Len Morgan's Studio Build Diary

len-morgan · Post by **len-morgan** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 1:13 pm

Yeah, it's pretty thick (and heavy) stuff. That's what was put in after rocks went through them the first time. It probaby is worth a lot but I'm going to leave them in the windows. Sorry...

len

len-morgan · Post by **len-morgan** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:52 am

Here's a few more pictures of the progress. Sorry it's been so long since the last ones - once you've seen one framed wall, you've seen 'em all.

Post by **sharward** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 8:52 am

Are you kidding? We love framing photos!

There's something about framing pics that says, "this is actually happening."

Lookin' great!

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 8:00 pm

Ceiling joists without rim joists? What's keeping them from falling over?

len-morgan · Post by **len-morgan** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 10:40 pm

Gravity, wishful thinking, and loooong nails. Seriously, The theory here (according to guy helping me to do the woodwork) is that the drywall will hold it all together and everything will help support everything else. Since the only purpose of these joists is to up the drywall on the ceiling.

Just out of curiousity, what to you mean by "rim joist?" Would it be a piece that ran behind the ends of the joists with perhaps joist hangers on it, or blocks between the joists along the top plate?

len

Post by **sharward** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:05 am

len-morgan wrote:Gravity, wishful thinking, and loooong nails. Seriously, The theory here (according to guy helping me to do the woodwork) is that the drywall will hold it all together and everything will help support everything else. Since the only purpose of these joists is to up the drywall on the ceiling.

I don't like it either. At the very least I would think you should have some of these metal braces:

From scalpshifter's thread

In any event, it will be interesting to see what Mr. Inspector has to say...

--Keith

len-morgan · Post by **len-morgan** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:07 pm

Rough Framing Is Done!!!!!

After a loooong push this weekend, we got ALL of the rough framing built, anchored, plumbed!! I did learn a valuable lesson: Don't make design changes half-way through a project without thinking about them carefully!!!!

If you look at the design on the first page, you can see a little "kickout" in the NE corner of the control room with the door a little further South. I thought it would be neat to have the door right on that little kickout instead so when you walked into the control room, you wouldn't immediately see everything. You'd have the big "reveal"

So, we went ahead and framed up the east wall of the control room and all was well. I slept on it Saturday night and was woken up with the thought that the little kickout was intended for an A/C silencer and bass hangers. While kids might have fun navigating through the bass hangers on the way into the CR (at least until they started scratching from the fiberglass), it just wasn't going to work. Unfortunately, the CR walls were already anchored into the floor. We managed to remove one of the 2x8 studs and had just enough 2x8 material left to frame a door way where I had originally put it.

Whew! I'm sooooooo sore from all the lifting and hammering (not always into the wood) but glad that we managed to get all of that lumber up without shooting a nail through any part of my body.

This week we should have all the electrical done and be ready for the first inspection by the end of the week.

I'm going to probably get some of the drywall up too. I can put up the outside walls (in the little hallway between rooms) before the inspection because I won't be enclosing the other side just yet. At least it's not framing.....

Ok, here's the pictures to prove it.

len

Post by **sharward** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:00 am

Congratulations on reaching a very exciting milestone, Len!

len-morgan wrote:This week we should have all the electrical done and be ready for the first inspection by the end of the week. I'm going to probably get some of the drywall up too. I can put up the outside walls (in the little hallway between rooms) before the inspection because I won't be enclosing the other side just yet. At least it's not framing.....

Len, you may want to hold off on the drywall for a bit. Even though you probably can proceed, I'd recommend waiting until after the inspection. Why? Suppose the inspector spots something wrong with the framing. It would be a lot harder to correct the problem with drywall attached to one side!

This will be your first inspection. Anticipate that you probably erred somewhere, and be pleasantly surprised (and pat yourself on the back heartily) if it ends up that you didn't.

--Keith

len-morgan · Post by **len-morgan** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:09 am

That's a great point, Keith. I hadn't thought of it in that light. It wouldn't be too bad if I had only screwed it in but I had been planning on taping/mudding those outside layers.

Something I learned when living overseas - Always expect the worst and things can only get better. If you're right, at least things are the way you expected.

I'll probably start putting up the insulation in those walls I was going to drywall since all I'll have to do is poke them out to fix anything they might find.

You know, there IS another side to this story too: If I had the drywall up, something that might meet minimum might get by because the guy feels sorry for me. Not like planning to pour a concrete ceiling on 2x4 framing, but something that is not "perfect" but does meet minimum requirements. If it's too "easy" to fix, he might require it if he got into a fight with his wife the night before.

len-morgan · Post by **len-morgan** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 11:34 pm

At last, some pictures!!! Work has slowed a bit because of scheduling conflicts, life, family, etc......

As you can see, I've covered up the front glass with galvanized roofing so I don't have to worry about rocks any more.

Anyway, we hope to get the electrical done tonight so we can have it inspected tomorrow so I can begin drywall/insulation, etc.

Here's the pics:

Post by **sharward** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 4:49 am

Isn't that flex conduit going to be a "conduit" for vibration/noise transfer from outer leaf to inner?

I'm assuming Romex is not an option for you, since it's commercial space... Right?

Also, are those junction boxes attached to the underside of the roof going to be accessible? If not, I don't think they'll pass code!

len-morgan · Post by **len-morgan** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 5:49 am

sharward wrote:Isn't that flex conduit going to be a "conduit" for vibration/noise transfer from outer leaf to inner?

I really don't think so. It is very light gauge aluminum stuff and has enough slack in it to decouple. I'm sure there will be some minor amount of vibration but this is not the coiled/flex copper stuff that is used on natural gas lines (which is very stiff).

sharward wrote:I'm assuming Romex is not an option for you, since it's commercial space... Right?

That's right. Believe me, I'm not trying to spend more money than necessary and would use Romex if it was an option. It would be so much easier (we probably could have had it all wired in a day).

sharward wrote:Also, are those junction boxes attached to the underside of the roof going to be accessible? If not, I don't think they'll pass code!

They will be covered by the drywall but not unaccessible. It wouldn't be easy but it's not impossible (there is still a crawl space above the rooms but that is where my small size would be an advantage. I'm not quite sure why there is a requirement for accessibility in this case. ALL the wiring is in conduit so fire is not a problem. We are adding lots of extra outlets (more than is strictly necessary for normal studio use). Finally, the city has already acknowledged it is EXTREMELY unlikely that this building would be sold for any other purpose than a recording studio and therefore any future tennant would be tearing down what I've put up anyway.

We'll see tomorrow or Thursday when the inspection is done.

len

Post by **sharward** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 6:29 am

len-morgan wrote:They will be covered by the drywall but not unaccessible. It wouldn't be easy but it's not impossible (there is still a crawl space above the rooms but that is where my small size would be an advantage.

There may be a minimum vertical clearance in the crawlspace for the boxes to be considered "accessible" via that route. You should probably investigate that.

I'm not quite sure why there is a requirement for accessibility in this case.

Sometimes wire nuts come loose over time and wiring gets disconnected. When that happens, junction boxes need to be opened and inspected so that connections can be checked and/or resecured.

At my old house, I was changing a regular outlet to a GFCI outlet, and in the process I ended up pulling too hard on one of the wires, which caused it to get disconnected from the wire nut in a junction box 25 feet away. This was in the garage and all that wiring was in conduits attached to the surface of the wall.

ALL the wiring is in conduit so fire is not a problem.

Good thing!

--Keith

len-morgan · Post by **len-morgan** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:23 am

Paul Woodlock wrote:YIPEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I Passed My First City Inspection!!!!

It took about 10 minutes for the inspector to go through and look things over. He had some questions about things that looked "strange" to him, like "what's up with the double walls" and "why did you use flex electrical connections instead of cheaper hard conduit" but accepted my explanations.

He gave me the go ahead to finish the rest of the project before I call them again. By the way, my $25.00 permit fee is the ONLY thing I have to pay unless I fail an inspection and they have to come back. Your milage WILL vary!

Lots of pictures to follow soon!

len

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 2:52 am

Looking Good man. Real Good. And I am with the rest of the crew...Framing Pics just excite me