Len Morgan's Studio Build Diary

[len-morgan]

Since it looks like the tubing is already insulated with foam (although not very much), unless you really man-handle it in the process of installing it, I think you're probably pretty safe. I don't remember seeing how you were going to run these lines. Are they going to go in a pretty much straight shot from condensor to indoor unit?

If not, are you going to be able to snake it around where it needs to go before the DW goes up?

len

[sharward]

The line will have to be about 50 feet long. I'm planning to mount the indoor unit on the back (south) wall, so the line will have to go up a few feet between the leaves, through the outer leaf ceiling into the attic, then through the attic towards the back of the house (south) perpendicular to the trusses, out a hole in the attic (possibly the same vent near the southeast corner that the old spa electrical conduit goes through, which is going to be repurposed to power the outside unit), then down about 10 feet to the ground where the outdoor unit will be.

--Keith

[sharward]

Hey Len! Did you ever get your A/C fixed in your building? It's been about six weeks since you posted an update on your project -- surely you haven't been idle the whole time... Have you?

Better watch out -- I'm catching up on you, buddy!

--Keith

[len-morgan]

Well, I was a little bit idle a couple of weeks ago. My wife needed a vacation <b>BADLY</b> and <b>I</b> needed her to have one. Other than that, I have been busy and taking lots of pictures but at this point, it's been a lot of little stuff like painting the doors and trim which isn't all that exciting. I'll try and update soon (maybe this weekend).

As to my A/C system, it seems that someone came during the night and loosened the fittings where the coolant comes in and out of the compressor (it sits exposed near the street unfortunately) so it was just empty. It works like a charm now and even yesterday (at 103) it was nice and comfy.

Yes, you ARE catching up fast. Does it count if I drag all my equipment from home down there and record a few seconds worth so I can say I'm "finished?"

len

[len-morgan]

P.S. Keith,

Thanks for finding my thread for me. It moved off the first page!

len

[sharward]

No, Len -- recording a few seconds in an unfinished studio does not a finished studio make!

Nice try though.

Well, even though you may not thinking such things as painting doors is exciting, it is still work and it is representative of the kinds of things one must do on projects like these. So, in that sense, you'd be doing a service to everyone by posting pictures and comments.

Hey, digging a hole wasn't very exciting, but I sure posted a lot of pictures of that -- and I'm sure lost some of my audience in the process!

You know, you might want to run some wiring now for security cameras. Wouldn't you like to have a peek of what's going on outside your studio when you're hiding out in the control room anyway? Plus, having some "Premises Under Surveillance" signs might also help in keeping people from messing with your air conditioning gear!

--Keith

[len-morgan]

Well, even though you may not thinking such things as painting doors is exciting, it is still work and it is representative of the kinds of things one must do on projects like these. So, in that sense, you'd be doing a service to everyone by posting pictures and comments.

'nuff said. I will not post pictures of things like nails in my hand and the various "spills" of fluids that have happened. After all, I have to protect some dignity.

ou know, you might want to run some wiring now for security cameras. Wouldn't you like to have a peek of what's going on outside your studio when you're hiding out in the control room anyway?[/b]

It's a little too late for that - at least to do it easily. I made the "brilliant" design decision to make the hole for all my audio cables symetrical in the room which happens to also be exactly in the middle of the window so dropping a new wire(s) from the top between the walls is problematic. Radio Shack does sell a nice little camera for an alarm system that is wireless (but not really designed for outdoors) that I'm thinking about getting.

I also have the option of using a bow and arrow to shoot a wire between the trusses over the "big room" to the back where I'm going to have a couple of servers.

This actually brings up a question: What are the best options if you find you have forgotten a wire or two and you have to "break the seal" of a finished room? Is there a good way to do this without destroying the isolation I worked so hard to get?

len

[sharward]

What are the best options if you find you have forgotten a wire or two and you have to "break the seal" of a finished room? Is there a good way to do this without destroying the isolation I worked so hard to get?

For a single small cable, I wouldn't stress too much over it. I would think a 1/4" hole with a liberal amount of acoustic sealant that penetrates to all of the layers would be just fine.

--Keith

[len-morgan]

I guess that brings up another question:

Can ANY perforation (sp?) of a mass wall (as in m-a-m), be "cured" with acoustic calk? There can't be that much mass involved in the calk. Where is the line between a big hole in the wall, filled with calk and no hole at all?

As it turns out, if you go back to my original floor plan, you can see that I've got a "hallway" or sort of built-in airlock between my control room, drum room, and main room. The air-lock is really the entry/reception area of the studio. Since I'd want a camera from this area (or just outside the buiding of this area) into the control room, my room to room isolation shouldn't suffer that much so I guess it would still be possible to run a wire or two through the control room wall without hurting things too much.

len

[sharward]

This was discussed at Studiotips some time ago. The consensus over there is that small (and I mean small!) areas of inferior thickness/density in a leaf really don't matter much, especially for low end TL.

Think of my beef-up drywall strips between my studs in my outer leaf walls. Technically, the studs are less dense than the drywall!

As long as it's made air-tight with acoustic sealant and the hole is small in the first place, you shouldn't have to worry about it.

--Keith

[knightfly]

As long as it's made air-tight with acoustic sealant and the hole is small in the first place, you shouldn't have to worry about it.

Agreed.

Think of my beef-up drywall strips between my studs in my outer leaf walls. Technically, the studs are less dense than the drywall!

Yup; about 2/3 as dense in most cases.

Security - Dobermans and 12-gauges. Our overly liberal society is getting nearly as stupid as British law. A few dead bodies should get the point across

[len-morgan]

Security - Dobermans and 12-gauges. Our overly liberal society is getting nearly as stupid as British law. A few dead bodies should get the point across Twisted Evil

Since my worry is security when I'm not there, this would only work for me if I could teach the Dobermans to shoot the 12-gauges. On the other hand, if I could just teach them to HOLD the shotguns, that might be enough of a deterant - I know it'd scare the HELL out of me!!!

[knightfly]

Build 'em a nice doghouse/run ENCLOSING your HVAC, oughta slow MOST a-holes down a bit - in 40 years of having dobies I've only once had to supplement 'em with Mossberg motivation

Alas, these two have been gone for over a year now, we're down to a Kelpie (if she were as big as her attitude!!?!) and a Chow/Rottweiler mix - hope to get some time soon to shop for replacements... Steve

[Luftweg]

I miss my beautiful red dobermann pinscher, Leo...
He left us a while ago.
To this day, I can't even look at a dobie without feeling somewhat saddened....
K

Build 'em a nice doghouse/run ENCLOSING your HVAC, oughta slow MOST a-holes down a bit - in 40 years of having dobies I've only once had to supplement 'em with Mossberg motivation

Alas, these two have been gone for over a year now, we're down to a Kelpie (if she were as big as her attitude!!?!) and a Chow/Rottweiler mix - hope to get some time soon to shop for replacements... Steve

[Luftweg]

Think of my beef-up drywall strips between my studs in my outer leaf walls. Technically, the studs are less dense than the drywall!

Yup; about 2/3 as dense in most cases.

Is that lower density 'made up for' since the studs are 3.5 inch deep?
If drywall density is D/inch^3, then stud density is 2/3 x D/inch^3.
Drywall thickness is, say, 3 layers of 0.625 inch = 1.875 inch.

Then densities per square inch of wall surface are:
Drywall: 1.875 inch x D/inch^3 = 1.875 D/inch^2
Stud: 3.5 inch x 2/3 x D/inch^3 = 2.333 D/inch^2

So, in the example of a 2 by 4 nominal stud wall with 3 layers of drywall strips inbetween them, the 2 by 4's actual still have a bit more cross-sectional mass per surface area than the drywall does...

If there were only 2 layers of drywall, there would be relatively even more mass in the studs per surface area.

Of course, this mass comparison does not take into account that wood seems to be a better 'conductor' of sound... due to other factors (stiffness, resilience ?)... is this correct?

Use ironwood, live oak, or lignum vitae (lol) wood for the studs and the densities will skyrocket (actually MORE dense than any drywall, maybe even cementboard)... so won't the cost of the room, lol.

K