Garden mix room near Nottingham, UK

[garethmetcalf]

Thanks for the support and positive comments guys! It’s been a tough couple of weeks (as I’m not a builder!) but I have succeeded in completing the ceiling today.

The finished height from wood floor (yet to be installed) to underside of plasterboard will be 2.25m. Obviously the joists are lower than that but it still feels like a decent amount of headroom inside the room. This is good, as getting a decent ceiling height was the reason the floor is below ground level - a decision that cost a lot of time, money and of course heartache when the water came in.

Anyway, the plasterboard lift is a godsend and with a bit of bodging I used it to lift all 8 ceiling modules. As I was working alone these were actually assembled on the lift - I made the frame from 3x2, attached it to the lift, did a test lift to make sure it fit, then added the two layers of plasterboard whilst the frame was on the lift, then lifted into situ.

I also spent some time getting some insulation on top of the inner ceiling joists where I could, and also completed the vapour barrier to protect the plasterboard from condensation.

The last ceiling section near the door is actually higher than the others, to give as much headroom as possible when entering the room. Acoustically this isn’t ideal, but needs must.

Next steps are getting the door and window made for the inner room, caulking the ceiling, and then on to wiring for power and light.

I’m really pleased I completed the inner room in the two weeks I had off work, on my own except for two of the days. Just fell asleep in the middle of a film on tv, no surprise.

[Starlight]

Source of the post... 8 ceiling modules. As I was working alone these were actually assembled on the lift - I made the frame from 3x2, attached it to the lift, did a test lift to make sure it fit, then added the two layers of plasterboard whilst the frame was on the lift, then lifted into situ.

Ingenious. I am so glad they worked out ok as that is a lot for one person to do alone - I know from personal experience of getting sheets of 15mm fire-rated plasterboard onto a plasterboard lift alone.

[garethmetcalf]

Yeah it’s just so cumbersome to move and lift, isn’t it? I managed to fall under one piece when I was manoeuvring it, luckily it was already cut down to 2/3 size and no damaged occurred.

Well done for moving full sheets onto a plasterboard lift alone!

Gareth

[garethmetcalf]

Day 118.

I’ve been back at work this week and of course having had two weeks off it’s been busy. I’m also working on mixes for a client’s upcoming album, even though we’re planning to do the final works to father in my room when it’s finished. Nothing like a deadline to make you work!

Anyway, this week has been a combination of starting to put the mains wiring in, as well as making the frames for inner window and door.

This is taking longer than you’d think because of the height difference between outside shell and inside room. More pictures and detailed description will follow but here’s where I’m at. I’m essentially designing this as I cut the wood...

Gareth

[garethmetcalf]

Right so here’s more detail.

The window has become a pain because I’m trying to follow the design outlined in Rod’s book, with some alterations to suit the fact I have a standard UPVC window in the outer shell, and it is taller than the ceiling in the inner shell.

The first job was to create a fake window frame on the inside of the UPVC window that would be separated from the window frame for the inner window by a rubber strip. For all of the window frame I have been using the square planed timber from Wickes that is 18mm thick and comes in a variety of widths. I’ve had to trim the width of some with the table saw but mostly I’ve been able to use them as is.

The second job was to cut some bits at angles to go across the top, linking the two windows which have approx 150mm difference in height. I bought some grey wood stain to use on all the wood in between the windows to hopefully make it look right from the outside (against the anthracite grey UPVC frame).

Basically this bit was just measure and cut and bodge to fit! It looks ok I think.

So now I have a continuous rubber seal bridging the two structures and I’ll pour some silica gel into this at the bottom of the window. I’ll then cover in some black fabric and add the final layer of wood to both ‘frames’ which will become the wood the inner window is pressed up against, using glazing tape as per Rod’s book. This wood will need staining too.

I’ve ordered some 11.5mm laminate glass from a local supplier, having measured and measured again 17 times. I’ve also ordered some that will be in my inner door. I’ve read that glass is approx 3 x the mass of plasterboard, so as I have 30mm of plasterboard the glass is a good match.

This has been a right fiddly pain.

Rubber along bottom

Bodges to get ‘inner frame’ the same width as outer frame.

View up to the angled, stained wood. Note how the gap between inner frame and outer frame steps out from the sides to the top... it never touches though.

[endorka]

Nice work. The lengths we go to for quality eh?

Cheers!
Jennifer

[garethmetcalf]

Day 122.

This week I’ve been doing bits here and there but last night spent a few hours at it. The silica gel for the window cavity and then a material covering was installed... I’m glad I googled because there are recommended amounts of silica gel for a certain air volume. I have no idea what happens if you put too much in, but I put in the calculated 30g which means I have another 200g spare!

I then added some of the stained trim to go in the window cavity and was pleased that the stain id used matches the UPVC frame pretty well. Up close the finish is not great because I’d obviously put too much on in places. I don’t think I’ve got the energy to sand it back though!

I then did some more drilling holes and pulling power cables through. Got most of the way around with the ring main for the sockets and a lighting circuit for mood lighting before my flat drill hole drilling things went blunt and I ran out of cable.

Off to screwfix shortly for more and some adjustable angle LED downlights. I’m getting fire rated - not sure that’s necessary as they won’t be mounted in the plasterboard, they’ll be mounted below it and eventually the ceiling will be covered in white material at which point they’ll be flush.

I’m going for three light circuits - two LEDs at the front on one switch, two nearer the back on another and a third switch for mood lighting. This will actually power five sockets - one in each corner plus one above the mix position. I’ll find some suitable fixtures or strips.

Off work again next week so going to glue down the wood floor and start soffit wall build.

Cheers
Gareth

[Starlight]

Source of the post... adjustable angle LED downlights. I’m getting fire rated - not sure that’s necessary as they won’t be mounted in the plasterboard, they’ll be mounted below it and eventually the ceiling will be covered in white material at which point they’ll be flush.

LEDs are wonderful because the risk of overheating and fire is much reduced compared with old filament or halogen bulbs.

In terms of doing lighting correctly, there will be a (presumably national) code to follow to ensure that there is sufficient breathing (cooling) space above and around light fittings. It should be on the product packaging.

[garethmetcalf]

Thanks Starlight, good reminder. I'll make sure I check the packaging and hope I can meet the requirements. These are 5w lights so I should imagine their heat output is negligible.

Gareth

[garethmetcalf]

Since my last post I’ve been progressing the cable clipping and wiring of sockets etc. Like with so many things about this build, it amazes me how long it takes to do certain jobs. Cable clipping the mains power and lighting cables around the top of the frame and down the studs to the sockets has taken longer than expected. I can’t finish the job as I am waiting for some washers to arrive that will enable me to bolt the ceiling joists together and I have a bunch of cables running around one particular bit of ceiling to get back to the consumer unit. These will all be hidden.

[Starlight]

Source of the post... it amazes me how long it takes to do certain jobs.

That describes my experience too.

Source of the postI am waiting for some washers to arrive ...

Ah, the sign of a lockdown studio build. I can no longer pop round to the local ironmonger so the added time and postage of ordering so many things online is delays progress and adds to the project's costs.

[garethmetcalf]

Glad it’s not just me, Starlight!

Today I finished the clipping of cables up, and started on some of the actual studio related build elements!

Day 129.

I measured and cut some 4x2 for the bottom of the soffit mount front wall, and silicon sealed it to the floor. Before committing to this I used some bits o f 4x2 to double check that the speakers will point to the right location...

Hopefully this will be set enough tomorrow to build up to the ‘shelf’ that the monitor boxes will sit on. I’m not going to continue past that yet as I want to do a baseline reading of the room with no treatment, but I need the glass to arrive for the door and window to be able to do that.

I also silicon sealed some 3x2 at the back of the room that will be the bottom of the fabric frame in front of the hangers. This is so I know where to lay the floor up to.

Finally, I made a good start on the steps down into the studio. Because these will have an air cavity it decided to fill the cavity with rockwool and leave it open to the front. My thinking is that this may help absorb some sound and if not I can always cover the front up with wood. Because of this decision, this meant I had to faff around adding extra wood Barton’s between the joists and stapling fabric to them. The pictures make this clearer.

Tomorrow is finish the steps and make the soffit wall/shelf. With any luck Friday I can make the speaker boxes and maybe glue down some of the floor. We’ll have to see!!

Cheers

[endorka]

Nice one. I like the "step trap"

[garethmetcalf]

Today saw the conclusion of the ‘step trap’, and the start of the soffit wall. The steps will be finished with the same 12mm thick plywood that is going on the floor. The endless “how shall I do this” continued today with making a jig of sorts to allow me to trace the curve of the bottom step on to the step above:

I also connected my light circuit to a plug so I could use the ceiling lights for the first time, whilst awaiting the electrician to connect it all up proper.

Despite using a spirit level and laser measure, the slight inaccuracies in the level of the floor have meant the framing for the soffit wall is not level at the top, front to back, so I’m going to have to use some packers when installing the osb on the framing. Luckily I bought far too many for fitting the window so hoping I have enough to get it level.

This afternoon’s work on the soffit framing made it feel like a studio for the first time, which was good. With any luck tomorrow I’ll get the framing and osb in place plus make the speaker boxes. Then I’ll be ready to take a baseline REW reading once the window and door glass arrive and are fitted.

[garethmetcalf]

Day 131 - we have sound!

I finished off the framing of the soffit wall shelf, and cut two layers of OSB into triangles for the tops. I put the one cut for the right side on the left and discovered that despite using a spirit level and measuring etc something was wrong because it wasn’t the same shape. I decided it was right to get the symmetry correct at this stage so did some bodging to the frame.

I then cut some MDF to size for the two speaker boxes and had a look at the expensive Sorbothane hemispheres. Very odd things that are surprisingly sticky.

I cut a rectangle in the top and bottom of the speaker boxes and also in the OSB shelves for air flow to the speakers.

Finally, l placed the speakers in their correct positions on top of the hemispheres (which did indeed compress with the weight of the speakers), and played some sound!!!

Of course the room sounds bad but I was able to do a quick isolation test, even without the window and door on the inner structure.

With music playing at 83dB, A weighted, i checked outside the UPVC door: 51.3dB. Hard to tell how much of that was general background noise from the road and neighbours. Not bad to be fair. But I’m sure it’ll improve a lot once the secondary door and window are in.

It felt like a real moment having my monitors in there playing music for the first time. The end might be in sight...

The next day (today) I finally bolted the joists together, clipped in the last bit of wiring and screwed the consumer unit to the wall ready for wiring when the electrician can get here.

A rest day tomorrow then back to my day job. I’ll be gluing down the wooden floor in my evenings next week.