FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

[sharward]

Not much else has happened on the studio lately. The Coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home kinda sucked my desire to work on the acoustic stuff, because I know when it's done I won't be able to have my big open house weekend thing to show off the final product. Plus we are fostering a couple of cats on an emergency basis from one of our area shelters in there. But I did run Ethernet and phone to the studio -- cables were already in place but I wired them up and brought them to life.

[Gregwor]

The Coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home kinda sucked my desire to work on the acoustic stuff

I feel ya! I'd actually love to be spending time building my studio but I'm super freaked out about finances. My wife's landlord for her hair salon isn't cutting her a break on rent and with taxes due, I'm going to have to use my studio build out money to pay her rent and our other life expenses. I plan to do some odd jobs on the place with the material I have but right now it's like sit and wait to see wtf happens. Starting this week our federal government will hopefully give us $2000 a month each up to 4 months but after that, who knows what the hell we are going to do financially short of tapping into retirement savings. Wouldn't that be awesome!

I know when it's done I won't be able to have my big open house weekend thing to show off the final product.

You could finish it up and have it ready to go!??

Plus we are fostering a couple of cats on an emergency basis from one of our area shelters in there.

You're a fine human being my friend. I see you were inspired by Tiger King! j/k

Take care man!

Greg

[sharward]

So far I have one of my suspended 2x4 rails primed, painted, and installed, and pre-drilled, with five "Toggler" toggle bolts above the ceiling spaced evenly (32" on center), through which are 10" long ⅜" stainless steel carriage bolts. Holes for the faux joists are pre-drilled to speed installation.

I also have the 43" TV mounted with all the cables tucked away. Not visible is a power strip and a 5-port Ethernet switch. The "PHONE" thing on top is a strobe for hearing impaired people to know their telephone is ringing -- I have that in place for when kick-ass progressive metal auditory debauchery is occurring, which is important because our doorbell rings every telephone in the house. I'm imagining a jam buddy or bandmate being late and needing to be let in!

[sharward]

2nd rail up!

[sharward]

I used 3/8" Toggler anchors (manufacturer's video). Each one can safely hold over 150 pounds, so ten of them can hold 3/4 of a ton. The array of screws holding the OSB and gypsum panels would fail before the Togglers will. And I have done the math and the weight of the materials I will be attaching won't come near the capacities.

[sharward]

Faux joists are sealed, stained, and satin coated!

[Gregwor]

What are you planning to mount on the wood you've hung off the ceiling?

Greg

[sharward]

The 2x6 stained wood pieces will be attached to the bottom of the rails, and then I will attach 1x2 (¾" x 1½") painted strips of wood across the tops of and perpendicular the 2x6s, 7" on center, forming a sort of grid, and then to those I will attach 12" x 12" acoustic foam tiles, with a bit of a gap between each one, in rows of 5 within each bay. Some of the squares will be 12" x 12" acoustic diffusers. And attached to the top of the 2x4 rails will be LED strip lighting, one circuit white and the other colors, which will project off the ceiling and spill down around the structure and through the gaps between the tiles. It's gonna be awesome!!

[sharward]

Overhead acoustic tiles and diffusers are up and all the lighting is done. Loving the way it looks and it sounds much better in here. I still need to treat the walls.

[sharward]

It brings me great pleasure to announce...

COMPLETION!!!

Here is a guided tour of my finished studio.

I could not have done it without the support of this forum.

There are too many people to thank, and so much time has passed that I have forgotten many of the names, but I am beyond appreciative for all of the encouragement and enthusiasm and technical support I have received from all over the world.

--Keith

[Gregwor]

This is so awesome! Such a crazy journey and inspiration to all of us. Thanks for pushing through and sharing it all with us. Congratulations!!!!

Greg

[sharward]

Hey, not only am I declaring "completion," I'm declaring resounding "success." I can bang on my drums and cymbals with utter abandon, and my wife in the house hears nothing. Honestly, I am surprised by this, as I know the build is not "perfect." No build is. We recognize the necessary or practical imperfections and we do our best to migitate them or adjust our expectations. Well, my expectations are actually exceeded.