FINISHED IN 2020! Sharward's Partial Garage Conversion

[knightfly]

500 square foot minimum -

Just tell him it's really 500 square feet of his usual thickness, but in three layers...

[sharward]

Ha! Just when you thought I was done doing nifty drawings...

Here's my plan for the concrete. Doing the outer leaf wall area first seems to make the most sense, so that the perimeter isolation board can be the forms for the isolated pad.

Those with even a tiny bit of knowledge of concrete -- please post your feedback! Don't let the pretty colors fool you -- I'm clueless when it comes to concrete!!

Hopefully this drawing will help me communicate the needs of my project to the concrete people.

Or maybe, just maybe, I'll tackle most of this myself.

[sharward]

I met with the first concrete guy this morning. I really like him. He seems to really know his stuff and is very eager to do the work and knock my socks off with his purported commercial-grade quality and attention to detail.

He's flexible, willing to do as much of or as little of the work as I wish, allowing me to save money by doing much of the work myself. And the "as yet not in writing" numbers he was contemplating aloud were quite reasonable.

The only hitch is that even though he's been doing concrete for 14 years, he's new in operating his own business, and he has yet to secure a contractor's license. (He's waiting on state bureaucrats.) Fortunately, he partners with a couple of other contractors/buddies in town and it's possible that I'll be able to work through those entities in order to meet the legal requirements. Or I might hire him as a "consultant" to guide me through the work.

I made it clear: if he does the work, there has to be a license (and insurance of course). But I may let him consult me without the license.

[sharward]

Woo-hoo! I broke ground today, tearing all the gypsum wallboard off my east wall.

Unfortunately, I made a few unfortunate discoveries:

• The OSB is actually 3/8" thick, not 7/16" or 1/2" thick as I had believed. But that's the least of my concerns, because...
• The OSB stops just a few feet south of the vents! So instead of having OSB all along that wall, it covers only about a third of it! This means I'm going to have to cleat in some OSB as my first beef-up layer along most of that wall in order to have a surface able to be screwed into for subsequent beef-up layers. I had planned on doing this method for the other two walls, but now I have to do it for all three walls.
• There are quite a few areas where what I assume are chicken wire screws missed the stud, so in order to apply a beef-up layer, those very thick staples (they're like nails) have to be cut off, ground off, or something.

Where you see black paper, immediately on the other side is (what I assume to be) 1" of styrofoam, and on that is (I assume) chicken wire and about 1/2" of stucco (if I'm lucky).

[Dan Fitzpatrick]

keith,

congrats on the wall-breaking!

don't you love surprises? get used to it

at least styrofoam is flat ... ... for a minute there i thought you were gonna have "wavy stucco syndrome."

dan

[sharward]

Well, I'm really getting ready to do the exterior wall beef-up. I spent yesterday cleaning up (wow, ripping down 20 linear feet of 10 foot high drywall sure makes a powdery mess!), and I spent today "tetrising" the stuff in the garage to clear the way for a sheet rack, which I fashioned out of an old dining room table, and 4x8 sheet of plywood and some 2x4s left over from the dismantled scary overhead storage cubby the previous owner put in the tandem area of the garage. (I knew that lumber would come in handy one of these days! )

The sheet rack will allow me to use a circular saw to rip 4x8s lengthwise, which I will need to use as my first layer of beef-up material on the outer leaf exterior wall... And the two outer leaf interior walls too.

I should probably admit here that not only am I afraid of heights, but I'm also afraid of power tools! Well, not "afraid," as much as "having a healthy respect for." I don't want to have to play drums Rick Allen style...

I'm not sure how long I'll be able to get away with storing both our cars in the garage while construction is underway, but I'll be trying my best to do so. It's part of my commitment to Woman (paying homage to Sir Woodlock there ) not to evict her Saturn from its designated overnight parking space until and unless absolutely necessary.

Ah, and y'all can finally see my new RX-8.

There are four 2x4s that are attached to the 4x8 plywood sheet with screws from the bottom. The other pieces of lumber are just sitting on the table and may be useful later. Currently the sheet rack is not attached to the table at all -- it can slide around a bit. I may decide to screw it into the table -- that is, if I intend to ruin the dining room table (that I don't really care about anyway).

[bondsong]

Ah, and y'all can finally see my new RX-8.

Nice car!

It looks like you're ready to get going.

I'm going to have to cleat in some OSB as my first beef-up layer

What are cleats? Are they big staples?

Looks like a good plan for cutting the sheetrock. Make sure it's nicely ventilated.

Good luck.

Frank

[sharward]

Hi Frank,

Welcome to my insane thread!

I'm going to have to cleat in some OSB as my first beef-up layer

What are cleats? Are they big staples?

See this thread for a discussion and photos of the concept of "beefing up" an outer leaf using drywall between studs or joists.

The cleats are 1x2s screwed into the studs or joists to hold the drywall firmly against the inner surface of the outer leaf. Usually glue is also used on the face of the material -- the cleats are insurance against adhesive failure.

Looks like a good plan for cutting the sheetrock.

Actually, the sheet rack is for ripping OSB -- I don't plan to cut the gypsum panels with a circular saw.

In my case, my first beef-up layer will be OSB -- subsequent layers will be gypsum wallboard (i.e. Sheetrock). This way I can screw the gypsum directly into the OSB, thereby avoiding the need to have multiple layers of cleats.

Make sure it's nicely ventilated.

Not sure what you mean by "it." The garage while I'm working? The finished space? The gap between the leaves?

[bondsong]

Not sure what you mean by "it."

I meant the garage because I thought you were going to cut the gyproc with the saw. I actually tried it once.

Thanks for the link. I'm getting ready to do this step and I hadn't seen that thread yet.

Frank

[Dan Fitzpatrick]

i'd rarely use any kind of saw on gypsum. in case anybody doesn't know, it can be cut cleanly and relatively dust free using only a utility knife.

cut the paper (make sure to cut VERY straight line), then the board can be easily snapped, even along the 8 foot length. then cut the paper in back. VOILA!

of course this only works on straight cuts.

by the way nice car!!

[sharward]

by the way nice car!!

Thanks -- I'm really enjoying it. I drove my previous cheap-o car for 12 years, so it was time!

I'm getting ready to seal and beef up my outer leaf, so I need to buy lots of sealant. The question I have is what kind I should buy, and how much.

All along I had planned to get "acoustic sealant." I found (thanks to this thread) a source for OSI Pro-Series SC-175™ Acoustical Sound Sealant. Toolup.com is selling 29 ounce tubes for $2.97 each, plus shipping. Shipping isn't cheap though. Ground shipment per 12-unit case including shipping to Sacramento, California, are:

• 1 case: $35.64 + $14.73 shipping = $50.37 ($4.20/ea.)
• 2 cases: $71.28 + $42.60 shipping = $113.88 ($4.74/ea.)
• 3 cases: $106.92 + $61.83 shipping = $168.75 ($4.69/ea.)
• 3½ cases: $124.74 + $70.73 shipping = 195.47 ($4.65/ea.)
• 4 cases: No shipping quote available on-line

Very strange how the smaller quantity is actually cheaper to ship per tube than the larger quantities... There's something screwy about that.

Anyway, before I buy the stuff, I would like to know:

• Is this the stuff I should buy? or...
• Should I get silicone sealant like Sir Woodlock used?

Keep in mind that, in theory, I have no resilient surfaces in my project -- everything is firmly attached. (The only exception is that I'm going to pour an isolated slab.) For that reason I'm wondering if I could or should get away with less pliable stuff...

Before I buy anything, though, I'll check with AMS here in town to see what they have, what they can order, or what they can get shipped from another location. (Hopefully they have more than the less-than-stellar Miracle SCS-100 Sound-Control Sealant got from them a couple of weeks ago...

Hmmm. I just read in this thread that Jeff Szymanski (the Auralex guy) recommends USG's Acoustical Sealant... To Sir Woodlock!

--Keith

[mikeklooster]

I was going to get USG as well. I know you can buy it in the bay, and Ive got the info somewhere, if you still need it ill find it . Im probably going to get some this week, maybe I can pick it up 4 u.
What should i use for "sill seal". Is that the brand?
Nice car, has it eaten any cell phones lately?

[Dan Fitzpatrick]

AMS stocks USG. unfortunately even though i had called to check, they had run out by the time i got there. next time, i'll buy over the phone, then pick up.

i wouldn't consider shipping this stuff, it's too heavy. are you really going to pay more than the price of one case to ship two cases? i don't think so!

i'm not sure about your reasoning regarding your caulk needs. i think that your caulk needs to withstand the stresses that are going to be put on all of your joints, mostly i would think from stuctural settling. in my mind it's not a question of decoupling.

in my current house and my previous house i had cracks in walls, from settlement, all over the house. the hope is that the caulked joints will absorb some of these stresses so that doesn't happen in the studio.

using good caulk, and using backer rod, are important for healthy joints that don't give out. see here for why backer rod is a good thing: http://www.loghelp.com/info/brodtips.html

the fact that you live on clay makes this more important. clay causes a lot of heaving and settling with changing water content. it will also be important for the long term health of your studio to make sure your drainage in that area of your garage is bulletproof.

i've been considering having some of those gutters with tops on them around my garage area, as i have a tree that regularly clogs up my downspouts. (does anybody know if they really work?)

alex t tells me he used six cases of caulk in his project (so far). he has two rooms. but his rooms together are about the same size as your one room. if that helps.

dan

p.s. nice bullet points

[Dan Fitzpatrick]

What should i use for "sill seal". Is that the brand?

i know owens corning makes one:
http://www.owenscorning.com/around/insu ... msealr.asp

[sharward]

Thanks guys -- I'll see if I can get my hands on five cases of the USG stuff at AMS tomorrow!