My wife and I just purchased a house. We had to do some major renovations on the kitchen/dining room. I'm not ready to convert the garage into a HT room just yet but I would like to see some before/after pictures of one car garages to get an idea of what I might expect.

Can anyone share?

I converted one of my garages to a ht,no pic but If I could have done one thing different I would have put a wooden floor in instead of carpeting the concrete floor!!

There are several garage theaters in the "show me your small theater build" thread. Just about anything you see done in a small space is possible in a garage.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=996973ttp://

One major thing to start planning for is HVAC. You might want to look into the Mitsubishi Mr Slim AC/Heat pump mini split systems as one solution.

Yeah HVAC is going to be an issue. We bought a split level and the previous owner had a HVAC system installed but only covered the area next to or above the crawl space. So that left the entire right side of the house (including all the bedrooms and garage) still with electric baseboard heating. We were going to price out having a second system put in but with all the other more important stuff we had to do, we decided to hold off for now.


Isn't carpeting better for sound?

Isn't carpeting better for sound?


Yes, this may be helpful:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1063494&highlight=faq

Carpeting is better for sound but I miss the rumble of a wood floor.I had the same issue with hvac,can you run a duct to a sealed room that has no return air?thanks

I have a wood floor (solid maple) in my ht but I would rather prefer the carpet if I could do it again IMO.

I had the same issue with hvac,can you run a duct to a sealed room that has no return air?thanks


You could run it but the amount of air that could enter the room is limited to what would leak out someplace. For that matter you could just leave the door open. A forced air system is a Push/Pull system. You need both.

Thanks for heating I use one of them oil filled space heaters which does a good enough job,but cooling with a window air conditioner sux because of the noise!

Here ya go-

http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/506/4763fe422813.jpg
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/506/4763PB250019.JPG

A bit late to this thread but the blanket statement carpeting is better for sound isn't always true.

My dedicated room with hardwood floors is a testiment to this fact.

My wife and I just purchased a house. We had to do some major renovations on the kitchen/dining room. I'm not ready to convert the garage into a HT room just yet but I would like to see some before/after pictures of one car garages to get an idea of what I might expect.

Can anyone share?

Mine was a double car garage, which had been turned in to a family room at one stage, lined with that cheap wood veneer stuff.

Here's my initial plan :-

http://home.overflow.net.au/~bpratt/homecinema/topplan.jpg

The equipment is replaced by a cabinet that's the full width of the screen.


Edit: forgot to mention that little circles are downlights and starbursts

This is my HT room that was converted from a 20x11 garage. I put in a Mr. Slim mini split and couldnt be happier. Check out my before and after pics in the thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1056189

Great ideas thank you. Our garages seem to be very similar in size. What did you do with the garage door, did you put a wall in front of it? Also, do you have access behind your equipment rack?

Also, that Mr. Slim is a great idea. Our house is a split level and the previous owners never added HVAC to the floor with our bedrooms. Can you PM me some information about it such as cost and ease of installation?

I had to keep the garage door up due to the HOA. I just put up a false wall, insulated it, and screwed the garage door in place. I do not have access behind my rack which makes things more difficult. I really didnt have much choice there. I will send you a PM with the Mr. Slim info.

Hi Stryker,

My in-progress build is a garage conversion. I believe our greatest challenge was the "un-squareness" of the space. Since it was built as an add-on years ago and an extension was frankensteined-on later, it wasn't built quite to standard specs as far as stud spacing, measurements, level, etc; this did not make framing (& insulation) easy, as everything had to be custom-cut and placed.

The thread also shows what we did with the garage door, which was relatively easy.

As for HVAC, we are going with a mini-split system like the Mr.Slims (we opted for Sanyo). We cannot run ducting from our forced-air furnace in the house. It's not particualrly cheap (we will be spending around $4700 for the equipment and professional installation) but so far seemingly the best solution for us.

Another challenge, which i didn't talk about much on the thread, was the permitting/inspection process and what I could or couldn't do in the space. Oregon is a little tricky, even with all the brochures and helpful people. Hopefully, New Jersey is easier.

If you have any, feel free to post questions on my thread, and I'll answer as best as I can.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1067261

A bit late to this thread but the blanket statement carpeting is better for sound isn't always true.

My dedicated room with hardwood floors is a testiment to this fact.

I disagree. Just because it might work for your space, doesn't mean that most people should even consider carpeting their HT.

Carpeting cuts down on reflections from a hard surface (the floor).

You CAN have hard floors but then you have to use rugs or other sound absorbing/deadening floor coverings appropriately.

Plus, an appropriate carpet just looks more theater-like. :)

...this is from someone who LOVES hardwood floors and has installed/refinished 2 houses worth. My current house (except for the master bedroom) is all hardwood. It is second to none. :D

In general, solid surfaced floors won't perform as well unless there are specific acoustic countermeasures put into place.

I disagree. Just because it might work for your space, doesn't mean that most people should even consider carpeting their HT.

Carpeting cuts down on reflections from a hard surface (the floor).

You CAN have hard floors but then you have to use rugs or other sound absorbing/deadening floor coverings appropriately.

Plus, an appropriate carpet just looks more theater-like. :)

...this is from someone who LOVES hardwood floors and has installed/refinished 2 houses worth. My current house (except for the master bedroom) is all hardwood. It is second to none. :D

And that's the point. When you carpet the entire area of your room, you can run the risk of making the room too dead. This was the dilema I ran into when I was planning out my room. With a rug, you can lay down the exact size appropriate to control any reflection from the speakers. You can't make fine adjustments when you carpet. Period. If you were only going to carpet part of your room, not only would it look odd but you might as well had used a rug in the first place.

Of course, there have been many things I've done in my room which go against the grain of the die hards here. My requirements are a bit different than many and my emphasis has always been on audio quality. The main point is you can still have hardwood in a room as long as you do the proper room treatments....which I have done.