I'd starve if I had to frame studios for a living. No one would hire me. I'm not fast enough.
One good thing though, you go through gallons of water out there. Drink it down, it sweats right back out in no time. I think I've lost about 10 - 15 pounds since I started this.
Michael, even though there are probably people who can do it somewhat faster, I don't think ANYONE is really fast at this particular type of building - speed and accuracy are kind of diametrically opposed, and when you throw odd angles and all the other restrictions of building sound proof odd-angled rooms, it becomes easy to see why HAVING a studio built is out of the realm of possibility for most of us.
Speaking of hammering, I just bought a second framing nailer today, and am really curious whether or not it will work OK for tight construction - my old one takes some really tricky timing to keep it from burying the heads while leaving the joint loose. Most of the looseness is due to the inertia of the framing member - the wood can't move against the other piece quickly enough to match the speed of the nail gun. That's why anything I've wanted really tight in the past I've used a hammer.
The new gun, a Senco Framer Pro, has an adjustable depth stop and a really aggressive shoe for toe-nailing, which can be covered with a smooth rubbery shoe for doing siding, etc - I'm hoping to find some time to experiment soon, and will post my thoughts on whether it should be used for studio construction or not. I'm hoping I can set a lesser depth of drive, then finish with a hammer.
Also, Senco and at least one other manufacturer now have self-loading screw gun attachments, gonna check em out for drywalling possibilities. At least one of the ones I saw today claims to "fit your screwgun" - when I have more time to drool I'll dig into that also.
Meantime, Michael, try not to push your body parts so hard that it screws you for playing - that would kinda suck, in an ironic sort of way... Steve
Soooo, when a Musician dies, do they hear the white noise at the end of the tunnel??!? Hmmmm...
3 Months? You poor thing! Let me get you a Kleenex!
Hell, I've been at it for 3 months, and we're only getting to the soffits now! We've still got floors to put in, and we've got to dig a trench for the sewer line still!
Steve - Yeah, I have a nail gun too. It works great for framing up the walls on the floor; then tilting them up, but what I've been doing lately is extending the erected walls up to the ceiling trusses. Also, the first scissor truss, past the gabel needed to be filled in to the bottom of the inside wall so that the drywall could extend up to the ceiling. A nail gun just isn't practicle up there. The space is too confined. So, hammer and nails it is.
I think they took 90 days to build our house. But that was a whole crew. I'm five months into this, it may be another three before I can actually start room treatment. Of course, the first three months I was only able to dedicate weekends to it, and if it rained that weekend, well, I was out basically 2 weeks. I'm pretty much doing this full-time now so things ARE moving along at a faster pace. And MY sewer line is already dug!
One thing I have done is keep EVERY reciept for EVERYTHING I've bought. It'll be interesting to see things like How many boxes of nails or how many 2x4's it actually took to do this.
Working alone, from my experience, is about 6 times as slow as having an idiot helper that will do what you ask, about 12 times as slow as having an experienced helper that is already there with what you were looking for just before you start looking for it, and about 40-50 times as slow as having the money to tell the contractor, "build it right there, and tell me when I can move in"...
On the tight space vs nailgun thing - one of the reasons I bought the new Senco NOW, when I'll not be breaking ground (on new studio, I mean) for at least a year, is that the Senco had a promo deal that included a "free" palm nailer. It looks like that might help in some cases where things are more cramped, but time will tell.
From the sense of space I get looking at the pix you posted on HR, that's going to be a sweet setup when you're finished - can't wait to get a copy of your first recordings there... Steve
Soooo, when a Musician dies, do they hear the white noise at the end of the tunnel??!? Hmmmm...
knightfly wrote:...Meantime, Michael, try not to push your body parts so hard that it screws you for playing - that would kinda suck, in an ironic sort of way... Steve
Ha!
I've already had one casualty.
I was putting in these "hurricane straps" on the trusses, where they rest on the top plate. 10 nails for each strap, 31 trusses, 2 sides.
Again, space was limited, and I had to hold the nail between my index finger, and middle finger, then start the nail.... SMACK!
OUCH!!!
Oh well, that was a couple of weeks ago.
I've recovered nicely.
When they said to "Hit the nail on the head", I don't think that's quite what they meant :=)
Where's E.T. when we really need him... Seriously, I hope all your "ow-ies" are as easily healed.
Were you using those short fat nails like you're supposed to use on joist hangers? I've yet to find a nail gun that can do those, it's one of the jobs I'm looking at that "free" palm nailer for... Steve
BTW, I just heard my neighbor crank up his "lawnmower from hell" again - maybe my cheapest way for quiet would just be to order a 10-yard load of concrete, and have it dumped on HIM AND HIS LAWNMOWER...
Soooo, when a Musician dies, do they hear the white noise at the end of the tunnel??!? Hmmmm...
knightfly wrote:When they said to "Hit the nail on the head", I don't think that's quite what they meant :=)
Were you using those short fat nails like you're supposed to use on joist hangers? ...
Yep. Short fat nails with big heads. Don't see how I could've missed the nail!
You feel so stupid after doing it too!
Its like your ID telling your EGO "Put your finger up there and let me see if I can hit it with a hammer."
Doh!
knightfly wrote:
BTW, I just heard my neighbor crank up his "lawnmower from hell" again - maybe my cheapest way for quiet would just be to order a 10-yard load of concrete, and have it dumped on HIM AND HIS LAWNMOWER...
Maybe buy him a recharging electric mulching mower? <Grin>
And I thought I'd be onto wiring by the years end. Just ordered my CR glass today -- after this window -- the construction hat comes off for awhile:)
As for that neighbor with the lawn mower -- its funny; we go to great extent to make sure rock-n-roll doen't disturb anyone because they might complain, but people make all sorts of noise. Be glad -- I've got a guy behind me with a wood chipper that cranks it up on the 4th of July every year durinf our anual party- WTF? lol
Hey the auoralex sit said to put the 1/2" glass on the studio side? Heavier glass on the heavier wall right Knightfly?
Dave, you're right - you want wall leaves to be as balanced as possible, in that the mass of one leaf should be lighter in both wallboard and glass, or heavier. With glass being roughly 3 times the mass of wallboard, you want at least 1/3 the glass thickness in each leaf of the wall as you have wallboard thickness. A little more than that seems to improve TL, so it's usually best to go the next available thickness up from the 1/3 of total wallboard figure... Steve
