For the record, I shouldn’t be allowed to do technical drawings.  The time it took to figure out how to make the heads on arrows is embarrassing. 

To move things forward I was tasked with getting all the info to Vincent about the current build of the barn which was distilled to: “1/2” dry wall over 2x stud with fiberglass insulation” for the ceiling and “carpet over padding over 3/4” plywood over 2x joists” for the floor.  As we found out later there was also a layer of 3/4” homasote under the pad and over the 3/4” plywood subfloor. So great.

The as-built diagram looking head-on at the barn.

I was also fortunate to find a ton of available electrics.  Outlets practically every 5 feet on the perimeter and 2 locations already coming up in the floor.  Those floor spots are perfect for the main desk feeds.  That is very pleasing. 

My interior diagram. See the arrowheads?

Vincent drew up a schematic (below) with his initial plan and I was like great let’s do this.  He had some additional questions like how much isolation from the exterior as well as how much isolation from the downstairs will there need to be? We’re pretty fortunate to be at the end of a dead end road so at most I’d need to put up with the mailman, snow plows, and a lawn mower. Isolation from the outside became a secondary concern. We both agreed that the windows were going to be tricky to treat but felt it was important to keep the natural light and the view. There was some talk about adding a framed glass insert acting as an additional pane and creating an air gap which could be a good supplement. Ultimately we decided to revisit it once the interior is solid.

Preliminary Floorplan Schematic

I hadn’t planned on doing any work to the ceiling except for replacing the light fixtures and adding acoustic treatments. That was about as much as I felt comfortable with.  Anything more than that was intimidating to be honest. 

Then Vincent wrote: “I wanted to see if we could open up your ceiling space?”

Wait, what??