Rehearsal Space in Katy Texas

It happened so fast with the general contractor taking over. I received the shipment that morning as his crew had not arrived before the delivery... moisture barrier, steel, anchor bolts, stirrups, everything necessary was all there. I went to work and he texted me pictures as they were preparing the slab and I trust him on these matters. We had gone over my plans in detail that I prepared and posted previously. They call for grade beams around the perimeter and one internal. I am a licensed civil engineer so I should be capable of getting this part correct. You can see the grade beams excavated, moisture barrier installed, steel reinforcing being dowelled into the existing slab. I did not specify sand or gravel subgrade. It is typical for slabs of this size in this area to just compact the existing material. We do have expansive clays that can be an issue, but the material here was not too bad (as in fat clays), the slab is relatively small, and we have the grade beams. By the way, when I backfilled the conduit trenches and where the trees and roots had been removed by me a while ago, I compacted the soil back in lifts very thoroughly under optimum moisture content. Plus a few rain events water tamped the soil very well. I was very thorough about that and so they only had a few inches of fill to compact that was generated by the grade beam excavation. I did not mention any of that, but it is important to note. My wife was there at home, they discovered an unknown irrigation line and broke it as they were excavating the grade beams, and called me to find the shut-off valve. My guess is the previous owner had plans to irrigate the area where the wooden deck was located and changed their mind. I excavated all over that place and never came across it. Erik

And so I got home and the slab was done.

I have a question about the window detail in Rod's book. It appears to be for interior windows and I need to make an exterior window. I can't quite figure out how to incorporate a window sill flashing or any other modifications for better weatherproofing which I am thinking I will need. Erik

The framing crew arrived. I got very stressed out as I saw they were not understanding the plans correctly and the two leafs were being connected. After a meeting with the general contractor and the foreman of the framing crew, they started making corrections. Once it started looking more like the details in the plans they started to understand and make it right. Whew! Erik

Double layer of 7/16 OSB going on exterior. First a vertical seam, then a horizontal seam on the second layer. Erik

The framing crew brought up a good point. With two layers of weight on the inner leaf, the wall will want to lean over. I told them the first ceiling layer of OSB will prevent that and will have to go on first, then explained the staggering of layers.. ceiling, wall, ceiling, wall shown on the details in the plans. They put up some temporary blocks between the two framed wall leafs for now as shown in the picture. They will be removed later. Erik

With two layers of weight on the inner leaf, the wall will want to lean over.

Why would it want to lean over? If built correctly, there should be no problem with that. It would only lean over if not set vertically and not well bolted to the floor. Also, if the layers are not put on correctly. And the ceiling framing will prevent any "leaning" from happening too. I'm not sure why they think the wall would lean... - Stuart -

I am sure the concern is not necessary. The sole plates are anchored to the slab. I will make sure the blocks get removed. Not very much progress going on over the holidays. Met with the electrician and hvac subcontractors to go over any remaining issues with them. Erik

Met with the electrician and hvac subcontractors to go over any remaining issues with them.

You might already be aware of this, but with the electrician did you make sure to specify star grounding, only one single wall penetration per room, and all surface-mount outlets, switches and light fixtures? If you don't specify that up front, you'll likely find the electrician punching holes in all your brand new walls, and poking wires and boxes through them... :shock: Also, for the HVAC guy, did you specify that the the flow velocity from all registers must be less than 300 FPS at the absolute maximum, and ideally less than 100 FPS? And also that all duct work must be lined on the inside with proper duct-liner, the registers must be the special low noise (high open area) type, and give him the full specs for the silencer boxes? Here too, if you don't specify all that up-front then they'll just do the typical high velocity, small cross section, unlined ducts with no silencers and small, cheap registers. I guess you already did, but it doesn't hurt to make sure! :) Happy New Year! - Stuart -

Yes, I specified the star grounding. He calls it isolation grounding, but we are saying the same thing. I actually ran a few extra conduits through the slab for no holes through the walls. The wiring from the new subpanel in the garage will go through a hole in the garage wall outside of the two leaf system, then run surface mounted outside the room to the conduits I placed, then through the conduits into the room and then all surface mounted electrical from there inside the room. However, I failed to properly plan for one thing. I am planning on mounting a tv for having sports on in the man cave when the need arises. The prime location for the tv is very far away from the conduits and the surface mounted electrical will look ridiculous getting over there. I wish I had set one more conduit, but I wasn't really thinking about the ideal location for the tv. Since this will be the furthest wall from my closest neighbor ( I know... doesn't matter), and there will be electrical in the bathroom behind these two leafs on that side, and there is a bathroom and a third wall on the other side of the bathroom (4 ft away from the two leafs... I know... is that a 3 leaf issue???? I guessed that the 4 feet distance is ok). I decided to allow one hole in that wall. I purchased the putty packs for the box. Make it two holes because I need the coaxial cable for the tv as well. It is a bit of a compromise on the isolation, but I was preparing to have a few uh oh moments. The A/C system will be the mini-split ductless system. I ran a 2 inch conduit through the slab to get the line set and control wire from the outside unit to the inside unit without a hole through the wall. I will have the necessary fresh air ventilation unit mounted in the garage and will then have two holes for the air exchange into the room. I will draw fresh air from the outside through a garage wall and build silencer boxes in the garage for the ducting. The flow rate on the ERV unit is only 78 cfm. I ran a 3/4" conduit from the garage into the room for the control wire for the ventilation unit to mount the controller in the room without a hole through the walls. I originally asked my wife if she wanted a/c in the bathroom as well. So, I added a second indoor unit in the bathroom and exhausted the air from the ERV into the existing room in the garage that will serve as an entry room (or maybe one day an isolation room or control booth ... dreaming). However, I did not plan properly. The HVAC guy said he can only get one line set through the 2 inch conduit because of the insulation around the line set. So, the second indoor unit line set will have to be surface mounted on the outside of the room up through the soffit vent space above the two ceiling leafs, through the attic space over to the bathroom. Problem solved. The HVAC guy said the indoor unit for the bathroom was overkill which I knew. He suggested we just exhaust from the ERV into the bathroom and it will keep the bathroom plenty cool. We can save the cost of the additional indoor unit. I am waiting on the cost reduction amount to make the decision. The HVAC guy also happened to be very interested in noise reduction and said he has a very expensive high quality sound meter and wants to come back and measure the sound reduction of the room when it is finished. I also set a 3/4 inch pvc line though the slab for the condensation drain for the indoor unit. However, when the crew poured the slab, they knocked it over and it is now buried in the slab. So, the HVAC guy will have to put one hole through the walls for the condensation drain line. I plan on building a bass trap in that corner that will cover the line set and condensation line and hopefully reduce the sound transmission into the pipe and out of the room. Thanks for keeping a set of eyes on this for me Stuart and a Happy New Year to you as well. Pictures to follow to help explain, and let me know if I am heading wrong somewhere. Erik

HVAC plan

I made some corrections to the framing where the contractors still had some top plates connecting the inner and outer wall together. I wanted to make sure it did not get left this way and covered up while I was not around. Now the inner wall and outer wall have no connections. I was fully expecting some misunderstanding even though I prepared detailed plans. I had to keep an eye on the framing and point out the things that were not correct and detrimental to sound isolation techniques. It was easier just to make the final corrections to the framing myself. Erik

The doors for the entry room and bathroom were installed. The super door into the sound isolation room will still need to be constructed by me. I ordered the glass for the exterior window. It was difficult finding someone who would supply the special order for a reasonable price. I re-calculated two 1/2" thick laminated glass panes to match the isolation of the double walls since I reduced the OSB to 7/16" thickness. More on the window shortly.

I installed the plumbing rough-in for the bathroom as this was part of the agreement with the contractor to reduce the project budget cost. I used pex water line for the first time ever. I was impressed that there were no leaks after crimping all the fittings with the specialty crimping tool. Erik

The contractor is installing the ledger/scab/ dead wood (whatever terminology you want to use) for the 3 layers of drywall to be installed in between the rafters. This is the area I discussed earlier in the design where there will be a triple leaf in the lower roof area only to allow soffit to ridge vent ventilation under the roof decking. I beefed up the mass to 3 layers of 5/8" drywall for the middle layer. I like the temporary scaffolding they installed and it came in handy for me to seal the edges with backer rod and caulking. Erik

The 3 layers of 5/8" drywall has been installed in the lower roof area and I am sealing the layer behind them. The temporary scaffolding is really handy. In some of the corner areas where there are odd shaped gaps, I used the putty packs. I would recommend these to everyone. They are very convenient. Erik

The top ceiling leaf consisting of 7/16" OSB and 5/8" drywall has been installed. The RSIC-1 sound isolation clips and furring channel are being installed on the ceiling joists for the bottom leaf of mass. Erik

Insulation in the ceiling Erik

The first layer of the ceiling inner leaf (7/16" OSB) has been attached to the furring channel. The wall insulation was installed and the first layer of wall inner leaf (7/16" OSB) has been installed by the contractor. I am sealing all the corners and edges with backer rod and caulk, or putty packs for the odd shaped corners.

More backer rod and caulking Erik

The final layer of 5/8" drywall has been installed. I will seal the edges again as before. Erik

The concrete floor has been stained and sealed.

Great work!

Thanks. And congratulations on the Superbowl win! Erik

I finished the window construction. That part I was concerned about. The contractor left it out of his bid which kept me lower on budget and he was not sure about it. So, I tackled that part myself. Originally, I wanted two windows for natural light and view of the back yard. Just for a worst case scenario, I priced two Overly windows (24" x 36") with 1/2" laminate each to make one window and it was around $3200. I had an email quote of around $350 to $500 for just each piece of glass if I were to build the window myself. So, I proceeded with revising the design to just have one window in the room (24" x 36") and build it myself to keep the budget down. When the time came to order the glass, the company told me $1,000 per piece of glass. I knew that was ridiculous, but I had a hard time finding someone else to get the glass made. Finally, after searching on Angie's List, I got a quote of $180 per piece of glass. If I would have known about this place before, I would have kept my original design idea of having two windows in the room. Too late now, I don't want to work backwards and start tearing things apart, so one window it is. Lesson learned is that I should have purchased the glass long ago and worked out the rough framing dimensions around the glass sizes that were secured. I posted earlier about being unsure how to deal with the detail in Rod's book being an interior window and not sure about flashing, sill, etc. for an exterior window. I ended up using the exterior hardie trim as the stop for the exterior piece of glass. That way, there is only the small surface of the edge of the hardie trim board for water to sit on and if the caulking failed, the water would go down the exterior of the OSB that was protected by the homeshield barrier. I painted the inside of the hardie trim white, set some neoprene setting blocks directly on the rough opening frame, put the glazing tape around the inside and outside perimeter of the glass, set it in place, and nailed in a piece of pvc trim for the stop. I used the rough opening framing (24"x36") directly and ordered the glass at 23 3/4" x 35 3/4". The detail in Rod's book called for building a wood frame, but the rough opening framing was pretty straight, level, etc., so I took a chance and got more window area this way. I filled the gap between the two leaves with acoustic ceiling tile. I put the next pvc trim wood stop, inner piece of glass, and final wood trim piece to hold it in place. Working with the double sided glazing tape was difficult. I am sure there are techniques involved that I did not adhere to. So, some of the black glazing tape is not very straight. The acoustic ceiling tiles got nicked in the process and I smeared some white caulking. So, it is not the prettiest thing, but the first and probably only window I will ever build. Erik