Lou's Studio - Construction Phase

I for one found those plans highly enlightening. I've seen a couple of "professional" plans by studio architects lately and a LOT of them contradicts the things I learned here and in real life. Tripple leafs, quadruple glasspanes in windows doorsels that connects the leafs and so on. I think a lot of people in my position (working as a capenter, building studios professionally) that want to know the theory behind it all need to see these plans and discuss why they contradict what I know works and what the Architect know works. a :arrow:

Holy Sh*t Lou.... :shock: I'm gone for a couple of weeks(I've begun mixing the EP for the Prog metal band I play with :wink: )and come on to check out my favorite build thread, and ..Damn.........sorry bro,,,but just damn,,that blows,,i hate when i have done a bunch of work for nothin, like gettin hit in the cans,,,,, the mock ups look pretty cool though, and at least the chill area still kicks major ass buddy 8) may it all be a blessing in disguise for you :wink: chin up MOSH ON DAVE

MOSHWITZ wrote:

Holy Sh*t Lou.... :shock: I'm gone for a couple of weeks(I've begun mixing the EP for the Prog metal band I play with :wink: )and come on to check out my favorite build thread, and ..Damn.........sorry bro,,,but just damn,,that blows,,i hate when i have done a bunch of work for nothin, like gettin hit in the cans,,,,, the mock ups look pretty cool though, and at least the chill area still kicks major ass buddy 8) may it all be a blessing in disguise for you :wink: chin up MOSH ON DAVE

prog metal is cool, gotta link to your band website? here's mine www.libramentum.nl still recording, still dreaming....

Sup Ro ? :) I hit you back over in the Wombat hole ...http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=73098#73098 so i wouldn't clutter up Lou's' page here MOSH ON DAVE

AndreasB wrote:

I for one found those plans highly enlightening. I've seen a couple of "professional" plans by studio architects lately and a LOT of them contradicts the things I learned here and in real life. Tripple leafs, quadruple glasspanes in windows doorsels that connects the leafs and so on. I think a lot of people in my position (working as a capenter, building studios professionally) that want to know the theory behind it all need to see these plans and discuss why they contradict what I know works and what the Architect know works. a :arrow:

I agree. Those plans looked nothing like the type of stuff you see on this forum. What's with all those layers of glass??? All the best Lou. I think you are a great builder. Cheers

Hi chaps, I hope you’re all…………………………………………….blah blah as per usual! Wow, wow, bloody wow, holy shit, what? Wow wow, double wow! Did I say Wow? :shock: :shock: :shock: Guys, the last two weeks of my somewhat ‘different’ life have been like the most amazing rollercoaster I can imagine. As ‘mega-updates’ go, this is gonna be the biggie. Get comfy, grab a beer and read on! With well over a thousand images on this thread now, I need to let you all know that such updates tend to take me around 2½ to 3 hours to put together, (crap typing skills, uploading and proofreading etc), so please forgive me for not replying to all of you directly. Thank you though for all the kind comments. I would, however, just like to briefly address these points. Joey – Come down anytime you want bro, your build looks so familiar!! Adam – ‘methinks you jest with me, Sir!’ Keep watching, my friend; we’ve got the desks/screens/monitors issue covered, Frostgfx – Jon, so sorry for not pm’ing you with my equipment list, but it’s just been too manic here! I only hope that you picked up on what I was trying to say about Dynaudio in that Studiopeople are ‘nuts’ for them! I strongly advise you to be seated before you fire your up ‘Air 20’s’. Jon, your jaw will be glued to the floor. The only reason I’m back-tracking to ‘Air 15’s’ is the size of my space. TOP CHOICE ON MONITORING. Drumdrumdrum – Great to have you stop by, buddy! I’ll lay money on you being a Thomas Lang fan! Great chops my friend, and a great sounding kit you have on that vid! As for plans, well that situation has been resolved but, for professional and personal reasons, I (and a couple of others), would be most grateful if they were never mentioned again. Thanks Guys. :oops: :oops: Ok, here we go then with a bit of off-topic crap (that at least lets you all know something’s been going on), then the story so far, and of course the all important pics! :wink: You may recall that Sarah and I went to ‘Eric Desart’ country back at the beginning of January, Bruges to be precise, where I was able to purchase the ‘chill-out’ area clock! Yes, it is as cool as it looks, it keeps muso time, (that’s bloody accurate, btw!), and the large ring rotates anticlockwise around the pointer at the top. Next up, the bar that Chris made us for the chill-out area. Plus the china cupboard – also to match the kitchen! Then there was that problem utility door! Done! And of course, every picture tells a story. This was taken before my last update! Stress showing! :( :( If you remember, Jeff and Peter (Studiopeople) advised at the beginning of the year to get a front door on, get building control up here and have the place ‘signed off’. OK then! (Take note of ground – more on this in a mo!) How about a quick stroll around the patio? Left rear of house to previous ‘machine access’ Back towards chill-out area and Phil’s steps! Phil’s steps and the engineering bricks with the 45 degree face! Front of chill-out. Studio 4 rear entrance. Footing for full-height wall, (previously access route). Full-height wall finished with hessian draped over to protect the mortar from the frost! Right, with that little lot out of the way on to the story so far: Jeff, as you all know, was due to start with me on the 19th Feb. He returned from holiday only to find that his domestic boiler had packed up and, naturally, didn’t want to leave his wife and family home alone without hot water or heating. We kept in contact, He took the boiler apart and fixed it, and we ended up last Wednesday week sat in my local, with his crew, having a beer! Great! So far so good. Meanwhile, (bearing in mind the first job was to make the place look finished for Building Control), I purchased and assembled a steel tool shed which will later become our cycle store. Naturally, this was used to house all my tools and generally tidy the place up prior to inspection! Then on the 21st Feb, Jeff turned up at 7.30am with his crew and began sorting my build for the inspector……………………..BIG TIME!! :shock: Firstly, rip out that air-con! “It’ll never pass without questions while that lot’s hanging from the roof, Lou!!!!” :shock: “Oh and while we’re here Lou, all that rockwool looks too suspicious! We’ll get it out and put it in the garden!” :shock: :shock: This is what they did in 14 hours! Loft hatch gone (for the moment)! All rockwool gone! Gas correctly taped. Electrics re-fudged (properly!) All steels properly fire rated, and no additional consumer unit visible! I was in a state of total despair, I mean really ‘on one’. This bloke had come into our home and undone in just 14 hrs what had taken me, Bryan, Trev and the ‘other’ Peter well into a month to install. Fret not, my friends, Jeff was right!! :wink: :wink: DH – When you read all this shit, I hope you’ll accept that I sincerely concur with Brad, and his idea to move those sconces so that you can complete your traps to the ceiling! It will seem like a stroll in the park! :wink: :wink: Still with me, people? Well, the building inspector turned up last Friday week, and………………………………………………Yes, my friends, you guessed right, FAIL, FAIL, AND FAIL, AGAIN, LOUIS F**KWIT!!!!! Now, without being too melodramatic, try to imagine if you will, how totally pissed off I was. I’d just paid Jeff and his crew to rip out a lot of what had been done and get things ready for building control and we still failed. However, here comes the light at the end of the tunnel. The things we failed on: 1. Ground to front of property to be made good. 2. Fill in all holes. (Where the air-con feeds had been cut!) 3.Install ‘Trickle vents’ in windows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “What? You total Arsewipe, I’ve just paid $%&^%$ to have thermo-hermetically sealed double glazed windows fitted, and you want me to cut holes in them?” 4. We need your electrical certificate………………”Yeah, OK, fair enough!” But, he didn’t want my gas certificate, my Corgi ticket, my steel calculations, or any of the other shit that you so have to have, and I do have and I’ve paid for!!!!!!!! In short, guys, Jeff had done all he could and all of the failures were, of course, nothing whatsoever to do with him. Ultimately, I had no choice but to send them all back to Norfolk (4 ½ hrs away) with my head in my hands, full of apologetic embarrassment. I then realised what I’d actually got away with and that there would have been no way on earth I’d have got a Building Certificate before Jeff and the lads had plunged me back 3 weeks! :oops: Moral for U.K. builds at least? Once your structure is up and weather-proof, get Building Control to sign it off before you do anything else! AND I MEAN ANYTHING. If they don’t see consumer units, insulation, air-con etc they have no reason to ask questions. Well, Sarah came home from work and knew immediately that the ‘shit had hit the fan’, but, in true Gemini tenacious spirit, I decided to play it all down and leave the problem-solving til Monday just gone. Instead, last Saturday morning, Trev and I decided to butcher the garden in preparation for the 120 sqm marquee that will be sat here for the wedding!! :shock: :shock: Then this week started with………………………..CHANGING ROOMS!!!!! (U.K. TV programme where a team of complete dorks come to your house and do the impossible, in no time at all, without resources, proper planning or logic, just for the cameras, and the poor sod who owns the place has to have it all re-done when the camera crew have gone home! Except of course that we did actually do it all properly!) :wink: Ground to front of existing made good. This has already come back out again! :roll: Holes filled in – only to be punched out again later! :roll: Trickle vents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: Now, one thing that I haven’t mentioned yet is that the Building Inspector asked where the W.C. was. I simply blagged it by saying that “we’ve had a change of heart and decided not to bother now.” “Fine, but we will need a declaration to that effect and, of course, confirmation that a W.C will never be installed.” :roll: :twisted: :roll: At this point Gentlemen I was, in all honesty, about to explode. However, in a flash of mentally linguistic creativeness, I said, “Yes, of course.” Here’s what I wrote to the Local Authority: Dear Sirs, with reference to the above planning application ref no. blah blah, please be advised that we have decided not to proceed with a W.C. and wash hand basin in this construction, and accept this document as our declaration that the W.C. blah as illustrated on blah will not be built either now, or at any time in the future. (The W.C. not illustrated will, of course, be built!!!) I love the English language!! :wink: Then there was Graham!! Ah yes, Graham. A top spark, but, as I finally found out, only qualified to part 16a and not part 17 of the NAPPIT IEE wiring and installation regs. This would of course explain why he was giving me such a runaround. He also turned up Monday with a mate who was qualified to part 17 and I got my electrical ticket after 3½ hrs of testing. The problem then was, that I was left with a load of paper and a cross against a box saying that my (house) consumer unit was not readily accessible because of…………………………………….the new kitchen cupboards!!! (Instant Building Control failure). AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :twisted: :twisted: I eventually sorted everything out and booked another appointment with Building Control. A different Building Inspector arrived last Tuesday and after exactly 2 minutes highly thorough investigation(!), a quick glance at my electrical certificate and toilet declaration, He said, “ Yes well that all seems to be fine, you’ll have the certificate in a couple of days.” :twisted: :roll: :twisted: The sense of relief was immeasurable. All that stress and agro was finally gone, after 7 months and 1 week. Next – Get Jeff and the crew back ASAP! I phoned Jeff last Tues afternoon and told him the good news. The rest, as they say …………….is history! Jeff said, “Nice one, we’ll come down in the morning.” Well, since they’re 4 ½ hrs from me I was expecting to see them around lunchtime. Imagine then, my amazement when I woke at 7.00am to see Jeff’s van parked outside!! They’d only left home at 3.00am! Commitment or what? :wink: All their starting materials were on site! Additional Rockwool, originally dumped on the pavement from a 40’ artic right in front of the neighbours, but now out of sight! The plans we’re now working to! And now to the crew good people. Introducing ‘The Latvians’: Gene and Archie. What follows now is what the three of them have achieved in just 3 days!!! Framing finally starts. While I’m busy working I then discover this level of progress! All walls ‘floated’ on acoustic foam strip. Phil digs up front to make way for studio foul. Guttering re-jigged. Only 1 rainwater pipe now to make way for ‘tap’ into existing manhole. Rest of other side of patio now finished. Front of control room ceiling. Iso booth towards toilet. Iso booth to control room and on through to live room. Live room to control room. Patio that was ‘gunned-up’ to take new studio foul now back to normal!! Front of house! Jeff re-working Studio 4 plumbing. Front of control room ceiling. Gene cracks into the rear control room wall. Control room ceiling now taking shape. Corner detail. This already sounds great! The next lot of materials already??????????? Upper rear control room detail. Above new control room void for air-con! Above rear of control room ceiling. Isolation wall into control room/iso booth. Control room ceiling ready for air-con feeds. Above front of new control room void, ready for air-con! Well chaps, all in all, I hope you’d agree that’s not a bad three days work! Please understand that, as I’ve said, there are many things these guys are doing that contradict what I’ve learned up here. It looks great, it’s already starting to sound great, I’m the one paying for it, and with respect to all, I’m totally happy. These guys simply rock. Sorry for the length of this post but 10 days is a long time in studio building! Thanks for reading, stay tuned, Kind regards as always folks, Lou. 8)

Aloha, Glad to hear that things are working out, Lou. Warm regards to Sarah and best of success to you! Aloha 8)

it looks good lou. :D i was just going to say of a few things that ive learnt on here that are, shall we say different (im not going to say wrong). :wink: however you pointed this out in the last part of the post. im glad your happy with thresults. keep us updated buddy. :D ps. my build should fly after next week after the concrete floors are in. cant waith. :D

3 days!!! Awesome progress. I'll be hiring professional builders experienced in building studios now too. It's like this. I watch people build there studio and see how much they learn while they do it. Once they finish building THEN they know how to build a studio. Does it not make more sense to KNOW how to build a studio BEFOR you build it, not AFTER???? Logic is a strange beast, something that eludes most creative people. Ohhh.....not to mention the cost. If you can't afford the pro builders maybe you have to learn as you go, as long as you don't make any mistakes, then it ends up costing you more then if you hired the pros to start with. This is exactly why I spend hours reading thru sites like this. To learn stuff like this. They say the definition of being smart is learning from your own mistakes. The definition of wisdom is learning from other peoples mistakes. Keep the pics coming. Cheers

Looking great Lou! I can't imagine what it would be like to have some help, and as mentioned, someone that *knows* what they are doing instead of bumbling around trying to figure it out on my own! Oh well, like dddd says, I'll know how to do it right *next* time! ;) One thing I will say about the way I have done it, I own it all! I have paid cash for everything as I went along so there is not pressure for me to earn a certain amount each month to pay back the bank! If I was to hire someone, there is no way that I could have done it the way I did, and would now be finding myself in debt. So in some ways I am jealous of your professional help, and in other ways I am glad that I did it the way I did. I can say that you are going to have yourself one amazing studio once complete. Congratulations my friend, you deserve it, especially after all you have been through. All the best!

Lou - Hey, I see a studio in there!! Looking great man, and looks like you got plenty of room. That place is going to look sweet. Looking forward to the next update.

Hi guys, as per normal, I hope you and yours are all well, and that everything in your lives is progressing as well as you’d wish. For me, no rollercoaster this time, but more of a whirlwind………………no, actually, scrub that, let’s go for TWISTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: First the replies and then, of course, the update and pics. Ken – Great to hear from you, as always, buddy and many thanks. 8) Joey – Hear you, dude, and thanks. :wink: Drumdrumdrumdrum – Thanks man, means a lot. DH – Have you moved those sconces yet? :shock: Brad – Thanks for stopping by. Your build, as I’ve said, looks great. Many congrats on a great job well done. :wink: :wink: Right then, chaps, before the update, I’ve had the time (somehow) over the last ten days to really sit down and evaluate where I am with all this, where it’s going, and of course how I’m going to salvage my predicament and be able to move forward. First off (especially for DH), I will not now be purchasing all my new equipment with bloody over-inflated loans. Instead, I’ve decided to go all out to get Studio 4 finished and, all being well, settle for my new desks, monitoring and mics. I liked your sentiment re bought and paid for - that’s where I’m at right now, and that’s where I want to try and stay. This way I can still utilise gear I’ve got, and learn the new stuff as well as really get used to how the rooms sound. I can upgrade my equipment anytime on the back of a decent job. I’ve always maintained that it’s better to have the room/rooms and not the gear rather than the other way around. :wink: :wink: When you all consider that I’m now in the very awkward situation of many talented experts telling me different things, it becomes quite apparent that there will always be more than one way to skin a cat! Jeff is as unpretentious as you can get. He’s rather camera-shy, never brags, doesn’t tout for work, and rarely mentions previous clients. Over the last week however, he did let slip (by accident) that the last job these guys were on was for Phil Collins, and prior to that they’d built a second facility for Mutt Lange. I feel, understandably, like I’m currently keeping great company!!!! :D :D :D Here we go then with what’s happened in the last seven days!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah guys, just 7 days!! Firstly, Archie flew home last Fri week to spend some time with his family. He’d been away for ten weeks! :shock: Time then, to draft in Rosco - a really cool dude who was put in charge of building ten bespoke air-con silencers…………………Yup TEN!! Live room – 2 send, 2 return, Control room – 2 send, 2 return, Iso booth – 1 send, 1 return = 10 in total! 1. Make boxes. 2. Sweat like hell accurately cutting baffles. 3. Assemble said baffles. 4. Line with 50mm 60kg RW3, and then meticulously cover with a fine garden mesh to stop fibres and bugs clogging the system 5 years down the line!! :shock: 5. Cut next slab to exact remaining profile, offer up, and fit. 6. Cut out square/downward facing aperture for air passage to the room. (Through rockwool and garden mesh as well!) 7. Cut round/side mounted aperture for flexi feed to and from the room. 8. Do it all another 9 times! (When these guys built the facility at Coventry University, poor bloke had to make 60 of these babies!) 9. Install in void above new control room ceiling. 10. View in amazement from below the accuracy of placement. (That void is only 17” high!) :shock: :shock: Meanwhile Gene and Jeff crack on with the first live room wall. The floor space here means that the wall has to be built in the almost upright position hence the temporary brace in the ceiling! Next up – Gene is told to get on with the light boxes – 37 of them!!!!! :shock: I then get to model Studio 4’s toilet facility! Saniflow Compact. It doesn’t require planning permission nor a studio floor to be excavated! Cut out holes in control room ceiling to house new light boxes. Keep making those bloody boxes. Prove to forum that a toilet exists. (Yup…………….NO CISTERN!) :o Tell Phil and his crew that you want them finished by Thursday and get them to build the disabled access route. Take arty shot for DH and Keith! Install control room light boxes. Studio toilet waste now behind new live room back wall. Disabled access ready for pointing. :D Live room back wall. Control/iso air-con unit fitted above new toilet ceiling by Gene. Modified live room air-con unit. Proper view of finished chill-out area. Proper view of crap still in the garden. Jeff descends from above new iso booth ceiling. All rooms are mechanically de-coupled from one another, hence the vertical gap bottom left! All control room light boxes now caulked from above as well. Iso booth ceiling angle. Live room ceiling starts. Jeff from front lobby into live room, control room window to the left. New loft hatch below existing. Iso booth doorway to house one of the six doors now ordered weighing in at 80kg a pop, plus the frames!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Studio 4 handbasin mounted on new false wall. The chrome trap is all that will be visible when finished, and yes the pipes do line up!! :wink: :wink: Toilet plumbed in. Live room light box and air-con apertures. Gene’s last remaining light boxes. Time to invite Jeff and the crew for dinner last night to say thank you! Sarah went mad with the hostess bit and we all had a great evening. :wink: :wink: 8) :wink: Well guys that's where I am for now, I hope some of this helps somebody! Thanks for reading, take care and stayed tuned. :wink: :wink: Warmest regards as always. Lou. 8)

i've been glued to this topic since the day i started reading here, lou. what an amazing turn around from what felt like it might have been a disaster to speedy delivery in things getting done. the pictures also are amazing to view! the detail and insight they provide are of incalculable value. congratulations on the immediate success and continued speed be yours! -= george =-

As usual, I am pretty much floored by your progress and the great job these guys are doing. We are all very happy for you Lou, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! (Well, except me, of course! ;) ) I am also very glad to hear that you are scaling back your purchases to stay within budget! We pay cash for *everything*, and the only loan we have is our mortgage! We even pay cash for our cars! It is really a better way to live! As always, all the best Lou. Next time I'm over on your side of the pond...

very good. you will be done in no time mate. :D joey

Nice one Lou, its looking really good Thanks for posting the pics of the Silencer detail, just about to start building mine so perfect timing for me. I bet you cant wait now, it wont be long at the rate your going thats for sure! rgds John

Outstanding. Such a great piece of work; both the studio and the documentation thereof.

Great stuff! I suppose after building 60 silencers another 10 would be a walk in the park. Looks great. Thanks

could you pass me one of those Foster beers, I love it :) Man, awesome job again. I feel sorry for them box-creators. But it's a great inspiration to us all I think. Keep on boxing, cheers!

Just thought of something... With the new design, how is that going to effect the sound transmission in the upstairs bedroom where Sarah's daughter sleeps? I remember your "adventure" with the hat channel rather than iso clips or resilient channel. Has the new design also dealt with that issue, or are you still looking to beef up the floor above some day?

Morning chaps – Not too much text on this one as I’m fairly busy, but plenty of pics to show you all where we are as of yesterday evening! Fist off – The all important replies! Norg – Nice of you to stop by mate, and thanks for leaving such a kind remark! DH – Hi my friend, thanks for the reply, and any time you, or indeed anyone else I’ve been posting to, are on my side of the pond, pop round and say hello! The new design btw does cure the impact noise from above, although I have to say that my MDF ‘sandwich’ eliminated around 70% of it to start with, and as you’ll recall, that was down to John. :wink: Joey – Thanks dude…………….get your building signed off Bro! :wink: JohnP – No worries buddy, that’s what this forum is for! DC In France – Mercy bien mon amie, tu et trés gentile! :wink: DDDD – You’re right mate, Rosco said ten more boxes was nothing! :shock: Ro – Hey man great to get encouragement like that from a senior member, really appreciate it! Thanks mate. :D :D Ok, a bit of off-topic humour, then the pics, some ‘Rock ‘n Roll’ news, and then the schedule! On the back of our downstairs toilet door, we’ve put a chalk-board. This serves as an open invitation for people to leave messages whilst they visit, all rather funny actually. It also enabled Sarah to leave a message for the lads after our dinner party last Friday week. :wink: Archie was very amused Monday morning and left us with this – Very creative. :lol: One evening last week we decided to have salmon for dinner, Sarah couldn’t resist the following picture (even if she did forget to put the camera into macro mode) :roll: To explain, the image on the left is the front of the packaging, which you can clearly see says: ‘Wild Alaskan Salmon’, on the right is the back of the packet. The various highlighted sections are ingredients, cooking instructions, nutritional information etc, but the one that ‘floored’ us was the pink one – Allergy advice. There it says……………..wait for it. Contains fish!!!!!! :roll: :roll: :roll: No shit! :shock: Anyway, enough of the daft stuff and on with the all important progress pics. Archie cracks on with the remaining holes for the live room light boxes. Ceiling detail between iso booth and control room – Nothing touching. Last remaining silencer gets the mesh treatment. The live room ceiling is deceptively intricate, and almost impossible to show in photos due to all the different angles, but anyway, here’s a couple to at least give you an idea. Notice that the light boxes at the top of this picture appear to be out of line, I assure you there bang in line with all the others, see what I mean about complicated angles! :roll: :shock: Fan cooler above front lobby. Fan cooler above iso booth now in permanent position. Time to start running cable for the live room lighting circuit. Then Gene makes a start on the live room floor. Two layers of 1/2” T&G chipboard laid at 90 degrees to one another and set on acoustic pads. The spacers around the perimeter are to ensure that the floor makes no contact with the walls. They’ve been real busy on the electrical front! Above iso booth ceiling and control room wall, again, no physical contact between the two. Ceiling detail above studio toilet where Archie’s inspection hatch will be. Then Gene gets the ‘labour of love task’ – mudding over all joints ready for sanding. Archie meanwhile starts the frame out between control room and iso booth window opening. Then it’s back to his inspection hatch above the studio toilet. Iso booth lighting cables ready to go. Big tidy up before Jeff’s return last Thursday. Window opening between control room and live room now boarded out ready for window linings. Another attempt to illustrate the complexity of the live room ceiling. More good-hearted humour from the lads! :lol: :lol: Gene makes a start on the front lobby inspection hatch. The ‘air-con war’ I was expecting didn’t happen! Peter no 1 returns to run all the pipe work for the fan coolers to the condensers outside on the back wall. He and Jeff thankfully got on famously, and have come up with a couple of very ingenious design improvements. Dust city as the sanding begins! All technical air-con pipe work now installed ready for final connection. Front lobby ceiling framed out. View from front door through lobby, rear of control room, rear lobby and on to rear entrance door. :shock: :shock: Time for Archie to put his creative carpentry skills to another use! :lol: :lol: Fresh air intake for live room air-con now removed once more, and drainage pipe for condensed water. Drain run to live room fan cooler in position. All flexi duct now installed! This lot is above iso booth and control room. This valve is just inside the inspection hatch above the toilet, and allows the system to be accurately balanced. Basically the air flow to the iso booth can be attenuated where necessary, given that the supply is coming from the same unit that is cooling/heating the control room. :wink: Iso booth/outside wall framing. This will be ‘soft’ rather than the opposite wall which will be ‘hard’. Archie’s awesome inspection hatch! Front lobby ceiling framing and inspection hatch ready to go. Finally guys on the pic front, the final design for my new business cards (with contact numbers omitted, for the moment, of course!) This was designed by an old college mate, Steve, who happens to be the Creative Director of a very very very, large advertising agency! He’s also Godfather to my sons, and will be my ‘best-man’ at the wedding. :wink: Well that puts you all in the frame as to where we were yesterday evening. These guys really couldn’t be doing any more or working any harder. Jeff is now only here once a week to help keep costs down, and the atmosphere is really good-humoured. If any U.K. builders are thinking of employing anyone, I can strongly recommend Studiopeople for design and supply of materials, hardware etc, and Jeff and his crew for build. Here comes the ‘Rock ‘n Roll’ bit, you’ll love this! When I first decided that I had no choice but to get some help and Jeff introduced me to Peter at Studiopeople, I telephoned Peter and suggested that we should meet at some point to go over the finer details. I thought it would be a sensible idea to perhaps meet halfway considering that they are in the midlands and I am in the south. Peter said that if I wanted to sit for 3 ½ hrs in traffic on the M6 that was up to me. He then rather caught me by surprise by asking, “how far are you from blah blah airport?” I said “I’m barely a quarter of a mile outside the flight path, or 5 minutes drive.” He then said, “Well, if you don’t mind paying the landing fee, I’ll fly down to see you.” I thought oh no, here we go, this is gonna cost a fortune. Get this guys, the landing fee in question is £42.00!!! :shock: :shock: So, guess what? My personal Studio Designer is flying down to see me in his own private aircraft this Thursday, and all it’s going to cost me is £42.00 plus a bit of lunch! How cool is that? 8) :wink: 8) Now, to close this update with the schedule. You’ll immediately appreciate what’s been achieved in such a short time (2 weeks and 5 days) when I tell you what’s next. My doors arrive this Thursday! :shock: My Glass will be here next Tuesday! :shock: :shock: Fabric samples arrived this morning! :shock: :shock: :shock: Jeff also returns on Thursday and all three guys will be working Good Friday and Easter Monday at no additional bank holiday cost! :D :D Do you get the impression that they understand my predicament, and are trying to help me as much as possible by getting the build done quickly to keep costs down to a minimum? Yeah! That’s what I thought too! :wink: :D :wink: That’s all for now folks, thanks for reading, stay tuned. Warm regards, as always, to you and yours, Lou. 8)

I don't wanna repeat myself, but I'm gonna: that's some really nifty work Lou. Nice business card too!

That is one amazing build. What a HVAC system! All those lighting boxes are mind boggling. These guys really know what they are doing. They make it look so easy. It could take me a whole day to put one of those lighting boxes in. I had a strange dream last week and you where there, and you where there and you where there, and toto was there. No kidding. I've only ever seen a pic of you yet there you where in my dream with a whole bunch of others from this forum. Weird. I must be spending too much time here? I wait with baited breath for more.

Looking great bud! You are making quick progress now, which is great. Heck, even with all of your delays, and all of the extra detail, you will be done before I will! Dang you! "Never knowingly under-produced" Ha! Classic! I love it! :)

looking good mate your flying. :D not much happening with mine at the moment as my best mates mum died the other day. so im trying to be there for him. :( plus im running low on funds so ive gota earn some cash. joey