Studio Build- Central Portugal

#106

Scott, as always it is a delight to see your studio and the progress being made. It is reassuring that the architect has been to inspect the place. I am so impressed with the location and the look and vibe of the place. It will be amazing when it is finished and operating as a studio.

What is the plan: to get the outside finished before working on the interior?

#107

The current plan since we are still waiting for Joules is to finish the outside when the windows and door arrive next week (we hope). If this gets finished and Joules is still not ready to work here, then if they have time, they will work on the suspended ceiling in the live and entrance room. All the materials are in place for these. Patience..... 8-)

I really hope they can do all of that this month and that Joules will start in October.. I just don't know...

#108

Good news today. Joules and his team will start here in 5 weeks. Phew...

#109

Here is a picture from above the building looking down the river valley when there is fog... Amazing view...

#110

Scott, I just finished cruising through your entire experience so far. This is looking great! The view on the last photo is awesome! 8-)

I am looking forward to seeing the interior adventure coming up next!
-Ron

#111

After 2 months of virtually nothing happening, they are back at work now for the next couple of weeks to finish the wall at the top, the rendering of the outside and the windows and door are to arrive tomorrow. Joules has sent a materials list and we have started to order up materials and if we are lucky he will be here by beginning of November. I will keep you posted... At least something is happening again.. 8-)

#112

Sept 13th

I got a message from Suse saying that they will finish the job in Lisboa in 4-5 weeks and then they are coming here and I will hear from Joules in the next weeks about supplies, etc.. Finally a bit of good news.. Now I can inform Paul and they can pull it together and finish their part, I hope.

Oct 12th

After months of virtually nothing happening, Paul’s guys showed up and worked on the capouto and back wall today… Great to see them working here again.

Oct 13th

Paul showed up today and we talked. They should bring the windows today. The granite window sills are ready. They plan to work here til they are done now and thinks they can also put the tiles in at the front of the building which is good news. He has also put in a order for the things that Joules requested to get a quote but the timing on this stuff is not long. Probably better they don’t deliver it until they are closer to finished with the suspended ceiling.

Spoke to Joules and they should be here first of November there abouts. Next week he will send me more info about the money and perhaps other stuff I can order and pay directly for. It is getting closer…….

Oct 14th

It is Portugal and of course, they did not deliver any windows. The guys just worked on the rendering on the underside of the roof overhang and gave the right side of the building a 2nd coat. That was about all that was done yesterday. Paul visited them and they don´t even have the glass!!!! just the frames so how do they expect to delvier them this week?? Why do they say this when they don´t even have the glass in the frames..??? Crazy….

Oct 15th

Another beautiful day and they are working more on the exterior of the building underneath the overhang. Looks good.. Paul delivered some more fine sand for the rest of the rendering. Was very disappointed that they are not working next week if the windows are not here, at least that is what it sounded like. They have a ton of stuff they could be doing… we need to get this finished before the end of the month.. Joules can not be put off.

They nearly finished the final smooth surface rendering of the wall at the top of the roof. Looks very nice. Great job Jóse and Gil.

Oct 20th

They showed up again but no windows… They did the final part of the wall at the top of the roof and one more coat on the area under the roof overhang. They also started on the suspended ceiling in the entrance way of the studio. IT is a slow process as they have to drill into the concrete beams to put all the supports for the plasterboard. 2 layers! It is heavy..

Oct 21st

Really damp and foggy and cool this morning. Tiny bit of rain. Guys showed up a bit before 9 and got all the framing of the entrance done and are not putting the rockwool in and then they will attach the plasterboard. That is not going to be easy with only 2 people… We will see.. Making good progress.. Wish the windows would come…

So they managed to get the entrance way ceiling in completely with the rock wool and two layers of plasterboard today.. Good job guys. Said they will not be here before lunch tomorrow.

Paul came just 5mins after the guys left and we looked at the work from today. Agreed it looked good. Weather looks good tomorrow (sunny and 19C) so they will focus on the outside of the building. Also, the beams are ordered and all the stuff Joules wants will probably come next week, if we are lucky.

Oct 22nd

The guys came at 1445 and worked until 17. Only finished the entrance way ceiling and moved some stuff around to prepare for doing the ceiling in the live room.They still have to move all the plasterboard before they can put up their scaffold. At least some progress is done. Hope the windows arrive this next week. We will see..

Here are some recent pictures.

#113

Oct 26th

Paul called this morning and he was at the window frame place and they now have all the glass. Wow.. He said they are assembling them and will deliver Thursday late afternoon. He said the guys would arrive late morning to continue to work on the ceiling but it is 12 and no one has shown up yet..

13.. They finally showed up. Tried to reach Joules and no luck. They worked until 17 and got the guide rails on 3 sides and started to work from the bottom up with the supports. Gil seem to think they could get most of it done tomorrow. We will see.

Oct 27th

The guys showed up sometime in the morning. They managed to get 1/4 of the ceiling in with 5cm of rock wool. I thought it was supposed to be a lot more than that. I mentioned it to them. I have tried to find out from Joules, Suse, etc.. but no one answers. Once they do the next section, it will be impossible to add more without tearing up the ceiling. We will see. Windows still supposed to come tomorrow but also a huge storm with a months worth of rain this weekend.

Oct 28th

It was a very dramatic day today as Paul wrote the wood Joules asked for was 7500€!!! Fuck… I decided to just put for 2 layers of rock wool, which nearly fills the ceiling. Anyway, we are sorting out the materials and Joules said he needs a few weeks off but hopes to be here by mid November.

Good news, is the windows arrived today and they look amazing. 8 both sides for the live room and one big window for each of the windows in the entrance/vocal room. The door is good quality as well. There will be a 2nd door though. Paul will be here half the day tomorrow and will bring the window sills and they will start to put the windows in. Supposed to be very rainy tomorrow. IF they can´t manage the outside work, then they can still tape and plaster the ceiling and the rest of the studio walls that they have not done yet. IT sounds like they will also work here next week and the week after to finish everything. I hope also the tiles. We will see..

Oct 29th

Guys showed up a bit after 9 and are working on the ceiling in the live room. Only 9 pieces more of plasterboard and it is done. Paul has not shown up yet with the granite window sills. There was not much rain last night which was good. Hope they can get the big windows in today. We will see. There is about 15 pieces of each plasterboard left over so Joules can use these and we do not have to order any more which is good..

They managed to get both the big windows in which is great as a massive storm is descending on us in a few hours. The windows look awesome and the tinting is perfect. Can´t see anything from the outside but super clear view.. High quality stuff.. They nearly finished the taping and plastering of the ceiling today as well. They will be back on Tuesday to continue the rest of the job.

Here are some pictures.

#114

That is good news and lovely photos about the progress on your place.

The price of wood shot up dramatically during the Covid lockdowns because fewer workers meant fewer trees felled and processed. I was speaking with a friend yesterday who works in the building industry, saying I wasn't sure whether to wait for supplies to pick up and prices to lower as I have a lot of wood yet to buy. He said that supplies will pick up but no one in the industry believes that prices will come back down to what they were, not helped by wealthier countries outside Europe now buying wood from Europe because their usual suppliers cannot meet the demand, meaning there is less left for us in Europe and what there is is in short supply and so prices are remaining sky high. This will deter some, maybe many, who have not yet started a studio build as their budgets will need to me so much higher than two years ago.

#115

I agree.. This part of the studio is for sure going to cost more now. At most 2 weeks left and then the building will be ready for Joules when he can find the time.. :mrgreen:

#116

Oct 30th

We were lucky we got those windows in last night as we had a monster storm for like 6 hrs and it was blowing from the direct south at and into the building!! We had blocked up rest of the windows and put a big panel where the door was. Anyway, this morning I went to survey the place and the door block was pushed partway inside but seem to prevent any major water from entering into the building. Two of the 4 small windows had the drywall or foam blown out and the window sills were quite wet but not too bad. Phew—-

Oct 31st

A very stormy and wet night and day again but the winds were not as fierce as yesterday and the studio seems to be holding its own and not letting too much water inside. The worst effected is the small windows. I hope they will get those in on Tuesday when they return and then we don’t have to worry about the water inside much.

33 of labour for the ceilings so far. See what Paul says..

NOv 2nd

The guys showed up at 8:50 today and went straight to work on finishing all the taping, plastering and smoothing out of the gaps and holes so the walls are ready to paint or whatever we decided to do. Paul said he will come tomorrow and they will put in the last windows and the door. All they will have left to do is the outside of the building.. Getting close with this phase of the work.

Joules wrote and these are the materials we are to order for him and he will get the rest:

37 Sheets Chipboard (19mm sheet)
 15 Sheets Plywood (19mm sheet)- SEE DETAILS BELOW ABOUT STRIPS

The plywood strips are a sheet of 19 or 20mm thick birch plywood cut long ways (2.4m) into strips 5cm wide. The thicker strips can be 19 or 20mm thick by 20cm wide. This should be about 10 sheets.
 10 6 or 7m length (depending on if they are 12 or 14m) 250 x 100 mm laminated beams for the ceiling
 20 Boards Celenit N 1800 x 600 x 35mm
60 lengths of 50x70mm wood at 2.4m

Joules said he will finally have a price quotation for me for the rest of the studio. I will pay for the above myself.

15 I went to check on the progress of the guys with the taping and plastering and they are doing the last bit of the entrance but the rest looks good but then I could see in the control room, there is water leaking in from the roof! This is not good. Then I noticed it the other day in the live room corner it was wet but it just seemed like maybe that was where the guys were working but now I can see it is really wet like water is coming down the back wall and then making the floor wet. It is also in the control room… FUCK…. I sent Paul a message. This is a real nightmare but glad we caught it now rather than when it was all done.

Gil said he thinks the water is coming in from the backside of the wall. Not sure how they will figure this out??? Anyway, they only have the ceiling to do with one more coat of plaster and smoothing and they are done with that part of the job.

8hrs on the inside.

Nov 3rd

We had a big examination of the outside and the roof and it is pretty clear that it is leaking through the wall at the top as there was water pooling there and one place that matches with where it was coming in on the back of the wall. Anyway, they have a solution to pull back the soil, fill any gaps, make it smooth and put a water proofing product on it and lay a perforated tube at the back that will be angled to drain off to the right of the studio so no water will ever be sitting against the wall. Paul thinks this will solve the problem.

Today though since it will be dry for the next 7 days or so, they continue on and finish up the sanding of the plastered part so that is ready for painting or whatever I choose to do. They only have some of the entrance way and the live room ceiling to do one more time. Been nice weather today. Mostly sunny.. Oh.. they did manage to get one of the window sills and small windows put in today…

8hrs work on the inside.

Nov 4th

The guys showed up at 8:40. We talked about the windows and how they plan to do the 2nd window. They need to get a bit more granite (2cm) and then they can fit them nicely. It is tricky to seal them up though. Guys have another hour or so (til 11:30) and then they are done with the sanding the walls smooth. Just need to decide if I want to do a quick paint job.

We talked about how many hours the guys worked on the inside so that he can bill me. 54hrs on the inside is what i have calculated. They managed to get the window sills and the first 4 windows in today. They will work on the plasterboard in between the windows tomorrow, I am guessing.

Nov 5th

The guys showed up about the same time and worked almost the entire day on getting the cement around the windows to look really nice. They still have the one big window around the corner and then the door area and then they can finish the outside of the building. All is done from there part on the inside except the 2nd set of windows which I guess they get around to next week. Weather is supposed to be great so they should be able to finish most of the rest of the work. We will see.. They will also treat the wall and lay and bury the pipe to drain off any water so we will no longer have this issue with water coming through the wall at the top of the studio.

See some recent pictures below.

#117

That big window, wow!

What a massive job, all the best for getting the drainage sorted. I've heard that type of system referred to as a "French Drain" I think.

Cheers!
Jennifer

#118

We are getting close now to have the building completely done so then it will be just up to Joules to find the time to come here and build the inside but at least all the walls and ceiling are more or less done. Needs some paint.. They will paint the outside of the building tomorrow. :mrgreen:

#119

Arghh not another studio with a French drain! That's what mine has. This build looks amazing and I wish I had those views from my place.

It will be amazing to be working in that room. Good luck with ensuring the water doesn't leak in. If where it leaks in is going to be behind an inside room wall, or behind some acoustic treatment, it might be worth getting the wall on the inside 'tanked' with waterproofing material just in case it does breach through again in the future because you'll never know if it is until stuff has gone mouldy.

Cheers
Gareth

#120

Hello Gareth

The views are pretty stunning and now all the windows are in you can really appreciate what people will see. As for the water, we are going to do a lot to make sure we do not get any water in again. This is the focus next week. The huge back concrete wall has been treated on the outside but not the inside. There are two layers of plasterboard, the one closest to the rear concrete wall is moisture resistant but if water does leak down the wall and into the studio, we could end up with some mold issues. All work in Portugal is guaranteed by the builder for 5 years but we will keep on top of this for sure. The roof looks to be very solid as we have had some insane rains and all has been good so far.

I keep you all posted.
Scott

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