FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

The easiest way to do that is to raise the panel and rest it on shims before nailing it in place, then pull the shims, push backer rod under it, and caulk the gap. The backer rod should fill only the back half of the crack, and the caulk fills the rest. Or just caulk all of it, if you don't mind the extra cost. - Stuart -

Progress.

You should be applying caulk around all of the joints of each layer as well. Greg

I guess I will going forward. I wasn't too concerned about the gaps between boards since the OSB's purpose isn't so much for isolation as it is a surface to receive screws if I miss a stud when mounting drywall or other stuff to the finished walls. I'm pleased that the Green Glue I have had for over a dozen years is still good despite being stored in the garage. I had 12 tubes leftover from earlier work but I will need more for this portion, so I just bought another case for $172 (great price from BuyInsulationProducts.com).

Doors are in the house!

Today I bought some modeling clay and filled the underside of one of the door thresholds. I figured it was a good way to add mass to what would otherwise probably be one of the weak points of the door. The thresholds are very shallow such that they meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements for wheelchair access -- not that I need that but I figured they'd make it easy to load in and out when gear is on wheels. I read this particular modeling clay tends to crack if not covered in plastic. We'll see what it looks like in a few days.

First door installed, OSB and first layer of drywall on garage side done, and now adding 2nd layer. Gonna work a lot of hours this three day weekend. End of next week marks six months since my first and so far only inspection since my replacement permit was issued. I must schedule a new inspection before then or my permit will lapse again. I plan to have an inspection next week even if I am doomed to fail it. I would rather do that than pay $76 to extend and that is a one time shot. I'd rather save that for a true emergency situation. Speaking of which, I had a bit of a dental emergency this week requiring a root canal. That slowed me down a few days but I'm "back in action" as the updated title of this monster thread indicates. Starting to have visions of the final product down to adornments inside the room, so I definitely feel like it's a lot closer to finished than ever before.

I've been doing garage side drywall between two and six hours each day for the past six days. Third layer of drywall is going up now so there's not much left there. Pressure is off for now to get an inspection scheduled to avoid permit expiration this Saturday. I learned today that my hope of avoiding a $76 fee to extend the expiration date six months is not avoidable by merely scheduling an inspection -- the inspection needs to actually happen prior to expiration in order for it to count for automatic extension. So, this morning I paid the 76 bucks and can now breathe a little. Today on my lunch hour I'm going to visit Acoustic Material Supply here in Sacramento to see what my options are for buying more mineral wool insulation. All of that mineral wool I bought a dozen years ago I bought from them. They're still around. I bought 24 tubes of of acoustic sealant from them a few weeks ago. I've gone through 15 of them already plus some that were left over from years ago, the few that hadn't dried up. I know I will need more insulation but I'm not sure how much yet, and that depends on what sizes they have available, what they have in house, what they will have to order or have shipped from another one of their California locations, etc. It's good to know my options before I put together my shopping list. I already know they stock 9' x 4' drywall sheets which is what my next batch will consist of.

Awesome Sharward, glad to see you back in action! Has it really been a dozen years! Ye gods how time flies......

Aside from a bit of touch-up sanding, I think I can proclaim garage side of drywall DONE. I'll be building a workbench for the spot begging for it tomorrow or Saturday. I bought the lumber for it this evening.

Oh yeah! Now THAT is starting to look like a studio! Have you done an isolation test, to see how much you are getting with just that part all sealed up? Glad to hear that you got over the root-canal "entertainment" OK. That's not fun... - Stuart -

And now we are at page 100! Wow. No isolation tests per se yet, as the door threshold is not in place, BUT when I pound on the wall it is SOLID and feels and sounds so did compared to the other walls in the garage.

Keith, I'm in awe; combining actual physical work with back pain, root canals, what's next, a plague of locusts (or worse, drywall eating termites) - anyway, looks like you're gettin' close enough to "see the light at the end of the tunnel", maybe even find out it's NOT attached to a locomotive :mrgreen: I answered your PM, feel free to share with anybody that's interested - gotta go herd some Gkids for a while, everybody take care... Steve

Thanks Steve -- those who are familiar with my earliest fact finding steps in this project know how instrumental you were in keeping me on the right track. Walls are ⅔ insulated at this point and soon to be fully insulated with a new batch of mineral wool insulation I picked up earlier in the week. Ceiling is next, followed by an insulation inspection. Getting there!!

It's been a few weeks, and I took a little time off the project to travel and see some concerts (three Queensryche shows with Fates Warning opening, plus a Fates Warning one-off headliner, Dream Theater twice, and Within Temptation once, in San Diego, Los Angeles, Redding (California), and Charlotte (North Carolina). But today I finally finished the miserable task of stuffing mineral wool insulation and it feels fantastic to have that part done now. Well, almost done -- I will have just a bit more after I install the second (inner) door, which is next up. I will work on that this week. This evening I spotted a good deal on a drywall hoist about 75 miles from home, so I drove down to Modesto and bought the thing, because I'm maybe a week or two at the most away from hanging OSB and drywall on the interior! After the door is installed and that last bit of insulation is stuffed, it's inspection time.

Nice to see the insulation in place. And I'll bet that made a huge difference to how it sounds in there! If it's not impolite, could I ask how much you paid for the drywall lifter? That's going to be a God-send when you start on the ceiling. I wish I could get those here easily: I might just have to import one, one day. - Stuart -

Soundman2020 wrote:

I'll bet that made a huge difference to how it sounds in there!.

It does -- very "dead" and very quiet inside. However, I try not to get myself too excited by that as we all know it is low end isolation that I am doing this for, and for that I must have the inner leaf mass, and that's what the three layers of ⅝" drywall with Green Glue behind each panel is going to achieve! Still, it is so nice to be able to run my mini split air conditioner and have the air stay cool inside the room

Soundman2020 wrote:

. . . could I ask how much you paid for the drywall lifter? That's going to be a God-send when you start on the ceiling.

Home Depot offers them here in the US with free shipping to their store for $300 with extension Rod included but I got mine with extension rod for just $100. I borrowed one many years ago when I did work on the ceiling of my outer leaf. It was indeed a huge benefit. I couldn't even imagine doing this work without it. I will be installing the door this evening.

I have two doors, and that is a beautiful thing.

Insulation inspection scheduled for tomorrow!

Insulation inspection passed. Time to start covering the walls!!

Nice! What's the plan for the walls? Drywall, or fabric facades, or something else?

Insulation inspection passed.

Good news! The place is progressing at a nice pace now. - Stuart -

This is what a thousand dollars' worth of drywall and OSB on my porch looks like -- just in time for our three day Memorial Day weekend.

There's my answer..... :-)

Ready to hang boards. Had to do some clean-up and organizing plus some maintenance on the home air conditioner today, but after assembling this thing, there's nothing in my way now. This reminds me of when I borrowed a drywall hoist exactly like this from fellow studio builder Brian "Stick" Steckler back in (GASP!) January 2005. Coincidentally, I met and befriended a mutual friend of his. He moved since building that original home studio of his and my understanding is that he built another one after moving.