FINALLY!! The saga begins

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:58 pm

Rod,

Thanx! OK, I sure will...

The HVAC guys just left... all the paste is on. So, hopefully the HVAC rough-in inspection will happen tomorrow as scheduled!

Crossing my fingers....

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:19 am

ANOTHER RED LETTER DAY!

Man... this is two in a row!

The HVAC passed rough-in inspection!!

I've gotta start packing for a tracking session in Cinci this weekend, so not gonna get too far on things until next week... arrrg....

Oh well... It's a benefit event, so it's worth it.

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:14 am

WHEW... making headway with fire caulk is like herding kittens...

FINALLY, the entire front Control Room/Tracking Room fire safing is complete!

The process of getting the caulk in place is amazingly insidious. I'm sure that there is a way to get this stuff done much easier... but as the only one I know that's done this is me... it's just a something I gotta slog through. Bonus and lucky me, huh?

I have three fire safing things left to do before I call for the Framing Rough-in inspection;
1. The far Control Room wall that angles from the air return "closet" - upward to the rear of the Control Room
2. The mic locker/exterior wall
3. The 2 layers of 3/4" plywood that sits on top of the main angled wall in the Tracking Room.

Once I figure out how to get the plywood up there, it shouldn't be long to get it nailed in place... But getting it in there is gonna be a challenge.

Andy was supposed to bring the ditchwitch over late last week, but his driver was evidently tied up... maybe he can get it here this coming week. We've got rain forecast every day/evening, so it should make for some easy digging. Once he gets those trenches done, I can form and pour the HVAC pad.

I called the plumber again this past week. He wanted me to call in a service locate on the electrical, so we know where to put the water lines coming from the house, to the studio.

I also told him that any time he was ready to do the septic connection, I was ready.

I'm trying to get some fill dirt in place to back fill over the water line and septic lines... so with some of that in place, I'd really like him to go ahead and get going on that so we'll be that much further ahead.

The HVAC contractor will need to get in the ceiling and seal all of the joints before I get to putting up the ceiling insulation. I guess I better call him tomorrow (Mon) and get him out here to do that this week... as soon as I get a sign off on the Framing Rough-in... I'm insulating the walls and ceiling ASAP!

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:41 am

You know what? Fire caulk is beyond anything sane.

I've been fighting this stuff for days on end and I'm finally at my wits end with the stuff.

Does anyone have any tips, hints or otherwise with this stuff? It's driving me insane.

I put in a call to the electrical contractor last night. I asked him to put me in contact with any of the contractors he knows that do the fire caulking.

I can't afford it, but better to suffer the cost of getting this insidious hell done with, than burn the damn building to the ground because I'm fed up with dealing with the fire caulk. Yes, it's THAT bad!

I've pushed hundreds of tubes of caulk... probably every type of caulk on the market thats associated with residential construction. I have yet to deal with ANYTHING like this fire caulk. Nor have I found any installation technique that works to make this job any easier...

This stuff I've come to call Satan's Handcream, comes out of the tube like runny peanut butter. Then, after 30 seconds or so of exposure to the air, it gets real tacky... almost like latex glue... then it sticks to anything you look at... EXCEPT THE DAMN MINERAL WOOL!

It sticks to the mineral wool ONLY when you apply heavy pressure... Then after it gets tacky, it pulls right off the surface of the mineral wool.... ARRRRRRRGH!!!!

I've tried wetting my putty knife... then it doesn't stay on the knife and slops down on the framing, floor, arm... in your face, etc.

I've tried applying it, THEN wetting the putty knife... it pulls right off the mineral wool and slops down on the framing, floor, arm... in your face, etc.

I tried using a "curved" tool as is recommended by most of the caulk manufacturers... plastic, steel and aluminum are all not only failing to get the job done... but the metal tools are only good for making the stuff impossible to work with, because it only sticks to the tool and won't stick to the wood framing, or the mineral wool. I tried a plastic cake spatula that I modified... not much better than the metal tools.

So far, the method that I've been the most "successful" with is to load up about a 1" glob on the end of my wooden "putty knife" and press it up against the mineral wool to get it "stuck" to it. Then, go back a spead it with my fingers to get a base coat on the mineral wool. Lather, rinse, repeat until I have a pseudo skim coat on the full surface of the mineral wool.

I have to let that dry overnight. Then I go back the next day and add a second coat to cover gaps and holes left/created by the first coat, and fill in to at least a 1/4" thickness. My rate of coverage is about 3 ft every two days... if its really that fast. Oh... and the senond coat can only be applied with finger pressure. Using the wood tool only rips open the seal I was barely able to create the day before.

My advice to ANYONE building a studio that's going to require fire safing... GET A CONTRACTOR TO DO THIS PART!

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:11 am

Holy _____ that is some horrible stuff. Thank God for brick walls here...

Just remember: you WANT to get this finished, and "you can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it". Think, how far have you come with everything?
You'll get there. Probably not this side of August, but you'll get there.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:49 am

Max,

I though I sent you an email regarding this - try pushing the rockwool a little deeper than usual - so as to make a small 1" trough between the 2 surfaces - and then apply a piece of duct tape that covers the rock wool and runs down the side faces about 1/2" - then apply the fire caulk to the surface of the duct tape and get away from the rockwool problem altogether. Just make sure to run the caulk up each surface about 1" to completely cover the duct tape.

Rod

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 7:06 am

Rod,

No email that's in my inbox... damn.... sorry I missed it!!!

I'll give it a whirl and see what happens.

THANKS!!!!

Max

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:28 am

Max,

Sorry my friend if I spaced and forgot to send that one - I really thought I did.

Rod

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:06 pm

Rod,

No problem!! Don't beat yourself up over it... you might have sent it and the mrs could have deleted it, or it might have gotten swallowed up by a spam filter...

(The mrs has been known to grab the occasional important mail in the middle of the spam and delete them all)

I'm getting ready to go try your suggestion in a few minutes... I'll let you know.

Thanks again!
Max

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:18 pm

Rod,

The duct tape IS the ticket!!!

It's still a major PITA, but it's not nearly as sinister of an operation! I completed two walls today! Only one more short wall that I'll tackle tomorrow... then I'm about done with the mineral wool/firecaulk and just down to a few beads of caulking around the front "entrance" wall; at the angled fire break.

THANK YOU!!!

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:35 pm

Max,

I'm glad it helped

Rod

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 12:38 am

Rod Gervais wrote:

Sorry my friend if I spaced and forgot to send that one - I really thought I did.

You did....here.

The top post.

With all the things that are going on with the build I can understand why you missed it Max.

So anyway, when's the open house?

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:03 am

WOW!! My mind must be going... pfffft... correction; it's GONE!

I just never got past that day's post with the tip clearly embedded in mah' feeble brain, I s'pose.... SHEEEZE... my apologies to Rod, my wife and the cat.

Well... the tape trick should allow me to finish the caulking today! Then it'll be a matter of going through everything and making sure that I have ALL the framing, mineral wool and caulk done before I call for the framing inspection.

As far as the official "Wombwarming" goes...

Framing inspection on Tuesday - if I pass;
1 week for insulation/infiltration
1 week for MDF - hardie board in the bathroom
1-2 weeks for gypsum
1 week for the lounge counters/counter top

If my timelines are somewhat accurate, and the HVAC gets done at the same time as the bathroom is tiled...

MAYBE I will be done and have my C.O. by Labor Day... IF I'm lucky.

I've got a coupla' carpenter friends coming the 2nd week of August to help out with whatever is left... which I hope to be the finish lumber on the walls.

Speaking of the finish lumber...

I'll stain and seal the floor as soon as I can get the insulation/infiltration inspection passed and get the MDF up. Once it's all dry, I'll cover it with construction paper. At that point, I'll go ahead and move all the finish lumber to the studio. It will need at least 2 weeks to let it begin getting acclimated to the humidity (and temperature) of the building.

It's gonna get a bit tricky on the timeline, because so many things are all ready to be done... doors/seals, the floors, lighting, trim, counters, WIRING and wall plates, etc...

My pseudo plan of attack for insulation;
tracking room
iso booth
hallway
control room
lounge
bathroom
server room

Then, the plan of attack for MDF (hardie board);
control room
hallway
iso booth
tracking room

Stain and seal the floors

bathroom (hardie)
lounge

cover the floors and bring the lumber in

Then, the plan of attack for gypsum;
lounge
server room
control room
hallway
iso booth
tracking room

At this point, I should be about ready to pull audio, cat6 and RG to the wall plates and start finishing up with the inspections and getting the exterior painted and the landscaping done.

It's a lot to get done in a short amount of time, but I've got about a dozen folks who have said to call them whenever I'm ready for em'... which, I figure about half of them will actually show up to help.

So... 6-8 people working on a single task for 2-4 days at a pop... we just might make it by Labor Day...

Keep your fingers crossed! (I know I will!!!)

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:42 pm

Utoh.... Houston, we HAVE a problem...

It seems that oil prices are directly tied to MDF sheet goods. How, I don't know, but they evidently are!!!

I was snaggin' a coupla' items from the local blue big box store, and discovered that MDF has gone from $9.47/sheet to $24.95/sheet since January!!!

THAT IS INSANE!

I checked on a local bulletin board's site and found a guy how has a whole LOAD of odd sized 1" and 1.5" OSB for killer pricing. [***EDIT***] It's MDF... NOT OSB![***/EDIT***]

I think he has enough for me to do the whole studio in 1", but I have a concern about going from 3/4" up to 1"... in that I already have set the low voltage signal boxes in place.

My question is if I go with the 1" MDF, can I make up the difference by going with 1 layer of 1/2" gypsum and 1 layer of 5/8" FR gypsum and not degrade the wall mass?

It will end up putting the low voltage boxes 1/8" recessed from their originally planned position. It's not much, but in terms of the final wood, it's a heck of a lot... unless I were to add a 1/8" furring to the front panel.

It seems like an OK trade off, but wanted to get some thoughts on the overall change in wall density.

Oh yeah... finally got photoshop back on this box, so pix should be coming soon!

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:42 pm

Max,

I don't see a big issue from the point of view of lost mass......... if it works for you then go for it - you'll be OK.

Sincerely,

Rod

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