On Jun 28, 15:26, Shawn T. Rutledge wrote:
> I'm already doing it to an extent. I have a 10x20 room in the middle
> of my house.
Sounds pretty cool...
> This room is not quite ideal; it could be bigger.
I've had some sort of workshop or hobby room in every house I've lived in,
and I've noticed there seem to be only two sizes: too small, and not big
enough.
> away with that. Also if I was building from scratch, I think I would
> do the raised-floor thing. Maybe use aluminum diamondplate squares.
> (or not... I do walk around barefoot in there a lot)
Don't, it's cold and noisy, and actually less strong than most computer
flooring. I had the choice of carpet-tiled floor panels or vinyl. If you
could get linoleum instead of vinyl, that's even better (more expensive,
though). I went for vinyl because it's easier to sweep than a carpet (in a
workshop, where there's sawdust and metal swarf) and much easier to lift
vinyl-covered panels (the panel lifter is a suction device like the ones
glass workers use for large sheets of glass) than carpet (velcro-backed
lifters work on some types, but most use metal teeth to bite into the
carpet tile). I was also put off by experience at work: the hardware techs
tell me that the failure rate on PSUs and fans has risen three-fold since
we moved from a building with a vinyl-surfaced flooring to one with carpet
(more dust). However, carpet is much better acoustically.
> In this house the floors are concrete and all at the same height, so
> I'd rather keep it that way rather than having to step up into the
> computer room.
It doesn't cost much to have a layer of concrete screeding added. The
utility room which occupies the part of the garage I didn't get, plus the
extension, is 4" concrete screed on top of 2" expanded polystyrene
insulation/damp-proofing, to make the two floors the same level. If it's
not practical to raise the floor elsewhere, you might consider excavating
the middle room a few inches. Damp isn't a big issue unless the level
would be below the water table; in my room, there was an extra damp-proof
layer added (basically thick polythene sheet) bonded into the existing
damp-proof course in the original brick walls (and the interior layer,
which is 4"x2" timber framing with glass fibre fill, set 2" back from the
brickwork, sits on top of that, one layer of the sheeting continuing up the
inside of the brickwork for a couple of feet).
There's a 5" step up to our new utility room; that's very little really,
but I'm going to build a small ramp so I can trundle a rack or the trolley
in and out (I sometimes take stuff to University Open Days and suchlike).
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York
Received on Wed Jun 28 2000 - 19:43:23 BST