After lurking around AVS for almost a decade (maybe not THAT long, but it sure feels like it), I'm finally able to start my own thread.

After many years of saving and preparing we purchased our own home (a new build) in June. It's killed me to be patient this long, but I'm finally on the road to getting started in the empty - by request - basement.

I'm working on a pretty tight budget (my baby girl turned a year old a week ago - children are expensive!) so most of my existing older equipment will have to do for now in regards to audio components and DVD players.

There's a support wall all the way through the center of my basement so, I'll currently only be finishing one half of it - the half at the bottom of the stairs. Along with the home theatre, a family / play room has been ordered.

The theatre itself is framed to be 12'8" x 19'8". Not huge, but should be great for our needs.

I'm incredibly new at everything I'm attempting to accomplish and I hope people will feel free to put in their 2 cents when necessary.

You guys honestly inspire me.

That said, here are the first pictures:

http://charlesp.org/avs/IMG_1478.JPG
Looking from the bottom of the steps through the future family room and into the theatre space.

http://charlesp.org/avs/IMG_1477.JPG
From the other side of the basement looking at the theatre space lengthwise.

http://charlesp.org/avs/IMG_1479.JPG
From the screen wall back to the entrance,the framing is not finished here. To the right of the doorway I plan on building some built-in shelving for my equipment and the rest of the wall will be storage for my DVD collection. In the far background near the stairs you can see my lovable "junk pile".

Also in these pictures - a free loveseat I got with my purchased living room set from upstairs. The delivery guy was confused when he had a truck with one brown/beige loveseat and a red couch and chair combo.

Things I learned to this point:
- Drilling into concrete is a lot harder than expected.
- Construction requires a LOT of math.
- I make a lot of trips to the Home Depot.

What are your plans for the window on the screenwall ?

What are your plans for the window on the screenwall ?

I wasn't sure when I started the framing (that was the first wall I did), so I framed around it and planned on plugging it up with a piece of foam wrapped in a black fabric.

I'm not sure any longer if that's the way I want to go, or if I should just drywall over the thing - which would likely be easier.

I can't tell from the Pic if you used pressure treated wood for the bottom plate. If not it won't pass an inspection.

I can't tell from the Pic if you used pressure treated wood for the bottom plate. If not it won't pass an inspection.

The walls I put up all have pressure treated bottom plates. The wall through the center of the basement (2x6) doesn't look to be, but it was the builder who put that wall up and I'm assuming he passed the inspection (gulp).

The 2x6 wall itself is actually half buried in the concrete and the floor has radiant heat.

Progress continues slowly with the theatre - framing is 99% complete (pictures to come) with only a little work left to do on the rack wall.

I've decided that I'm going to plug the window on the screen wall and drywall right over it. I won't be using it anyhow and this way if I ever move out (thankfully not any time soon) I can restore it for the next owner.

The big news this week was a visit from the UPS man:
http://www.charlesp.org/avs/IMG_1550.JPG

At 7:30 am I was as excited as could be. My wife couldn't understand it. Maybe a 30lb box of wire and connectors doesn't excite everyone like it does me.

I have wires to pull.

Things I learned to this point:
- Finding time to noisily work in the basement is hard when a baby sleeps most of the day overhead.

http://www.charlesp.org/avs/IMG_1624.JPG

My homemade rack in position (temporarily). I made a rookie mistake and cut the hole for the single gang cable wall plate too large and need to put a new back on it. No big - and $8.00 lesson. I have that this wired mess will get worse before it gets better :).

http://www.charlesp.org/avs/IMG_1626.JPG

The rear wall completed framing. To the left you can see where my equipment will sit and to the right where I'll be building shelves for my DVD collection.

looking good

I'm planning on building a similar wall/closet to hold my equipment. Are you planning on putting a door on the other side to access the rear?

Are you planning on putting a door on the other side to access the rear?

I actually opted against putting a door on the back. Mostly because I want the room on the other side of the wall to have a clean wall on the backside.

What are you doing to combat the heat that will occur in that rack space. You may want to consider venting it either up of put on a back that has some vents in it. Just a suggestion!

Work continues, and so does some of my confusion.

Should the riser in the back of the room be built on top of the DriCore I plan on putting down (and after the drywall goes up)? Or can it be done on the concrete before the drywall goes up?

Same question with the front stage.

I'd like to do it right, and am honestly not sure if it matters either way.

Yes Riser and stage on top of the dricore and after drywall goes up

Yes Riser and stage on top of the dricore and after drywall goes up

I am by no means an expert and am dealing with these very same issues. I was told that it would not be wise to put the dri-core under the stage (which will be filled with sand) since it would be sitting on top of a hollow chamber and defeat having filled it with sand to deaden it.

For the riser, I was planning on dri-core and then filled with insulation.

Queens

Thats how I did mine and I have had no sound issues but then again I have 2000 lbs of sand in my stage. I used the delta floor system as a precaution because I would rather not have a stage full of wet sand and a riser full of soggy insulation if by chance my basement leaked a little. Just my 2 cents

Queens

Thats how I did mine and I have had no sound issues but then again I have 2000 lbs of sand in my stage. I used the delta floor system as a precaution because I would rather not have a stage full of wet sand and a riser full of soggy insulation if by chance my basement leaked a little. Just my 2 cents

Would any of the sound experts (Dennis, Bryan, Ethan, others) care to chime in on this issue? To dricore or not to dricore underneath a sand-filled stage? Thanks.

To dricore or not to dricore underneath a sand-filled stage?

You may need to phrase that as a title to a new thread if you want to catch their attention.

Wow. Whenever I see that people take a year or more to finish their theaters I always assumed they were slow, unskilled or otherwise.

Now I know the difference. Finding time to get into my basement is hard with a baby, a job and a wife who like to see me from time to time instead of just at supper time.

Enough ramblings - updates coming right up:

I wired up the entire room and finished off the built ins in the back. I made the decision to wire for 7.1 even though I don't currently have a receiver that supports it. I have a feeling I'll be thanking myself for that in the not too distant future.
http://www.charlesp.org/avs/01.jpg

The pesky window in the front (behind the screen wall) of the room posed a problem - nothing a little plug couldn't take care of. I didn't want to seal everything up permanently as I'm not sure if I'm going to be here forever, and the next owner might think a window covered by a wall is the dumbest thing ever...
http://www.charlesp.org/avs/02.jpg

It's held in the window with friction and some industrial velcro.
http://www.charlesp.org/avs/03.jpg

Insulating the room went fairly quickly (once I figured out I really should have been wearing a mask - ouch).
http://www.charlesp.org/avs/04.jpg

My first ever piece of drywall hung! With a circular hole! I was proud that morning.
http://www.charlesp.org/avs/05.jpg

I've since spent the last few weeks for an hour her or an hour there on the mudding and getting everything to my own satisfaction. Apart from the inside corners - I think the walls are pretty near complete.
http://www.charlesp.org/avs/06.jpg

http://www.charlesp.org/avs/07.jpg

Up next, the ceiling - I bet that'll be messy.

http://www.charlesp.org/avs/09.jpg

http://www.charlesp.org/avs/10.jpg

Primed and ready for a floor!

Hey fellow Canadian! Looking good so far! One small suggestion, do all the painting BEFORE you install the carpet! That's gona save you time, and probably money!

Keep it up, your almost there!

Hey fellow Canadian! Looking good so far! One small suggestion, do all the painting BEFORE you install the carpet! That's gona save you time, and probably money!

Keep it up, your almost there!

Good advice - by "floor" I mean the Delta-FL subfloor.

Just curious, what kind of floor you plan to install?

Great job.

As far as the taping and sanding I am assuming this is the 1st time you have done this task. What products did you use, compound, paper tape or mesh etc...... I am about to embark on taping and sanding and abit worried but cant afford a pro.

Just curious, what kind of floor you plan to install?

I'm really paranoid about water as every spring at least one person I know ends up with water in their basement so to ease my mind a BIT I'm going with the Delta-FL product - that so many have used before me - with OSB on top. With carpet as the icing on the cake obviously.

As far as the taping and sanding I am assuming this is the 1st time you have done this task. What products did you use, compound, paper tape or mesh etc...... I am about to embark on taping and sanding and abit worried but cant afford a pro.

Is my first timer work THAT obvious? ;) I started with the mesh tape and quickly realized it was way more work than I wanted. I switched to the paper tape and didn't look back. As far as compound, I went with the pre-mixed CGC Dust Control.

And a whole lot of sanding - cause I'm not very good...

You did a great job, I only assumed since you said earlier you put up your 1st peice of drywall. Did you go with metal or paper corner beads and what about the inside corners?

You did a great job

Thanks, it actually turned out better than I had hoped. I used a bullnose corner on the one outward facing corner in the room - to the left of the rack - to match the rest of the house.

I used metal inside cornerbead for all the insides. I TIRED with tape, but I think my ****** drywalling skills were making it harder.

Lots of progress, I'll jump right in.

I know there was interest in what I was doing with the floor. Step one - lay down a layer of landscape fabric - which is amazing hard to find 2 weeks before Christmas on the east coast of Canada :)

http://charlesp.org/avs/11.jpg

Step two - roll out and cut the Platon membrane to size.

http://charlesp.org/avs/12.jpg

Step Three - Install OSB. I screwed down the bouncy spots with Tapcon screws (and a lot of work).

http://charlesp.org/avs/13.jpg

I stuffed the riser with leftover R12 and measured and cut the 3/4 OSB top.

http://charlesp.org/avs/16.jpg

I HAD to test out the awesome chairs I found at the Home Depot earlier in the week - $171.00 each! I bought four and had them delivered. They fit great. A home theater that only seats 4 seems small maybe, but should suit our needs great for the time being. There should be room for more, smaller chairs / couches in the future, I just couldn't pass up 4 chairs for less than $1000.00.

I've also primed the front wall and the builtins in the back of the room.

http://charlesp.org/avs/17.jpg

http://charlesp.org/avs/18.jpg

I bought four and had them delivered. They fit great. A home theater that only seats 4 seems small maybe, but should suit our needs great for the time being.

What happened to the free love seat? That should make 6 seats?

Looking great, though. BTW- where;d you get your cables and plates?

What happened to the free love seat? That should make 6 seats?

Looking great, though. BTW- where;d you get your cables and plates?

The loveseat was claimed for the room next door that I'm also building for the baby to play in.

All my cables and plates came from monoprice.com. Great service and prices, I highly recommend them.

Nice looking theater so far.
I installed a simple cove ceiling molding around my similar basement theater that has a rope light hidden in it. Nearly 100% of the time that is the only light we use because it spreads a very small amount of light around the whole room. Any other light washes out my picture IMHO. It was inexpensive and i even use a dimmer for it. Just my 2 cents....

Also, i dont know if you are using a PS3/Xbox for movies but they are so freaking loud that i luckily remembered to put mine in another room. You may not want yours right behind your head...

Keep going!

I KNEW it was going to happen, I was going to too caught up in the construction itself to update any photos / progress. So here I sit months after my last update with a new one.

Most of my time in the last while has been finishing the room in my basement which ISN'T my home theater, it's 99% done and hopefully I'll be able to devote more time to the theater itself soon.

And away we go...

The OTHER room, primed and reading for final touches (which took a lot longer than expected):
http://charlesp.org/avs/19.jpg

Paint (sans touchups) and a floor:
http://charlesp.org/avs/20.jpg

Beginning the stage:
http://charlesp.org/avs/21.jpg

Filling some of the stage with sand and the bulk of it with insulation:
http://charlesp.org/avs/22.jpg

Claming and finishing up my curved front:
http://charlesp.org/avs/23.jpg

With it's top on:
http://charlesp.org/avs/24.jpg

It was at this point (after all the work was done) that I realized that I didn't like the angles on the left and right side and thought they needlessly took up too much space in the room itself. I took it all apart and removed them. I like it much better now. You can see the new shape in this photo:
http://charlesp.org/avs/25.jpg

Painting the cabinets, you can see the almost finished room through the door.
http://charlesp.org/avs/26.jpg

Starting the front false wall:
http://charlesp.org/avs/27.jpg

Another view of the new stage:
http://charlesp.org/avs/28.jpg

Finishing the framing for the front wall and painting it all black:
http://charlesp.org/avs/29.jpg

That's where I stand, hopefully I'll get better at updating my own damn thread.