Continuation from:
This is the 3rd chapter of the Mark III build. At this stage the structure is physically all complete, and it was beginning to feel very real now. With the structure complete, I can now tell you what the actual dimensions worked out to be.
Finished exterior dimensions: 7′-4″ W x 6′-4″ L x 9′ H
Finished interior dimensions: 6′-11″ W x 5′-10″ L x x 9′ H
Definitely not the biggest office I have had in the past. But while it is a bit tight, for my day-to-day work, it has been plenty big enough and everything I need is certainly close at hand. With the structure complete, now came my final chance to seal off any noise-allowing holes, so I sealed all around the door with an acoustic sealant [link here] and found that the gap I had remaining around the door proved to use quite a bit of the sealant, but I ultimately got it all installed. I also installed this all along the floor between the drywall and floor, and the ceiling and the drywall. It is flexible even when set, so small vibrations and movements (especially on the wall with the hat channel) will not ruin the seal.
Next up was the taping and mudding of the drywall. I know many complain that this is the worst part of drywalling, but I actually found this to be very therapeutic. I would just set my phone on music sitting on the ladder, and work in here for a few hours after work each day. It got rather humid in such a small space as the water was evaporating, but otherwise it was rather slow, but peaceful compared to most of the build process. You’ll also notice I rolled up the carpet in the office and removed it for this process, as mud falling and the dust was way more than I wanted to deal with, so I just worked on the sub-floor.
It definitely took a long time to apply all of this, and then a pain to hold the shop-vac hose right under the sandpaper sponge as I sanded down the dried mud to get it as smooth as I could. I did a total of 2 coats in most areas, with 3 in a few special areas, with sanding between each of those coats. Slow work, but overall it turned out pretty good, with just a few mistakes I know about but most would never notice. The next stage was to try to replicate the applied texture in the house, and no matter how much I tried, and how many videos I watched, I couldn’t replicate it, half the videos said it takes pros years to be able to do the texture that is in our house, naturally. So I found a way to replicate it, sort of, through a far more painstaking method. I put countless blobs of mud on the wall, and when I had enough in a section, I would scrap them flat with my 12″ wide blade. In the end I did it thicker than the original, but as far as pattern goes, it is a pretty close match.
Next up after getting the texture all completed was letting that all dry thoroughly. After that was done, I then took to priming the entire interior of the office. That wasn’t too bad, grab a roller, and for the height, using the extended rod, which was a little bit of an issue in the tight quarters of the office, but I got it done.
Following the priming of the interior I then moved on to painting the interior. The color I chose was supposed to be a light gray with just a hint of blue, and instead the whole thing looks baby-blue. Should have gotten a sample jar for this and tried it, but I was too impatient so I just rolled with it. I used about a gallon of the Baer Premium from Home Depot for the interior, giving it a total of 2 coats over the primer.
With the painting done and a day or two to dry, it was time to bring the carpet back in, and start to really make this feel like an office. First I cut to size a sheet of mass-loaded vinyl (helps with sound reduction) and put that over the sub-floor, then I put down the carpet pad, and finally the carpet. Once the carpet was in, my two girls were so excited they moved some toys in and played in the new office for a bit. Everyone in the household was glad to see one phase of this project officially complete. I also had to put in place an oak threshold like you would for an exterior door, to cover the gap between the carpet outside, and the carpet inside. Since I raised the door so high to swing over the carpet, there was now nearly a 1″ gap, maybe bigger, underneath the door. One thickness of threshold was actually not enough, so I put another one on top of the first, and screwed the first into the sub-floor in 3 places, and then the second on top of the first, and screwed it down, slightly offset from the first 3 screws. In between the sub-floor and the first, and the first and second were ample layers of the sound sealant to ensure I wasn’t leaking a lot of sound through those gaps. So I now have about 1/8″ gap between the threshold and the door, which is perfect. Also the door itself I should mention I specifically got a solid-core door, again for increased sound dampening.
With the interior completed, it was time to move in my desk and hook up all the ethernet and everything else needed for my home office to be official. I’ve been working in this office for the last years and it has been a joy. It is great having a view of the frequent sunny days, and palm trees, what’s not to like?! The space while not large has been big enough, and often I actually work with the door cracked open, so I have never completed my final sound-proofing plans. I bought weather-stripping for the interior of the door, as well as cut to size another section of mass-loaded vinyl for the door interior, but thus far I have not installed either of those. Mostly for heat reasons I often work with the door open, so I don’t have to run my a/c unit, but during the summer, it is particularly nice to have the independent unit in here, as myself and the computer and monitors make a lot of heat for such a small space.
The only other comment I will make is the space between the first and second floors of our house is a big hollow opening in the joists, with no insulation, and with ceiling mounted speakers in the family room downstairs, when the TV is on, I can hear almost everything perfectly from downstairs. Sort of insulating the entirely joist-space between the floors I only have one other idea. That is to build up a false floor in the office with just 2×4’s turned the taller way (3.5″ high) and then put 3/4″ plywood subfloor down on top of that, and use Roxl to sound insulate that whole cavity I would have now created. I haven’t done that yet, but when the kids have half-days on Wednesdays from the elementary schools here, it gets annoying with hearing that after they get home. So I might yet do that during this winter to complete my sound isolation from at least floor-to-floor.
I worked in the office for months before I actually got around to finishing the trim around the door, or the trim around the floor. Most of that reason is I am very good at rough construction, but finishing is not my forte, so I just didn’t want to mess anything up, so I procrastinated it. But eventually I got tired to staring at the unfinished edges and decided to finally finish the trim so I could get it out of the master bedroom. I did need to buy a miter saw to finish the trim project, with a lot of angle cuts and such. But overall it went pretty well, and I was able to seal and paint the trim around the door, so it is looking pretty good. The floor trim I simply cut to size, coping the corners, and then placing it, but I have not nailed or glued that trim in place. If I do indeed create a false floor in the office, I will be glad that is not yet secured.
Finally once I was working in here, I realized quickly that on phone calls it was quite an echo chamber. So to combat that, I bough some acoustic foam and placed that in a pattern on the wall behind the desk, that I face while at the desk. I simply used a staple gun to hold each of the 4 corners, stapling inside the valley of each foam piece, so you really can’t see the staples, and it looks pretty good. It seems simple, but this really has helped a lot in reducing the echos I experienced when on the phone or talking in here.
Pysan 