BG Homeowner and DIY Thread - Out of the Basement Edition

[Kirin]

Sounds good. Would it be smart to lay a dab of exterior caulk where I screw these in just for good measure?

[archibaldcrane]

Seems unnecessary. Just drill a little pilot hole and screw in some teacup hooks. Can get them in white, silver, brass, black, whatever

[BaneTheBrawler]

the soffit itself is almost certainly not sealed- you WANT some slight air movement there so moisture doesn't get trapped in your attic and rot your roof. sealing the hooks you're adding is not necessary. they're on the underhang, so flowing water is never going to be an issue, and even splashing water isn't going to work its way far enough in to do damage.

[Jaybar]

You also don't want to leave gaping holes in the soffit for insects like bees to nest in there.

[Byrthnoth]

Yo BG, is a 2.375% note rate mortgage a good rate?

I have done no research and I am already tired of house hunting.

[Bardicrune]

Fixed or variable APR?

[archibaldcrane]

Yo BG, is a 2.375% note rate mortgage a good rate?

I have done no research and I am already tired of house hunting.

Ridiculously good for a 30 year fixed, very good for a 15 year fixed. You should not be getting a variable rate mortgage right now.

[Ksandra]

Do they even offer variable rates anymore? Sounds like a terrible idea for anyone. (Besides the bank, that is.)

[Bardicrune]

Variable rate was almost always a bad idea considering you could refinance to a lower rate with just the closing costs of the refinance as a penalty, but there were too many people who did.

[BaneTheBrawler]

So my wife and I have been talking with my parents about moving into their home in the near future, and we've decided it's the best course for all of us.

My parents' house is a church, with the basement remodeled into the living space, and the sanctuary was an empty commercial space. My parents have turned it into an arts & crafts workshop. The general plan is to section off the guest bed/bathroom and turn that into a smaller master suite for my wife and i, and then section off part of the sanctuary for our personal space. We would then share a living room and kitchen.

Properly sectioning off the sanctuary would involve major construction, which is something we can't really afford. So we're going to be essentially putting up cubicle wall segments to form the partition. That part is fine, but the big issue we've thought of is that the section we're going to have as our game room, office, and hobby space is located where the preacher would have stood, which means it is designed specifically to distribute sound to the rest of the room. Even a whisper is audible 40+ feet away.

So we're investigating soundproofing options. Any suggestions? The ceiling is ~40ft tall, and accessing it is impractical.

[archibaldcrane]

Dude

Lol what

[BaneTheBrawler]

which part needs clarifying?

[Fondue]

military surplus canvas tents

[archibaldcrane]

which part needs clarifying?

No I understood it all, it's just when "my wife and I are moving in with her parents who live in a church and we're putting up cubicle walls" is the intro that's my only available text wheel response

[Cantih]

Less clarifying, but more the absurdity of the situation.
That is a, unique history for a former church.

Anyways, not a builder type, but since you're using cubicle walls, my best guess would be to to frame the area such that you can make a popcorn (or w/e material) drop tile ceiling, and then put a layer of soundproofing on top of that.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Yeah okay I suppose it is a bit unusual. If my wife and I had had a down payment ready, it would have been even more unusual: there was a similar church on the market recently that had not yet been renovated, but included a (boarded up no pictures) parsonage, garage, parking lot, and all the usual church furniture such as pews, tables, chairs, etc. for $150k. We would have jumped on it if we could afford it. There would have been two churches in the family!

Anyway yeah so far we're considering tent stuff. I don't think we want to do a drop ceiling, as we all think they're ugly, but we might be able to do something similar that looks better. I was thinking maybe something like a pergola with some sound baffles on it, help reduce sound transmission without closing off the magnificent church interior.

[Jaybar]

Hmm pergola could be interesting, and drape thick sheets along the top. There's so much going on i can't possibly give an in depth response.

Could you move the "room" off the altar? Maybe off to one of the sides or in the apse.

[Zeb]

This thread made me google what type of loan you go for when buying a church.

[Jaybar]

I recently helped a guy design a spiral stair in his church condo. He got the portion of the bell tower for himself which was pretty slick. It's definitely not unheard of, but an ENTIRE church to yourself? Wack.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Duluth, MN! Housing is ass if you can't afford to buy (college town) but if you can swing a mortgage it's quite reasonable. The previous owners leased out the entire main level (which we've been calling the sanctuary) as commercial space, but my parents opted not to.

We could, in theory, take a different section not quite so acoustically active, but that comes with its own issues. The other end of the church is where my parents have most of their arts&crafts stuff, so that would be a pain to move, plus that's also where the Bird Room is. It used to be a small office or something, but it's the only room that looks out on the busy street, so their umbrella cockatoo lives in there and would be upset if he had to move. He likes to watch the busy street.

We could maybe take a section off to the side, but we want to figure out a way to reduce noise level in the room anyway. The church doesn't have an apse, unfortunately.