Building a Work Space
As I sit here and type this, I’ll admit to you dear reader that I am a bit demoralized. It was 2 years ago this month that I first noticed there was water coming into the basement from several places during a heavy rain. Due to my shoulder injury, the basement company not doing the waterproofing job right the first time and I had to threaten to sue to get them to come back and make it right, and a few other things, it went way over schedule. Due to unforeseen circumstances, it’s also going $10,000 over budget. But, we’re coming to an end here.
Here are some things I did, that may or may not be seen in the picture:
Walls & Celing:
Put in insulation (most houses in Colorado are not insulated, at least they were not in the 1970s because we have few very hot days and few very cold days).
Sonopan panels
Used furring strips to create a 1/2” air gap and then 1/2” drywall
Accent wall behind my desk is acoustic baffling from Amazon, though came from a company in Whiteland, Indiana
Floor
Had to “level” the floor the best we could. The earth moves a LOT in Colorado, which is why previous owners had to structurally reinforce and we had to waterproof the basement. Added concrete in the corners.
Initially I wanted to level and stain the concrete floor, but the cost of this was just going to be too much. One, there are tiles that are probably asbestos that would’ve had to be professionally removed, and two, the amount of concrete that would’ve been need would have added a few thousand dollars to the budget and taken a few inches from the vertical space, which is only 7’ now.
Went with wood laminate that closely matches what is already upstairs.
Studio
Added a Levy wall hanger from Sweetwater to get all my guitars on the wall while saving some space. Saw a similar product at Primary Sound when I was there. I have 4 acoustics and a banjo on that, 2 electrics and a bass on the floor rack and I’m still looking for my mandolin hanger to get it up.
For the time being, all the audio equipment is the same, due mostly to my budget. I am using 2 TVs as monitors now, but they are TVs I already had in the house. I do have Travis’ keyboard which is an upgrade on my Alesis (which Brennan is borrowing). This is mostly because my eyes are not what they used to be and I wear reading glasses all the time now. Looking at a screen like you see at the side is a lot easier on a 47” TV than it is on my 13” MacBook.
Entertainment Area / Corners
I have a diffuser on the back wall that I built. Not sure how impactful it’ll be, but we’ll see.
In the corners are vinyl covered pieces of mass, essentially. Drywall, Sonopan scraps, foam sound panels, wrapped in vinyl to kill those 90 degree corners acoustically.
There’s a couch, DVDs, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch and CDs.
Still working on the suite, but that will be done soon as well. Bedroom and closet need just a few things and then I have some bathroom work to do.
Laundry room features freezer and refrigerator.
Pretty soon, I’ll be able to focus on creativity again. I have work to do yet for this album and words are always flowing, so there are songs to write as well when I can find the time and headspace. Happy to answer any questions or offer advice if it’s needed, shoot me an email.