Studio Build Documentation

[miroslav]

Something like this may help : NO-FRAME Fiberglass Edge Coating for Frameless Acoustical Panels - Buy Insulation Products

Yeah...I know about that...and there's better/cheaper stuff. Just use Roman 543 (wallpaper adhesive)...it's the same and costs 1/4 the price of the other stuff...which many people say IS just Roman 543 diluted down a bit and poured into generic cans. There's also a heavy duty Roman 880, which still costs a fraction what the building supply people are asking for their "no-name" stuff.

It's mostly used for when people don't want to use any wooden framing...and it works pretty good, but there's a longer drying time, and with 50-60 panels, it would take a lot of room to lay it all out. I am keeping that in the back of my mind as an option if my own approach doesn't work.
What I'm going to do is simply make a smaller wood frame that will slide into the actual panel frame with just enough space so I can pull the cloth in, and that inner frame will allow me to keep a tight pull on the cloth until it's stapled down. Then I remove that smaller frame and drop in the insulation panel...and I move to the next one.
Of course...I will try it with just the insulation and see if I can pull-n-tuck the cloth and get it stapled, while keeping a crisp shape to everything...it might not be as big a deal. The acoustic cloth I'm getting is really good quality, made from polyester and the weave has no stretch to it...so it shouldn't be a fight to get it tacked nicely.

 

[miroslav]

I just went back to post 1.... the first 60 days was like wow! from dirt to full frame and roof and closed-in!
Will be a year come October?
Really cool all the pictures and stages of this huge project.

luv the mixing console, all the VU's and analog vibeness...

Yes...end of October makes it 1 year...I think they broke ground like the 3rd-4th of last November.
Of course...the pictures in this thread only focus on the actual studio build process...but to be fair, there were other things going on (some still) that were part of a larger, house upgrade project that kept expanding as the months passed.

Not really complaining about the expansion of the project, as these are all good things that I just wasn't thinking about when we started...but one by one, things kept getting added, and with good reason, as I figured I might as well really go all out and try to complete as much now...rather than like 2 years from now go, "Oh, I guess maybe I should reside the house now."

I've got a couple of bigger items to complete...one being these acoustic panels, which shouldn't be a lot of trouble, just a matter of getting them done...but just as I was ready to go finish my wood cutting today...I get the phone call from the carpet installers wanting to schedule the installation, which is the second big item.
When they measured two weeks ago, I asked how much time before they can install, and no rush on my part, as long as we can do it before the end of September.
They said it could take at least 3 weeks...maybe even 4-5, depending on the carpet manufacturer. Here it is 2 weeks only, and they want to install it now.

I was kinda hoping I could get all these acoustic panels done BEFORE I would have to deal with the carpet...since there is a LOT of furniture than needs to moved around - 4 rooms worth...so this is going to be fun now.
I'm going to call them and see if I can stall them until next week, after the Labor Day weekend...I should(?) have all the acoustic panels done by then, or close to it.

Once the panels and the carpeting projects are done...I'm going to finally be in that last "clean up" stage, and I can start moving both studio items and house furniture into their correct locations...right now, shit is just piled up everywhere.
So I think by the end of October...I may be almost there.

 

[miroslav]

OK...my carpet installation is on hold until after Labor Day...not until that Thursday......so I have a solid 10 days to finish these panels, and then break down some of the bedrooms of all the little stuff, as they will only move the bigger items as part of the installation.

I'm going to hate the madness...but I've been wanting to re-carpet my entire downstairs floor for a few years now...and always there was the complexity and magnitude of having to move stuff around, and where to move it. Now I can temporarily move a lot of that stuff into my new studio space.

Oh...and I just noticed that UPS delivered my 11 cases of 703/705 insulation panels. I never even heard the guy drive down my driveway...but he stacked them all nicely by the fence.

 

[Orson]

Its about time you finished this place while we are still alive.

 

[spantini]

...
What I'm going to do is simply make a smaller wood frame that will slide into the actual panel frame with just enough space so I can pull the cloth in, and that inner frame will allow me to keep a tight pull on the cloth until it's stapled down. Then I remove that smaller frame and drop in the insulation panel...and I move to the next one. ...

If you do the inner frame maneuver, some 1-2-3 pics of one would be greatly appreciated.

I was reminded of the process of replacing screen on a storm door. The door is flexible which allows it to be bowed, which pulls the screen taught and smooth when the bow is relieved. But of course your frames won't be that flexible.

 

[miroslav]

Its about time you finished this place while we are still alive.

I'm not so worried about you guys...I want to finish it while I'm still alive!

I know it seems like it's taking forever, and what's the holdup...but TBH, I've been working my ass off the last year, it's not like I've had any real down time...always something I need to do....and never any end in sight.

If you do the inner frame maneuver, some 1-2-3 pics of one would be greatly appreciated.

I was reminded of the process of replacing screen on a storm door. The door is flexible which allows it to be bowed, which pulls the screen taught and smooth when the bow is relieved. But of course your frames won't be that flexible.

I will post pics, for sure.
Just imagine the actual panel frame, and then a smaller frame that slides into it. It wouldn't be fastened in anyway...basically, would put the smaller frame on top of a cut piece of acoustic cloth...then pick up the cloth, cradling the smaller frame inside it...and slip the whole thing into the panel frame.

Once in...I pull on the cloth side to tighten, and staple to the panel frame...and then I just lift the smaller frame back out, and replace with a piece of fiberglass board.
I then install some corner/side strips to hold the fiberglass press in firmly...add my layer of backing material, which will be something other than the acoustic cloth (something much less expensive, probably felt)...staple that down...and that's a finished acoustic panel.

Boy...that sounds so easy...I feel like I'm almost finished!

 

[miroslav]

Finished cutting up all the wood into the various lengths needed...and today I managed to put together 36 of the single panel frames.
Still have my cloud frames to build...they are going to be much larger...and then I also have the gobo frames to do.
The frames were screwed-n-glued...pretty straightforward. I'll add some corner braces after the fiberglass panels and fabric are installed...and the corner braces will also help secure the fiberglass from the back.

I should get all the basic frames assembled tomorrow (well, more like later today)...and also to add all the wood strips that will be used for attaching the single panels to the walls & ceiling (those are the skinny wood strips in the pile of cut wood)...and then I may have to wait a day before I can take everything back outside to do some sanding and staining, when the weather is nice again.

Today it rained a bit in the morning, but I was able to work outside in the afternoon and into the night (I have lights on my decks)...as I knew there was more rain coming. I don't want to sand & stain inside...it's just too dusty and to smelly.

So I should have the bulk of the assembly and finish work done by Friday, maybe Saturday, as I need sunny dry weather to stain and spray some poly...and by then the fabric should be here for that final stage.

I'll post more pics as I move though the next stages.

 

[miroslav]

I pleasantly woke up today to find two rather large rolls of cloth leaning up against my front door...which I'm grateful to the FedEx guy for putting them there, under the front door overhang...as it's been raining all day...rather than leaving them in my driveway, since they were in plastic bags.
These are large rolls...and I was surprised at the total weight...over 100 lbs for the two...quite a lot of acoustic cloth.

Glad that they arrived so soon...there was some hold up at the border with customs, since they came from Canada...which was kinda surprising, because Guilford of Maine is in...well, Maine...but apparently they have been bought by a Canadian company, Duvaltex...so now they still have the Maine office, but I guess their warehouse is in Canada...?
Anyway...my order was place in the USA, and I paid NY taxes on it...so whatever the customs issue was, it was cleared....but I didn't expect the deliver for at least a couple of days...but happy it's here, and now I can keep moving with the panel building.

(This is not my front door...it's my studio door. )

 

[Gtoboy]

Looking good. You might get them done ahead of schedule

 

[miroslav]

Looking good. You might get them done ahead of schedule

There hasn't been one thing ahead of schedule in the last year or more of this madness...don't tease me now.

Only so many hours in the day...and only so much motivation anyone can maintain day in and day out...but at least I've managed to keep pushing all this forward, when there were times when I wanted to just fold.... so progress has been made for sure, and it will get done eventually...I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[miroslav]

Earlier today I decided to putty up all the screw holes...I think once sanded ands stained, it will look much better without them.
I also finished the basic frames for the 4 ceiling clouds...two 4' x 4' clouds on the far ends of the ceiling, and two 4' x 6' clouds, one in the center of the ceiling and the other over the mix position.

Tomorrow I'll probably work on the frames for the gobos and wood strips on 36 panels to be used for attaching them...and after that I need to sand and stain everything...and then finally work on installing the insulation sheets and the acoustic cloth. I'm going to try and do as much as I can through Saturday, maybe Sunday too...then I have to break away and clear out 4 bedrooms before next Thursday, when the carpet installers come.

I will be happy to at least finish all the sanding and staining, and also a light poly coat this weekend...because it will be perfect weather for it...after that, the remaining work I can do inside the studio...and then of course, all these panels and clouds need to be mounted and hung.

The 2' x 4' panels will be easy enough to mount...but those gobos, 12' up in the air...I'm going to probably need a hand, unless I rig up something with hooks and rope, so I can hoist them up by one end, and then lift and attach the other end...and so on. Now I will miss that scaffolding that was there during construction.

 

[Gtoboy]

Earlier today I decided to putty up all the screw holes...I think once sanded ands stained, it will look much better without them.
I also finished the basic frames for the 4 ceiling clouds...two 4' x 4' clouds on the far ends of the ceiling, and two 4' x 6' clouds, one in the center of the ceiling and the other over the mix position.

Tomorrow I'll probably work on the frames for the gobos and wood strips on 36 panels to be used for attaching them...and after that I need to sand and stain everything...and then finally work on installing the insulation sheets and the acoustic cloth. I'm going to try and do as much as I can through Saturday, maybe Sunday too...then I have to break away and clear out 4 bedrooms before next Thursday, when the carpet installers come.

I will be happy to at least finish all the sanding and staining, and also a light poly coat this weekend...because it will be perfect weather for it...after that, the remaining work I can do inside the studio...and then of course, all these panels and clouds need to be mounted and hung.

The 2' x 4' panels will be easy enough to mount...but those gobos, 12' up in the air...I'm going to probably need a hand, unless I rig up something with hooks and rope, so I can hoist them up by one end, and then lift and attach the other end...and so on. Now I will miss that scaffolding that was there during construction.

might be worthwhile to rent a jig for lifting ceiling drywall or even just some scaffolding

 

[miroslav]

Naa...that would be more trouble than help...scaffolding is quite bulky/heavy...and I'm not rolling that around my hardwood floor...plus the room is so full of stuff, that I really need to use just ladders.

The larger clouds will probably weigh in around 20-30 pounds at most...it's just that they are not something one person can lift and attach.
I need to install eyehooks into the ceiling anyway, for the attaching the clouds...so I can simply rope them up using the hooks...and then lift the other end to attach...etc.

If it looks like an accident waiting to happen...I'll just call someone to give me a hand, and it won't take more than 30 minutes to hang the clouds, if I have all the hooks in place.

 

[RFR]

Coming along great! A series of small, and not so small, meticulous steps all adding up to a great studio!

 

[miroslav]

I just spent 5 hours sanding......thank goodness I have some good respirator masks, otherwise I would have inhaled about 2 pounds of dust.

Still have gobo frams to put together and get them sanded...and I think tomorrow I'll start staining the stuff I already sanded.
It's a small thing, sanding...but it makes a big difference in the final look of the wood frames.

 

[Gtoboy]

Naa...that would be more trouble than help...scaffolding is quite bulky/heavy...and I'm not rolling that around my hardwood floor...plus the room is so full of stuff, that I really need to use just ladders.

The larger clouds will probably weigh in around 20-30 pounds at most...it's just that they are not something one person can lift and attach.
I need to install eyehooks into the ceiling anyway, for the attaching the clouds...so I can simply rope them up using the hooks...and then lift the other end to attach...etc.

If it looks like an accident waiting to happen...I'll just call someone to give me a hand, and it won't take more than 30 minutes to hang the clouds, if I have all the hooks in place.

I had forgotten that it was no longer an empty room

 

[rob aylestone]

Are you like me and find the time it takes to add the polish and finish to be the most dull part. I'm good up to the paint being dry. Filling and tweaking then repainting, and the endless small details to fix - like socket boxes slightly off centre or gaps in skirting, or the tiny misalignment of wall panels really annoys me! The hard work part I love, but faffing around with the fine detail bores me to death!

 

[miroslav]

Are you like me and find the time it takes to add the polish and finish to be the most dull part. I'm good up to the paint being dry. Filling and tweaking then repainting, and the endless small details to fix - like socket boxes slightly off centre or gaps in skirting, or the tiny misalignment of wall panels really annoys me! The hard work part I love, but faffing around with the fine detail bores me to death!

I wouldn't call it boring...it's just very tedious, time consuming work...BUT...the details are what make the completed work stand out.
Even my contractor said I was too meticulous, and that he couldn't get that involved with it...but when I had my final inspection, and my contractor hadn't been around for a couple weeks, so the last time he say the inside, there was still a lot of trim work and painting to be done, that was on me to do...
...his eyes popped when he walked in, and while taking some pictures, he laughed and said, "I'm talking credit for everything!"...but he made a point to tell the inspector that all the fine detailed finish work was my doing.

Sometimes I can enjoy doing the fine detailed stuff...though it really can feel endless. Like right now, with the acoustic panels I'm making...just going through the process of closing up all the screw holes with wood putty...and then sanding each frame so the edges are smooth, and corners rounded off...it's time consuming, and I really HATE all the dust from sanding...but I just couldn't let that stuff go considering how much overall effort was involved, plus the cost.
The final touches bring out a more professional look...and it makes it all more worthwhile. I hate putting in time-n-effort to do something half-assed.

Not looking to criticize anyone in particular...but I've seen a lot of people showing their DIY acoustic panels...and the material is all puffy around the corners, and some of the panels look out of square...real throw-together. I mean, if they are happy with them, that's OK...but my point is, with a little extra effort, you can get a much better result...it's mostly about making the effort, not so much that you need some special expertise.
I do admit though...that I can get overly detailed at times...and it's like a curse, because I know it's going to take much more work and time...and you almost need to be a bit OCD just to get through it....driven.

 

[miroslav]

Finally finished all the sanding and staining yesterday...lot of work, not super hard, just endless.
I was hoping that by the end of the weekend I would also have the polyurethane...but as always, things just took a bit longer than expected, so I may have to leave that go for now, since I need to focus my attention on my carpet installation that is coming on Thursday...and I have a LOT of stuff I need to break down and move out of those rooms because the installers will only move some things.

It kinda sucks, since the weather is perfect for doing the poly coat outside...but it looks like the nice weather will hold out into next weekend...so I may have a couple of days to get the poly done by next weekend...and then I can start assembling them with the insulation and cloth...but it will most likely be another couple of weeks before they are completely done. Once the carpet installers leave...I gotta put all that stuff back, and set up those rooms...but this is the big push, the final major items being completed, and after that it's a lot of se4tting up and cleaning up. I still have a large dumpster to rent for a week...maybe by early October...so I can finally toss a bunch of things I don't need/want and get my house and studio back in order.

The big PITA is that I now have to move all these frames somewhere inside. I don't want to risk a passing shower between now and when I can get back to them to do the poly coat. Oh...it also worked out that I had enough wood to do 6 smaller 2' x 2' frames, and there will also be exactly that many insulation sheets left. I think I have one piece of 1" x 4" x 6' left, but I had purchased a couple of extra pieces just in case...so it worked out well.

The funny thing...some of the wood came from Sweden...go figure...so there are labels inside some of the frames that say "Made in Sweden". I can imagine somewhere down the road when I'm long gone and someone gets a look inside the finished acoustic panels...they will assume that the complete panels were "Made in Sweden".

 

[RFR]

Holy shit! That’s s lot of frames.