Len Morgan's Studio Build Diary

[sharward]

Beautiful -- all four of 'em!

Thanks for thinking of me with the "virtual turkey," Len! Actually, I did take a break on Thursday from the impact hammering to go to my uncle's (where my mom was also hanging out) and had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with them.

So, you ordered a wife and got two daughters for free, eh?

Wow, look at your progress -- that's remarkable! I hope that once my slab situation is put together that I can move as quickly as you have been.

Thanks for sharing the pics, as usual.

Any lessons to pass along? You mentioned your "bacon" being saved a few times. (For those around the globe who don't quite get that expressioin, it kind of means "being lucky." ) I want to save as much bacon as I can!

--Keith

[len-morgan]

So, you ordered a wife and got two daughters for free, eh?

Beware of discounts and freebies! Be very afraid. The older daughter is turning 20 in December and is every bit the terror that teenage daughters are perported to be. Being a gentleman, I will refrain from expressing my true feelings. Let's just say that I'd wear out my punctuation keys. I have no one to blame but myself though. The original plan was to have only the little one come to the US with Mom. The older one was going to stay. U.S. Immigration laws being what they are, if the older one had not come at the same time as my wife to be, she would have NEVER been able get a visa (well, maybe after 5 or 6 years on a waiting list. Young single women have a very difficult time getting visas. So I pushed my case and convinced her father to let her go long enough to get her green card (not to be confused with green glue).

Wow, look at your progress -- that's remarkable! Very Happy I hope that once my slab situation is put together that I can move as quickly as you have been.

The secret to progress is simple: Competent help and knowing when to get out of the way!

[len-morgan]

Any lessons to pass along? You mentioned your "bacon" being saved a few times. (For those around the globe who don't quite get that expressioin, it kind of means "being lucky." Smile ) I want to save as much bacon as I can!

Lessons I've learned so far:

1) Don't trust estimates of material useage provide by design programs. My first (computer) esitmate of 2x4s was 99. Ended up using 207! And we didn't have more than 10' total of scrap. Drywall looks like it will be off by about 25%. I think I would have done better with a dart board and blindfold.

2) Related to #1, it will cost at least double (and more likely and order of magnitude) what you think it will. Things like screws, cool tools you find at Home Depot while shopping the stuff you REALLY need, etc all add up. Those "little bits here and there" can consume a lot of your budget.

3) Mark where your studs and joists are before you cover them with drywall. I have not been able to locate a stud finder that worked reliably through 5/8" drywall although I have tried many (see #2 above! ).

4) No matter where they end up laying, make sure that your studs/joists are on some sort of consistent center spacing. This is exceedingly difficult with splayed walls and such but even if at the end of a wall you end up needing a stud 4" away from the end to keep spacing consistent all the way down the wall, DO IT. This is not something you can fix in post production. If you don't you end up shaving and inch or two here or there which really slows down the work.

5) Don't be afraid to return wood that is warped - Better yet, go pick it yourself (and mark it, preferably with an odd color and in a way that is difficult for the supplier to copy).

6) Don't buy (and have delivered) more material than you have floor space to put it on. If you want to be really good, plan on having a little space to work too so you can actually us up the stuff you bought.

7) Take the time to think about how you're going to build. I know, I know, the smell of sawdust and joint compound bekons like a long lost lover but resist the urge! When putting up the last sheet of dry wall across the door way in my vocal booth both my carpenter/electrician helper and I got in there - him to screw it down and me to hold the sheet in place (it has to be raised about 3/4" or so off the ground to meet the ceiling). Don't get ahead of now. As soon as we put in the last screw, he asked me to hand him the Dremel tool to cut out the door opening and I said "What Dremel tool?" I took quite a while with his pocket knife (the only other tool we had besides the drywall screw gun) to cut a big enough hole so I could get out and get the Dremel. Now while you are all ROFLing, at least I didn't paint myself into the corner! Perhaps a better way to do this would have been to put up the door opening FIRST so that we could have just pulled down the insulation and walked between the studs.

I guess what I'm advising here is that you "build" in your head before you take hammer to nail (or driver to screw as the case may be). Make sure you don't have material where you need to build something or that it is at least easily moveable. Note that 75 sheets of 5/8" inch drywall stacked too close to a wall you need to cover does NOT meet the burden of "easily moveable."

Probably most important: Remember that you have (had) a family, bills (not construction related), mortgage, .... job, etc. You probably have a significant other that does not share your lack of concern for drywall dust in bed. She KNOWS it's not baby powder! Your family will serve you better and far longer than ANY recording space you could possibly build! If you choose to ignore them, then build it really well because you may end up living in it!

I guess that's enough wisdom for one post.

len

[sharward]

Outstanding!

I'm sure I'll have lots of wisdom of my own to share as I get deeper into my own construction project.

--Keith

[len-morgan]

Keith,

Do you know if there is "sticky" with words of wisdom like this? I know there's lots of theory and "best practices" but sometimes little things (like having ALL the tools in the room before covering up the door) don't seem to fit any where. That might be a good resource for others (like myself) that don't have a lot of construction experience. I've discovered that it doesn't work quite the same as on "This Old House." And to think I was going to have it all done in one thirty minute episode!

len

[len-morgan]

9) "Plumb" is not a fruit. "Square" is not the guy with thick glasses you knew in high school. Yes, Virgina, it really DOES matter.

10) Do not listen to the radio while working if they are playing songs with numbers in them! (1999 - Prince, 1,2,3 - Gloria Estafan, 12 Days of Christmas - Various Artists). It really makes it hard to remember that wall you just measured.

11) Turn off your telephone and/or cell phone and disconnect your doorbell BEFORE going up the ladder to put up the next sheet of drywall.

12) When putting up your calking, plan on releasing the trigger a good 5 minutes before you get to the end of the current bead to prevent losing 1/2 a tube on the floor. UPDATE: I just ordered a large size (29 oz) ergonomically designed (i.e., a paded trigger grip + 20%) DRIPLESS calk gun to be sent UPS Overnight. Supposedly, when you let go of the trigger, it stops. I will report back. BTW: $19.99 from Dripless, Inc.

[len-morgan]

In my zeal to list what I've learned so far, I forgot my latest pictures. Here they come!

[sharward]

Look at you go!

I have a spring-loaded suppsedly dripless gun, and it's better than the standard gun, but it's hardly dripless. Not only do I "stop squeezing," but I also release pressure on the tube by partially ejecting it.

[len-morgan]

I think the one I'm getting actually sucks back a little when you release the trigger. We'll know for sure tomorrow.

[knightfly]

Sooo, Len, now that my sides aren't hurting as much, tell me; was your vox booth well enough isolated so no one could hear you yelling for help??!?

All seriousness aside, your request for a "sticky" on this subject is an excellent one; I'll start one, and you can cut/paste your excellent beginnings into it. I'm sure more will follow. I may even share a couple of my more profound boo-boo's eventually... Steve

[len-morgan]

Sooo, Len, now that my sides aren't hurting as much, tell me; was your vox booth well enough isolated so no one could hear you yelling for help??!?

Yes. Besides, we couldn't have called out for any body because we were laughing so hard speech itself was out of the question.

All seriousness aside, your request for a "sticky" on this subject is an excellent one

I'm glad I could put a smile on your face, although I appologize for hurting your sides. I have copied what I had and added a few more from tonight's "lessons", so hopefully you can prepare yourself before you read them.

[len-morgan]

I guess it's time to update this thread! I've been bumped to the second page At least it's because I've been busy building and not because I ran out of money or enthusiasm.

I guess the biggest item to report is The first layer of dry wall is up EVERYWHERE!!!!

We have a little mud/tape to finish on the columns. The fiberglass mesh tape does not work well (i.e., the self-adhesive backing is exactly that - it sticks to itself but nothing else!) when the temperature is low. I probably made a mistake by difering the HVAC installation (and it's $7K price tag) until I was a little closer to the end. Winter has set in here and it's common to be 20 degrees or so in the mornings and the ONLY thing that sticks in that weather is the snot running from my nose (forgive the descriptive word picture but I'm sure we've all experienced it).

I haven't got a lot of pictures. Despite my best efforts, white dry wall looks pretty much the same no matter how close or what angle you take the picture from. I do have a couple of (blurry) shots of backer rod/caulk going in that some might find informative.

Tonight's job is to finish mud and tape on the column soffits and then begin the second layer of drywall on the ceilings of the rooms we'd already finished. When (and if) the mud ever dries in the big room, we are going to go back and put up the second layer of ceiling drywall so that we'll have room for the 70 new sheets of dry wall I've got to order to finish (DAMN that estimating program!!! ). We spent a lot of time moving things around in the main room as we were trying to drywall because the pile was in the middle of the floor. I figure if we get the next layer on the ceiling (only) and leave enough space around it, we can still put up the walls while we work down the pile. We'll see.

The second layer SHOULD go up a little faster because we won't have to keep stopping and running snake cables and HVAC hoses, etc. Also, the drywall on the walls is going to go up vertically so we won't have hold up a 4x8 sheet, press it tight to the ceiling, and then try and screw it in. We WILL have to shave about 3/8" off the bottom of each sheet because we've dropped the ceiling down 1 1/4" with the two layers of DW that's up there. I should be writing another tip in Words of Wisdom or How NOT To Do It... about this soon.

Ok, with that brief (for me) introduction, here's some pictures....

[len-morgan]

And here's a few more showing the work on the Main Room...

[len-morgan]

Here's a picture of what will hopefully be a time (and quality) saver. You shove one of these plastic things in the outlet box (with the wires already there), and then when you go to hang the DW, the pointed end will puncture the DW in the right spot. You then take a Dremel or similar rotary drill with a DW bit in it and pull it over to the side until you contact the edge of the outlet box. You then move out and just a hair further to get the bit on the other side of the box (outside) and cut out the rest of the box. The plastic protects you from slicing the insulation on the wires.

I imagine it would work just as well with the outlet installed. As you can see from the picture, I didn't have these when the first layer went up I'll report back on how they work when we begin the second layer. They are $20 for a set of 10.

Note to self (to be moved to Tips Thread): Don't leave one of these on a black chair. I think I'm going to walk with a limp for a couple of weeks! Gee, I really wish someone ELSE would find out a few of these pearls of wisdom instead of me being the pioneer! Or maybe it's common sense that I don't have.

By the way: If you forget the above rule, you actually CAN be 5'11" and reach the ceiling!

len

[len-morgan]

An Update On My Progress

Well, no pictures but an update none the less. The vocal booth and the main room now have both layers of drywall. That a little more than 1/2 of the drywalling. I still need to cover the beam and columns in a second layer but I've gots lots of scraps to use that I can hold up myself.

We've hit a rather cold spell here (highs in the 30s/40s) which has slowed progress a little (it's very hard to hold up the DW and try to accurately hit the studs when you are shivering so hard that the chattering of your teeth is severly testing your sound isolation. For those of you that don't remember, I'm 6' tall and weigh 118 lbs so I have zero internal insulation. Saturday we broke down decided we'd try to resurect the old furnace (until I get the new one installed). We spent about 90 minutes touching various wires together and using a light switch, some bailing wire and a lot of duct tape, we managed to get it fired up. We then stuffed one of the flex lines in a hole at the top of the unit and viola! HEAT. We managed to get it up to close to 65! It took a while to heat up be we did an experiment and found that after 3 1/2 hours, we'd only dropped 5 degrees.

The current plan is to mud and tape the vocal booth and main room, then while that dries, put up the second layer in the control room and drum booth. We'll then go back to the VB and main room and sand/reapply more mud, then back to the CR/DB while that dries, etc., etc.

If I get anything worthy of a picture, I'll post it.

len