Dan Scott Productions_Construction Diary

Greetings, Well, I have finally gotten my detached garage dried in so I could clear my crap from the garage. As you can see, I'm tearing out the sheet rock of walls that are critical to increased isolation. That 3rd leaf is a MONSTER! I have a questions that have probably already been discussed on this forum, but don't have time to hunt for the answer. Would someone be kind enough to reply. Questions: Should I remove the "blue" foam board in order to expose the brick. Is this acting as an insulator more than a leaf? Can I leave the R19 Owens Corning Insulation? Thanks, Dan

I think you should be OK with the R-19, but of course it depends on what your wall design is going to be. Are you going to build another wall inside of that existing wall (room-within-a-room) or possibly use resilient channel? If the existing R-19 is going to be pointing towards an airgap, you might want to point the paper facing towards a wall or drywall rather than towards the airgap. I did this originally, and had to go back and tear out a bunch of insulation and reverse it! Ouch!

I appreciate that advise and yes, I'm going to rooms withing rooms including the ceiling. So, I'll turn around the existing R19 so the paper is against the blue foam board. I suppose the blue foam board is ok to leave as well? Thanks, Dan

Dan Scott wrote:

I suppose the blue foam board is ok to leave as well? Thanks, Dan

The blue rigid foam insulation does supply you a purpose, a dual purpose. It has an R value which, coupled with the R value of the existing wall, allows the wall a better overall ability to take on the day-to-day fight with keeping the outside elements out and the inside elements in. The blue panels also serve as a first defense against all manner of whatever goes on behind the brick veneer. Like wind bursts from the weep holes or just plan cold/hot air from outside when it is cold/hot outside. I'd leave it, but that's just me,

XSpace, I appreciate the insight and I will keep it on. I progressed a little further with the demo and got the windows sealed shut. I left the blinds inside so the exterior front of my house wasn't visually effected. I also tore out the sheet rock on all critical walls (all but 1) where isolation needs to be optimal. I am haveing a junk removal guy come tommorow to clean up the mess so I can move forward with my framing plan. I am also meeting with my HVAC guy on Friday to go over a plan of attack for my system. Here are some photos to share with everyone who's interested. Thanks for the input! Dan

Aloha, Just curious :D What are the dimensions of your rooms? (H x L x W) Aloha 8)

Oh yeah, I thought someone would ask that as the dimentions are not on the drawing, sorry about that. My garage is 20' x 22" Total. After the double walls are constructed, I suspect the control room will be around 9.5' wide by 16' long. The Studion area will be about the same. The lounge area will be very small around 6' x 9' and the vox booth around 6' x 6'. The small entrance area around 5' x 6'. The small room to the right is a utility closet and contains the water heater to my house but has alot of extra room for storage. I will probably convert my water heater to a tankless and install a commode and small sink basin for the rest room. Dan

Well, I made a little more progress since the last post. I got all the tear out debris cleaned up and finished insulating all of the existing walls with R19. I also removed all of the drywall nails and screws from the joists and studs. I also framed in the garage door rough opening but didn't sheet it yet as I decided to acid stain the concrete instead of using bamboo flooring. I'll have to use a presure cleaner with acid to prep and clean it and it would have been a hassle draining the fluid out if the room was enclosed. The reason I decided to not use wood flooring was that the garage floor had leveling issues which I realized while framing and I just knew that there would be issues with buckling and seams coming apart, etc with tongue and grrove type flooring. The acid stain and acrylic sealer will be the bomb and look killer. There's a big mall in our area with the same treatment and it's tough as nails. I'm going with a terra cotta color. On the bottom pressure treated sill plate of the enclosure, I put a bead of backer rod where the sill plate butted up to the concrete lip. The lip was the exact same depth of the 2x4 so it actually sat flush with the inside of the garage floor which was nice. I will seal this gap as well as the front bottom at the exterior of the sill with acoustical sealant before putting on the fiber board then sheathing and siding. I will also instal backer rod in between the sheating boards then seal. I'm also including some before photos of the future bathroom. I met with a plumber yesterday and he will have to bust through the concrete and elbow into my crawl space to tie into the drain but he said it could be done. In the area where the water heater sits will be replaced with a pedestal sink. High on the wall above the sink will be a tankless waterheater. See ya'll next time! Dan

For anyone who is even paying attention to my thread, I finally finished the concrete floor. It took 2 acid stain treatments and 2 coats of a very high end acrylic sealer. It turned out really cool and looks like leather. The acrylic was fully dry in around 2 hours and I plan on framing the walls on Monday. Dan

It will be interesting to see how the whole package comes together with the floor. Keep 'em coming!

I know. I'm really focusing primarily on making the rooms acoustically the best they can be but I really want each area to look really cool for the clients also. Not only do I have to finish the construction including acoustical treatments but I need to buy a crap load of gear as I sold most of equipment a few years ago when I sold my old house with the recording studio equipment, etc. I hope I don't run out of $$$. Maybe I can donate an organ or something :shock:

Ha! That floor looks wild! Very cool!

Hi Guys, Well, didn't plan on working today but walked out into the garage and started contemplating the layout and sizes of the rooms. I grabbed some 2x4's and started laying them around all over the floor and next thing you know I was breaking out the power tools, with permission from my wife of course as she knew I would be in there for most of the day :shock: . As the photos show, I framed up the main partition walls between the control room and studio including the door openings. I also layed out the angled back wall of the control room. I also located lounge area walls and am really please with the spaces and how they will accomodate panel absorbers, furniture, gear, etc. I hope to have the whole thing framed up and HVAC in by the end of the week . We'll see how it goes? Dan

Greetings Everyone, Well it was a couple busy days and as planned, I got all my framing finished except for the CR monitor soffits/traps. I did install the first layer of sound board over the garage door opening and sealed with backer rod and acoustic caulk. I will cover with OSB and apply backer rod/caulk again before adding the "fake" windows and siding. I also got the HVAC system installed today! I was able to install a whole separate 2 ton heat pump unit. The air handler was able to be located in the attic space in my house far away from the studio itself. The insulated wall behind the unit is the wall to the staircase that goes up to the bonus room above the studio. So, there's that wall then the width of a staircase, then the next wall which is the back wall to the lounge, vox booth and entrance area. The unit is very quite in the first place and far from the studio so it won't be heard at all. I must say that it worked out very nicely. I'm getting all of the wiring installed on Saturday and decided to run snake boxes to each room vs. wall plates. I had to special order 2/4 mic input boxes for the control room and lounge area as I don't need alot of inputs for those areas, so this will be the only thing holding me up on the sheetrock. I'm actually amazed at how smoothly things are moving along so I can't complain :P I owe alot of credit to the folks who participate on this web site and dedicate there time putting up information for us to learn from. THANKS, AND THANKS AGAIN!! I hope everyone had a safe halloween and are looking forward to turkey day! Although Christmas is still "away's away", Santa came early (See photo). Well, actually there was a killer October sale at Guitar Center here in Atlanta along with a rebate so I couldn't resist as I needed it anyway. I have alot more gear to pick up in the next couple months. I post more photos as things progress along. Dan

very cool!

Wow, nice progress! You're gonna give Lou a run for his build-it-out-nicely-and-FAST award.... :D

Ha-Ha! :lol: :lol: Great build Dan - Totally love the floor! Whole thing looking great. :wink: Keep 'em coming buddy, Regards, Lou. 8)

Hello Everyone, I'm still progressing and almost have the wiring installed. While the electrician's are doing there thing, I've been working on constructing my "fake" or should I say in-operable windows (for appearance only). I had a brilliant idea to take wider lattice and create a panel that looks like a wooden blind. I'm really exited how they turned out but not how much it cost to make them. Just 1 stick of that stuff was 7 Bucks!! The area where the blinds would go was 32x44 so I ended up spending around $100.00 for each fake blind including staples, glue, quarter inch plywood back and paint. I mounted directly to the OSB before placing the windows over them and you would never know these windows are surface mounted to the exterior of the house. I should be completely finished building the frame work to mount the windows tommorw so I will post the final photos with both of them mounted and painted very soon. Dan

Ha! Looking cool! Very innovative!

Well, I finished up the windows this morning but of course not before breaking one :evil: :evil: :evil: . I couldn't freakin believe it!!!! I had gotten these windows from a scrap pile and luckily, there was 1 more the exact same size :D Here are a couple final photos. My wife was extremely happy with how they looked as she was concerned how the outside of the house would look with the garage enclosed. I must say, they turned out better than expected. AND.... I appreciate the kind words guys. I don't think anyone could give Lou a run for his money. That man is working his tail off not to mention probably spending a small fortune :lol:

Dang those windows turned out so cool! What a great idea, and a great job building them out! Congratulations! I am sure the wife will be thrilled.

Thanks for that nice compliment DH :) Maybe someone else can use the same idea for their garage enclosure?

Hi Everyone, Well, I made a little more progress with the monitor soffits. I had a pair of speaker stands which I screwed to the concrete after setting angles and leveling. They had a absorbtion pad on them which will provide a nice insulator between the stands and the plywood boxes. I made the plywood boxes so the speakers will fit very snug into them. I screwed the plywood boxes to the stands and the whole assembly will be independant of the soffit framework. I will insulate the entire assembly then sheetrock. I still need to frame for slots above the speakers but wasn't sure if that was sufficient. I also left a small opening at the bottome of each soffit to run cabls out of (see photo). I also purchased those plastic access panels you find in the plumbing section at Home Depot to mount on the front near the floor of each soffit. This will allow me easy access to outlets, etc. Even tho these mount flush to the wall and are paintable, they won't be seen once my studio desk is sitting near this wall. Here are some photos. Dan

Hi Everyone, I've made a little more progress since the last post and thought I would post some more pics. My electrician is almost finished wiring my sub panel and I recieved the 2 cases of puddy pads for the outlet boxes. These are fire rated AND have an STC rating of 55. I wonder if the inspector will know what they are? In my county, there is only 1 inspector for everything. They are real picky about fire blocking but with the double wall construction, it is impossible to isolate every wall cavity without connecting the walls which defeats the whole purpose of rooms within rooms. With the fire stop puddy pads and the double R39 fire bat, it shouldn't be an issue..... I hope. The insulation I purchased can burn at 2000 degrees for 4 hours!! I had to special order 2 smaller snake boxes for the vox booth and lounge/auxilary sound room. They finally came in and I ran them to the control room using 2" pvc elbows with a short 12" extension to brace to the studs. The elbows stick out and with be flush with the double sheetrock once finished.

Hey Everyone, Well, the county inspector came by this morning and was very impresssed with everything. He gave me my clear to insulate which makes me happy because this pretty much means I'm home free in dealing with the county now :D :D The insulation I am using is IGG Minwool SAFB "sound attinuation fire bat". The photo shows it wrapped up in bundles and I purchased 8 of them. The only thing I hate is that I'm so sensative around that stuff and it really makes me itch just looking at it! Once this stuff get's put in, I'll call for insulation inspection then get my clear to sheetrock.......then the real fun begins :lol: Dan