Len Morgan's Studio Build Diary

knightfly wrote:

Sooo, Len, now that my sides aren't hurting as much, tell me; was your vox booth well enough isolated so no one could hear you yelling for help??!?

Yes. :( Besides, we couldn't have called out for any body because we were laughing so hard speech itself was out of the question.

knightfly wrote:

All seriousness aside, your request for a "sticky" on this subject is an excellent one

I'm glad I could put a smile on your face, although I appologize for hurting your sides. I have copied what I had and added a few more from tonight's "lessons", so hopefully you can prepare yourself before you read them. :-)

I guess it's time to update this thread! I've been bumped to the second page :-( At least it's because I've been busy building and not because I ran out of money or enthusiasm. I guess the biggest item to report is The first layer of dry wall is up EVERYWHERE!!!! :-) We have a little mud/tape to finish on the columns. The fiberglass mesh tape does not work well (i.e., the self-adhesive backing is exactly that - it sticks to itself but nothing else!) when the temperature is low. I probably made a mistake by difering the HVAC installation (and it's $7K price tag) until I was a little closer to the end. Winter has set in here and it's common to be 20 degrees or so in the mornings and the ONLY thing that sticks in that weather is the snot running from my nose (forgive the descriptive word picture but I'm sure we've all experienced it). I haven't got a lot of pictures. Despite my best efforts, white dry wall looks pretty much the same no matter how close or what angle you take the picture from. I do have a couple of (blurry) shots of backer rod/caulk going in that some might find informative. Tonight's job is to finish mud and tape on the column soffits and then begin the second layer of drywall on the ceilings of the rooms we'd already finished. When (and if) the mud ever dries in the big room, we are going to go back and put up the second layer of ceiling drywall so that we'll have room for the 70 new sheets of dry wall I've got to order to finish (DAMN that estimating program!!! :-( ). We spent a lot of time moving things around in the main room as we were trying to drywall because the pile was in the middle of the floor. I figure if we get the next layer on the ceiling (only) and leave enough space around it, we can still put up the walls while we work down the pile. We'll see. The second layer SHOULD go up a little faster because we won't have to keep stopping and running snake cables and HVAC hoses, etc. Also, the drywall on the walls is going to go up vertically so we won't have hold up a 4x8 sheet, press it tight to the ceiling, and then try and screw it in. We WILL have to shave about 3/8" off the bottom of each sheet because we've dropped the ceiling down 1 1/4" with the two layers of DW that's up there. I should be writing another tip in Words of Wisdom or How NOT To Do It... about this soon. Ok, with that brief (for me) introduction, here's some pictures....

And here's a few more showing the work on the Main Room...

Here's a picture of what will hopefully be a time (and quality) saver. You shove one of these plastic things in the outlet box (with the wires already there), and then when you go to hang the DW, the pointed end will puncture the DW in the right spot. You then take a Dremel or similar rotary drill with a DW bit in it and pull it over to the side until you contact the edge of the outlet box. You then move out and just a hair further to get the bit on the other side of the box (outside) and cut out the rest of the box. The plastic protects you from slicing the insulation on the wires. I imagine it would work just as well with the outlet installed. As you can see from the picture, I didn't have these when the first layer went up :-( I'll report back on how they work when we begin the second layer. They are $20 for a set of 10. Note to self (to be moved to Tips Thread): Don't leave one of these on a black chair. I think I'm going to walk with a limp for a couple of weeks! Gee, I really wish someone ELSE would find out a few of these pearls of wisdom instead of me being the pioneer! Or maybe it's common sense that I don't have. By the way: If you forget the above rule, you actually CAN be 5'11" and reach the ceiling! :-( len

An Update On My Progress Well, no pictures but an update none the less. The vocal booth and the main room now have both layers of drywall. That a little more than 1/2 of the drywalling. I still need to cover the beam and columns in a second layer but I've gots lots of scraps to use that I can hold up myself. We've hit a rather cold spell here (highs in the 30s/40s) which has slowed progress a little (it's very hard to hold up the DW and try to accurately hit the studs when you are shivering so hard that the chattering of your teeth is severly testing your sound isolation. For those of you that don't remember, I'm 6' tall and weigh 118 lbs so I have zero internal insulation. Saturday we broke down decided we'd try to resurect the old furnace (until I get the new one installed). We spent about 90 minutes touching various wires together and using a light switch, some bailing wire and a lot of duct tape, we managed to get it fired up. :-) We then stuffed one of the flex lines in a hole at the top of the unit and viola! HEAT. We managed to get it up to close to 65! It took a while to heat up be we did an experiment and found that after 3 1/2 hours, we'd only dropped 5 degrees. The current plan is to mud and tape the vocal booth and main room, then while that dries, put up the second layer in the control room and drum booth. We'll then go back to the VB and main room and sand/reapply more mud, then back to the CR/DB while that dries, etc., etc. If I get anything worthy of a picture, I'll post it. len

AT LAST....THE LAST LAYER OF DRYWALL IS UP!!!!! :-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-) Last night, we put up the final (second) layer of the control room. I still have to mud and tape it but the heavy lifting is OVER. Boy, am I sore. I would advise anyone who is the least bit out of shape to visit the local YMCA before starting your project, even if just for a couple of weeks to get your muscles in shape. 1/2" dry wall isn't such a big deal but moving, lifting, cutting 5/8" is hard (and gets harder as the night wears on. Plan on at least a day or two off per week to "recover." If you don't, you'll get to the point where you are moving so slowly that you aren't getting much work done anyway. When the ratio of coffee breaks to actual work crosses 50%, it's time for a day off. I'll have pictures later today or tomorrow but I wanted to post this milestone and share it with my FnF. Now, where can I find a hot tub? len

Congratulations, Len!! 8) That's great! Imagine how you would have done without a drywall lifter! :shock: I know what you mean about slowing down when you're tired. I encountered that syndrome during my beef-up and then my excavation. The excavation was worse because it was sooooo mundane. :( Can't wait to see pictures! :D --Keith :mrgreen:

sharward wrote:

Can't wait to see pictures!

Well, they aren't going to be THAT exciting since the second layer of dry wall looks a lot like the first layer. I guess the one that looks "the best" is the ceremonial driving of the last screw. I looked everywhere for a box of brass dry wall screws (at least brass colored) so that we could make it a little special but it was almost 10 PM and after 15 minutes of looking, we said "Screw it" (both literally and figuratively). The real interesting pictures (at least to me) are going to be building the various treatments (and of course, the hijinks we are going to have when it comes to spraying on the texturing!). len

Texturing, eh? In that case, I'm looking forward to another inevitable installment of the "Words of Wisdom" series! :lol:

I'd start in the LEAST noticeable place in the building til you get the hang of it - gonna do a knockdown type, or something else? Steve

I think they call it "Orange Peel" Bear in mind that I am NOT going to be doing this myself. I've got my builder who's going to do the spraying. My involvement will be managing the air hose (like the kids on the side lines at football games and the coaches headsets) and trying to stay BEHIND him. :-) len

Texturing Is Done!!!!!! We managed to get the entire studio textured today!!! Boy, that's a messy, noisy job but it sure gives the walls a professional look (see pics). At least until it starts to dry. When it's half dry/half wet, it looks horrible. We were both too tired to wait for it to dry so tomorrow, we're going to be looking for spots we missed or need to thicken up a little. If you are going to be doing this soon, we found that thining joint compound with enough water (a little at a time) to get it to the consistency of cake batter (or maybe just a LITTLE thinner) worked best for the kind of finish I was after. I believe we used a 9/32" hole for all of it. You really need to practice on some scrap material until you get the speed, pressure, consistency all just right. Ok, here's a few pictures...

Len, looks like you had fun shootin the goo. I am planning on doing just my ceiling in the live room this way. I found a roll on texture paint for the ceiling which I plan on having tinted to match the walls. I am waffling between the roller way and the spray way. Since I am on a very tight budget, I may be forced to roll it. Hopefully it will come out as well as yours! 8)

I wish that were true. I was really relagated to taking the pictures, getting the water to thin the mix, and staying out of the way. My carpenter/electrician friend owns the spray gun so he got to play with it. :-( Seriously, I don't think I could have done it for very long (at least on the ceiling) before my shoulder gave out! The result did come out really nice though but while it was drying, it looked horrible! Once it all dried to the same color, it was beautiful. len

Well, it's been almost a month since I've last updated this thread. I haven't been slacking off though. I decided to "finish" the two walls in the office/hallway area that were just painted cinder block. I got to thinking that this is the first area anyone walking into the studio is going to see and I thought it best if it looked as good as the rest of the studio rooms. (See pics) I just anchored Tapco screws through some 2x2s and into the blocks. I also covered the last of the windows (which were covered on the outside by sheet metal roofing material anyway). I've also managed to prime and paint the vocal booth, drum booth, control room and part of the hallway. My colors were chosen in the spirit of marital harmony more than personal preference. The colors don't show up that well in the photos because of the lighting. Ok, here they are...

And now a few of the paint shots...

I've got a few more pictures showing some of the "furniture" I'm putting in. I decided to take a little break from painting. These show the steps I used to make some "tables" that will sit under the studio windows and where connections will be made. The first picture is a corner table I'm making in the vocal booth to hold a cup of coffee and the microphone/headphone panel. NOTE: Yes, I know the table top is currently drywall (and painted purple at that) but that was just to see how it looked and I needed a place for my coffee cup. len

Awesome!! :mrgreen: You're right -- you're no slacker!! Unlike me... :oops: ...though I've had a few good excuses.

Hiya Len, Just thought I'd drop by your thread to visit and show my interest to your project as you've been pretty attentive to mine. I have not read all yours thru yet - just went right to the last page here to say hi but I will as I am currently taking a break from the damn barn floor! There's a handful of great project threads going on here....it's an awesome place. Nice work on your furniture!

Kathy, Thanks for stopping by! If I'm not mistaken, I'm the one that sent you off on the "damn barn floor" trek. I hope I really pays off for you and ends up being worth the effort. To the rest that have been following this thread, no I have not died. I was however, laid up for a while and couldn't get much work done after a freak dog food accident paralized my right hand for a few days. I couldn't hold a cup of coffee in my for almost a week (a far greater burden to than not being able to work on the studio!). I managed to paint the last room (the BIG one) today. I've still got to do the corners and wall/ceiling joints but that shouldn't take more than an hour or two. Now I'm ready to start wiring up things and getting my doors built and installed. Pics soon, I promise! len

len-morgan wrote:

. . . I was however, laid up for a while and couldn't get much work done after a freak dog food accident paralized my right hand for a few days. . .

Oh man, I hate when that happens!!

sharward wrote:

Oh man, I hate when that happens!!

Are we talking about the same thing? :shock: 50 lb bag of dog food, loose shopping cart held with foot, big swing to get dog food on bottom shelf of cart?....

One of only TWO advantages of SMALL dogs IMO - smaller bags of dog food (the other is, smaller "land mines" to pick up :wink: ) Other than that, give me an Akita or Dobie (or two) ANY day... Steve

Well, it's been almost 2 months since I've updated my studio's progress, so for all my fans (both of them), here's lot's of pictures of where I am right now. When we last left off, I had just smashed my hand in a freak dog food accident but that has healed (to be replaced with a confrontation between my shin just below the knee and a steel trailer ball last week. The trailer ball won). I had painted the control room a "hot chocolate" brown and you can see the light blue in the vocal booth. I had also started on construction of the "tables" that will go under the windows between rooms. Since this is where my cables/rack panels will be mounted, I needed something substantial to support them, I just figured that I'd build them out a little and have some tables to put stuff on. I've also finished furing out the walls in the entryway/hallway to the building and I've got all my painting done (although since I've still got doors, slat walls, etc being built, I've got some touch-ups to do where the walls got dinged. Ok, here's a few pictures...

And now, a few shots of the back wall of the control room. This will be lined with 4"/4 pcf mineral wool with bass hangers in the middle.