using a thru-jamb connecting the two leaves, purely due to the thickness of the wall which creates the outer leaf. I will basically have a space between the outer leaf and the inner leaf, covered up with some form of fabric to hide the innards. The 5/4 will be the frame of the whole door (please advise if you disagree!)
The width of the opening is 1055mm, the width of the door is 910mm. Taking in to account the thickness of the 5/4 jamb either side (approx 25mm), the total width of the door construction will be roughly 960mm. This leaves 95mm in total of space (47.5mm either side).
Similarly, the height of the opening is 2390mm. The door is 2150mm high, plus the jambs on top and bottom makes a total of 2200mm. This leaves a gap above the door construction of 190mm.
These gaps obviously cant be filled with caulk etc, so what should I do? I have tried sketching a number of combinations of additional jambs to increase the thickness of the frame, but nothing really adds up to a nice fit horizontally. Also, I wasn't sure if it was a god idea to fill the space with wood, or maybe more concrete to match the existing wall.
Once I've got this problem solved, I think I'm in a good place to proceed with building the door. So to summarise, these are my general/overall questions:
1) Given I will be doing a double-door design, is a super-door for the outer leaf (in an effort to match the mass of the outer leaf) overkill, or is it sensible?
2) Does the rubber seal I've managed to source appear to be a suitable replacement for the suggested type K from Rod Gervais book?
3) I plan on keeping two separate jambs, and covering the gap between the leaves eventually with fabric - seem ok?
4) How should I go about filling up the remaining space that will be left over around the door construction?
Once I've got the door constructed, I will feel more confident in continuing with replacing the glass roof and glass sliding doors without causing issues in the house. I will of course post specifically related to this once I pass the door...!
Thank you for reading everyone, and thank you for this great forum!