*Treatment stage* Fen Cabin Studio - Build Diary. UK

[Waka]

Cut the module for the ceiling ventilation outlet. Without the fan on its got a really nice draft coming through the hole. A nice blast of air as I cut the membrane over it. It's got good flow of air but not rushing, which is a good sign.

Is not central which was annoying but I wanted the diffuser to be central on the ceiling, so it's a bit offset and twisted, but hey ho it's covered by the diffuser... No one will eeeever know.

I lined the hole with the same neoprene strip I used to decouple the silencers, about 20mm away from the hole all around, then I pushed the ceiling module up tight against the neoprene, compressing it about 20%.

I then pushed some backer rod in and will caulk the gap. I might use some powder filler, at some point, around the cut edge of the plasterboard to stop plaster dust and bits breaking off.

Dan

ventilation outlet.jpg

outlet detail.jpg

[Waka]

Some progress was made on my ceiling.

I've fitted all of the plasterboard strips and caulked half of it. Caulking takes a ton of time. You wouldn't expect how much!

I've still got to put the plasterboard strips along the bottom face of each joist, but needed to get the modules done so the electrician can come in and put the ceiling cabling in for the ceiling track lighting.

I'll still be able to put my insulation around the cabling once it's in so that's good.

Dan

caulked ceiling modules.jpg

[Gregwor]

I'm so excited to see how much transmission loss you've achieved with your awesome build!

Great work man!

Greg

[Waka]

I'm so excited to see how much transmission loss you've achieved with your awesome build!

Great work man!

Greg

Thanks Greg! It'll be great to see. I'm a little uneasy about the transmission loss though as I didn't have the exact right thickness of wall insulation and didn't want to compress it in, so there was a little void of about 25mm. I thought it would be fine and sealed everything up, but am having pangs of regret everytime I see the gap in between the leaves where the second door is going

I'm hoping it will be fine though .
I'm making sure to not lose heart and get complacent with the caulking though. So we'll see.

Painting the walls today. Mist coat is dry, it's ready for the second coat now so gotta get working

Larch cladding is ordered, with a 4 to 6 week lead time .

Track lighting is ordered and arrives Tuesday.

Waiting for the electrician to get back to me with a date.

I'm waiting for a forecast of good weather over a weekend next, so I can get my doors made up and fitted.

More pics will be on their way soon enough.

Dan

[Waka]

As promised, some pictures.

I've got to caulk some more of the ceiling modules and around the top of the walls.

I've painted the walls white as a base, and will decide what colour to finish them in after I've finished the speaker baffles and the rear wall treatment.

It's really brightened up the studio having the white though!

Dan

[Soundman2020]

Ummmm.... :

white walls-with-hole-2.jpg

That looks suspiciously like a hole in the wall with a piece of wire poking through!

- Stuart -

[Waka]

Ummmm.... :

white walls-with-hole-2.jpg

That looks suspiciously like a hole in the wall with a piece of wire poking through!

- Stuart -

Indeed it does. It's actually conduit within the wall with the wires going through, like we discussed earlier in this thread. I've not caulked the "cap" over it yet though as I wanted to make sure it's got all the necessary wires through when the electrician comes and nothing needs adding.

Dan

[Soundman2020]

It's actually conduit within the wall with the wires going through, like we discussed earlier in this thread. I've not caulked the "cap" over it yet though

Ahhh! All is good then...

- Stuart -

[Waka]

It's actually conduit within the wall with the wires going through, like we discussed earlier in this thread. I've not caulked the "cap" over it yet though

Ahhh! All is good then...

- Stuart -

[Waka]

I managed to get hold of my electrician (after 3 weeks of him not responding to my texts /calls). He's really busy at the moment and isn't sure when he can fit me in.
So I called some of my friends for a good electrician, and I got in touch with one. I agreed with him to do the bulk of the work myself (following his instructions, to meet regulations) and then he'll come and connect up the distribution boards, and then test and certify the wiring for building control.

So I'm going to be installing the sockets over the weekend hopefully.

Can you just check my plan is all good guys.

I'll be implementing a radial circuit with "star grounding".

I've included a sketch.
I'll be running individual single cables for each wire, that is one for live, neutral and earth.
The individual wires are only single insulated so must be in no conductive trunking to meet building regs (which I was going to do anyway).

The live and neutral will be "daisy-chained " from one socket to the next.
A new earth wire will run from each socket to the distribution board, and then the earth will run to a new external earth rod, just for the studio.

Lighting will be on a separate curcuit.
AC will be on a separate circuit.

If you can make out the (pencil) drawing, then it would be great if you would check it over for me.

Thanks,
Dan

[Waka]

Started fitting the dado trunking!

Behind treatment I've switched to standard cable trunking (5th of the price).
I'm going to be using shielded cat6 data cables and running them in the bottom section of the dado trunking and in its own cable trunking behind the treatment.

[Waka]

Cables run to most of the sockets. I have to get the exact dimensions of my speaker baffles before I fit the front wall trunking and sockets though, so I've just put in some cable long enough to reach the area.

You'll see the brown (live) and blue (neutral) wires, "daisy chain" to each socket in series, whereas a yellow/green (earth) wire is run to each socket individually and meets at the distribution board.

Dan

[Paulus87]

Hey Dan,

I am not a qualified electrician but it all looks good to me!

Are you just installing a standard residential fuse box (or consumer unit) for your distro board? Have you got any pics?

It's nice to see some british electrics going in!

Cheers,
Paul

[Waka]

Hey Dan,

I am not a qualified electrician but it all looks good to me!

Are you just installing a standard residential fuse box (or consumer unit) for your distro board? Have you got any pics?

It's nice to see some british electrics going in!

Cheers,
Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the interest! Yep I'll be using a standard residential consumer unit, but I'll be leaving the connecting up to the electrician who comes to certify it.

The "garage" consumer unit will be connected to the main consumer unit in the house (30m of SWA cable already installed) to one of the fuses. My electrician said he could make a space for it in the house board by moving one of the separated lighting circuits onto the same fuse as another lighting circuit. Just means that the extension's upstairs and downstairs lighting will both go off if the fuse blows.

The studio is having its own isolated earth rod though. So the earth from the consumer unit will run directly to an earth rod fitted behind the studio.

I couldn't find any pictures on this site of UK studio wiring! So I was a little worried at first about doing it wrong, but it seems simple enough. It's just about changing the "American-isms" to "British-isms"

I'll get more pics up when I've got some more wiring installed (the consumer will have to wait until the electrician is over though in a few weeks, as he's going on holiday).

Dan

[Paulus87]

Hey Dan,

I am not a qualified electrician but it all looks good to me!

Are you just installing a standard residential fuse box (or consumer unit) for your distro board? Have you got any pics?

It's nice to see some british electrics going in!

Cheers,
Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the interest! Yep I'll be using a standard residential consumer unit, but I'll be leaving the connecting up to the electrician who comes to certify it.

The "garage" consumer unit will be connected to the main consumer unit in the house (30m of SWA cable already installed) to one of the fuses. My electrician said he could make a space for it in the house board by moving one of the separated lighting circuits onto the same fuse as another lighting circuit. Just means that the extension's upstairs and downstairs lighting will both go off if the fuse blows.

The studio is having its own isolated earth rod though. So the earth from the consumer unit will run directly to an earth rod fitted behind the studio.

I couldn't find any pictures on this site of UK studio wiring! So I was a little worried at first about doing it wrong, but it seems simple enough. It's just about changing the "American-isms" to "British-isms"

I'll get more pics up when I've got some more wiring installed (the consumer will have to wait until the electrician is over though in a few weeks, as he's going on holiday).

Dan

Thanks for the info Dan! I am planning to install a similar system in my build and I was just wondering if using extension cables (such as a 4 way socket) would introduce ground loops? For example; when powering a large credenza of rack units what's the best way to do it? Do I need a seperate socket with individual earth wires for every piece of gear or is using an extension (which is basically a daisy chain in a box) acceptable?

Thanks,
Paul