During recent employment in the HVAC industry, the company I was working for had a slow period during the spring which resulted in not much work coming in through the front door.  I happen to be a carpenter, so I was asked if I would mind building office walls for the company to make up the time (and get a full 40 for the week instead of sit at home).

Sure, why not… It had been some time since I had worked, having spent the first 4 months of the year at NAIT getting a gasfitting ticket, and now, finally employed in the field, I still needed another 300 or so hours to complete the apprenticeship portion of the ticket.  I could care less if it was doing HVAC or stapling flyers, I wanted the ticket finished and on the wall – so yes.  I’ll do that.

The very first thing to be done was to move all the existing furniture out of the way, or at least as far out of the way as possible. Heavy, almost entirely particle board, and flimsy as it was second hand…. this was a chore I wish I could say was only done once, but as little as possible is what I had to settle for.

I regret not getting a picture of the insulated tarps that were hung as makeshift walls prior, but they were the first to go, and in it’s place up went a stud wall.  This was to be a simple separation from the area below, with the only complication being a spot for the overhead door hardware and a few penetrations along the run.

Next came the office, which was a bit of a layout nightmare with all the obstacles and existing furniture in the way.  All well and good, stud layout was adjusted accordingly, and each was overcome in time.

Insulation for sound deadening was next, with the long wall being the gravy of the job.

The remainder was piecework..

Filling in the little holes at the top was a ton of ladder work, but that is where the sound would get in, and the point of an office is quiet.

As it progressed, you could feel the space getting “warmer” as the echo vanished.  Insulation is likely my least favourite part of construction, but what a difference it makes to the feel of a space.

Drywall and taping and mud next.  The penetrations were a challenge at times.

Here, the ladder work got really out of hand.  By the end of the day, the pads of my feet ached from all the up and down, but my mudding skills came a long way on this…

This was the first time I had used a drywall hawk, and once I began to get the feel for it, and stopped scraping mud straight onto the floor, it made a massive difference.  Using a steel trowel allowed for a better feather on the edges, and sanding was cut considerably.  Drying times, secondary coats, and sanding were the running concern here.

When you get to paint, though, that is where it starts to look like it is coming together.

This is also the point where you get to know how well your stand/fill job was, as every little pock mark shows up after paint.

It’s also the point where to you have to start to keep your hands cleaner, and don’t touch the walls – dammit!

Hanging the door is akin to putting a bow on it, but don’t go thinking the job is over…  Not by a long shot.

Now you are left with what to do with the space now that it is built, and to be clear, the furniture had several iterations prior to finally finding a home.

Lessons learned….

Office jobs are a ton of ladder work, and sound-proofing is a tedious, but necessary, part of it.  Upper floor work ads a premium – no bargains.  I’m much better at mudding/taping than I give myself credit for.  A 1/2 ” drill and paddle are necessary for mixing mud, as are a hawk and steel trowel are for application.

I won’t be doing outside ticket work for a company until they’ve had me around for a full season.  This job would have paid around 8 G or higher, and had I done it without pause, would have taken a little over a week.  As it was, it was done with a series of interruptions which had me swapping tool sets at a moments notice, and was a huge logistical pain in the ass.

If the guys you are working for can’t keep you doing what you were hired on for, then best to move on as quickly as possible to find an outfit that does have work coming in the door.