Studio Build Documentation

[miroslav]

DAY 47

Yesterday they got most of the sheeting done...there's just about 3-4 sheets left to go on...and three of my windows were installed, 2 on the side and my awning window which is on the end. The fourth window came in the wrong size (some miscommunication between the vendor and my contractor)...I should have the replacement in a couple of weeks, hopefully before the holidays, so until then it will get some plywood.
Also, half of the hurricane clips were installed for the rafters.

I also locked into my AC system today, and they should start roughing it in next week...a 22k BTUh 2-ton system. The rep said an 18k would have been OK, but I told him I have quite a bit of gear that will generate some heat, and that I wanted the room have good cooling...so he pushed it up to the next level.
The heat pump in the unit will warm down to -5 degrees...which is good enough for this area, especially considering that I will also have some hot water baseboard in the room. There was a -15 degrees option, but kinda overkill.

Today is a rain day...but I'm going to be out there running some drainage pipe for the gutters and also a French drain...it's going to probably be the last chance to do it now before the ground start to freeze since the temps will be in the upper 40s...then we have a long cold spell coming after.

Tomorrow and Monday the siding should get started on the fascia and soffits and so on...plus the Building Inspector is due on Monday to sign off on the framing/sheeting phase...then the electric and plumbing should start once the structure is kinda sealed, and we can run some portable heat in there.
I also need to start running my audio power line, networking, phone...so I'm looking forward to there being some heat in there...kinda hard working with wire when your hands are frozen.

Oh...my front & back doors have been ordered. I still need to pick out my studio door...probably just a solid 6-panel door, wood & fiberglass (like an exterior door), but a thicker one...1-3/4"...and there's also the bathroom door, but that will be just like the doors I installed this summer in the rest of my house, just solid wood, 6-panel, and then I'll paint it....well, I'm going to be painting all the doors.

[Chili]

This is getting exciting.

Do you plan to record other people or bands? Or will be just for yourself?

Wonder how a drum set will record in the space when it's done.

[miroslav]

This is getting exciting.

Do you plan to record other people or bands? Or will be just for yourself?

Wonder how a drum set will record in the space when it's done.

The studio was/is primarily for my use...something I thought about many times over the years, about my options to build-out or to reassign the existing space in my house that was next to my current studio, in order to have more room. Doing this build-out was always the ideal way to go, and I envisioned many different ways to do it. I wish I had this opportunity 10 or better yet, 20 years ago...but it just wasn't possible, and this year it became possible, mainly do to the fact the my immediate family, my mother, father and sister are all gone.

I never got into it here too much on the forums before, but I'll give you the backstory now.

Before my dad passed away 15 years ago, he and my mother would spend their summers with me, winters in Florida. Then after my dad passed away, my mom continued. Also, my sister and her husband use to come visit often, and the room that was demolished to make way for this new studio, was a guest room that they would use. Then my sister passed away in 2016, she was ill for several years, and slowly faded away...but my mom was still doing the NY/FL thing. I was actually planning to create a comfortable one-story space for her to live here permanently (instead of building the studio), because she was getting to the point of needing more care and being alone in a condo in FL was not good.

Just as we were making plans to get her up here permanently, she was going to do one more winter in FL and then move for good up here... then last summer her health went downhill. She still went back, for one last time, but two weeks later I was on a plane heading to FL to bring her back. She ended up in the hospital and was not going to survive alone. I needed to act quick to bring back so I could take care of her.
I had to pack her up and move her in 10 days time. Got her back up here, she was OK for a few months, and then by Dec last year, she just got worse, lots of trips to the doctors, nothing...she had chronic COPD issues, and a pacemaker...last January after they did a second PET scan, it was clear that here lungs were going.
She spent her last 6 weeks in bed, with me taking care of her along with some hospice visits...and the she passed away at the end of February.
That was a really hard thing...watching her go day by day, and being the only one dealing with it 24/7, but I always told her I would not stick her in some home...and that I would stay with her and be her caregiver. I just didn't think she was going to go for at least another 2-3 years.

So the plan I had to build a space for her was no longer needed, and I toyed with the idea of selling the house and moving, now that my entire immediate family was gone...but then decided that I liked where I was, and this place was home, and the "ghosts" of my family are still here with me, and I didn't want to leave them behind. Not trying to sound weird...but the memories of my family are tied to this place, and I wanted to keep them close.
At that point I decided to go for the studio build...and I might as well now have my longtime dream come to life...rather then move and try to start it all over again at some different place.

That's how I got here to this build...but to answer the rest of your question......I do plan to and would very much like to have people over to record...and that has always been part of my thought process in planning this and getting it built. I just wasn't going to do a formal commercial type of studio build, because the one big open space is what I prefer...and yes, there will be drums set up (I think they will sound great in the big room)...my amps and guitars, of course...and I'm probably going to try to get either a baby grand or full grand piano in there, and leave my smaller studio upright down where it is, in the room which will become my new bedroom. That way I can have a place to flush out ideas without always going into the studio.

The studio will have all the necessaries to handle a 5-6 person recording session when it's all finished and set up. I will most likely be building a bunch of gobos this summer, so that I can create partially isolated spaces, and make the most out of the big open room.
I am also going to wire in my adjoining foyer, which has a 12' vaulted ceiling, and it will have a tile floor with extended hallway...so I think it could possibly have an interesting live sound...or just toss some rugs on the tile, and deaden it up. That way I will have to possibility of one additional space isolated from the big room...but I live the single room approach, always have.

[miroslav]

DAY 48

Today it rained on/off most of the day, but I was out there in the rain and well into the night putting in some drainage pipes along the far end of the building.
I put in two pipes...one is a solid pipe for the two gutters (yet to be installed) to drain into, and the second, outer pipe has holes on the bottom, to act as a French drain, since that end of the building has the high slope near it (the new driveway where I will need a retaining wall come spring).
It made sense to put some initial drainage now, before they come to install my mini-split AC unit, which will go on the on corner on a pad...and I wouldn't want to have to dig under it later in the spring. There will probably be another drain pipe on the driveway side of the retaining wall when it goes in.

It was a warmer day (though pretty wet)...so possibly the last opportunity to dig before the ground starts to freeze. This way when the install my gutters they can immediately connect them to the drain pipe...and those uphill sides of the building will stay dry.
I probably should have put in the pipes when they were backfilling...but at the time, the contractor said with a slab, it wasn't required by code to have footing drains and all that...so I made the mistake of going with that thought...DUH!...and then as soon as they backfilled, I saw that the top of the slab was almost at grade, so I knew I would end up putting in the drains...but now it's basically done.

I still have to drop in another 30' of pipe along my front wall, but I may let that go until the spring, since I already dug out along the wall and filled it all with stones...so it will drain pretty good as-is...but I want to add the French drain pipe, and tie it into the other one at the corner.
If it stays warmer for a couple of days, I may run to Home Depot and just grab some more pipe and do it now...but the next two days they will be starting the siding, so I don't want to get in their way.

[Chili]

Thanks for the backstory. It is nice to see the commitment to family. Don't see that too much anymore. Sorry, for your losses over the years, but cool to see you trying to do the best you can for your Ma.

I think the recording space will sound great. If I could swing it, I'd bring my band up to record. Hope to hear some great music come from that room some day.

[miroslav]

My family was always good to me...we were all close. It's a bit weird now being the only one to carry all the memories, but I know they would expect me to move forward. When my sister took ill, I asked her once if there was anything she wanted from me, anything I could do for her...she said, "Live your life".

Hey...when the studio is ready, if you ever take a ride to NY, you're welcome to stop by.

[grimtraveller]

When my sister took ill, I asked her once if there was anything she wanted from me, anything I could do for her...she said, "Live your life".

If I was going to try to demonstrate in story or anecdote, selflessness, to a group of kids, among others, that would be one they'd have to hear.

[miroslav]

If I was going to try to demonstrate in story or anecdote, selflessness, to a group of kids, among others, that would be one they'd have to hear.

My sister was one of the most kindest people I ever knew. Everyone loved her. She could walk into a room of strangers and make friends with all of them in less than 5 minutes. She had a passion for life...she was always out and about.
Her illness crushed her...it took away from her that which she enjoyed the most, being the ultimate social butterfly.

I loved her dearly. We got along great all our lives. I think we had maybe 2 arguments, and one of them was when we were little kids.
She was the biggest supporter of my music and my studio interests...always pushing me to go for it.
She introduced me to skiing, and I became a fanatic, quickly surpassing her skills, but she was a good skier, and I always enjoyed going skiing with her.
She took me to Africa when she use to fly for Pan Am.

Back in out early 20's...we spent about a year and a half together in Europe, going to university (well, she went, I mostly partied).
When she was young, I use to chaperone her and her friend to NYC so they could go to ballet class...and I got to spend the day in downtown Manhattan, which was quite a lot of fun for someone in the late teens.

When it was obvious she was ill...I was miserable watching her fade away over the course of several years...but she stayed strong to the end.
I feel I do owe it to her to keep pushing with the studio...if she was still alive, she would be as excited about this new studio build as I am.

[miroslav]

DAY 49

I didn't get a chance to take any pictures today...but there wasn't a lot of visible changes to the outside, since most of the work happened in the new bathroom and the hallway leading to the foyer. The bathroom framing was completed, and we had a last minute change of plans, and I decided to add a skylight to the hallway that leads from the foyer past the bathroom to the backyard. It will provide a lot of natural light to a much needed darker foyer. I had them open op the hallway all the way up to the vaulted ceiling...so the skylight will light both the hallway and into the foyer. It's going to look great...it was a good idea that just came up during some conversation with the contractor.

Other than that, I helped out by taping all the remaining exposed seams of the sheeting, since tomorrow the siding will start with the metal folding for the fascia, and after that the soffits will be covered with the vinyl siding...and I expect the walls will be mostly done by the end of the week.
The electrician is due Thur/Fri...and I think the HVAC guys should be here sometime this week to start roughing things in.
We have some sleet/snow Monday night into Tue...so that will cause some delays for at least one day.

I will be ordering the lumber for the sub-floor...and if all goes according to plan, my other contractor that installed my hardwood floor on my upper floor this summer...he will be here between Xmas and New Year's to get the sub-floor installed. The hardwood will be arriving by the 31st, but it will probably not get installed for at least a month...until the drywall is all done and painted...so I'll have 45 boxes (910 sq feet) of hardwood flooring most likely sitting in my living room so as to keep it out of the way during the remainder of construction...and to keep it in a controlled climate until I have heat going in the new studio.
I hope that as soon as they finish the siding, the HVAC guys will finish the AC installation, which will also provide heat...and then at some point the plumbing will come, and that too will provide more heat options when the hot water baseboard goes in.

[miroslav]

DAY 51

Not much done in the last couple of days...we had a snow/ice storm, mostly ice...so the work will continue tomorrow and into the weekend.
I hope to see the rest (or most of) my siding go up.
We did have the building inspector come by two days ago, on Monday...this was the require post-framing stage inspection...and everything was fine. The next inspection will come after the electric is done, but that's a different inspector...and then the building inspector will be back when the insulation goes on (after the electric and plumbing.
I also spent a few hours right before the storm hit to extend a couple of the drain pipes I had installed a few days ago. The temps were OK, and the ground wasn't frozen yet. That way the drains around the perimeter of the two critical sides are done. There will be some more in the spring, for the main stuff is in, and now the HVAC guys can go ahead and place the mini-split unit without me having to dig under it in the spring to run drains.

Speaking of the HVAC guys...they are due here tomorrow to start the rough work...probably just the installation of the in-wall vent for the bathroom, tied into my existing central AC...and maybe run the electric line for the mini-split, but the actual mini-split compressor and wall unit will wait until the siding is done.
I also ordered my two ceiling fans...they are 56" fans, with a modern, jet turbine look to them, 8 blades, 6 speeds. These are supposed to be some of the most quietest running fans even when on their fastest speed. It will be nice to have some air circulation in the big room without the need to always run the mini-split.