*Treatment stage* Fen Cabin Studio - Build Diary. UK

Ummmm.... : That looks suspiciously like a hole in the wall with a piece of wire poking through! :shock: :!: :cop: - Stuart -

Soundman2020 wrote:

Ummmm.... :

Not preserved: white walls-with-hole-2.jpg

That looks suspiciously like a hole in the wall with a piece of wire poking through! :shock: :!: :cop: - Stuart -

Indeed it does. It's actually conduit within the wall with the wires going through, like we discussed earlier in this thread. I've not caulked the "cap" over it yet though as I wanted to make sure it's got all the necessary wires through when the electrician comes and nothing needs adding. Dan

It's actually conduit within the wall with the wires going through, like we discussed earlier in this thread. I've not caulked the "cap" over it yet though

Ahhh! :thu: All is good then... :) - Stuart -

Soundman2020 wrote:

It's actually conduit within the wall with the wires going through, like we discussed earlier in this thread. I've not caulked the "cap" over it yet though

Ahhh! :thu: All is good then... :) - Stuart -

8)

I managed to get hold of my electrician (after 3 weeks of him not responding to my texts /calls). He's really busy at the moment and isn't sure when he can fit me in. So I called some of my friends for a good electrician, and I got in touch with one. I agreed with him to do the bulk of the work myself (following his instructions, to meet regulations) and then he'll come and connect up the distribution boards, and then test and certify the wiring for building control. So I'm going to be installing the sockets over the weekend hopefully. Can you just check my plan is all good guys. I'll be implementing a radial circuit with "star grounding". I've included a sketch. I'll be running individual single cables for each wire, that is one for live, neutral and earth. The individual wires are only single insulated so must be in no conductive trunking to meet building regs (which I was going to do anyway). The live and neutral will be "daisy-chained " from one socket to the next. A new earth wire will run from each socket to the distribution board, and then the earth will run to a new external earth rod, just for the studio. Lighting will be on a separate curcuit. AC will be on a separate circuit. If you can make out the (pencil) drawing, then it would be great if you would check it over for me. Thanks, Dan

Started fitting the dado trunking! Behind treatment I've switched to standard cable trunking (5th of the price). I'm going to be using shielded cat6 data cables and running them in the bottom section of the dado trunking and in its own cable trunking behind the treatment.

Cables run to most of the sockets. I have to get the exact dimensions of my speaker baffles before I fit the front wall trunking and sockets though, so I've just put in some cable long enough to reach the area. You'll see the brown (live) and blue (neutral) wires, "daisy chain" to each socket in series, whereas a yellow/green (earth) wire is run to each socket individually and meets at the distribution board. Dan

Hey Dan, I am not a qualified electrician but it all looks good to me! Are you just installing a standard residential fuse box (or consumer unit) for your distro board? Have you got any pics? It's nice to see some british electrics going in! Cheers, Paul

Paulus87 wrote:

Hey Dan, I am not a qualified electrician but it all looks good to me! Are you just installing a standard residential fuse box (or consumer unit) for your distro board? Have you got any pics? It's nice to see some british electrics going in! Cheers, Paul

Hi Paul, Thanks for the interest! Yep I'll be using a standard residential consumer unit, but I'll be leaving the connecting up to the electrician who comes to certify it. The "garage" consumer unit will be connected to the main consumer unit in the house (30m of SWA cable already installed) to one of the fuses. My electrician said he could make a space for it in the house board by moving one of the separated lighting circuits onto the same fuse as another lighting circuit. Just means that the extension's upstairs and downstairs lighting will both go off if the fuse blows. The studio is having its own isolated earth rod though. So the earth from the consumer unit will run directly to an earth rod fitted behind the studio. I couldn't find any pictures on this site of UK studio wiring! So I was a little worried at first about doing it wrong, but it seems simple enough. It's just about changing the "American-isms" to "British-isms" :lol: I'll get more pics up when I've got some more wiring installed (the consumer will have to wait until the electrician is over though in a few weeks, as he's going on holiday). Dan

Waka wrote:

Paulus87 wrote:

Hey Dan, I am not a qualified electrician but it all looks good to me! Are you just installing a standard residential fuse box (or consumer unit) for your distro board? Have you got any pics? It's nice to see some british electrics going in! Cheers, Paul

Hi Paul, Thanks for the interest! Yep I'll be using a standard residential consumer unit, but I'll be leaving the connecting up to the electrician who comes to certify it. The "garage" consumer unit will be connected to the main consumer unit in the house (30m of SWA cable already installed) to one of the fuses. My electrician said he could make a space for it in the house board by moving one of the separated lighting circuits onto the same fuse as another lighting circuit. Just means that the extension's upstairs and downstairs lighting will both go off if the fuse blows. The studio is having its own isolated earth rod though. So the earth from the consumer unit will run directly to an earth rod fitted behind the studio. I couldn't find any pictures on this site of UK studio wiring! So I was a little worried at first about doing it wrong, but it seems simple enough. It's just about changing the "American-isms" to "British-isms" :lol: I'll get more pics up when I've got some more wiring installed (the consumer will have to wait until the electrician is over though in a few weeks, as he's going on holiday). Dan

Thanks for the info Dan! I am planning to install a similar system in my build and I was just wondering if using extension cables (such as a 4 way socket) would introduce ground loops? For example; when powering a large credenza of rack units what's the best way to do it? Do I need a seperate socket with individual earth wires for every piece of gear or is using an extension (which is basically a daisy chain in a box) acceptable? Thanks, Paul

Waka wrote:

Thanks for the info Dan! I am planning to install a similar system in my build and I was just wondering if using extension cables (such as a 4 way socket) would introduce ground loops? For example; when powering a large credenza of rack units what's the best way to do it? Do I need a seperate socket with individual earth wires for every piece of gear or is using an extension (which is basically a daisy chain in a box) acceptable? Thanks, Paul

You would introduce the potential for ground loops yes. You might get away with it, but it's much better to add another few socket boxes with separate earths, especially as we're doing surface mounted electrics! Just chuck 5 double sockets or something near your gear :lol: The saying goes: "The better the ground, the better the sound!". I'm going almost entirely digital with very little outboard gear at all! So it's less of a problem for me. Dan

Waka wrote:

Waka wrote:

Thanks for the info Dan! I am planning to install a similar system in my build and I was just wondering if using extension cables (such as a 4 way socket) would introduce ground loops? For example; when powering a large credenza of rack units what's the best way to do it? Do I need a seperate socket with individual earth wires for every piece of gear or is using an extension (which is basically a daisy chain in a box) acceptable? Thanks, Paul

You would introduce the potential for ground loops yes. You might get away with it, but it's much better to add another few socket boxes with separate earths, especially as we're doing surface mounted electrics! Just chuck 5 double sockets or something near your gear :lol: The saying goes: "The better the ground, the better the sound!". I'm going almost entirely digital with very little outboard gear at all! So it's less of a problem for me. Dan

Damn, I was planning on having a 6 bay 14u credenza which will mean an absolute tonne of individual sockets and wires! Out of interest, have you heard of "zero loop area" wiring? it seems like it could be a simpler solution, though I do fully understand it yet. Paul

Waka wrote:

Damn, I was planning on having a 6 bay 14u credenza which will mean an absolute tonne of individual sockets and wires! Out of interest, have you heard of "zero loop area" wiring? it seems like it could be a simpler solution, though I do fully understand it yet. Paul

Hi Paul, I hadn't heard of it until now, but seems to make sense. I read about it in John H Brandt's paper: https://www.jhbrandt.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Grounding-Wiring-Zero-Loop-Area.pdf I suppose that's an option for you instead. It means you can't plug any wires in "loose" though. The downside being you can't install "loose" cables. Every amp, microphone and input location needs to be planned in advance and a conduit installed. Not only that, you are limited to only have audio cable locations next to electrical wiring. So Your musicians will need to be standing next to sockets with a really short audio cable plugged into the adjacent audio input. If you want an amp in the middle of the room, you need it's socket and audio input in the middle of the room too, adjacent to it. It seems like it could be workable with tons of planning, but isn't a very flexible solution. On the upside you won't have a single trailing cable in the room! Which would be beautiful :D Dan

Waka wrote:

Waka wrote:

Damn, I was planning on having a 6 bay 14u credenza which will mean an absolute tonne of individual sockets and wires! Out of interest, have you heard of "zero loop area" wiring? it seems like it could be a simpler solution, though I do fully understand it yet. Paul

Hi Paul, I hadn't heard of it until now, but seems to make sense. I read about it in John H Brandt's paper: https://www.jhbrandt.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Grounding-Wiring-Zero-Loop-Area.pdf I suppose that's an option for you instead. It means you can't plug any wires in "loose" though. The downside being you can't install "loose" cables. Every amp, microphone and input location needs to be planned in advance and a conduit installed. Not only that, you are limited to only have audio cable locations next to electrical wiring. So Your musicians will need to be standing next to sockets with a really short audio cable plugged into the adjacent audio input. If you want an amp in the middle of the room, you need it's socket and audio input in the middle of the room too, adjacent to it. It seems like it could be workable with tons of planning, but isn't a very flexible solution. On the upside you won't have a single trailing cable in the room! Which would be beautiful :D Dan

Hey Dan, thanks for your reply. That actually doesn't sound simpler at all... I think I'll stick with star grounding Paul

Another Friday studio day. I've almost completely finished the ceiling now. I've just got 2 more rows to complete. The ceiling modules look great, it's almost a shame to cover them over :lol: The plan is to get to get the door materials ordered: Second door blank for inside, Hinges, Door closers, Dead bolt, Handles, Drop seals, Epdm seals, MDF sheet for beefing them up, Framing timber. Then I'll wait for a sunny Friday and Saturday and take the temporarily fitted door off and build the frames together with temporary bracing before installing it back in the rough opening. I might get a friend of mine to come and help me out who's great with wood/metal/anything really. And I'll start installing the lighting in the mean time. 8) Dan

It's looking pretty good, Dan! Nice going. - Stuart -

My friend came over and helped me fit my permanent exterior door. We got a lot done and the door hanged (hung??) , but weren't able to finish fitting the ply beefing up layer. The door is a solid core hardwood finished fire door. I've installed 15mm toughened glass. The finish will just be oiled with Osmo UV wood protection. We ran the trim (hardwood moulding) over the table saw to cut a groove to slip in a rubber weatherseal, between it and the glass. I took some pictures, but not as many as I wanted as we were running low on time. Have to wait for the oil to dry for 12 hours before I can fit the trim now though. :| Dan

Looking good! :thu:

We got a lot done and the door hanged (hung??) ,

Hung. Unless perhaps you were imposing the death penalty on that door, for some grave crime that it committed, in which case "hanged" would be correct... :) (What did that door do anyway, to deserve such a severe punishment???? :shock: ). In another life I used to be a language translator, so I had to learn about all the subtle differences in the meanings of words... Sigh!

The door is a solid core hardwood finished fire door.

:thu: Excellent! Lots of mass there.

I've installed 15mm toughened glass.

Laminated? Or just toughened? I'm sure you did, and I'm just checking here, but I'm assuming you did the math here, and figured out that 15mm glass is fine for your MSM isolation? Glass is about 3 to 4 times the density of most types of wood, so 15mm glass is about the same surface density as a solid wood panel of about 45 to 60mm thick. Does that match your door thickness? DO you know what type of wood that is? There's a big difference between the density of many species. Spruce is only about 60% the mass of Oak or Maple, for example. If you can, find out what wood it is, so you can be sure your MSM calculations are good. Worst case, you might need to add an extra layer of mass to the door. Best case, it might be fine just like it is... Also, what plans do you have for the seals around that door? (Seals are critical... But you already know that... :) ) - Stuart -

Hi Stuart thanks for the reply. Hung it is then! :lol: So the 15mm glass isn't laminated. I did the calcs and found that standard toughened at 15mm would be better than wall and door TL. I didn't find this out until after I'd received the door but it's chipboard throughout, between the veneers. The door needs beefing up yes, so I'm using a layer of 18mm hardwood plywood on the inside. I've taken the door back off and I've been installing the plywood this morning. The bottom uses an automatic door closer. And the other 3 sides have rubber bubble seals. Then the plywood layer has its own bubble seals around all 4 edges. Here's some more pics: Dan

wow that ceiling looks incredible !

richroyc wrote:

wow that ceiling looks incredible !

Sorry for the long delay! I love it. Its a shame it will be covered up with treatments lol. Updates for you guys: Finally got a new electrician to come and certify my wiring after the other one let me down. He's coming on Monday. The HVAC guys are coming to install the unit the following week. And the cladding arrived! (a month late!), the guys in my band are coming to help me clad the studio the weekend after the HVAC guy is finished. Cladding : Dan

Some more pics dudeos. I've almost finished hanging the inner leaf door. Moving on to the seals/dead bolt and door closers. Dan

Big news guys. Electrician has been and certified all of my wiring today and it's all passed :mrgreen: I have lighting, sockets and ventilation all working. Ventilation is on a variable speed controller which works great. Shame about the big sticker on the front of the consumer unit though! They also delivered my new SPL meter today. It came in a nice box too. So when I'm finished with my door seals I'll have to check the isolation I'm getting! Dan

Congrats dan, looking good! I’m pretty sure there’s nothing in regs that states you can’t put a consumer unit in a cupboard, maybe you could build a cupboard and door around it to hide the sticker? Paul

Ah it doesn't bother me that much. If anything I'll check whether it needs to be on there at all, and if not I'll remove it. Dan