The Studio: planning, demolition, building

[knary]

Which way will your studio windows face? Will you get the correct light? More important for visual than audio art.

The studio will be on the southwest corner of our little city lot with the windows facing north - the desirable light. North light or no natural light is the preferred kind. I once had a studio with a 20' long 14' high wall that was almost entirely windows that faced to the south south west. It was a bear to work in.

 

[knary]

I guess I should update this thread.

 

[BUBBAZANETTI]

I guess I should update this thread.

due to the overwhelming flood of interest since may

 

[knary]

due to the overwhelming flood of interest since may

That's just cold.

But not as cold as you'll be trying to make a living in New York.

 

[knary]

Is there a place for a F 800 GS ?

Maybe
But probably not in 2008.

 

[kbasa]

Get to work, you lame-o.

 

[redclfco]

My studio ...

Lap top, some ot tea, I'm ready to create!

 

[kbasa]

My studio ...

Lap top, some ot tea, I'm ready to create!

A yurt!

 

[redclfco]

How ideas come to me..

 

[jgr451]

Change is good.

Scott:
I can't believe I missed this thread.
I can't believe you turned your back on that garage as it fell. With all its biological possibilities.

Good work.But really, a yurt??

 

[knary]

I'm busy making dinner. I'll post later.

 

[BUBBAZANETTI]

But not as cold as you'll be trying to make a living in New York.

wow, this has held up amazingly well for the past 2 months

 

[Jamming]

Huullooo????? Anybody home? So Scott what part of Portland you in? My Mom lives in Beaverton and I lived in NW Portland out Rock Creek way until I couldn't stand the weather and came home to AZ.

Cool studio. I love the old part of PDX, great houses.

 

[mrich12000]

Buracrats


after all that you need a rest and a Molson X

 

[redclfco]

What a project...

And even better vision!

It's great the way you have documented what it's taken to get to that point, and kudos for the sweat equity put into what you're doing! I wished I would of taken more shots of the before and after variety!

Having remodeled a "few" homes during my life, I can relate to the excitement that is very clear in all these shots! Wow!

I'm impressed!

 

[Rinty]

the studio

Now how easily will it convert to a garage?

Rinty

 

[knary]

Now how easily will it convert to a garage?

Rinty

Easy.
That was one of the primary considerations in my simple design. While we won't use it as such, someone after us can remove a simple non-load bearing wall and make it a garage, albeit a very nice one.

Ok. This will take a bit of work, but here comes the update.

.....

 

[knary]

It can be said that I am a fastidious person. Sometimes to a fault. Almost always when I doubt my ability to find the right answer or solution.

I measured and measured again and measured ten more times to get everything staked out oh so perfectly. I did find the perfect solution to a sore back - don't get one. While Erin and I celebrated our anniversary on a cool May day, a couple guys we know (one is the brother of a friend) picked up shovels.

After a bit of cat and mouse, I pinned my concrete guy down and he went to work. He, like any good contractor, approached this project with some trepidation. When a home owner is doing or overseeing the work, the quality may not be as good as needed. He poked around with eyes wide.

Prep for the footings:

A few conduits and pipes and we're ready to go, right?

Nope. The inspector came by, looked around, gave me some lame song and dance about property lines and rebar requirements (both of which were more than addressed) and said, "I'd love to ok this, but you've got conduit and two plumbing lines. I only do structural stuff. I take the plumbing class the week after next. You'll have to get a guy out here that does those too." He then asks why we're building such a deep foundation - never mind that code requires it. : bluduh I call the city to sort it out. I end up on the phone with an inspector who thinks I'm asking him questions about code. He proceeds to tell me more contradictory information about what will and won't work.

Fast forward a few days. I tweak a few things for the inspector coming in the afternoon. I don't want their to be any question of this passing. We'd already decided that if it didn't that I'd abandon my attempts to stick to code and the law.

This time we got the autistic inspector.

Bill would be my inspector for the rest of the project.

 

[knary]

After yet another hiccup with the permit office, a massive truck arrived.

We wondered with a gasp and wince whether or not it would clear the eaves of the house.

I then wondered if our house would still be standing after the concrete truck went into the spin cycle. Our house's foundation is a blend of sand, spit, and prayer.

Dave, as a friend put it, is a man built for wielding a broad sword in another century. He made quick progress with a little help from myself and a neighbor.

We were pouring the footings using the trench as the form. Frostline isn't too far down around here. Where he's sitting in the pic below is below grade with the top of the footings a full footing below final grade.

We have footings.

After a couple days, the forms for the stem wall, which will rise some 9 inches above grade, were nearly complete. The forms gave a real sense of the scale of the modest structure.

My excitement over the project was bubbling out of control. I'd find myself grabbing near strangers and babbling at them about "my footings!"

The funniest thing is that I thought that if things went as planned, that we'd have had a dry structure, sans trim and siding and other not so minor details, sometime within the month.

I couldn't be more wrong.

 

[knary]

Little kids can't wait to unwrap presents. Big kids aren't any different. After a couple days, Erin and I went at it with hammers and pry bar.


Wow. It's a building... almost.

A few days ago, that concrete truck from a couple weeks ago got tiny. :yikes

'twas the coolest thing. The massive truck loaded with 10 yards of gravel pulls up in front of the house. I gulp. Gulps are heard from neighbors that've come out to see what's going on. It's a big truck. Loaded, it weighed just shy of 60,000 lbs. That's more than 25 times the weight of my wife's car! More than 107 R1150GS's. BIG. And it's one of those gravel spittin' trucks, able to shoot material 140' away, though the aim gets a little sloppy at that distance.

With the boom extended, the truck starts to crawl up the driveway.
http://knary.smugmug.com/photos/158009060-M.jpg[img]

Wait...what's that guy next to the telephone pole doing? :scratch
Eeps.
[img]http://knary.smugmug.com/photos/158010442-M.jpg

He's driving. All by remote control. THIS is cool.

Pop, pop, pop. The concrete broke under the massive weight of the thing.

In short order, the gravel's flying.

I don't want to even imagine what it would have been like to wheel this stuff up from the street!