Basement studio in Illinois: I'm on the 10 year plan

[jlehan]

Stuart,

thanks for the input. You answered my main question: chiefly, how do you maintain the connection between the two parts of the conduit when the are decoupled.

As far as that switch goes: that's pretty much how every baic switch and receptacle is made/wired in the states.....

any idea how hard it is to cut conduit without ruining the wires inside?

and thanks for the good wishes...always an adventure.

[Soundman2020]

any idea how hard it is to cut conduit without ruining the wires inside?

Yup, I do have an idea about how hard that is: HARD!!! Not impossible, but not a piece of cake either.

You could use a pipe cutter to make the cuts on either side of the piece to be removed:

pipe-cutter-picture-01.jpg

But that leaves the problem of how to get that pieces out with the wires still inside: that implies snipping up the side of that short piece. A nibbler might do the job, if you can get a good start on one end:

Metal-Nibbler-picture-01.jpg

Worst case, you might need to nibble up in two places, to get it out.

There might be better ways of doing it, but at least like that you won't damage the wires.

It might just be easier to pull the wires back through the conduit, make the cuts, then get them in again afterwards.


Here's how switches look where I live:

Switch-picture-01.jpg

Switch-picture-02.jpg

On the switch module itself, you can see some cylindrical things poking out the back: Those house the screws. You put your screwdriver down the cylinder to turn the screw, and there's a hole on the side of the module where you insert the bare end of the wire. Nothing at all is exposed when you are done. Very safe.


- Stuart -

[jlehan]

as always stuart, thanks for the input. so at the very least the electrician "can" do it....whether he wants to is a different story i guess. i'll let you know how it goes.

[jlehan]

And....3 years and 2 kids later.... I wasn't kidding, i'm on at least the 10 year plan.

I do have some funds (about 5K) to take this thing as far as i can take it. My goal is 2 get 2 functioning rooms (control room and "vocal room") along with acoustic treatment inside. My wife is onboard as she wants to start recording the kids as they get into music.

My goal is to, by september, get the control room and vocal booth/storage room functioning, acoustically treated, and liveable. all that expensive equipment comes later .

So here's whats done

1) interior rooms are framed and decoupled from the exterior concrete walls (2 sides) and the rest of the basement and floor above.
- control room has its own ceiling sitting on the interior walls
- tracking room has hat channel attached to the joists above.
2) electrical is roughed in
3) HVAC system is roughed in. - it is decoupled from the room, brings in fresh air, and can heat/cool.

So I think the next steps are (I'm no expert, so please tell me if I am crazy)
1) Firestop everything
2) Get all the low voltage stuff planned out and installed
3) hire a contractor to put up all the unfaced insulation and 2 layers of 5/8" with green glue inside, so i can have 2 finished boxes to work on.

There won't be any more inspections because of our zoning situation, but i absolutely don't want to create the potential for an unsafe situation with inadequate firestopping. My first question relates to the picture below....hopefully someone has some clarity. there aren't a lot of electrical runs in this wall.....so maybe its not a huge deal...but i have 4 kids ... dont want it to be unsafe! [b]How should i look at creating fireblocks?[/b]

Also - that pipe inside the wall - it is going to have 2 layers of 5/8 drywall and green glue between it and the studio. [b] should i wrap it somehow, or is that enough isolation? [/b] any thoughts.?

thanks everyone. hope to finish this by september 2018 and keep progress updated here.