garage to studio conversion

The lower access door can be temporarily stowed above the new ceiling and off to the side; without more headroom between ceilings it might be hard to tilt the panel enough to remove it entirely by first tilting it vertical and then rotating it diagonally so it would come out of the opening.

The distance from the side of the access door to the backside of the garage door opener is about 13" in a straight line. It is approximately 18" from the ceiling down to the bottom of the garage door opener. If we are going to consider headroom between the top of the lower leaf and the existing ceiling, then I think we would need about 18" vertically to be able to get one's head and arms in the space to work around the sides of the opener. I'm thinking that one large access panel would do it but will we have the vertical headroom? (I'm thinking that a sloped ceiling might be easier to implement) Maybe because this is South Florida there isn't any vapor barrier in my attic. I installed my own skylight here in the house four years ago and can attest to that...(or maybe they weren't installing vapor barriers in 1974?) It generally will not dip below 40 degrees here between January and February... Bill

Acoustically, the sloped ceiling will be better; if it's also better for access, then it's almost a no-brainer... Vapor barriers are placed under the wall cladding at the normally cooler side of wall assemblies or ceilings - here's a brief abstract of an ashrae doc that would apply in your area - http://resourcecenter.ashrae.org/store/ ... nid=893497 I'm less than Einstein in this area, need to spend more study time on it; but that link may help explain why/where/how for you... Steve

Believe it or not my drummer is a certified mold hygienist and treats buildings for mold on a regular basis so I will be having a few more conversations with him on this issue. What are your thoughts regarding a door (or pair of doors) through the studio wall right inside the garage door? My initial concern was that the vertical opening would end up being about 5'5" after a raised floor and a sloped ceiling that end up being 3' from the inside of the garage door... Bill

Yeah, that would make things a bit tight; any other possibilities that aren't for experienced spelunkers??!?