Recording Booth - Entry 2

Day 6

Today I worked on gluing some workout mats to the top of the base unit as well as began constructing the top unit. Let me begin by saying that when working with the carpet adhesive you need to be very careful. That stuff can be very nasty. ;-) It took me quite awhile to get everything cleaned up after applying it to the top of the base unit. The more organized you are with this the better off you will be. I’m sure once I have worked with it a few more times it will become a lot easier to handle.

Anyway, I decided to go with a couple of workout mats instead of the interlocking pads shown in the DVD because I liked the look of the mats better. The only downside to this was I had to end up using 2 mats and cut them down to fit the base, so there is a seam down the length of the base unit. It isn’t so bad though because I worked it out so that the seam will be towards the front of the booth and should be somewhat out of sight after I customize the inside with a shelf.

Base w/side view and black mat

Full view of base w/mat trimmed

Next I turned my attention to the top unit. Even though this was easier to build than the base unit, it was a bit of a challenge. I first cut a piece of MDF to size and then cut all of the 2x4s needed.
The DVD seems to indicate that you should lay out your 2x4s on the floor and then lay the MDF over the 2x4s in order to assemble it. The reason for this is because you can’t attach the 2x4s together because they are laid flat instead of up on end. I could have screwed them together at an angle but I didn’t want to go this route either. So I ended up placing my MDF on a flat surface and then clamping each individual 2x4 to the MDF and then screwing them together from underneath. Even though this was a pain to do, it turned out good in the end. Since I only have a few clamps, I would position on 2x4, clamp it and then screw it to the MDF then move to the next piece until they were all in place. I admit that this probably did take me longer to do than other ways but in the end everything worked out for me. By the time I got this done, I was well into the night so I decided to call it for the day. I will work on carpeting the top unit tomorrow. Also as a side note, I have still not been able to find any aluminum J-Channel to fit my needs. I did look at what Home Depot has and they pretty much had the same thing as Lowes, which upon further inspection would not be anywhere near the width that I need. I did do some more research on the internet and think that I will probably just end up going with the vinyl J-Channel. I’m going to pick up a couple of pieces (they come in 12’ lengths) and see how they look on the top unit before purchasing it all up front. Plus if I did find the aluminum J-Channel it would end up costing me a ton of money to get what I really need to finish the project and the vinyl only costs about $5 for a 12’ piece.

Top - Constructed (w/o paint)