Loft conversion studio/office

[Watchmaker]

a massive undertaking...with a nice view!

[RichardT]

Looking brilliant, Eddy. I admire your tenacity. One thing I’ve learned from your experiences is that I’m NEVER going to undertake anything on this scale myself!

[Luke W]

Really nice work mate.

That laminate looks great, really liking the finish.

[Ben Asaro]

That's looking superb!

[Drew Stephenson]

Shaping up nicely!

[Eddy Deegan]

Thanks folks! Yes, it really is starting to come together now although there are a few fiddly things to go yet.

Later, once the studio is up and running fully, I'll be summing up with a number of thoughts, observations, lessons learned and related info. At present it's just a matter of continuing to put one foot in front of the other to get things to the point that equipment can start to be installed.

I'm pretty accurate when it comes to estimating the quantities of material to order for any given job but I'm terrible at predicting how long it'll take to do it. I really thought I'd be done in the first quarter of last year but looking back over everything to date I can't imagine how I thought I would at the time!

[Eddy Deegan]

On the home stretch now and there's nothing particularly complicated to do but there are quite a few simple things which have kept me busy this weekend and will fill the available time over next few days.

Stepping back in time slightly, here are a couple of overviews of the space after the SoundMat Pro was laid but before I started installing the laminate:





The images above show the five apertures that need to be filled, these being the door, the cupboard (over the stairs) next to the door, the storage door under the eaves and the two rectangular storage access hatches in the eaves.

I took a trip down to the local DIY store and came back with a bunch of 2-by-3 which I'm making the frames for the covers for all but the main door from, a load of splines which I'll be surrounding the plasterboard with (like a picture frame), skirting board, some doorknobs, a few tubes of adhesive and a number of garden-gate-style hinges.

I hung the door and attached the frame for the plasterboard to it:



This is 15mm timber to match the 15mm plasterboard that it contains. I cut and installed the plasterboard then used Siniat Smartmix filler to ensure there were no gaps between the plasterboard and the timber:



The door is a solid fire door, 45mm thick and weighs 32Kg. The plasterboard adds another 15mm and is backed with green glue resulting in a final solid construction that weighs 52Kg and is 6cm thick.

As it's so heavy I mounted it on four 100mm heavy duty hinges using proper screws as opposed to the cheap nasty ones that always get supplied with hardware.

It's also hung from the sturdiest side of the frame, which is heavily anchored internally to the main supporting column holding up the RSJ running the length of the ceiling.

Next I built the door for the eaves storage area. I framed it using the three-by-two; shown here resting loosely as I worked out the angles etc.



After screwing the frame together I backed it with 15mm acoustic plasterboard, packed it with RW3 and put in an internal piece of two-by-four, screwed and glued, to give me something extra solid to screw the long hinges into when it's hung:



The above image also shows the spline around the periphery into which I added the front plasterboard:



As I'll be doing with all of the doors, I've ensured no gaps using filler. It looks messy but is smooth and in any case it won't be visible once the final finish of plywood has been applied.

Below is the first storage hatch now lined with plywood and the frame for the hatch cover in the process of being put together. As before there is acoustic plasterboard on front and rear with RW3 in the middle. Here, I'm gluing in the blocks (also screwed) that will provide a good anchor for the knobs to be attached:



Nearly done; trimming the plasterboard to fit into the front recess made by the spline:



The resulting hatch albeit without any knobs or plywood on it yet:



Now filled and knobbed-out:



All hatches and doors will be covered with a final front of 5mm plywood which will be varnished to match the floor but as that won't be here until Tuesday I continued with the floor a bit:



I'll finish the floor tomorrow and install the skirting board. I'll be leaving a 2mm gap between the board and the floor which I'll seal with green glue acoustic sealant to prevent sound leakage down the sides.

Once the ply is here I can line remaining cupboard and hatch apertures and construct the doors/covers for them in the same manner as those done so far.

The plywood will extend over the gaps between doors/hatches and their frame and I'll be installing stop-frame with rubber seals for then to seat against firmly. More on that in a later update.

The electricians are coming to finish up on Wednesday, and the studio desk should be delivered at the same time. I ordered a Zaor Miza 88XL Flex:



... but I've had a rush of blood to the head and I'm considering asking them to change the order to a Miza X2 Flex as I think the extra length (it's about a foot longer) would be useful and I like the design a lot:



... I'm in two minds and going to sleep on it first though.

So the place looks a bit chaotic but the end of the construction phase is in sight nonetheless. I've been in touch with Max who will be providing valuable advice, and a visit, with regards to the treatment which will follow once gear is installed. I think installing the gear is likely to take a while, not least because in an effort to reduce cables I'm planning to make up a bunch of multicores to feed the audio interface but I'll keep the updates coming as it all unfolds.

Oh, I just remembered I've still got the LED light strips and their aluminium channels with diffusers to put around the top of the walls too. The door handle/lock is also likely to be 'fun' given the solidity and thickness of the door, plus there'll be various rubber seals and so forth.

All for future updates

[RichardT]

It’s exciting to see you’re in the home straight now, Eddy. I agree the M2 Flex looks a lot better.

[Folderol]

Looking good! Time to start thinking about an official open day maybe

[Ben Asaro]

WOW!!! It's looking stellar! You are probably equally chuffed and exhausted.

If I had the space, I would go for the larger desk in a heartbeat...

[Luke W]

Nice, I've not seen any close up but all of the Zaor stuff looks really good. My (lack of) space meant that a custom build was the only real option to get exactly what I wanted and not waste any space, but there's a lot to be said for ordering something in!

[Eddy Deegan]

Yeah I think the bigger desk would be worth it so I've gone for the Miza X2 Flex instead

I spoke to the vendor and though the Miza 88XL is in transit, when it arrives I can return it unopened for a full refund. In the meantime I ordered an X2 Flex, though it probably won't be here for a couple of weeks.

Plenty to be getting on with in the meantime though!

[Ben Asaro]

Oh damn -- now I looked at the smaller desk and they sell it at B&H and I'm wondering if that might not be a better option for me than my Middle Atlantic desk!

[Eddy Deegan]

Having had a sit-down and a bit of plan I'm going to use both of them; the X2 as the main working area and the 88XL as a combination of additional desk space at right angles to the X2 and as housing for two large synthesizers as well as more racking capacity.

It's a bit extravagant but the space is big enough, there are enough funds remaining from the overall build budget to cover most of the cost and it'll be very practical going forwards

[Ben Asaro]

LOL that is amazing.

[Drew Stephenson]

Having had a sit-down and a bit of plan I'm going to use both of them; the X2 as the main working area and the 88XL as a combination of additional desk space at right angles to the X2 and as housing for two large synthesizers as well as more racking capacity.

It's a bit extravagant but the space is big enough, there are enough funds remaining from the overall build budget to cover most of the cost and it'll be very practical going forwards

Depending on how you're planning this you might just want to think about the effect on any reflections from your monitors.

[Eddy Deegan]

Depending on how you're planning this you might just want to think about the effect on any reflections from your monitors.

A good point Drew; Studio Support Gnome is coming over for a site visit in a couple of weeks and we'll definitely be discussing such things. There is an alternative arrangement of furniture I have in mind also, so one way or another it should end up reasonably well placed.

[ManFromGlass]

Remember to leave a small path through your forest of gear so you can occasionally leave! Someone can always throw food in so your covered there!

[Eddy Deegan]

Remember to leave a small path through your forest of gear so you can occasionally leave! Someone can always throw food in so your covered there!

Laying of the floor completed, plywood is now roughly chopped but once the resulting approximate slabs are refined and varnished they'll provide the final finish on the doors and hatches, Velux blinds fitted, two electricians here all day (Wednesday), two rackmount power strips from CPC are now here and today (Wednesday again) the first of the Zaor desks is being delivered.

Heavy duty steampunk-style curtain rails made from ¾" iron pipes, flanges and related plumbing fittings, black of course, for the main windows have been ordered. They come at a premium on Amazon and other sites but I got the parts 'raw' from plumbing suppliers. Skirting board installation is in process. Curtains are in the process of being figured out but there are some good leads on that and I should have them ordered in the next day or so.

It's a very busy week. More to follow, undoubtedly with a picture or two, sometime between now and the end of this weekend coming

[Folderol]

The home run?

[Eddy Deegan]

Getting closer all the time Will

Got some curtains today but still waiting for the curtain rail stuff to arrive. In the meantime after the electricians left, there are now lights and power sockets, all of which are surface-mounted and attached using modified fixings that do not penetrate through to the 20mm air-space behind the plasterboard.



The lights are wired in three groups; the 3 furthest on the left, the 3 furthest on the right and 4 (two left and two right) at the door-end of the room. The switches for each bank are outside the door as are switches for the lights in the stairway. They won't get much use as after the curtains are up I'll be installing the RGB LED light strips in diffuser conduits that will run around the whole room just under ceiling height and I expect to be favouring them for the most part.

After the SOS call I finished putting the first desk together. The second is a few weeks away but there's plenty to be getting on with in the meantime.



I'm going to locate it on the other side of the room under the skeiling before putting it to any use. It'll serve as my office desk for the time being; no synths or gear are coming up here until all the carpentry is finished, which should be sometime this weekend.

(The floor looks a bit odd in these pictures because the camera has issues with the reflectiveness from some angles in artificial light).

Not exactly studio-specific but the Velux blinds arrived and are now also installed. It's nice not to be dazzled any more on the rare occasions that the sun is visible during the afternoon!



As I said on the call earlier, this spring/summer the intention is to have an open day/SOS-meet here. We'll put on a a buffet, folks can come and play with gear (lots of synths of course but there are guitars, bass and drums also), bring some of their own along maybe, and catch up in general. We may even get a jam out of it

[Martin Walker]

Bravo Eddy - you've put in a vast amount of work to this studio, and it's finally looking as if the end is in sight, and an extremely tasteful end it is too!

[Ben Asaro]

How heavy is the desk, Eddy?

[Eddy Deegan]

Bravo Eddy - you've put in a vast amount of work to this studio, and it's finally looking as if the end is in sight, and an extremely tasteful end it is too!

Thanks Martin, I can hear the music at the end of the tunnel!

How heavy is the desk, Eddy?

As delivered it's 115kg (253.5lb) including packaging. It comes in 2 boxes, one containing the end pieces and the other everything else. The packaging is pretty well thought out. When I took delivery the boxes had obviously taken some punishment so I snapped some pics before opening them in case of dispute. However, the packaging did what it was designed to do and acted as a crumple zone leaving the contents intact and unblemished.

There are specific specs here. The 'Full Specification' button on that page yields a lot of useful info.

Rounding to the nearest .5 I'd estimate the packaging to be 8-10kg (17-22lb) which would place the desk itself at around 105kg (231.5lb) when fully assembled. You can add/subtract a few units either way but it's certainly the right ballpark

Hugh did a review a few years ago. The weight spec has increased a bit since then such that they now match my numbers above. I don't know if that's due to correction somewhere or revision of the design though.

In his case he stated "The whole assembly only took a leisurely hour or so". My experience was slightly different in that it wasn't difficult (though it was leisurely and quite enjoyable!) but some of it was a bit fiddly and I think it took me 3 hours because the instructions, while good, are not precise on a couple of points and I had to reverse track a bit and disassemble one or two parts to correct something I'd got wrong a step or two before because it wasn't made clear.

This is mainly down to the lack of detail in the diagrams when it comes to, for example, the fact that piece X has a chamfer on one edge but the diagram doesn't show that so subsequently it needs to be reversed if you installed it the wrong way round and discover it later. This could be down to me; I don't read directions well unless they are spelled out in detail but I certainly lost an hour to one part in particular for that reason. However the result was fine after that correction despite the time taken.

The metal screws + posts that lock the structure together are easy once you've figured out what you need to do but I'd recommend you don't use an electric screwdriver on them. I did for a couple but stopped when I realised that the torque had stripped the threads. Doing it by hand from then on was straightforward as you can gauge the stress and tighten them only as much as needed. The fittings are well designed but fairly soft metal and won't take over-torque well. The resulting build is very sturdy in any case.

When Hugh reviewed it he mentioned that there were no spare fittings but in my case there was 1 extra provided over and above those needed. Even so, there isn't a huge margin for error so put the electric tools away and grab a trusty hand-driven screwdriver. You'll also need a shorter one for some of the fittings as there isn't enough clearance for 'normal length' screwdrivers between some surfaces as the build takes shape.

It wasn't an issue for me in the end but it would have been if I'd been less tuned in to the feedback from the electric screwdriver. If screwed by hand, then their dowel-and-metal-fittings system works very well.

I've written a lot of words but in summary I think it's a very good desk and the above is mainly nit-picking. I'd have no problem recommending it as a product to anyone.