The Mess II

[DDev]

Sounds like you're having too much fun. Go play with the toys!!

With your deck screws, I've found that when the heads break off it is a whole lot easier to just pound them down and shoot another one nearby. Also, it's a pain, but if you pre-drill the top board you can relieve the tension on the screws enough that they usually won't break off. Those long screws build up quite a bit of resistance going in and the heads just can't take it, especially since most lumber these days is still somewhat wet, which makes the grain tougher to go through.

At the rate you're going we should be seeing finished pictures no later than Monday, correct?

Darryl.....

 

[Michael Jones]

I like your garage doors.
Very Carriage House looking!

 

[frederic]

At the rate you're going we should be seeing finished pictures no later than Monday, correct?

Um, I don't know about that.

If I can get off conference call hell I'll be up there running the remainder of the electrical.

Then tomorrow I can start slapping in insulation batts. And when thats done, I can finish framing out the cove and start chaulking and screwing in the plywood.

Between work and "chores" I'm not so sure I'll finish the electrical today.

My wife just informed me that my two Akai recorders and remote on the dining room table have to go, among other things. LOL

 

[frederic]

I like your garage doors.
Very Carriage House looking!

Thanks, those are the orginal wooden garage doors (1941), the only thing I did to them was paint them white and add the hinges on the sides, and paint those black.

I found a use for old gate hinges! Pop the pin out and bolt them to the garage doors!

To give an idea of the studio size from that picture... the studio starts on the left side, and goes right covering 1.5 garage bays.

While certain things have been a real pain in the butt, they have been solvable in "the right way".

The only straggling problem I have is the false wall seperating the prison bathroom and my studio - while a nice sturdy non-structural wall, it goes up and stops BETWEEN the roofing joists, and is tied to once joist with a furring strip. I already removed the furring strip, and the wall suddenly became less stable. So I'm going to put cross pieces between the joists to screw the wall to. The problem is getting a hammer or a screw gun in there is going to be very tight. I've saved a lot of effort by predrilling holes, but this is going to be very tight. I may have to use my dremel with the flexible attachment to get some clearance.

Once thats done, tucking insulation in there between the joists is going to be a real pain in the ass.

Another section of the same wall on the other side of the entrance door had the same problem, but was inset into the bathroom 6" more than the section I just complained about, so I simply built another wall in front of it and tied it directly to the roof joists. That wall is rock solid. And because there is a 1" gap between the old wall and the new wall, guess where all the electrical went

I bought two airtight cans today so I can shove in low-wattage lighting into the ceiling. According to the instructions, they are airtight and one can slap insulation on and around them.

Of course I don't see how they can be airtight with the four 3/4" holes at the top, but thats another story. To me, its like saying a spagetti strainer is useful for carrying water to a fire

 

[Velvet Elvis]

frederic...

I assume you are talking about IC rated cans versus non-IC cans?

Yeah... I haven't figured out how one is supposedly air tight and fire safe while the other isn't... they look the same to me

I think its an excuse to charge $4 more a can

Velvet Elvis

 

[frederic]

I assume you are talking about IC rated cans versus non-IC cans?

Yes.

Yeah... I haven't figured out how one is supposedly air tight and fire safe while the other isn't... they look the same to me

Well, the ones I got are really a can in a can. I took one apart

Like So:

 

[frederic]

Hanging Stringers:

 

[frederic]

Framing overhead lights:

 

[frederic]

More stringers:

 

[frederic]

Pretending I'm still an electrician:

 

[frederic]

Still pretending...

I decided to mount the switches by the door, instead of in the slanted ceiling joists. I'm going to regret this decision later I'm sure, but it was a hell of a lot easier to do. Wiring while on one knee looking up at a 30 degree angle just wasn't good. So, its now on the side wall.

 

[frederic]

Well, after I let my stomach settle for a while and posted these pictures, I got the bug to try it all out, so I spiced the secondary of the transformer to nearby junction block, turned on the overhead cans, they lit, shut it all down and unspliced off the transformer.

Woohoo!

I guess I did get the black, white, green and red wires right after all!

Heh-heh.

 

[frederic]

Finished up the electrical.

Now there is wiring for the window A/C outlet thats switched. Woohoo!

Tested it all with a continuity tester, beeps when it should, silent when it should. Definately a good thing.

Started shoving in the insulation. Its fiberglass battings encased in plastic, thus designed to be thermal, acoustical insulation (though I'm sure the latter is not terribly effective) Staple the plastic all around, and it acts as a vapor barrier. So the documentation says. I'll decide after I have it all up if I need more plastic barrier or not.

It goes up quick, and itch free. Cutting the batts to fit is easy with a new blade, that one could shave with. Slices right through, no dust, no muss, no mess.

And yes, I wore goggles and a filter mask. Definately not taking chances.

 

[frederic]

Insulation pictures!

 

[frederic]

Creation of a "thingy" to allow the two ceilings to mate up. The majority of the studio's ceiling will be moved up due to the stringers being moved up, but this little cove by the window, can't move because I have a 12" diameter attic fan in there now, so to keep the fan above the ceiling, this "thingy" had to be figured out.

Simple "U".

 

[frederic]

Installing 2 cat 5 jacks, in a duplex housing.

Top jack will be a 1gb feed to the basement.
Bottom jack will be the webcam in the back of the room.

Screwed to the wall just below this outlet will be a Netgear GS108 10/100/1000 mb ethernet switch. Product info:
http://www.netgear.com/products/prod_details.asp?prodID=152&view=

Essentially this will be the network for the studio, allowing the webcam behind me, the studio PC, the "everything else PC" etc to be connected to the remainder of the house's infrastructure. I did a little research and the 1gb ports on this switch will be compatible with my HP Procurve 1gb ports in the basement along with the rest of the network junk (www.midimonkey.com).

Anyway, I'll have extra ports in the studio in case I want to put in a network printer, or plug my laptop in, stuff like that.

 

[frederic]

Success! We haaaaaaaaaave gigabit!

 

[Velvet Elvis]

frederic...

Nice pics man... I especially like the one with the cig hanging out of your mouth... bwahahahahahaha... you wear a mask and goggles cutting insulation, and then stick a tar/tabacco stick in your mouth right afterwards

Do they allow you to run network and electrical to the same box there? Here in Iowa thats a big no no.

I have to use seperate wall boxes for network/phone from electrical.

Velvet Elvis

 

[frederic]

Nice pics man... I especially like the one with the cig hanging out of your mouth... bwahahahahahaha... you wear a mask and goggles cutting insulation, and then stick a tar/tabacco stick in your mouth right afterwards

I know, that makes a lot of sense.

Except, I can cough up tar, I can't cough up fiberglass. What is nice is the fiberglass batting I bought doesn't toss anything into the air when I cut it. I was very suprised. The way the worklights are any "dust" I'd see. When I cut wood with the saw, I can see the miniscule dust particles floating around.

Thats actually why I have have a huge floor fan (30") tied to one of the windows for exhaust. Creates a nice breeze (which doesn't quite compensate for the heat and humidity right now, but its better than sweaty still air with sawdust floating in it) and sucks all the dust and stuff out. I like this fan

Do they allow you to run network and electrical to the same box there? Here in Iowa thats a big no no.

Technically, its an illegal box here in NJ as well. However, the only thing I have to have inspected is the connection to the breaker box. What I do within the house is acceptable, according to local regulations. So, I have the inspector look at the breaker box, and thats it. He and I are chums at this point, he was here a week ago looking at the breakerbox because I'm about to have it upgraded to 220V, 200A. So he was taking before pictures.

He did identify there was a lot of "add on" wiring that he's not sure where it goes, and I simply shrugged my shoulders saying "it was there". Its grounded properly and tied in correctly on appropriately sized breakers, so its fine.

I have to use seperate wall boxes for network/phone from electrical.

The blue cable that I ran was cat 5E (gigabit ethernet), and is not the regular cable you'd find at a local store. Its shielded, AND smoke free, darn good stuff. So I have the shielding tied to the patch panel in the basement (Krone) which in turn ties to the aluminum racks, which in turn connect to a 3' copper grounding wire which in turn attaches to a 6' long spike I hammered into the foundation. Well, 5'8" of the spike is underground. I have four inches above for ground terminations.

 

[Velvet Elvis]

Cool...

Yeah I pulled all the phone, network, CATV, and audio when my house was built (90% of it is still not terminated ;P)

I bought really high quality stuff as well... except I caused myself a world of hurt... when I pulled it because I had limited number of boxes, I pulled a strand at a time... turns out I burned the outer casing on several wires by pulling others against them (the friction caused by a cat5 cable is horrid ) Anyhow... long story short... had to pull it ALL back out and inspect it... and put it back.

Somewhere around 80 wire runs.

Velvet Elvis