1. On the way home Friday night, I made an unexpected red light stop on a last minute trip to the supermarket. It caused a water bottle to fly off the front seat and right on top of the newly repaired bathroom fan. The cage fan got so crooked it scraped while I was turning it. But I meticulously bent the cage back into shape when I got home, taking no less than 15 minutes doing so. I fired up the fan and my re-shaping made it as good as when I was down at Post TV. It even seemed to get quieter as it was running. Whew!!!
2. On Saturday night I went to home depot and got a big canvas tarp, a DuPont composite plastic tarp, and a thin cheap plastic cover. And I got a 375lb capable 6 foot fiberglass ladder. I set up the canvas and composite tarps on the floor (composite on top). Then I set up the ladder and looked at the ceiling hole. Yep, it had big gaps around the electrical box. But most of the air I was feeling was actually coming from the nearby A/C vent. When I shut of the A/C fan (except in summer, I run fan all the time for better air quality) it was clear there was actually hardly any air coming out of the hole. But I could still feel some.
3. I played bassy music on the living room stereo to hear how it sounded in the Queen's Room. The throbbing bass was very audible in the room. I then measured sine waves at 45 Hz (the peak response in the Queen's room) and 40 Hz. Those were the only two clearly audible frequencies. Everything else is fairly well suppressed. But 45 Hz is actually louder inside the Queen's Room that in the hall just outside. The wall doesn't attenuate 45 Hz at all, in fact it amplifies it slightly! I did a full spectrum analysis of the sound leakage, with measurements at the living room listening position and inside the Queen's room. The full spectrum showed the peaking at 40 and 45 Hz and little else. THERE is the problem (and I don't actually know that decoupling the wall will fix it, but it's the obvious next thing to try). And indeed the peak at 45Hz is louder in the Queen's Room that at the listening position.
4. On Sunday I actually sealed the hole with Green Glue sealant. It went fast when I finally got to it. A friend help me with paper towels.
5. I noticed screws intended to be moved from one set of holes to another for fastening fan. I moved the screws, but before that I tried to find smaller screw with same threads. Failing that, I got out my dial spanner and measured the threads at 0.19 inches. I did the measurement very carefully to put no stress on screw, and I inspected the threads afterwards in sunlight. I saw no damage to threads from spanner. I noticed that sunlight caused random spots (aka highlights) on the edge of the threads to sparkle, and same sparse but random sparkles appeared in places where I hadn't measured as those I had, so it looked that I had not even scratched the screw. I wiped it off with a clean cloth. I moved both screws to their second position. On Monday evening I bought 10-24, 10-32, and 8-32 screws believing that one of them (most likely 10-24) would fit and therefore block the now-open holes in the back of the plate.
6. Also on Sunday I mowed the front yard, showing a friend how to hook up my electric mower. I took the ethernet cable down from the wall that is being rebuilt, coiling it up near the front door subwoofer. I started the Wifi mode of my kitchen table Mac. I disconnected the AC which powers the Acoustat speaker polarizing voltage because polarized speakers attract dust. I marked with masking tape the position of the right Acoustat and Elac supertweeter. I then moved the right Acoustat and Elac to the back of the living room to minimize contact with construction dust. I washed 4 loads of laundry and changed the sheet on my bed. I printed out relevant Green Glue documents and lined them up near the wall.
7. On Monday Tom called around 10am and was getting the metal furring channels I had purchased on Friday. (I was afraid I would have to go with him to pick up at store.) He removed the wall to the Queen's Room on the hallway side. It was very slow going. He had intended to install the furring channels right away but decided the wall needed another stud next to the door frame to support the furring channels there. So he would return to do that on Tuesday.
8. Worker from irrigation company reset my computer for new watering ordinances, and he staked the pomegranate tree using the stakes I had bought earlier for my friend to use. He did not think it necessary to move the tree to get a good staking, but the support is rather low.
2. On Saturday night I went to home depot and got a big canvas tarp, a DuPont composite plastic tarp, and a thin cheap plastic cover. And I got a 375lb capable 6 foot fiberglass ladder. I set up the canvas and composite tarps on the floor (composite on top). Then I set up the ladder and looked at the ceiling hole. Yep, it had big gaps around the electrical box. But most of the air I was feeling was actually coming from the nearby A/C vent. When I shut of the A/C fan (except in summer, I run fan all the time for better air quality) it was clear there was actually hardly any air coming out of the hole. But I could still feel some.
3. I played bassy music on the living room stereo to hear how it sounded in the Queen's Room. The throbbing bass was very audible in the room. I then measured sine waves at 45 Hz (the peak response in the Queen's room) and 40 Hz. Those were the only two clearly audible frequencies. Everything else is fairly well suppressed. But 45 Hz is actually louder inside the Queen's Room that in the hall just outside. The wall doesn't attenuate 45 Hz at all, in fact it amplifies it slightly! I did a full spectrum analysis of the sound leakage, with measurements at the living room listening position and inside the Queen's room. The full spectrum showed the peaking at 40 and 45 Hz and little else. THERE is the problem (and I don't actually know that decoupling the wall will fix it, but it's the obvious next thing to try). And indeed the peak at 45Hz is louder in the Queen's Room that at the listening position.
4. On Sunday I actually sealed the hole with Green Glue sealant. It went fast when I finally got to it. A friend help me with paper towels.
5. I noticed screws intended to be moved from one set of holes to another for fastening fan. I moved the screws, but before that I tried to find smaller screw with same threads. Failing that, I got out my dial spanner and measured the threads at 0.19 inches. I did the measurement very carefully to put no stress on screw, and I inspected the threads afterwards in sunlight. I saw no damage to threads from spanner. I noticed that sunlight caused random spots (aka highlights) on the edge of the threads to sparkle, and same sparse but random sparkles appeared in places where I hadn't measured as those I had, so it looked that I had not even scratched the screw. I wiped it off with a clean cloth. I moved both screws to their second position. On Monday evening I bought 10-24, 10-32, and 8-32 screws believing that one of them (most likely 10-24) would fit and therefore block the now-open holes in the back of the plate.
6. Also on Sunday I mowed the front yard, showing a friend how to hook up my electric mower. I took the ethernet cable down from the wall that is being rebuilt, coiling it up near the front door subwoofer. I started the Wifi mode of my kitchen table Mac. I disconnected the AC which powers the Acoustat speaker polarizing voltage because polarized speakers attract dust. I marked with masking tape the position of the right Acoustat and Elac supertweeter. I then moved the right Acoustat and Elac to the back of the living room to minimize contact with construction dust. I washed 4 loads of laundry and changed the sheet on my bed. I printed out relevant Green Glue documents and lined them up near the wall.
7. On Monday Tom called around 10am and was getting the metal furring channels I had purchased on Friday. (I was afraid I would have to go with him to pick up at store.) He removed the wall to the Queen's Room on the hallway side. It was very slow going. He had intended to install the furring channels right away but decided the wall needed another stud next to the door frame to support the furring channels there. So he would return to do that on Tuesday.
8. Worker from irrigation company reset my computer for new watering ordinances, and he staked the pomegranate tree using the stakes I had bought earlier for my friend to use. He did not think it necessary to move the tree to get a good staking, but the support is rather low.
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