Construction Progress on the new Studio

2008

February 2008

Got 7,000 square feet of 16” R-21 for the interior walls. That’s 94 bags. The cool thing is that they are unfaced and you

just tuck them between the steel studs.

January 2008 – This is the year we open!

Gary really took this project on and helped me solidify the approach for many of the issues I was dragging my feet on.

Each room will have a web cam, wall-mounted speakers and display as well as computer-based proximity readers for entry and egress.

It’s not rocket science, it just takes some time to design and implement.

Rick Chinn came out (1/8/08) just as Gary was finishing up to inspect over what we (he) had done with the audio wiring and to help solidify the design for how to route all these wires in and out of the control room as well as how to implement some sort of PA system.

Just a couple more items and we’ll be ready to call for inspection.

I followed up with the HVAC installers for whom I’d sent bid requests. I have now heard from all of them and they say they can provide their bid easily within a week or two. Big stuff!

December 2007

Gary Bowden suddenly became available so I quickly put together the to-do list of all the wiring I needed done.

I had thought it wouldn’t take very long to route the Cat5, Coax and audio wires but had I done this myself I would still be doing it in the summer. (Thank you, Gary!)

Rick Chinn ordered the audio wire for the studio and we drove to Westlake Audio to pick up the huge wheel of it.

With this wire I can run either analog or digital. With AES/EBU I can put the converter in the room where the person is recording.

November 2007

A one-minute video (Sorry, temporarily unavailable) showing walls and wiring (1.5MB) - this link is dead due to the demise of my previous web host…

October 2007

Gary Bowman came back and finished trimming the posts and the doors (yay!)

Working out what type of audio wires to use and how to install variacs.

September 2007

Decided that I need to learn more and to decide more about how I want the audio wired. In the meantime, it would be good to finish taping and to paint the west lounge so I can finish up the wiring.

Signed and mailed the HVAC design proposal from Greenbusch Group.

9/11 Mehrer came out to frame the top part of the studio/control window.

I decided that I really didn’t want to deal with the control room faux lights and asked him to frame both sides rather than just the studio side.

Called Dave Forrest about the Kinetics sound blocking material for outlet boxes. He says he has it in stock and that I don’t need to use the Kinetics product for the whole box, just the perimeter.

9/12 – See Opus4 studio in Bothell. Mike uses the big variacs and is not sold on the idea of de-buzzing coils. He put all of his wiring on the outside in raceways both at the floor level and again at the 8’ level. He has a lot of lights and light switches.

Guess what. A remodel permit only last for a year. It was about $400 to extend it another year.

17^th – Received DDES permit extension.

Finished painting West Lounge and Storage room. I’m getting better at taping and painting.

August 2007

Didn’t end up doing much. I just didn’t feel like I had a handle on how to approach the wiring. Met with Steve Borquez at Home Depot to look at supplies and picked up a couple things.

Finally decided to just use the blue plastic boxes with the adjustable exposure rather than surface mounting. Bought a carton of these and got started near the end of the month.

Told Dave Forrest (Seattle Sound And Vibration) about my HVAC woes. He suggested Cardinal Heating (whom I have contacted). He thought the idea of a design for which I could get bids was the best approach

Sunday August 26 – installed the audio panel.

Monday August 27 – called Troy (L & I) to ask about what I could use to attach romex between walls that are parallel.

Called Eric Mehrer to look at control room/studio window opening. It should have been framed on the studio side (no light goes there).

Followed up with Platt on the items they were going to find for me.

They hadn’t done anything so I started over. This time I got a call back.

Their supplier had no idea what a Lutron non-buzzing dimmer was

Wasn’t able to get a Main breaker assembly, but they do have 125A breakers and

a mounting bracket that will work.

Asked Rick Chin about splitting rooms onto two breakers and surface mounting the audio panels. Also how to insulate places where low voltage crosses romex.

He said okay as long as the two breakers were on the same side (phase) of the panel.

He put a metal backing plate between his studs and surface mounted the audio panel to that.

8/30 – Installed the “Main” breaker and landed the two 1-0 wires.

July 2007

Steve Borquez came out and we discussed the various approaches to take for electrical wiring

Mehrer Drywall came out and cleaned up the scraps from the interior wall framing.

Went to Home Depot and picked up 500’ of 12-2 and all the PVC surface boxes they had. But once I got them home and really looked at them they didn’t seem like the approach I wanted to take.

Mike Hastings of Cardinal Heating came out for a bid evaluation. He thinks the amp closets are going to need some sort of ventilation and that the 6-ton Hydron system may be too small. He suggests that I have Greenlaw design and then get bids from him and other HVAC installers.

June 2007 (Wall Framing)

Finished taping, priming and painting walls that are behind double walls or up high

Still talking to HVAC design/installers. They are all really busy making big money on commercial contracts and not very interested in a small job like this.

It took two guys about two hours just to unload the truck (steel studs). Some of them are 24’ long.

Tuesday June 12 – First wall goes up!

They need to know the rough openings for the doors and windows but I haven’t picked them out yet.

They started with the east wall (back of the control and isolation rooms).

Then the west wall

It’s amazing how different it all is in 3-D. I noticed right away that the window meant to provide ambient light could actually allow someone to see out if it was just a little lower.

May 2007 (final prep for wall framing)

Finish installing extenders for ceiling springs

Finish perimeter sheet rock

Finish fire taping perimeter sheet rock

Finish filling in gaps no longer valid due to change in room design

Prime near windows

Paint near windows

Purchase 10kVA isolation transformer (too big to pick up!)

Finalize HVAC plan (TODO)

Schedule wall framing (yes, really)

Yet another month devoted to getting ready for the interior wall construction.

I found out from Eric Mehrer that it is actually possible to drive the scissor lift around the rooms. It’s only 32” wide and shorter than a doorway.

That means I don’t have to buy/rent a panel lift.

Lucy Johnson came out to help me change a couple of the colors for the interior design she had provided. I needed to solidify the main wall color because the N/S walls need to be painted before the interior walls go up.

Spent a lot of time contacting HVAC designers and describing the requirements. The thing is that they pretty much have to do all the engineering in order to write their proposal.

When I started threading the (extension) rods into the springs I found most of them would not go in. There were two things: 1) the caps sit at an angle and I needed to make a larger hole to make the rod perpendicular to the threads. 2) Kinetics zinc plated the caps AFTER taping the threads instead of before. This messed up the threads in most of them. Before finding this out I pushed too hard on one of them and the spring (which sits above the sheet rock) fell apart.

Knowing how to make the hole the right size made threading a lot of them easier. Dave Forrest (Seattle Sound and Vibration) had a tap welded to an extension and brought it out so I could re-tap any that needed it. With this tool I was able to finish the last of the 170 springs/extensions.

I’m still not well enough to hang sheet rock so I started working on the gaps that need to be filled. Hard to say how mixing 50 pound bags of concrete mix is better than hanging sheet rock, but it is. If the mix is too thick it’s hard to smooth out, if it is too runny, it goes everywhere!

Nick helped me put most of the scrap sheetrock (and that darn rosin paper I’ve been moving around for over a year) into the truck and do a dump run. That really helped a lot.

It was easy enough to do the first coat of tape, but I don’t really know how to do the 2^nd or 3^rd coat. Those are needed in the lounges as well as near the windows.

April 2007 (perimeter wall sheet rock)

This month is devoted to getting ready for the interior wall construction. Once those walls are built it will no longer be possible to drive the scissor lift around. (Found out later that this is not true)

Gary Bowden came back and started working on the rough plumbing for the bathroom.

I told him my idea of how to keep the data center cool and he came up with a way to make it happen.

He picked up the wires for audio power and we pulled it through the conduit (about 80’)
Then we tore the LB’s apart, pulled the wires out and *this* time we included the ground wire when we pulled it through. (D’oh!)

The green board is for walls which will be blocked by yet another wall. South studio wall after taping. Most of this will not be visible.

It’s been great to no longer have to look at the insulation. East lounge before taping.

Here’s a general idea of how it looked after getting some of the walls sheet rocked.

It’s been interesting how the sound of the room has changed as the various walls have gone from insulation to sheet rock.

When just the ceiling was done there was a horrible flutter echo from the ceiling to the floor. But now that most of the walls are done, it actually sounds better. It’s more of a diffuse reverb.

Gerard and Larry from Earth Heat came out and we formulated a plan for the rough HVAC components that would need to be in place before the interior wall construction. That’s next…

I took the week of the 23^rd off to finish the sheet rock but wrecked my back on the 2^nd day. Doctor says I’ll be out of commission for 6-8 weeks.

Larry’s plan would need to be engineered to meet the requirements for the studio. I tried to find a company to do this (via Studio Pacifica) but they need to work with engineered plans, too.

So I got some names from Studio Pacifica for design/build HVAC companies as well as an engineer. They are all pretty busy. More about this in May…

March 2007 (ceiling springs and sheet rock)

Since the isolation springs go on every other (for the most part) ceiling joist the ones they do go on needed to be doubled.

Here is a picture of the joist and springs

After nailing two or three 12’ joists (two nails every foot) I realized I would need a nailer. (estimated 1200 nails)

Since they rent out for about $100 a day I bought a compressor and nail gun.

Since this could not be done with a ladder and would be really hard with scaffolding I rented a scissor lift.

But it had just snowed and the driver didn’t want to come out until the snow was gone. (Wait a couple days)

Without a full concrete pad in front of the load in door it was quite a trick getting the lift off the truck and through the door.

Just a small scratch at the top of the door frame…

It was during the process of lifting and nailing the 12-foot 2x6 joists that I realized I probably am not in good enough shape

to hang sheet rock over my head. It was right about this time that Chuck (family friend) hooked me up with Gary Bowden
with whom he often works. I got a bid from someone off Craig’s List as well as a commercial contractor.

            Dave Forest (Seattle Sound and Vibration – the isolation springs) had lent me his cordless impact driver (for the 3” lag screws)
            but needed it back suddenly when something came up. Since I now own an air compressor it was easy enough to buy a pneumatic
            driver (rather than a $240 cordless driver).

3/17 – Installed the last spring! I was short eight gray springs which Karen picked up on her way back from the airport (from San Diego).
Here’s what the springs look like installed

3/21 - First piece of sheet rock is attached to upper ceiling

What it looks like hanging sheet rock up on the lift

3/23 – Hang my first piece of sheet rock (under the right west window)

Ceiling partially taped

February 2007

Installed ISONAS computer-based door-access system

Finished perimeter wall wiring of coax, phone, power and Cat5.

Passed L&I Inspection!

January 2007

Finish shell wiring
Steve Borquez came out to give me a pre-inspection inspection. He clarified a lot of the things that had been slowing me down.

Plan and purchase security/access system from ISONAS. Learned about PoE, prox readers and electric door strikes.

Finalize plan for isolation transformer with the help of Rick Chin

Purchase 2000 feet of audio wire

Chose and purchased the door lights through Rick Ravenscroft

2006

December 2006 (one year from shell completion, three years from project start)

Final plans

Shell wiring

Kinetic spring planning

(Wind, Snow, Cold, power outages)

November 2006

Insulate walls (where no wires are routed)

Design wiring circuits

October (one year from ground breaking)

Started installing insulation in the rafters (20 – 23 feet from the floor)

Step 1: Cut to Fit

Step 2: Carry it up the ladder

Step 3: Place it in the rafters

Step 4: staple the sides (No photo. My wife covers her eyes when I do this)

How it looks

Got several drywall and metal stud contractors to come out for bid requests

September

Started installing insulation in the perimeter Walls

North wall

South wall

Put steel wool in the big gaps and expanding foam around the rest (I’m not sure what happened to the text in the JPG)

Decided how and where to put footing for the mezzanine

Start planning how to wire everything (routing)

Got bid from large commercial contractor for doing all the walls and ceilings

Got the shed wiring inspected (just need to fix a couple things)

Got the studio non-audio panel installed (no more extension cords to the shed!)

Requested bids from more drywall and metal stud contractors

The studio building permit is ready to be picked up!

August

Decided to remove the south hallway.

George finished the basic permitable plans

I worked on smoothing out the north side to prep for grass seed

Scheduled plan review with the building department.

I wanted to know what drums would sound like in there before all the walls went up.

Here is a quick recording I did. I did one with overheads but they weren’t placed very well and focused too much on just a couple things.

July

Time to paint!

Borrowed scaffolding from Gerard.

It was 80 when I started on the south side, now it’s raining and I just called to re-schedule the high lift needed for the gable ends.
I really needed the 40 foot lift to get to the 30 foot peaks!

View from the southwest

View from the northwest

Using the lift to prime

June

George provides some good ideas/suggestions.

I damaged one of the radiant tubes while fighting with one of the forms.

Use ceramic blade and chisel to open area large enough for repair.

Heat pumps wired and started. (Ooh, warm floor)

Send paperwork to structural engineer George recommended.

May

Plumbing complete (except for the air handler/AC unit which is not here yet).

Finalized plan for ventilation and cooling.

George came out for a site visit and to go over some details.

Start removing the pressure treated 2x4 forms (not going very easy!).

April

Meter base installed (energized)

Underground conduit from machine shed to a) non-audio service panel and b) audio service panel installed.

Ron from Earth Heat started plumbing the compressors and water pumps in the machine room.

March

Finished the water line and CAT5/phone conduit. Backfill!

Get electrical permit, electrical panels and the disconnects.

Meter base connections. The Disconnects (since the other panels are in the studio).

Sign contract with George.

Septic tanks installed, wired and inspected

February

Met with George Hallowell of Studio Pacifica to discuss using his services to take my floor plans and make them into something I could get a permit for and for which I could build from.

There was also some investigation into the ventilation and cooling needs.

January

More about the heating system

With the cost of propane and electricity going crazy it was important to spend the extra money to get earth sourced heating.

The radiant tubes installed under the concrete slab will heat the building using hot water generated by a pair of heat pumps which turn cold water (ground temperature is about 55 degrees Fahrenheit) into colder water. The extra heat is used to heat water pumped into the tubes within the slab.

The water running through the heat pumps goes through thousands of feet of looped water lines buried in two layers (at 5’ and 3’) within three 90’ trenches.

What a great time of year to be out digging trenches!

It was within one of these trenches that I assembled the 150’ of 3” schedule 80 conduit that the main power lines will be pulled through.

I was able to get the coax and phone line in time to simply lay those in the trench. I didn’t see a rea$on to put them in conduit.

This is also when the machine shed was built (to house the compressors, pumps and ventilation system).

It was also during this record-breaking rainy month that I rented a small excavator and dug the trench (through my backyard and front yard) for the water line.

This is the trench into which I put 1 1/2 “conduit for CAT5 and phone to run from the house to the studio.

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Saturday December 17, 2005

Studio Shell complete* (too cold to caulk)

Full crew working away

Done!

I placed a couple Sennheizer MD421 microphones in the middle of the room about three feet high and about three feet apart aimed straight ahead.

These alto saxophone recordings were done with a Dell laptop and an Mbox audio interface/pre amp. The white noise in the “twelve foot” recording is the computer fan.

(I’m not sure why it was on. The temperature was in the low 30’s.)

Twelve Feet from microphones

Three Feet from microphones

One mic close, the other about 10 feet behind it. Tracks panned about 10% apart. Same level on each.

Week of December 12^th

Build forms for walkways, door entries and machine shed

Pour the slab (two separate days

Wheeling the mud

Finishing second half

Finish south wall

Week of December 5^th

Prep for radiant heating