Studio G - A Work in Progress

[geoff]

We have so much to do, and this thread will simply serve as a week by week update with what gets done and a few pics. Feedback, interaction, suggestions, and outright mockery are expected, desired, and encouraged.

We are in the process of taking a 26'x20 520 sq ft (I did the math for you, ain't I kind?) Conrage and converting it to a 20x20 400 sq ft studio. The remainder area will be used for laundry, or as a "quiet room" for spousal abuse or something.

So, we (and when I say we, I really mean Jen) spent three weekends cleaning out the space of all of the existing unused workout equipment, unopened tents, sweated-upon-by the bandmembers of Shattermask sleeping bags, pewter christmas ornaments, Simpson's puzzles, broken chairs, old studio equipment, cabbage pallets, and dangerous Chinese baby toys.

The space was free, except for my weight bench (I lifted on it at least three times this year), and a few buckets and such. Plenty to work with.

[geoff]

The first step was to determine if the room could be cooled. There is one window affixed to the far wall of the garage. The existing AC unit for the house fills the available wall space and is incapable of keeping the current studio cool. Upgrading that would be several thousand dollars, and we would still be cramped in the 10x10 teensy room. I decided that I would either need to go with a window unit, which is ghetto fabulous, a "cooling solution box" from TRANE, which is several thousand dollars, or a canister unit, which is sorta expensive and weak.

I went with the window unit. 15,000 BTUs will cool around 700-800 sq ft. I reasoned that, once fully insulated, my 520 sq ft. space would be sufficiently cooled, even with the extra show computers each host station utilizes. We tend to run one pc or laptop per host, plus a broadcast pc, a record pc, the hopper, and a production pc. We are LCD INSANE.

Home Depot had a sale (not actually a sale) for the LG model, which is supposed to be pretty quiet and reliable, so I snagged one.

[geoff]

It became apparent that our single pane plexiglass glass window was not gonna be compliant with the LG 15,000. I was frustrated, because what else is made for a 70's home THAN window unit air conditioners? Whatever.

The contractor I am related to and working with (TCIARtaWW) and I quickly realized that we did not need to remove the whole window. We just needed to remove the pane that opened entirely, and keep the existing top frame. Even that resulted in a knife edge bottom plane for the air conditioner to rest on, and so TC took a 10 lb mallet and a hatchet and shaved off the knife edge. We then filed down the cut aluminum so it was flush. Now we had a smooth, if beveled, surface for the ac to mount on.

[geoff]

It gets ridiculously hot out there in Florida, and this week was no slouch. We were installing AC, but couldn't use it yet, and had to resort to fan technology. I bought this floor model when we first got the house, and it is without a doubt the best damn floor fan, ever. When I start it on the back porch, it usually blows tufts of doghair, pool toys, cigarette butts and most of my screen paneling down the street. Just the trick for us, and it helps vortex sawdust. I think I just like watching stuff get blown.

[geoff]

Now that we had a cool, clean hole in my wall, we needed to get that Monstrous Unit into the wall and see if we were in business. I wasn't about to frame new walls, insulate the attic and studs, hang drywall, paint, refloor, and move the studio in until I KNEW that room could be cooled to a frigid 60 degrees. I figured if it could cool the room without all the benefits, it certainly could handle it wit' em.

But we still needed to craft a stable base for the ac unit, since the existing ledge was only a half of a foot wide and beveled in three separate planes. We needed wood. Mickey and I loaded into his truck and headed to home depot, and TC went to get his tools and der kompressor.

Mickey and I met up with a wood-genius in the lumber section, and he gave us some options. We needed some spruce for stability, and some pressure-treated wood for concrete contact. originally we planned on getting some plywood for the base of the ac unit, but that seemed flimsy, even at 3/8" of an inch. We opted for several 2x4's, and some 2x12's for the base. Mickey affixed a red sticker to the wood sticking out the back of his truck bed, so we could remain Highway Compliant. Safety, people. It's a lifestyle.

We got the wood and started spacing stuff out. It was fortuitous we had not gone with the plywood, because the gap ended up being significantly larger than we had presumed. Mickey and I wrestled the Monstrous Unit in and out the gap while TC made his measurements.

[geoff]

I, being fat and lazy, broke the goddamned washing machine temperate setting knob in all the hubbub, which I immediately blamed Jen for doing.

It was thankfully already set to cold/cold, so I guess it isn't the end of the world, but I am still pissed. My idea was to move the washing machine stuff out of the way while we worked, while Jen's idea was to do laundry all goddamned day. Woman vs. Goal, per usual.

I should have been more careful. We'll handle it on ComaSow, later.

[geoff]

Mickey took a few moments while I was yelling at Jen for my failings to assemble a creature comfort for the studio. Ross has long sat on a chair with 4 legs where 5 are needed, causing him to tilt erratically and fall down, spilling coffee and salt all over the place. Mickey, meanwhile, sits in a pink chair with a suspicious "white" stain. No one likes thinking about this.


Mickey's new chair, which now will allow Ross to sit in the pink, and us to throw away Wobbly McCrappy Chair.
Felix, Jen, Debe, and Mickey have all enjoyed a sit in this chair, and for the price, it's the Best Seat, Ever.

[geoff]

The Monstrous Unit needed some support. I didn't want to do a Jacksonville Special, where you shove a mop handle under the AC and call it a day, so I asked TC if he would mind creating a support. With our existing wood and his unbelievable cool nailgun and skillsaw, we had a really sturdy structure in 10 minutes, flat.

This was nailed into the concrete, and should outlast the AC unit by four millennia.

[geoff]

We still had a bunch of random worthless s^$# stuck to the walls by the previous owners, so Mickey and I started ripping, unscrewing, and beating wood planks from the concrete walls. We need a clean surface to begin the framing.

[geoff]

I went out and bought some stuff. It is great. See?



I tooks this stuff and just got silly, filling in cracks and holes as I saw fit. Next, I will sand down and cut away the excess and prepare the wood for painting. Foam is fun!

[geoff]

Since framing won't take long, I wanted to have a heads-up on my insulation. I need two types, blown-in for the attic roof area, and hung for between the drywall and the existing cinderblock.

I knew of the following kinds:

Newspaper - silly, fire hazard, cheap, easy, shitty
Pink Stuff - standard, fiberglass, itchy, dangerous, expensive, hard
Styrofoam - untested, suggested, theoretically a great sound dampener

Listener Nick suggested styro over pink, and then Iceman posted a link to the wikipedia article on true cellulose.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose

I read up on it, and it seems a wet-spray for the walls and a blown-in layer fill for the roof is THE way to go. It is:

Cheaper
Greener
More Energy Efficient
More Soundproof
Safer
Easier
Awesomer

Typically, the pink stuff was a big gimmick foisted by the pink stuff lobbyists. They got a few laws passed requiring insane limitations on the natural cellulose industry, and voila, everyone had a pink panther in their walls.

I will be able to claim my air conditioner, the insulation, the walls, and damn near everything on my taxes as energy efficient improvements to the home. That means 33% of the cost will be removed from my tax bill. That is huge. HUGE.

http://video.bobvila.com/m/21319505/cellulose-insulation-installation.htm

[FooFa]

I like the high powered fan, I wish I needed one. Anything that could take a finger off is cool.

I also really like the spraying of the walls. Machine powered spraying of crap is just fun.

If everyone would donate their unused work out equipment, the materials could probably help house half of Haiti.

[JPPGary]

Holy Crap!  This is so damned cool!  Can I buy a new chair for the one that you and I have been using?  How much is a chair?  I wanna help, but usually work weekends.  However, I am off next Saturday and Sunday.  Anything I can do?

[mustang sally]

Looks great!

[Iceman2469]

Gary they sell decent chairs at Walmart man.


And Geoff like i said in chat to you eariler, with that Bob Villa Video, how can you NOT trust him...