I've been away for a week, and just catching up on threads, so....
Silencer design is in the final stages and we’re going to make our own doors.
Yup!
I sent that to Tom yesterday. The entire HVAC design is in place, but will need a bit if tweaking because of some comments that Tom sent me earlier today, about his plans for the "lobby/storage area". Basically, he wants as much as possible space up near the ceiling for his storage, but I'm using most of that for the HVAC AHU and duct-work. So I'll be moving that as far down the room as I can, to free up some headroom for storage.
Also, the door design is roughed in now: it's based on the "site-built door" thread:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=23 .. but even beefier, because of Tom's extra high isolation needs. We'll post more details on that as the design is finalized.
Basically I’ve been out most nights floating up the render we put on before midday!
Fun and games! Playing with render is fun, isn't it? (Not!) But it looks great, Tom. You seem to have done a good job there.
For the inside of the studio, is there a benefit to making the side walls a bit irregular... like the 1.8mm aggregate, or is it too small to have a scattering effect...do we even want one? I think anything rougher than that (like tyrolene) might be uncomfortable for the occupants...
Probably too late for this comment, but no, there's not really much benefit from that, unless it is extremely irregular... and uncomfortable, as you say! There's a basic principle of acoustics that sound waves can only be affected by object that are about the same size as the wavelength, or larger. So a 1.8mm variation in surface would only have a useful effect on extreme ultrasonic frequencies (!) Your dog and any bats that take up residence in there might appreciate it...
If the surface undulations were maybe 2cm deep, that would have an effect for frequencies above about 15 kHz... still not very useful. Besides, most of your wall surfaces are going to have some type of acoustic treatment on them, so the effect would be unused in any case.
Just keep them flat and smooth, and let the treatment do the job.
Oh also I made a mistake when pouring the corridor concrete...can you guess what it is yet!? : )
Ooops! You forgot to decouple?
cut the section of concrete from the corridor that was causing a flanking path
What did you use to cut that? Angle grinder? You'll need to fill that gap that you created there, at some point. Backer rod and caulk will do the trick..
with the moisture inside produced by drying our render and plaster the corridor render was damp...either from condensation dewing on the coldest parts (where the masonry is soaked from the outside) or from the soaked masonry coming right the way through! This may have been compounded by me having to take the plastic roof off as it was starting to pull the scaffolding in on itself...a job I did at night : )
You probably don't want to hear this, but it's going to take a long time for that to dry out properly. Once you get the HVAC in, you can set it to just circulate air through the studio, and maybe dehumidify as well. Even so, it's going to take a while. Don't forget that your underlying concrete is still curing, and will be for months. Concrete reaches maximum strength after a month or two, but carries on curing for years, actually. It's a common misconception that concrete "dries", as the water evaporates, but that's not the case: concrete does not "dry"... rather, it "cures". Its a chemical reaction that takes up the water, slowly, and it takes years to fully complete, if you get down to the microscopic level and take a close look. So don't expect the room to be fully dry for a long time yet (weeks to months: not years!). Especially in your current damp environment outside, with the rain and high humidity: it takes even longer like that.
Pics end of the week:
Looks good! Or rather, itl looks ugly, which is good, because it is supposed to look ugly at this point!
But do protect your conduit bundles. Those are fragile, and a dropped tool or careless move could damage them. Put something over them, such as an up-turned bucket with a brick on top, or a wooden box of some type.
You might also want to protect the ends of your hanging metal ties, so you don't hurt yourself with the sharp tips. Bits of scrap rubber pushed over the ends will do the job. Or something similar.
- Stuart -