Progress Report

If you've followed my website/blogging over the years, you've probably noticed a lack of updates over the past few months. The main reason is that I've been knee deep in the construction of a new room in my house. The new space is a conversion of my underused garage into a multi-purpose "music room." This room will serve as both a personal writing/teaching/rehearsal space as well as a professional quality control room in which I can produce and mix stereo audio recordings.

Knowing absolutely nothing about design or construction, I thought it would be wise to at least call in an audio consultant to help. Originally, I had thought that I would wall up 2/3rds of my existing garage and leave the rest for storage. Upon consulting a designer, it was clear within the first five minutes of the site visit that my idea was not only not acoustically sound, but it was also wrought with building code violations.

Wes Lachot of Wes Lachot Design came up with a room plan that accomplished everything I wanted. By turning the space 90 degrees, walling up the existing door, and planning for six specifically angled walls, Wes was able to design a room that would be both acoustically sound and have just about as much storage space as my original concept. Wes' design also included plans for RPG acoustic clouds and RPG Omnifussors.

If you go to Wes' site (http://www.weslachot.com/) you'll notice that he typically does much larger scale designs. Two of note include the redesign of the legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York City and Mitch Easter's Fidelitorium Recordings in Kernersville, NC. He occasionally does smaller projects; I'm delighted that he was willing to work with me on this room. I've recorded and/or mixed five albums at Wes' Overdub Lane Recording in Durham, NC. So, I'm glad that I'm regarded as a good client for him.

Wes' first site visit was near the end of August. After a few weeks of expected turn around time, I received the master plans near the end of September. If you ever do any construction or building on your property, (or anyone else's property) you can almost bet that you'll need a permit from you local government. At least in Greensboro, the local building code enforcement division loves dealing directly with home owners (as opposed to dealing indirectly through contractors). Being so, it was very easy to call and figure out which permits I'd need for my home improvement project. In a week, I had all of the t's crossed and i's dotted so that construction could begin.

Construction began on October 1st. I hired Wes' master carpenter Tony Brett to handle the framing of the room. Framing is when 2x4's and 2x6's are laid in various ways to structure or "frame" the room. Tony arrived at 9 am, we shook hands, and went to Home Depot to buy lots of lumber. Having never purchased lumber before, I learned that there are types of lumber to avoid. First, you want to avoid lumber that has excessive crowning. That's when the lumber bows a bit. Second, you want to avoid lumber that has excessive wane. That's when the lumber twists a bit. A degree of crown and wane is acceptable, but it should be kept to a minimum. Tony completed the framing work in three days. Half of it was standard 24 inch oc (on-center) stud spacing. The other half was ornate and sophisticated angled framing.

After the framing, I had a few tasks to complete. Mainly, I had to build the exterior wall and complete the rear wall framing. Tony was kind enough to mark out the stud location for the staggered wall. I also had to hang two layers of 5/8 inch drywall. That was very difficult. The other tasks included tacking and sealing the existing garage door and having the drywall delivered and placed in the room. I also thought it would be a good idea for a city inspector to take a look at the framing before any more work began. Because there were no new structural additions to the house, he didn't need to sign off on anything. He did tell me that everything looked good, though.

This past week, I began having some of the trade work done. In most cities, to do specialized trade work requires a separate and additional permit. This makes sense because trade work is often quite complicated. I opted to not get the "home owners" equivalent permit because I honestly have no idea how to wire a room or set up and HVAC system. Once the trades are basically completed, I'll call the city for a rough inspection. Also, this week, Wes makes is first design visit since the drawing of the plans.

After that, I'll probably be drywalling for a while. Drywall is an interesting substance. On one hand, it's very firm and durable. On the other, it's soft, dusty, and fragile. I've found that I like to wear a breathing mask even when cutting drywall. Dust gets everywhere when you work with that stuff. Sanding joint compound is even worse. I tried wet sanding, but it wasn't as efficient.

Although working on a project like this has severely limited my music activities, I can't help but think that the effort is completely worth it. If everything turns out as planned, this is going to be a wonderful room. Everyday, something new gets accomplished. Everyday is one step closer to being finished.