http://images30.fotki.com/v43/photos/6/649633/2311872/blazing25xy-vi.jpg
(Thanks Joe!)

Bud's latest theater build can be found here: Chinadog's Tennessee Theater (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1366619)

Well, after about 6 months, countless hours of reading and 300+ posts, I'm finally getting around to starting my construction thread!

First, I wanted to thank all the folks that have responded to my questions and posts. I really appreciate all the advice here. I'm amazed at the depth of knowledge (and patience) that I've found on this forum. You guys have been extremely helpful and I couldn't have done it without your advice. Thanks again!

Second, I wanted to thank my father-in-law for flying down from Connecticut to spend 6 solid days doing electrical work. Thanks Jack! I also wanted to thank my Dad for helping me with the framing. Thanks Pop!

The HT room will be in the basement. As I'm sure I mentioned before, I'm finishing off the whole basement at one time. At least I've started this way, anyway. I have almost 1400 square feet to work with, but am finishing around 1200, including the HT room, concession area, full bathroom, a good sized bar and a game/pool room. I would love to have it all done by the end of the year, but it depends on time and money (doesn't everything?).

The HT room is roughly 19x11.5x9. I'll have an equipment closet just outside the HT room, with a MA Slim5. I plan on a 7.1 system. The concession area is big enough to put in some cabinets, microwave and maybe a counter popcorn machine. On the other side of the equipment closet I'll have enough room for DVD storage.

The equipment decisions are still being researched. I was planning on going the Panasonic AE700, but am concerned about lamp life. I've also considered the InFocus SP5700. Jury is still out on the projector. I'd like to go with the Yamaha RXV2500. I'll have to get a new DVD player to boot, but have not had time to figure out what yet. As far as speakers as concerned, I'm thinking of going with the Ascends for the front and getting in-walls for the surrounds. I'm thinking Jamos based on a friends recommendation, but have not heard them yet. I feel the room is not big enough for columns and I'd like the speakers completely hidden.

I'm going to go with about a 100 inch screen. I plan on two rows of seating (lounger types), the second on a riser. The number of seats will depend on size of the seats. The first row will be around 11 feet from the screen. The second row will be close to the back wall, unfortunately. I purchased my Aura shakers already and an old Kenwood to power them.

As far as room construction and isolation is concerned, I'll be insulating the walls and ceiling and using solid core doors. I don't have any bedrooms on the first floor, so noise containment is not a huge issue. I do plan on using linacoustic, batting and GOM.

At this point, I finished all the framing of walls, closets, bar and soffits. All the plumbing, HVAC and electrical rough-in work is completed. I have run all the HT speaker wire, RG6 and CAT6 (except for the IR CAT6). I still have some speaker wire to run to the bar/game room for audio there. I've just ordered some cables today to run to the projector. I have conduit installed already. I'll be doing all the drywall, mud and trim myself.

I've got some pictures in the link in my signature. I've done quite a bit since then, but need to put new pictures out there. I'll have that done shortly. Things will slow down next week, I'll be on vacation, but will start up again hot and heavy shortly after that.

BTW, the name of our theater came from the name of our road... Blazing Ridge Way in case you were wondering...

Thanks again!

Bud

EDIT on 1-03-2010 (adding self promoting accolades :) ):

Blazing Ridge Cinema and basement featured in Electronic House magazine - DIYer Transforms Entire Basement (http://www.electronichouse.com/article//diyer_transforms_entire_basement/) in both electronic and print versions!

Blazing Ridge Cinema featured on volume VI of Home Theater Revealed DVD series (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/htrevealed.php)

Finished teaser shot added on March 1, 2008
http://images35.fotki.com/v1129/photos/6/649633/4065030/pano2-vi.jpg


Over the next few weeks I plan on building an index of this thread since it's grown beyond belief. I'll try and hit where specifically I did things of interest and links to products I used. Might take a while. Hopefully it'll help folks find things more easily.

LAST INDEX EDIT on 03/01/08

Takes a second to open a new window or tab and another second or so to move to the post.

INDEX

Installation, techniques and tips:

1. Middle Atlantic thermal management info (http://repnet.middleatlantic.com/COMPANY/MarketingFiles/TempInsideRacks/Thermal%20Management%203-04.pdf)
2. Drywall Lift from ebay (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5899904&posted=1#post5899904")
2a. IR Repeater plan - Buffalo IR (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5942557#post5942557)
3. Rack construction (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6005011&posted=1#post6005011)
4. Speaker selection - Ascend 340SE and Sonance S622TRs. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6037184&postcount=164) Speaker Layout (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6039268&posted=1#post6039268)
5. Drywall corners (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6126231&posted=1#post6126231)
6. Carlon Adjustable boxes (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6131926&posted=1#post6131926) and More Carlon uninstalled boxes (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6134821&postcount=218)
6a. Outdoor movie screen (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6137757#post6137757)
7. Drywall tools (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6577569&postcount=343)
8. Initial bar design (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6585440&postcount=355)
9. Slanted soffits (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6592763&postcount=366) and light trey (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7076057&postcount=830)
10. Covering the HT windows (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6607235&postcount=384)
11. Linacoustic (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6803016&postcount=522)
12. Riser started (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6803106&postcount=523) and Bullnose wood lip for riser (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7076057&postcount=830) and profile of bullnose trim (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7589695&postthread=1630)
13. Riser step light (http://www.prolighting.com/noname.html)
14. Stage construction (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6816329&postcount=549)
15. 1st projector hang (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6848809&postcount=577) and Chief mount replacement (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6887984&postcount=628)
16. Carada screen (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6907129&postcount=638)
17. Ascend Acoustic 340SEs (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6946796&postcount=666)
18. Stage design (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7019308&postcount=759) and lip for stage (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7076057&postcount=830)
19. Screen wall framing, furring and linacoustic installed (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7019472&postcount=760)
20. Solid Pine doors installed (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7054237&postcount=817)
21. Trim in the gameroom (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7113852&postcount=858)
22. Scrim installed (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7209874&postcount=949)
23. More Furring (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7253975&postcount=976) and GOM prep (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7254723&postcount=988)
24. Beginnings of the Projector box (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7296190&postcount=1042)
25. Panels for screen wall (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7311390&postcount=1065)
26. Screen wall panel meets wall (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7313062&postcount=1069)
27. Color combos (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7319873&postcount=1087)
28. Acoustic cotton T pins (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7329636&postcount=1118)
29. Soffit and Screen wall - GOM Part I (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7381960&postcount=1215), Part II (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7381966&postcount=1216), Part III (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7381980&postcount=1217), Part IV (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7389074&postcount=1235), Part IV cont (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7389080&postcount=1236)
30. GOM Side and rear wall (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7412004&postcount=1301), and more (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7416761&postcount=1307), and more (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7416826&postcount=1308), and still more (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7420400&postcount=1315)
31. GOM beveled edges (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7429067&postcount=1340)
32. GOM detailed instructions (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7430077&postcount=1343) and GOM Lessons Learned (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7422985&postcount=1323)
33. Harmony 880 integration (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7426088&postcount=1334)
34. Screenwall panel details (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7442999&postcount=1375) and more (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7447008&postcount=1376)
35. Home Theater stained crown (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7456666&postcount=1399)
36. Unfinshed projector box on slides (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7457646&postcount=1401)
37. Buds light automation with the X10 - Poor mans Lutron GE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7464803&postcount=1410)
38. Berkline seat options - Ended up with option A - 090s in this config (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7466754&postcount=1418) and more options, includes 088s layout (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7469357&postcount=1438) and finally curved row options (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7470378&postcount=1448)
39. Carpet selection (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7525266&postcount=1515)
40. Projector box is GOMed (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7554857&postcount=1561) and front cover almost complete. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8444396&postcount=2726)
41. Stained casing for HT doors, base molding and riser lip (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7573265&postcount=1585) and stained crown in HT room and concession area (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7579449&postcount=1595)
42. Staining tips (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=7598959&postcount=1637), Stained door for equipment closet (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7584465&postcount=1622), entrance door (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7593822&postcount=1634) and remaining doors (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7602657&postcount=1640)
43. Jamb saw rental from HD (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7689576&postcount=1756)
44. Dupont laminate flooring in gameroom (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7702881&postcount=1770)
45. Begin carpet install and problems with Home Depot (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7707701&postcount=1791)
46. Paint in the gameroom (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7735257&postcount=1855)
47. Almost finished Dupont laminate floor installed in gameroom (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7735266&postcount=1856) and more flooring (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7739932&postcount=1878)
48. Bar floor (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7772739&postcount=1918)
49. Finished out rack (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7788514&postcount=1943)
50. Carpet finished finally (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7864878&postcount=1996)
51. Berkline 090s arrived and installed (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7873440&postcount=2032)
52. Updated rack and back of rack (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7899854&postcount=2081) and what equipment is in the rack (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7906804&postcount=2104)
53. Poly or no Poly? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7933520&postcount=2118)
54. Left and right screen panels (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7442999&postcount=1375) and Center Panel/Sub panels (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7933550&postcount=2119)
55. Final panels done and screen wall shots (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7942064&postcount=2152)
56. Approximate estimated and actual costs - at the time (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7953801#post7953801)
57. Gameroom and bar lighting (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthreadt.php?p=7974284&postcount=2202)
58. Ticket window plan (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8004032&postcount=2252) and starting window construction (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8055186&postcount=2331). Stained window (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8060738&postcount=2347) and ticket window lettering. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8366700&postcount=2690) Plexiglass and speaker hole cover installed (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8398328&postcount=2701). Finished ticket window! (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8501750&postcount=2751)
59. First game room decor (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8019609&postcount=2288)
60. Under counter bar fridge (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8019784&postcount=2289)
61. Bar cabinets arrive (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8059177&postcount=2345) and installed cabinets (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8066315&postcount=2366)
62. Front of the bar design (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8070761&postcount=2371), wall frame calculator by VorlonFog (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8074941&postcount=2382), Front of bar begins (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8245667&postcount=2504), building with a Kreg jig (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8248654&postcount=2517), unfinished panels done and corbels arrive (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=8299618&postcount=2594)
63. New Hsu sub arrives (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8092037&postcount=2402)
64. Granite being installed (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread .php?p=8318052&postcount=2622) and completed (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8320894&postcount=2635)
65. Stained bar (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthreads.php?p=8345198&postthreadcount=2658) and corbels installed. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8350726&postcount=2668) A few finished shots of the bar (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8356486&postcount=2678)
66. Studor vent for bar (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8495748&postcount=2746)
67. Projector box finally complete (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8714576&postcount=2807)
68. Poster light box design (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9255782&postcount=2888) and construction concept. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9255871&postcount=2889) Beginning of inner box construction (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9263369&postcount=2896), finished inner boxes. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9280116&postcount=2905)
69. Attaching outer box to poster frame. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpthread.php?p=9280116&postcount=2905) Hung inner poster boxes (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9289457&postcount=2910) and posters installed, but no lights yet. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9289466&postcount=2911) Rope lights installed in poster boxes (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9302430&postcount=2935) and how to install the rope light. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9316025&postcount=2946)
70. White plexiglass for diffuser arrived and installed. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9513049&postcount=2974) Finished light boxes. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9513172&postcount=2978) Estimate to build boxes. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9311363&postcount=2941)
71. LG LCD installed behind the bar (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9679104#post9679104)
72. Now Showing DVD case stand (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9744978#post9744978)
73. Concession sign from eBay and my Photoshop sign (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9818192#post9818192)
74. Candy rack (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9819354#post9819354)
75. Sign printed by Kinko (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9875253#post9875253)
76. Finished frame, finished concession sign. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9887198#post9887198)
77. Marquee Sign done in Photoshop (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9939651#post9939651) and color variations (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9993096#post9993096)
78. Building the Mylar light box (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9992462#post9992462) and finished outer mylar box (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9996417#post9996417)
79. Panoramic shots of theater and concession area using Autostitch (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10529232#post10529232)
80. Bar stools (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10814292#post10814292)
81. Bar lighting using rope light (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11152102#post11152102)
82. Nutone inline fan for projector box (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11155524#post11155524)
83. Concession area fridge, finished mylar box, light floor rack, and new shiny trash can (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11285661#post11285661). Lighting for mylar box (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11318944#post11318944)
84. Shed framing (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11285696#post11285696)
85. Gameroom movie posters (not quite level either) (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11318944#post11318944)
86. Wireless Wii Sensor bar for screen placement (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12593695&postcount=3513)
87. Chad's theater room build (The CG Family Theater) (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1011173) that Jason and I helped design and build out.

Products used and where I got stuff:

1. Blazing Ridge Cinema theater intro (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=538807)
2. Porter Cable 3-1/2" Clipped-Head Framing Nailer (http://www.deltaportercable.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=11542)
3. Drywall lift from ebay - replace the asterisks in the invalid URL with ebay .com (http://search.*********/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=drywall+lift&category0=)
4. Drywall panel carrier from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-93-301-14-Inch-Yellow-Panel/dp/B00004UDN8******pd_bbs_sr_1/105-0260350-8946813?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1188823088&sr=8-1)
5. 150 ft spool of frosted white rope light from Novelty Lights (https://ssl.adhost.com/noveltylights/merchant.cfm?pid=245&step=4)
6. Buffalo Electronics IR Repeater components from Automated Outlet (http://www.automatedoutlet.com/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=39)
7. Step lights from Pro Lighting (http://www.prolighting.com/noname.html)
8. Speaker wire from PE: 12 AWG 2C Carol Architectural Speaker Cable 500 ft. CL3R (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=100-742&CFID=4624913&CFTOKEN=85873678), RG6: RG-6/U Coaxial Cable 500 ft. (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=100-380&CFID=4624913&CFTOKEN=85873678)
9. Sonance speakers (http://www.sonance.com/products/speakers) and Sonance Symphony (622s no longer on the site) (http://www.sonance.com/products/speakers#4)
10. Excel movie ticket generator (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=441835)
11. Inner and outer drywall corners from Home Depot (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6126231#post6126231)
12. Carlon single and double gang adjustable electrical boxes from Home Depot (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6131926#post6131926)
12.a For the single gang boxes in the riser with carpet, I used ReceptXtender electrical box extenders (they care a variety of depths in single and double gang) (http://www.receptxtenders.com/)
13. Hsu Research VTF-MK2 sub (http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-2.html)
14. Since the Yamaha link no longer works, here is the replacement model, the RX-V2700. (http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/productdetail.html?CNTID=451511&CTID=5000300)
15. Ascend 340SEs (Left and Right channels) (http://ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cmt340m/cmt340m.html) and the Ascend 340SE Center channel (http://ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cmt340c/cmt340c.html)
16. Doors for HT room and the rest of basement (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6751754#post6751754)
17. Panasonic DVD-S97 - Audioholics review, purchased directly through Panasonic with a company discount (http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/transports/dvd-players/panasonic-dvd-s97)
18. Stain grade case, base and crown molding in the North Atlanta area (http://www.mouldingsunlimited.com/). Other moldings from Home Depot and a builder neighbor.
19. Linacoustic purchased from a local NB Handy (http://nbhandy.com/locations.html)
20. Middle Atlantic Racks and Shelves from Worthington (http://www.worthdist.com/)
21. Middle Atlantic Slim 5-43 from BSWUSA.com (http://www.bswusa.com/searchresult.asp?searchType=keyword&searchValue=slim%205)
22. Carada 104 Inch Diagonal Criterion 1.78 to 1 in Classic Cinema White (http://www.carada.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PROJECTION-SCREEN-H104C)
23. Panasonic PT-AE900U from Visual Apex (http://visualapex.com)
24. First mount was a Peerless PRS-UNV-B: Universal Ceiling Mount- Black (http://www.visualapex.com/accessories/accessory_details.asp?chPartNumber=PRS-UNV-B&MFR=Peerless&Type=Projector_Ceiling_Mount) and the second mount was a Chief RPA-225 (https://www.brightandsleek.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=RPA225) from Bright and Sleek.
25. Magnetic speaker grill guides from Parts Express (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=329-045)
26. Middle Atlantic LBP-1A L Shaped Lacing Bars 10 Pcs. (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=262-664&CFID=4624913&CFTOKEN=85873678)
27. Smarthome: 50ft Emitter and IR Sensor Extension Cable (http://www.smarthome.com/8186.html)
28. Acoustic cotton, scrim from Bryan Pape (bpape) at Sensible Sound Solutions (http://www.sensiblesoundsolutions.com/)
29. Temperature switch for equipment closet fan and projector box fan from Home Depot, Internet/Catalog# 100098472, Store SKU# 144967 (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100098472)
30. Home Depot 5/4" Corner Board SKU - used this for furring/GOM (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7942131&postcount=2155)
31. Guilford of Maine (GOM) FR701 2100 in 408 (black) for screen wall and soffits, Style Code:2858 Style:Lido - 2858 (Formerly 2838) Color Name: Pine Valley (http://fabricmate.com/fabricsale.htm) for the other walls
32. 1" fabricmate track (http://fabricmate.com/inchedgepros.htm) from Fabricmate.com
33. Rosewood wood based stain on doors and trim in HT room - used Pre-conditioner on pine (http://minwax.com/products/woodstain/waterbased.cfm)
34. 27 x 40 inch poster frames from FrameUSA.com in 2" corporate wide style (http://frameusa.com/corpwide.htm)
35. 27 x 40 inch movie posters from movieposter.com (http://movieposter.com/)
36. Professional plastics white plexiglass - (SACR.1252447E) .125 THICK WHT #2447 EXTRUDED ACRYLIC - 40.125 x 27.125 @+/- 0.062 (http://www.professionalplastics.com/cgi-bin/main/co_disp/displ/pgrfnbr/3/sesent/00)
37. Hollywood Post Frames for 11x17 Classic Horror movies (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7952682&postcount=2170)
38. Monoprice tilted LCD/Plasma mount (http://monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082801&p_id=2852&seq=1&format=2&style=)
39. Changed out the mount to a Peerless Flat Wall Mount - Model PF660P (http://www.peerlessmounts.com/Products/BrowseProduct.aspx?modelID=156646&productID=149291) purchased from Best Price Mounts (http://www.bestpricemounts.com/cat/Products/ProductDetails.aspx/productId/149291/manufacturerProductId/158554).
40. Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com)
41. Concession sign "made by Bud" (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9887198#post9887198) in Photoshop - printed at a local FedEx Kinkos (http://www.fedex.com/us/officeprint/main/?link=1&lid=Office+Print+Services)
42. Barstools from Garden Ridge (http://www.gardenridge.com/)
43. Sony Cybershot DSC-W55 from Amazon (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665079070)
44. Magic Chef under counter fridge (times two) from Home Depot
45. Nutone 4" inline fan for projector box from Unitron (http://www.unitron-online.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=182&MMP=1011872300)
46. Emerson .9 cu. ft. Microwave - Stainless Steel/ Red (http://www.target.com)
47. Wirelss Wii sensor bar from Amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=blended&field-keywords=wireless%20wii%20sensor&results-process=default&dispatch=search******pd_sl_aw_tops-1_blended_32304664_2&results-process=default)
48. Nextronics AC powered Wii Sensor Bar for home theaters (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13091899#post13091899)
49. Ticket window speaker thingie - Stainless Steel Louvered vent from Boaters World (http://www.boatersworld.com/product/167990159.htm)

Bud

The HT room will be in the basement. As I'm sure I mentioned before, I'm finishing off the whole basement at one time. At least I've started this way, anyway. I have almost 2000 square feet to work with, but am finishing around 1400, including the HT room, concession area, full bathroom, a good sized bar and a game/pool room. I would love to have it all done by the end of the year, but it depends on time and money (doesn't everything?).

Bud

Wow, this sounds really familiar. I'm doing the whole basement and sub basement all at once too. And my theater dimentions are pretty spot to yours. (Cubic volume)
15x19x7.5

I'm also doing a bar area, a bath room and theater. The only difference is I'm putting another bed room in instead of a pool area. I'd rather go your route. :P

Strangely enough, my least favorite part so far has been the insulation. It took me about a month and a half to get past it. I got framing, electrical, plumbing, and drywall hung in that much time. ^_^

And the money permitting part, I can totally sympathize with that. Who would've thought something like green glue could cost as much as a good center speaker? :-)

Just remember though, don't skimp, just wait and save if you hit a block. Once a room is built, there's not much chance of you tearing it down and doing it again anytime soon. Unless you're like Art S. :-)

And oh yeah, where'd you get such nice straight 2x4's? And how'd you get that floor so clean looking? ^_^

Chirpie,

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like we have a race going on. I have a copy of the basement floor plan, I'll have to post that for comparison reasons.

I figured the money I'm saving doing a lot of the work myself gives me the opportunity to put some extra money into the extras. I like that idea. People think I'm nuts for doing drywall myself, but with a friend and a lift, its not hard. I'd spend the case and upgrade equipment or something else.

I got most of my lumber from HD. I have a neighbor who is a builder, I got about 100 2x4s delivered through him, but it wasn't as clean. Free delivery, but no cheaper.

Ah, the floor. Man, I had a lot of junk from the move still (it'll be two years in August), but we managed to have a few tag/garage sales and donated a bunch of stuff. I really try and keep the floor clear. I end up sweeping up after working every time so I'm not tripping on things. To my amazement, the builder painted the basement floor before we moved in. It keeps the dust down and gives it a nice clean look as well.

Good luck on your theater!

Bud

Chirpie,

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like we have a race going on. I have a copy of the basement floor plan, I'll have to post that for comparison reasons.

I figured the money I'm saving doing a lot of the work myself give me the opportunity to put some extra money in the extras. I like that idea. People think I'm nuts for doing drywall myself, but with a friend and a lift, its not hard. I'd spend the case and upgrade equipment or something else.

I got most of my lumber from HD. I have a neighbor who is a builder, I got about 100 2x4s delivered through him, but it wasn't as clean. Free delivery, but no cheaper.

Ah, the floor. Man, I had a lot of junk from the move still (it'll be two years in August), but we managed to have a few tag/garage sales and donated a bunch of stuff. I really try and keep the floor clear. I end up sweeping up after working every time so I'm not tripping on things. To my amazement, the builder painted the basement floor before we moved in. It keeps the dust down and gives it a nice clean look as well.

Good luck on your theater!

Bud

Thanks, you too. I'll be labeled a nut for years to come, but I really don't mind the drywalling all that much. It's the part of construction where you finally feel like real progress is happening as it turns into a (somewhat ^_^) livable space.

Good luck on your project(s). Sounds like you have a good plan and lots of help to get things moving. Just don't get anxios and forget the plan. Before you cover anything, think and then think again what you might need behind something, between something, changing something, etc.

Keep us informed as to your progress. We love pics by the way...

Congrats Guys!!make Sure To Post Alot Of Pictures.

Brickie

Congrats Guys!!make Sure To Post Alot Of Pictures.

Brickie

Yes! We always like Pics!

Thanks guys. I'll be posting more pictures tomorrow actually. I'll be taking plenty. I took about 500+ when the house was being built. Its already paid off, before I put in one of those in wall iron board closet things for my wife in the laundry room, we were able to look at the pictures to make sure there was nothing in the walls to worry about. I recommend doing this for everyone building a house. It'll pay off later.

Bud

OK, took a few pictures tonight and posted them in the album. Here are a few highlights.

Here's a shot of the top of my equipment closet. I had a few sheets of drywall, so I started there.
http://images115.fotki.com/v673/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_1874-vi.jpg

Here's a shot of the ceiling with the main cans, the 4 inch stage lights in the soffit and the cove we built for the rope lighting.
http://images31.fotki.com/v1084/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_1887-vi.jpg

Shot of the X10 dimmers to control scenes. These will work with a remote (using an IR543) and a controller mounted by the theater entrance.
http://images109.fotki.com/v771/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_1885-vi.jpg

View of the bar from the back entrance.
http://images115.fotki.com/v673/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_1896-vi.jpg

Bar/game room lighting:
http://images116.fotki.com/v713/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_1892-vi.jpg

Thats it for now. There's a bunch more in the album.

Bud

some advice:

if possible, have some A/C or outstanding airflow present in your equipment closet,,,i have an rx-v2500 and it generates massive amounts of heat..

second...check out etronics (http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?stk_code=yamrxv2500)
for your yamaha rx-v2500.....i got mine there and thoughtthe price was pretty good.

as for speakers..this setup and price is simply amazing...i got the same system and paid $700 more....unbelievable price, great system..
sound distributors (http://www.sounddistributors.com/buynow.asp?action=detail&prid=973&crid=62&cat_name=This+Weeks+Specials)

best of luck! looks like a great setup.

some advice:

if possible, have some A/C or outstanding airflow present in your equipment closet,,,i have an rx-v2500 and it generates massive amounts of heat..



Heartsurgeon,

Thanks for the heads up and the info. I don't plan to put a glass door on the front of the rack and will include both venting panels on the front of the rack and will probably go with a vented door. I'm hoping that will allow enough air flow over the components. Cinemascope posted a great Middle Atlanta document in another ventilation thread. The document is here:

MIddle Atlantic thermal management info (http://repnet.middleatlantic.com/COMPANY/MarketingFiles/TempInsideRacks/Thermal%20Management%203-04.pdf)

I need to go through it a little more thoroughly, but there are some great points here.

Here's the other thread. I originally planned on tieing the ductwork from the closet to the bathroom duct that leads out of the side of the house, but decided to change that after a few interesting posts!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=546843

Bud

Hmmm. The pictures I had here before somehow disappeared. They were a little larger (high resolution), did a break some rule or something? Looks like the links were still correct, just no pictures. I put back the original smaller ones. Anyone know?

Bud

I don't know, but the in thread pics were very helpful. Hope you keep doing it as the project progresses. Looks like a good one. Congrats.

Dave,

I'm no Clarence, but will do my best! :D Thanks!

Bud

This came in the mail a few minutes ago. Another eBay find. A little premature to hang up since I'm a few months out, but it still looks cool nonetheless!

http://images115.fotki.com/v673/photos/6/649633/2312531/Cinemasign-vi.jpg

sounds like you've got the heat issue well in hand.

i have a htpc mounted in a rack along with 9 large hard drives, a yamaha rx-v2500 and a buttkicker amp....by far the yamaha produces the most heat, followed by the hard drives...i've ended up with a rather robust fan system to keep the heap cooled off..the challenge of course is to cool the beasties without making alot of noise....

funny how this "hobby" is becoming very similar to owning a sailboat...
pouring lots of money into a black hole....
but once you start, you just can't stop until you've got it beat!

Bud, Clarence was exactly who I was thinking of when I was commenting. All the money and energy is going towards the arrival of our daughter in September, so planning and vicariously following the construction threads is all I got for now.

It looks like you've angled your soffit's side? Is that so that the rope light will give an effect or for accoustical reasons? Looks cool.

heartsurgeon,

I hope I have the heat issue licked. We'll see. I agree, I think I'll be bored stiff once the work is done!

Dave,

Congrats on your daughter. We've got a 4 year old daughter and soon to be a six year old son. Both are waiting patiently for the basement to be complete.

Yes, I angled it. I think it'll look cool when its done. I was going to do just crown molding, but always liked the look of cove lighting, so I decided to take the best of both worlds. My father-in-law and I had fun cutting the corner angles! Basically we used 2x4s to frame it out, with those cripples cut at 60 degrees. We then added 3/4 plywood to finish the other side. I thought about doing a 45 angle, but after one cut, thought it was two steep, so we went to a 60 degree angle. I plan on putting linacoustic under the soffit and covering it with black GOM. The GOM will get pulled up over the angled plywood and stapled inside the cove. I'm not sure if I should cover the plywood with linacoustic or just drywall before GOM, but that's a little ways out. Anyone have any recommendations? I may take the plywood down and round over the corners just so the GOM doesn't snag on the wood.

Here are a couple of closeups. The second is tough because you're looking up from the bottom (and its sort of blurry).
http://images116.fotki.com/v713/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_1918-vi.jpg
http://images116.fotki.com/v713/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_1919-vi.jpg

Bud

Hmmm. The pictures I had here before somehow disappeared. They were a little larger (high resolution), did a break some rule or something? Looks like the links were still correct, just no pictures. I put back the original smaller ones. Anyone know?

BudIf the fotki server doesn't respond before the AVS server generates the page, you'll get the red X's for your inline pictures. But if you right click on the Red X and "Show Picture" it'll usually load.

The small red text markups are hard to read. The yellow is better. Maybe bump up the font size.

I had a lot of fun documenting my HT progress and received a lot of good feedback and constructive tips from you guys as I went along.

Your HT is coming along nicely.

Clarence, thanks.

With the bigger pictures, the font size was ok. You're right, the red needs to go though. There were no red Xs even. The pictures looked as expected last night, but when I check this am, no picture, no X, no links. When I edited the reply this am, the image links were there still.

Here's what I uploaded. Hopefully it'll stay this time.
http://images116.fotki.com/v713/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_1918-vi.jpg
http://images116.fotki.com/v713/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_1919-vi.jpg


Bud

EDIT: Clarence, I use Firefox most of the time, which is why I did not see red Xs. I just checked IE and sure enough they're there. The pictures I reference ("Here's what I uploaded....") are not being displayed at the moment in this reply, but they are in the other reply now. No clue whats up with these pictures!

Still looks like fotki is bogging down.
I like the free image hosting at http://imageshack.us

Yeah, I just noticed that. they were there a second ago!

Chinadog,

Congrats on your progress so far. Everything looks fantastic. I'm way behind you (still framing), but also in the process of finishing my entire basement and HT. We will have a workshop, excercise room, kitchenette, half bath, and of course the theater. Mine will be a similar size to yours, 19'x13'6"x9'.

I see that you are still considering a couple of different PJs (which do have overlapping throw ranges). But, do you plan on doing anything special to provide for future PJs that may require a shorter or longer throw? I went through all of your construction pictures but couldn't see exactly how your conduit is routed to the projector, or where it ends.

BTW, your basement has to be the cleanliest construction site I have ever seen!

Steve,

Hey, what can I say, I'm a little anal!

The conduit is actually routed to the back wall. The front of the back soffit is about 13 feet, the back obviously at 19. I may still end up hanging the projector at around 15 feet to support the minimum length of both of these projectors, instead of the back wall for that very reason. Both the AE700 and the SP700 support 100 inch diagonal at 15 feet (although the AE700 is much more flexible and projects 100 inches from as little as 10 feet, whereas 15 feet is minimum for the SP5700).

If I end up switching projectors later, I may end up limiting myself at 19 or even 15 feet. I just need to make a decision and run with it. I'd like it in the back since I don't want people banging their heads walking across the riser. The bottom of the soffit is 8 feet, add a riser and ceiling mount under the soffit and that space goes away quickly.

Attached is the drawing I did before on this subject (I started a thread somewhere on the ideal location) and the throw info for the two projectors.

Bud

Well, just back from Orlando on vacation and there were a few deliveries waiting for me, mostly wiring (extra cat 6, speaker wire, RG6 and some cables from pccables.com). Heading down to the basement this afternoon to do some more work. Looking forward to getting back into it....

Bud

My father was here yesterday, he handed me a coupon for Home Depot for 10% purchases over 299 or something like that, so I'm heading out to buy some drywall and insulation this afternoon. I figure the savings will be enough to cover 60 sheets of drywall delivered and I can start at least the gameroom/bar area until I finalize a few things in the HT room. The coupon expires tomorrow, so at least I'll have it when I really fire up the drywall work soon.

Bud

Hey Bud...

I also will look forward to your progress. My theater will begin rennovation (reconstruction) about the 1st of October and it's amazing how similar a lot of basement theaters are. Mine will be 13.5' wide by 20.0' long but will only have 7.0' ceilings. My ceiling is drywalled and heavily textured with a number of recessed cans (several I will have to move slightly which is not easy). I figure on 6-7 months construction. I'll post before and during pictures when I get started. Good luck.

Bondsan

Bondsan,

Thanks. I started the basement in November of last year really. I had to get everything in order before I could start the "good stuff". I needed to first get my workshop in order since I had tools everywhere. Second, I had to get everything off the floor (hence the clean construction area!). I had a storage room that we did the electric and drywall in, then I was able to move everything into there in preparation for construction. Once I got all the dependencies completed on the critical path (rough in work basically), I was able to start making some good progress. I figure it'll take me a good 4-6 weeks to do the drywall part time, although as I mentioned, I need to finalize the projector and speaker placement of my surrounds. once thats done, things should go pretty smoothly from there.

Good luck on your adventure!

Bud

Clarence,

I was able to modify my settings on my account to show bigger pictures. I also updated the few tough to read photos with red text to yellow. I think I should be good, assuming Fotki stays up...

Bud

Bud...

Amazing how we think alike! This last weekend I spent getting my shop in shape for the new project. Got new Kobalt rolling cabinets from Lowe's and loaded them up and will label them tonight. Got to know where everything is.

Bondsan

Bondsan,

Cool. Those cabinets are nice. My father-in-law and I did the electrical and put up drywall, built a bench, put up heavy duty (the grey stuff) Closetmaid shelving, and put up a few of the white cabinets over the bench from the Depot. That was the Thanksgiving weekend project. After that, I decided it was time to purchase a framing nailer before I continued. It sure came in handy (insert Tim Allen grunt here), since I've gone through like 6000 nails already.

More info on the nailer here:

http://www.deltaportercable.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=11542

Bud

Just got back from Home Depot. I ordered 70 sheets of drywall and some insulation. Going to be delivered on Friday! I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

Bud

I priced out the rental of a drywall lift at Home Depot, I think it was like 36.00 a day. Since I'm doing the whole basement, that was not going to fly. I tried to call a local tool rental place, but they were apparently closed when I called. Sooooo, being the impulse guy I am, I bought one on ebay last night. There was three hours left on the auction, so I put my bid in through eSnipe and found out I won it this morning. ~120.00 plus shipping (like 100.00). So for about 220, I can keep it as long as I need it, probably two months or so then I'll resell it back on ebay (unless someone here is interested). I'll let you know how it works out.

Bud

Well, what have I gotten myself into? :rolleyes: Actually, this is better than therapy (at least you get a physical workout!). Home Depot just dropped off the drywall and insulation this AM. I'll drag the insulation down later today when its cools down a little. Let the fun begin!

http://images44.fotki.com/v1461/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2090-vi.jpg

http://images110.fotki.com/v551/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2091-vi.jpg

Bud

Looks pretty cool, Bud. 10% off really gets you to move! How long until the lift arrives?

Dave,

The timing was good, I'm pretty much at that point and now I'm ready to rock! They said the lift would ship within three days of payment, so it may be on its way already. I'm hoping it'll be here next week. Would have been nice to have it for this weekend, but I've got enough stuff (insulation) to keep me busy for a while.

BTW, the 10% was the incentive for having the stuff delivered. It basically covered that cost plus a little. Not sure I wanted to make a 10 trips for drywall in the Suburban, although I probably would have bought the stuff in another week or two and paid shipping regardless!

Bud

Oh, yes you will. ;) You will have plenty to do. Just carrying the drywall to the theater area will be a pretty good work out for you.

Craig

Don't get me wrong, I definitely hustle for a deal. That being said, covering deliver is a worthy deal indeed. Good to know there will be some progress pics to follow in the coming weeks. Have a good holiday.

Craig,

Yes, for sure. I ordered a pair of drywall carriers, those things that help you get a grip when you carry it. I bought TWO in case I can get one of my neighbors to help. I tried all sorts of gizmos I made to me ro help carry drywall with limited success. I'm hoping these will do the trick. Not bad for $6.00 a piece. I may carry a few down to finish out the equipment rack this week and then focus on insulation the rest of the weekend until the carriers come.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004UDN8.01-A2N6NO8W19JCUN._PE11_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Dave,

I'll be posting pics for sure. Actually with purchases of 299, you get no payments/interest for 6 months as well. I'll go ahead and pay it off, but its nice to have the option!

All,

Have a great and safe Fourth!

Bud

i have a coupon for you

Sorry for the one-liner, I had to get to 5 posts before I can post a URL

I have been looking around on this site for a couple months now, planning my upgrades. Figured I fianlly have something to chime in on.....

FYI, if you have a Lowes near you, FILL OUT THIS FORM (https://www.lowesmoving.com/lowesmoving/registration.jsp) on their website. They will send a 10% off any purchase coupon to your email. Use some BS address if you want. Print out as necessary. I have used the same one about 10 times at my local lowes. You can sign up for the same thing at Home Depot. They mail theirs though - - one use only.

My local home depot used to take the lowes coupons too. Haven't been in a while because Lowes is like 1 mile away.

This site is awesome, you guys rock. Thanks for all the info!!

Hammond,

Thanks, will take a look. HD and Lowes are pretty much across the street from each other.

All,

Most of my insulation is done. Turns out I ordered WAY too much, but I can just return it. I had a question on used faced insulation with IC rated cans. I'm concerned about the paper touching the can. It says on the wrapping that the paper is flammable and do not leave it exposed. I started this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=555572 and was hoping to get an answer so I can finish up the last few bays. Oh and take more pictures of course!

Bud

Done for today. Spent a few hours yesterday with my Dad and a few hours this AM doing insulation. I have a few more hours of insulation in the HT room, then when the lift is delivered I'll start working on the ceiling in the game room. I still need to make a decision on the projector, when thats done I can finalize cables, positioning drywall and finally begin drywall.

Front wall:
http://images114.fotki.com/v637/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2110-vi.jpg

Side wall and entrance to the theater:
http://images110.fotki.com/v551/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2109-vi.jpg

Ceiling:
http://images114.fotki.com/v637/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2111-vi.jpg

Back wall:
http://images114.fotki.com/v637/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2108-vi.jpg

Shot from the game room:
http://images115.fotki.com/v673/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2114-vi.jpg

Looks like I still have plenty of installation left, in fact, I'll return all of the R-13 since I have more than enough R-19 left. Each one of those R-19 bundles contains eight batts, so there's 32 left there, plus a few in the HT room on the floor. I bought the R13 thinking I was going to use it in the soffits, but changed my mind.
http://images32.fotki.com/v1107/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2115-vi.jpg

Bud

More insulation yesterday, I'm now about 90+% done with the insulation. Drywall lift should be here this week. I think this week will slow down for the next two weeks though. My wife has quarter end close related work to do and I've have to keep the kids out of her hair this week and weekend (we both work out of the house). Next week I'll be in class a few days out of town as well.

I'm playing around with ne IR repeater placement and decided to put it in the front of the cove, I may end up putting it in the ceiling if it doesn't work out where it is. The other will be under the screen somewhere.

Forgot to make the font huge in these pics (its already at 16 point), but you get the point. The wood is at 60 degrees and is a good angle towards the seats.
http://images35.fotki.com/v1166/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_2119-vi.jpg
http://images45.fotki.com/v1440/photos/6/649633/2312531/DCP_2118-vi.jpg


Bud

Wait, they delivered the drywall to the inside of your garage?!

No one would do that around here even with a signed waiver! I had to carry all 120 sheets in the moment they showed up! (It was misting-turning into rain. Argh!)

Chirpie,

Yup! Signed a waiver (for the driveway damage) when I bought it. I also wrote on the paperwork, "garage delivery". My driveway is like 200 feet long, so no way I was lugging it down. The guy just used a forklift and dropped it right where you see it (still there by the way). Of course I tipped the guy, although he didn't know that when I asked him to bring it down the driveway. Good thing too, it rained about an hour after that. Now to get it down to the basement....

Bud

Just a quick update.

Still waiting on the drywall lift. I actually thought it would be here by now, but its not. I did get my drywall carriers, so I plan on moving some drywall this weekend. Looks like they'll work out great.

Borrowed an Optoma projector from a friend and hooked it up last night and watched Sky Captain and Birth. I had an old pair of Infinity speakers I used as the front channels and some in ceiling (Hometech) speakers for the center and the back surrounds (they're for the bar and gameroom). I stapled some painters drop cloth on the windows (I'll be drywalling over these later) and temporarily installed some of the rope light. We're going to watch something tonight with the kids. They're all excited. Here are a few pictures I took today.

Berks, Coasters, no way!
http://images115.fotki.com/v673/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2120-vi.jpg

Rope light:
http://images36.fotki.com/v1161/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2122-vi.jpg

Screen shot:
http://images30.fotki.com/v41/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2123-vi.jpg

Bud

Borrowed projector - good choice. Room looks good too. All the different light sources - a lot of atmosphere.

Awesome Bud! Looks like fun. Enjoy the projector in there now before the drywall dust starts flying. You won't want your proj anywhere near the room when that starts. Great progress :)

reap

Those 10% off coupons are a MUST for this hobby. Used MANY myself.

You guys are killing me when I see how much progress you can make over a really short period of time. Its been ages for me and I haven't gotten as far as a week took you. Slow down and help a guy out!

more pics!

more pics!

Almost took a few more last night. We blew up one of these queen inflatable beds and the kids (daughter, 4 next month and son, 6 in November) hung out on it. They had a great time. We use Netflix and watched The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=951308&trkid=90529) last night. Its the one from 1958 and the special effects make it pretty humorous. The kids enjoyed it. We'll probably watch something else tonight, I'll have to take some pictures.

My son asked if we could "watch all our movies down here" and then complained about the "wrinkles" in the screen! Pretty funny... we'll get there....

Bud

Dave and Reaper, thanks for the encouragement!

Coolhand,

I'm hovering this week, I'll be away on business, but will be back at it next weekend. That gives you a little time to catch up! ;)

I carried down about a third of the drywall yesterday. I figured that would be a good start. Still waiting on the damn lift! I did run some cat5e for my payphone in the gameroom, but that's about it. We did watch a few movies this weekend. It was a good weekend to stay indoors with all the rain from Dennis.....

Bud

Chirpie,

Yup! Signed a waiver (for the driveway damage) when I bought it. I also wrote on the paperwork, "garage delivery".
Bud

Just a note for others: I think I posted some time ago that if you get the drywall from a local supplier and not a 'retail' like lowes or HD, not only does the price include delivery, but they will carry it to your basement for only a little extra $. I paid an extra $75 and 2 guys had all 70 sheets in my basement in about an hour. All together it still came out less than if I purchased it at lowes.

Same thing goes for insulation. I had the insulation purchased & installed for the same amount as just the material at the local store.

Your theater is coming along great! Love how you have the bar design, very similar to mine. Your thread is reminding me that I need to update my pics!

Very nice, Bud! I've been looking forward to seeing your thread -- glad I found it. Be careful with how much you have that PJ, seating, and screen down there! :)

Regarding drywall delivery, maybe I was spoiled when doing construction for a few years, but I thought that it was typical to use the crane/forklift for the drywall. We'd usually have the crane push it right through the 2 & 3 story windows -- maybe that's due to the amount of drywall that was delivered though (an entire apartment); glad it was relatively easy on you. Those drywall/plywood carriers are so much better than by hand -- I prefer using one of those alone to having to do it with bare hands with another person, even.

Keep up the good work!

Neuner and Tim,

Thanks guys! My drywall lift apparently came yesterday (I'm in Poughkeepsie NY until Sat), my wife said the box was pretty damaged. Hopefully the lift was not damaged, I'll find that out saturday afternoon I suppose. The 6.00 hand carrier worked great! I recommend anyone who HAS to carry this stuff to buy one. I'll be bring drywall down in spurts as I need it. I'm trying to keep the area open so I'm not tripping over it or having to move it more than once.

Things should pick up again now that I have the lift. I have a few things to wrap up before I close the walls/ceiling, but I should be able to take care of that this weekend. More pictures to come!

Bud

Good job Bud!!I'm sure it's going to be an awesome theater.

brickie

Thanks Brickie!

Well, arrived back to town on Saturday to see the box the lift was delivered in. Ouch!
http://images110.fotki.com/v553/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2158-vi.jpg

Thankfully all the parts were there. Saturdays Project was to put it together. Seems to work good, the crank/brake mechanism seems to be a little stiff, but works fine. Here it is put together:
http://images9.fotki.com/v189/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2164-vi.jpg

I had to cut the grass in the early afternoon then make a HD run for some 2x4s and furring strips to frame out a little more around the windows. I needed to do this to prep the windows for drywall and trim afterwards. There was a large gap from where the framing was around the window and where the drywall and trim need to be. This took a few hours (should have taken a before picture, but I have a window in the HT room I can take a picture of and edit it later).
http://images108.fotki.com/v1354/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2161-vi.jpg

Well, now that I got the window framed and the lift together, I had to try it out. Did this wall in about 1.5 hours yesterday. Normally you do the ceilings first, but in my case, I have soffits everywhere, so no need to do the ceilings first.
http://images41.fotki.com/v1340/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2163-vi.jpg

Thats it for now. I expect it'll take me a month to six weeks to drywall a few sheets here or there. I'll post some pictures as I go.

Bud

Seems to work good, the crank/brake mechanism seems to be a little stiff, but works fine.
Bud

I find that typical of these things. Just pick up some lubricant can spray (not WD40) and spray the crank, line, and bars. A few lifts up and down and you're good to go.

Looks great, keep it up!

Chirpie,

Thanks. Will check out your idea.

Well, put some more time in today. In fact, I used up all the drywall I carried down previously (except for the green board). I guess I'll carry some down tomorrow night in preparation for the weekend. Here's a shot of the bar area I worked on tonight:
http://images36.fotki.com/v1152/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2166-vi.jpg

Bud

Well, after lugging 18 or so pieces of drywall down to the basement this morning at 8:00 AM (to avoid the heat), I ran to HD to get some 14/2 wire to run on extra outlet. About 11:30 I started drywalling. Got a decent amount done. My dad stopped by again and helped for about two hours. I think I'll be able to finished up the walls in the gameroom and at the bottom of the stairs tomorrow. I finished up the ceiling in the bathroom and have about 1/2 the walls done in there. I need to get cement board or Hardy stuff for the surround (for tile, not speakers!)for the shower, then I can complete that. I think I fried my transformer on the furnace though. After I put up some board and made a hole to push the thermostat wire through, I think I fried the chip. I'll play around with it tomorrow. I forgot to shut the furnace off before I did it. Oh well. Chirpie, you should feel better. I didn't really get to clean up this time! Here are a few pictures from today:

http://images28.fotki.com/v1003/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2173-vi.jpg
http://images110.fotki.com/v553/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2174-vi.jpg

I watched The Aviator tonight (the last hour of it). Boy, Howard Hughes is a wacko!

Bud

A couple questions, Bud...

Where are you going to mount the projector? In front of the middle soffit, or in the back?

Are you running conduit in the soffits, or are you going to run strings to pull more cables later, if necessary?

Good job so far!

Tim,

Depends on the projector. If I end up going Panny AE700 (leaning this way), then I'll mount in the back in a hushbox. If I end of going with something else, like the IFSP7205 or IFSP5700, I may move it more forward. I still need to make that decision. I hope we're talking about the right soffit though. The pictures in the previous post are the gameroom, not the HT room. Your reference to "middle" throws me off. I'm doing the whole basement at once. The hold up for me is the indecision in the projector. I expect I'll have the walls in the gameroom/bar tomorrow. I'll do the walls in the HT room next (and concession area), then do the ceilings and soffits after that.

I have 2 1/2 conduit installed already. I'm running all the cables outside of the conduit. The conduit its for future cables/expansion only. I figure its better to run what I can now (maybe spend a few extra bucks) and if I need to run something new, I have the room for it. You might not have seen the conduit if you're looking for it in the gameroom.

This is an old diagram, but it serves its purpose. The red arrows are the walls I worked on today and what shows in the pictures in the previous post. The rest of the walls in the gameroom, bar and bottom of the steps should be done tomorrow. I'll run my HDMI and a few speaker wires for the bar as well. Next week, I'll do the walls in the HT room.

http://images110.fotki.com/v555/photos/6/649633/2311872/Basement2-vi.jpg
Sorry for the confusion. I'll post a closeup tomorrow of the soffit where the projector will be installed.

Bud

Ahh, makes much more sense now. I was assuming that was your gaming room. I should've figured you wouldn't have that many windows in the dedicated HT.

As long as we're on the topic of projectors, might I highly recommend the BenQ PE7700 (newer, typically cheaper, and quieter, than the IFSP7205). I absolutely love mine, and as long as you aren't bothered by RBE, 720p DLP is the way to go. Relative to the amount of $$$ you're probably spending with your remodel, the upgrade to that grade of projector is probably worth it. The other factor is whether you're willing to have the projector hanging down a bit, since it's a zero-offset (so the lens is same height as the top of the screen).

I also agree with your plan to run conduit with nothing in it, in addition to the cables you'll need right away. It only makes sense.

Tim,

Thanks! I'll take a look.

Here's what I finished today. I was hoping to get farther, but got a late start today. I don't want to bore people with gameroom photos, so I won't post any more until it's near completion. I will post the HT pictures as I start drywalling. The first is the gameroom, the second is the bar area.

http://images28.fotki.com/v1002/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2175-vi.jpg
http://images28.fotki.com/v986/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2176-vi.jpg

Bud

You really coming along. The drywall lift looks fearsome.

I will post the HT pictures as I start drywalling. The first is the gameroom, the second is the bar area.
Where are your priorities, Bud?! :P

Another thing I'm curious about... why make a soffit around the header beam in the game room? Is it to run electrical without drilling through the joists? Seems like a bit more work..

Tim,

Good observation. Actually, many of the soffits have heating ducts. These pictures don't show them. The other thing I wanted to do was keep things symmetrical. They put in these laminate beams (instead of poles). Some of the duct work runs along these beams. If I were to put in put a soffit on one side to hide the duct, when finished, would give the impression that the beam was off centered. I tried to figure out how to resolve this and the only way to do this was to do the other side of the beam. Also, there are is a waste pipe on one end of the room that had to get covered as well. After creating soffits where required, I ended up with several soffits running in parallel to one another, and a few perpendicular. It just didn't look right to me, so I ended up putting in the extras to make it symmetrical. I was also trying to minimize the size of these things, so I was considering double treying the ceilings or potentially doing a coffered ceiling. Now I'm thinking I'll be running crown everywhere, so that should minimize the "substantial" look and soften it up. The ceiling is 9 feet, the soffits are 91" underneath.

The damn laminate beams are 17". Also, I ended up having to cut 5" off length wise on second pieces of the drywall to get the right height. I had some flexibility in the HT room though and made the soffits just shy of 12 inches so I could put two sheets of drywall up without having to worry about cutting them length wise.

Oh, and having to run wires with a million soffits, sure does help.

EDIT: Tim, as far as priorities are concerned... if I made a decision on the projector, it would definately be the other way around. For those big decisions, I like to let things lie until my impatience takes over. I tried to give things time to make an informed decision, get lucky, or a light bulb goes off, sometimes the technology changes things....like the new Mirage screen (do I want to cover my windows now in the HT room)? Or a rumor... Panasonic AE800? For the most part, I plan, plan, plan, then implement. I'm a certified project manager. On this project, for those things I can't plan, I just put them on the back burner until they come to a boil and deal with it then. ;) In the meantime, I keep my mind off of it by getting covered in fine, white dust.

Bud

You really coming along. The drywall lift looks fearsome.

Dave,

Thanks. Worth every penny! ;) Looking forward to doing the ceilings now, if thats possible.

Bud

Your whole setup looks fantastic! I just read through this entire thread, riveted. (Is that sad??)

I'm coming up fast on starting my HT/Home Office / Bar/ Gym basement. Closed last May on a 1 flr ranch, with a nice, clean, dry concrete basement. Just have to finish some trim work upstairs, replace a couple of outlets and wrap up some miscellaneous stuff, and I can get started.

First I have to shopvac the whole basement. Then I plan on acid-washing the concrete, then sealing it (the basement has never seen water from what I can tell, but I'm not taking any chances). Then laying plastic, then putting in a subfloor of pressure treated 2x4's (laying wide-side down). Then 3/4" plywood on top of that.

At the risk of getting bashed, :rolleyes: my home office will have priority over my HT room. But I'm a computer geek, plus both my fiance and I work a lot on our pc's (I do side work, like websites and pc repair) and we're currently cooped in a tiny spare bedroom upstairs which is just too small).

I'm leaning towards the exact same Panny pj, but I'm probably a bit further away from making the purchase than you are. I was very happy to see the specs you posted a while back on the viewing distance for the AE700, that was extremely helpful (and I realized my screen was going to be 2 feet wider than I was planning, WOOHOO!)

Awesome work, I plan on copying (more or less) your cove with the cable lighting, it looks slick! Let us know how the AE700 (or 800) works out for you if/when you get it!

Atmosfear,

Thanks for the response and welcome to the forum. I understand the home office thing since I work out of the house (both the wife and I). At least on those cold winter nights in NH, you'll be able to have somewhere to escape to. I grew up in CT and I don't miss those winters. Good luck with your theater.

Help yourself to the cove/trey design. I think it'll come out great. Looking forward to the final result myself!

Bud

Hope it's not a faux paux to post a link to my own thread, but I finally stopped being lazy and started one w/ a pic of my layout/design, and I'm eager to see what people think (i.e. make sure nobody sees a major design flaw I have to accomodate before I start framing in two weeks)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=562857

Atmos

Well Bud, I'm finally getting around to reading your thread in detail. Looks good so far! It seems like there's quite a few of doing the entire basement thing. I work from home too, but luckliy my office is already done :D

I like the look of your tray! I wish I had enough height to do it like that. I'll have soffits down the side and I plan on putting in rope lights in the lip that will overhang. How high are your ceilings again?

Also, assuming I can ever get going again on my basement, keep me in mind for that drywall lift. My guess is I'll be needing something in a few months and you might be done with it by then. In fact, why don't we just make it the AVS lift that goes from house to house?

Jerrod,

Thanks. Ceiling in the HT room is nine feet in the center and 8 feet under the soffits. I'll probably go with an eight inch riser, so it'll be more like 7'"4" in that area.

You're the first to inquire about the lift. We can touch base later. I expect in about a month I'll be done with it. I thought about the community lift idea, I think there several people that would want it at the same time. As long as I recoup some money for it, I'm cool with that though!

Bud

Here's the latest. Ran two HDMI cables and SVGA cables, one of each to the projector, the other to the bar (plasma/LCD expansion later) back to the equipment closet. I also ran an IR expansion wire to the projector area, in case I need it as well. The only wires left is a pair of speaker wires to the bar area and another pair for the shakers (I have one pair already, figured I'd add one more just in case, will do that today. THAT'S IT, no more wires! The SVGA tcables were another "just in case" and were reasonable, so what the heck. The next step is to connect the Buffalo IR receiver in the bar area and connect everything in the equipment closet to make sure it works. Should be done this week. Here are my plans for IR.

http://images27.fotki.com/v982/photos/6/649633/2311872/Buffalosetup2-vi.jpg

I plan on connecting my step lights in the HT room for the riser and drywall the HT walls this weekend. I drywalled the ceiling at the bottom of the basement stairs and a few of the walls outside the HT room as well. I'll finish that up shortly and puts me back on schedule.

Bud

I'll finish that up shortly and puts me back on schedule.
Great plans. I have a general question for you... You mentioned "back on schedule", and I'm curious how detailed your schedule is, (or in your terms, "project plan" :))... Something tells me you have an MS Project file named, "Basement Remodel.mpp" on your computer... :)

Tim,

Ha. Actually, I have thought through it. I've started a high level plan, but decided against it for two reasons, primarily time and money. If I had calculated out a firm budget and timeframe, I would have definitely. Since I don't have these constraints (at least time, money is a factor obviously, but I adjust that as it makes sense), I'm sort of open ended.

I do have milestones in my head that I'm targeting and working towards, but if something comes up financially or requires my attention (wife's birthday and daughters birthday coming up, for example) or I need to figure something out technically, I just adjust according. I did however, plan and work through my dependencies (plumbing rough-in for the bathroom and bar, getting my father-in-law here to help with the electrical), so I could keep moving forward. I always have the next two or three tasks in my head I need to do next.

I have thought about going back and working a MSP plan after the fact to log all the planning steps, dependencies, predecessors, successors tasks, milestones, etc for a future theater if I ever decided to move and redo this endeavor or if someone wanted a skeleton plan to work from. I may, however, be busy watching movies. and sitting at the bar ;). But I'll think atbout it at least!

Bud

Makes sense -- I did that basically with my house remodel, since we ended up ripping up the downstairs bathroom, and the entire upstairs floor (except bathroom), then swapping, etc.. (For me, a dependency was to always have a bathroom; somehow my wife wasn't willing to negotiate on that one...heh)

Instead of doing an MSP plan after the fact, you could do it as you go, so it's completely accurate, and helps you lay out your thoughts for the next few tasks, and you don't forget that one idea you had about why you needed to do one thing first... (because it's a comment in the plan, etc...) Just a thought -- you're making me itch for an unfinished basement again...

My God, I thought I was a geek! J/k!

Tim, my basement is unfinished, I'll fly you out here and put you up for a few weeks if you want! :D

I barely have any time to work on this, much less get that crazy w/ planning. I do take advantage of every spare minute (such as lunch breaks at work) to layout what planning I do have. And whenever I'm having a hard time falling asleep, I just starting milling through what needs to be done and/or how I could do X in my basement, and I'm usually out within minutes.

Ah come on, you take lunch breaks? You have plenty of time! :D

I'm saving myself for when that time comes, because I'm sure I'll reach burnout at some point in the project.

Hehe, yeah, they let me eat here occasionally.

Hey, I've been searching google (HD's site didn't turn anything up) for a steel i-beam supplier. Yahoo yellowpages didn't get me far either. Where would you go to look? Is there a thread on that somewhere on AVS already? (probably is, I just haven't looked very deep yet).

You have to go to a steel supplier near you.. google for that. None of the main home improvement stores will have anything like that. I don't know if there's a thread for it.. (but speaking of that, we should un-hijack Bud's thread... :))

You're right Tim, sorry Bud!

Couple questions Bud, in your equipment room, are you relying solely on a fan to keep things cool?

Also, do you know for a fact that the Panasonic AE700 will require a hushbox, or is it just a precaution?

Atmosfear,

On the AE700 noise, probably not, more for aesthetics and a clean look. I'm sure others can chime in here. The fan in the equip closet is the main source to remove heat, but I don't plan on putting a glass door on the front, plenty of ventilation through rack panel vents and a louvered door. The fan is pretty quiet, I won't need to really seal it up to contain noise. I need to re-read this document (from post 11), thanks for the reminder:

Middle Atlantic thermal management info (http://repnet.middleatlantic.com/COMPANY/MarketingFiles/TempInsideRacks/Thermal%20Management%203-04.pdf)

Also, if a do a hush box, I have 4" duct with a in-line fan already run to pull heat from it.

And I take the geek remark as a compliment. :p Believe me, there are worse names I've been called.

Tim,

Yes, I should do document everything now as I go. I am with at least the pictures (not posting all I took).

Bud

Chinadog

Chinadog Great stuff, it has help me alot. Where did you get the introduction Blazing Ridge Cinema at, I would like to buy one.

Keep up the good stuff, it is very helpful for us new guys trying to piece together a home theater.
Thanks Frank

Frank, this is the thread regarding Bud's "Blazing Ridge Cinema" introduction screen:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=538807

Reaper's the man...

Frank,

Thanks, I plan to keep the ball rolling. On the introduction, what Tim said. Its a very detailed and long thread. Reaper did a great job with that one!

Bud

Chinadog I see yellow and white electric wiring, what size are they. Where did you get your blazing ridge introduction from. Very nice job on everything. I am just having a new house built. Am looking forward to all I have to do. I will do it all myself.
Frank

Frank, check Tim's response for the introduction. It was done by Reaper here on AVS. Here is the thread he started on the subject:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=538807

You'll have to read through the first page or two to understand what he requires to do the intro slide and animation. Warning. Its a very long thread.....

The yellow wire is 12/2 and the white wire is 14/2. Don't go based on what you see here in my pictures, it really depends on the circuit you're installing, the breaker, the load, the number of outlets and cans, etc. If you're not up on these things, consult an electrician. My father-in-law knows this stuff. I know my limitations. I'm good for running wire (based on what he tells me), drilling holes for wire and an occasional few outlets/switches here and there. I personally don't like to mess with it and if he wasn't my father-in-law and a good guy, I would have paid to have it done. No question.

And good luck with the new house. Exciting times!

Bud

Yesterday I ran the wiring for my step lights for the riser and carried down all the remaining drywall. Today I started drywalling the HT room. Here's as far as we got (my Dad was here a couple of hours). I have about 8 pieces of drywall left, so looks like I'll be ordering another 30 panels to finish up the ceilings and finish off the HT room and concession area.

A little worn out today, but managed some pictures after a hot shower.

Back wall:
http://images110.fotki.com/v561/photos/6/649633/2373380/Backwall-vi.jpg

Side wall:
http://images110.fotki.com/v553/photos/6/649633/2373380/Sidewall-vi.jpg

Front wall:
http://images110.fotki.com/v561/photos/6/649633/2373380/Frontwall-vi.jpg

Outside theater room:
http://images110.fotki.com/v561/photos/6/649633/2373380/Entrance-vi.jpg
http://images110.fotki.com/v559/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2194-vi.jpg

Bud

Awesome... maybe I missed it, but what are you planning on doing with the windows? Also, where will the rope lighting go in the cove ceiling? It seems that the angled plywood ends right where the studs are above it (maybe there's an inch or so of space there? ...I'm referencing a pic on the first page of this thread)

I like a lot of the ideas you're using, and will probably plagiarize some of them (ie bookmark this thread)... :)

Tim,

Thanks, its coming along...

I'm planning on drywalling over the windows. Thats the plan at least for now. I'll Cut a piece of drywall for the window and paint it black. Attach the drywall piece to a piece of 2x4 sideways (gives me the right depth) and attach the 2x4 to the framing in the window with the black side of the drywall out. That'll cover it, then I drywall over the whole thing.

The rope light will go in the back in the farthest part of the cove. Because of the height of the cove and the depth of the cove, it won't be seen. There is just enough room (1/2 inch height) at the top of the cover where the drywall or 1/2 plywood (see comment below) will cover it and meet the from of the cove. The bottom of the cove is 1 & 1/2 inches, just enough room for one layer of drywall and 1 inch thick linacoustic. I'll also drywall the from of the cover (angled part). The whole thing will be coverer with GOM. I'm thinking 1/2 ply to have a surface to staple the GOM to on top of the cove. I'll try and draw up a picture with the actual layout and dimensions.

Bud

Interesting (on both accounts)... Are you going to GOM the walls? If so, have you considered a separate removable insert for covering the windows, and covering over it with GOM? Then if you (or future owners) ever want the windows back, you/they only need to remove the GOM and pull out the inserts... Just a thought.

The rope lights and cove are difficult to picture... I suppose that's why a picture is worth a thousand words... I'll just wait patiently for that stage of the project to be more clear. :)

Yes to GOM and yes to the insert (or plug as I like to call it). I was just discussing that with my Dad yesterday. One reason that wall isn't done yet. The windows are pretty large (I don't have measurements off the top of my head), but probably doable with some sort covering. I was thinking of using rigid foam board with some support in the middle and a foam around the perimeter that has some flex to it to hold it in place. I can cover the whole thing with GOM.

Maybe I'll draw something up today on that subject as well.

Bud

Here are two MS Paint drawings I did this AM. This will give you a better idea of what I'm doing with the cove trey and rope lights.

The first drawing is a little chaotic, but hopefully its legible enough to get the point across. Basically, I extended my soffit with some framing and capped it off with a piece of 3/4 inch plywood (6.5 inches wide). Since I plan on using GOM on the walls and under the soffit, I'll drywall over the plywood, that'll give me a nice surface to pull the GOM over without worrying about snagging it on the rough plywood surface.

I'll leave 1.5 inches underneath for drywall and linacoustic and that will make it even with the bottom of the plywood for a level surface. Also, I left 1/2 inch above the soffit for plywood (or 1/2 furring strips) and drywall. The reason for ply on the top is just an area to staple the GOM to. You could use plywood all the way across the top of the soffit, but drywall is easier to work with.

The rope light will sit up against the back of the soffit. because of the width of the top of the cove and the height of the ceiling, (bottom of soffit is eight feet), the rope light won't be seen. I'll verify this as I get closer. Worst case is I could add a trim piece around the top of the soffit towards the back to make a tray to put the rope light in.

http://images110.fotki.com/v561/photos/6/649633/2312531/Cove2-vi.jpg
http://images110.fotki.com/v561/photos/6/649633/2312531/Cove3-vi.jpg

Bud

Dang brotha... you are cooking on this project. Look at you go. you know, if you finish before me, I am never talking to you again, Bud! Hahaha! I'll be interested to hear your experience with sanding the drywall mud. What a mess. You drawings look very cool. Can't wait to see that lighting in place.

What's the distance from the rope lighting to the edge of the soffit? Do you think it will be very evident from that distance? It seems kind of far if the scale is correct. I thought people put rope lighting close to a visible vertical section of the wall whereas yours will be inset quite a bit. It will likely produce a soft glow.

Did you post images of your GOM? Maybe I need to look back some. I don't remember it.

reaper

Reaper,

Yeah, its coming along, nicely, but it'll slow up again I'm sure when it comes to spending the cash for the equipment. Decisions, decisions. I miss Visio, but Paint does the job in a pinch. :rolleyes:

I'm going to price out the mud. I've done it and I probably will do it, but going to get some quotes. I don't mind the mud,. its the dust. I've managed to keep the butt joints to a minimum and plan on crown everywhere, so we'll see how much the mud will cost me. If they don't have the dustless sanders, I'll probably do it myself and rent one. I already have stilts from the last basement drywall job and that'll help big time.

I have not posted pictures of GOM. Still working on my color scheme. I just ordered some samples from Guilford, so waiting on those.

The drawing is not to scale. I think it'll work our fine though based on the testing I've done. If you look at the pictures I've posted of the soffit with the lights on you can see only one small section and thats because I just laid it up there. It still has the "bends" from the roll (bought 150 feet) and is not pushed back in the corner really. Also, that picture was taken from eye level (obviously) and I'm 6'4", so there are not many people that will see it any higher! I also used the frosted white light versus the clear to give it a softer look.

Congrats on your completion. Looks great.

Bud

Well, it's not complete yet... but construction is. Just need some carpet and finishing touches here and there. Then I hang the screen and posters and toss the chairs in. Thanks for the congrats though. The pictures to be posted over the next 2 weeks or so should be fun.

I found your images of the soffit trial. Looks awesome! Sorry I missed those before.

reaper

Bud
Thanks for the info. and good luck on your HT. I'll probably be back when I get started on my HT. Great thread and informative.
Frank

It's looking really good Bud!!

~Josh

Josh, thanks.

I think I'll run to Home Depot and order more drywall tomorrow or Friday. I also need to fix my 24 VAC transformer on my furnance and wire my IR stuff still. Next week I plan on take a few days off, that'll give me some piece and quiet to work downstairs. I should have finished the ceilings (at least in the bar and gameroom) by then. Hoping to do the ceilings with the 6 sheets I have left in the concession area.

Still need to get some quotes on mud. I may be breaking out the stilts (to mud the ceilings) before the end of the month! Stay tuned.

Bud

(damn, this was my 500th post already)

And this was my 100th!! What type of insulation are you using Bud?

~Josh

I used Owens Corning R19 in the ceiling and also the walls that share the gameroom since it was 2x6 construction. I'm only doing one layer of 1/2 drywall, but plan on caulking the outlets and seams. I'll use linacoustic/batting and GOM to cover. I'm not too concerned about sound leakage, considering the HT room is below my home office in the basement.

Bud

Just returned from "Big Orange", 30 sheets of drywall arriving tomorrow. That should pretty much cover everything I need to do, any extra (doubt it) I'll hang in my workshop.

Bud

Have you been using those drywall carriers for hauling that stuff to the basement? They work pretty slick, and are pretty cheap too.

Hey Bud,

How much are they getting you for on each of those deliveries? I'm thinking it was $55-$60 at my local HD the last time I asked.

Steve,

Call me lazy. Thats about right. I don't have the receipt in front of me. I could have loaded it in the suburban (made maybe two trips), but I'm going to have to carry it down to the basement anyway, so I figured I'd save my back and knees (especially my knees), some.

Tim,

Yes, those puppies are WONDERFUL. Best 6 bucks I've ever spent.

Bud

EDIT: Steve, checked the receipt. 59.00. So if you average it out over thirty sheets, it cost me an extra 2.00 per sheet for a total $9.53 per sheet. Original price was 7.53 per sheet. The stuff has gone up like 2.50 a sheet in the last 6 months.

WOW! Everything is looking fantabulous Bud!! I got one of those dustless sanders when I did my theater (picked it up from Lowes). It's a little on the tough side (the shop vac has so much power it wants to suck the sander to the wall making it hard to swipe back and forth) but the dust was minimal, only a little at the bottom of walls. I sanded the whole basement and 'MaximAvwife' said she didn't notice any drywall dust coming into the house.

Keep the pics coming! It's like reliving the contruction process all over again! :D

Maxim,

Thanks! I bought one of those things from HD last time I finished the basement. I found it tough to use for the reason you mentioned, it wants to stick to the wall. Maybe I was doing it wrong. I think the last time I try to make everything perfect and sanded between coats and that generated a lot of extra dust. I'm hoping to get away with sanding the final coat and maybe renting a drywall sander from a local rental store. Need to start looking around.

Bud

As MaximAvs is in charge of the dusting chores (and he does look so very cute...I mean masculine...with a feather duster in hand) you can believe it when he says the dust was minimal with the dustless sander.

Kath
Proud wife Of MaximAvs

OMG!!! She found me!! :eek:

Classic... I guess there's no more talk of WAF around here... :)

Like you are so hard to find dear...you are either in the HT, the Boom Boom Room or here.

Kath
Proud wife of MaximAvs

Reaper,

You now need to create a new intro slide for the Maxims... Welcome to the Boom Boom Theater!

Bud

FYI: WAF is very high in regards to what MaximAvs has done w/ the HT and the Lounge. No complaints from this wife.

Kath
Proud wife of MaximAvs

I don't know if you knew, but at HD you can get clear channel for the rope light to snap into to keep it nice and straight in the soffet. It has double sided tape to attach it, or you can screw it down. Works pretty slick! You can find it back in the lighting area by the rope light.

-Sean

Sean,

Will take a gander. With the roll I bought, came some clips. I wasn't sure if I was going to use them or not, that sounds like a good alternative though once I get that cove completed. Thanks for the tip!

Bud

Bud,

DO NOT USE THE CLIPS.

I did a project 2 years ago using the clips that came with some rope light and within about 1.5 years the clips had nearly all broken. I think like 16 out of 18 had broken... in a location with no physical contact, and only about 15 hours a week usage of the lights.

1 year ago I did a project with the channel and it is still holding as tight as it did the first day and these lights have been on almost 24/7 and the location is exposed to physical contact by people.

Lucky for me the clips that I need to replace are on the underside of a desk and not in a little alcove 8 feet of the ground. It would also be a pain to fasten all those little clips to the soffit, lots of little screws or nails. The channel also holds the ropelight straight as an arrow, which I know isn't as important because it is well hidden in your soffit but I'm sure it still matters to you a little. I would want my hidden rope light to be as straight as possible. It's kind of like not wanting our PQ to have any flaws, even the ones that nobody NORMAL would notice. The channel is very affordable and definately worth it.

Keep up the good work, the place is looking great.

Later,
Brian

Brian,

I was trying to figure out how to get the "bends" out of the light. I thought that with enough usage over time, it might have straightened out some. I'd like it as straight as possible, since with any slight bends it'll have some impact on where it will project light from the trey. Between yours and Maxim's comments, I'm definately going to use the track now. Thanks for the info!

Bud

Well, good news is I didn't fry my transformer (reference to post #61) like I thought on the furnance. I found a 3A fuse on the circuit board that blew. I took a quick trip to Autozone for a 40 cent fuse and its working perfectly now. That saved me a service call and a few bucks! Took me a little while to figure out. Anyway, still waiting on Big Orange to deliver the drywall.

Bud

Good news on the furnace!! You don't need any extra distractions while working on the theater! :)

Drywall has arrived. Sorry to disappoint Chirpie, they put it in the garage again. I tried to talk them out of it, but they insisted! ;)

Bud

In that order....

The good news is that I got a lot of drywall done this weekend, including finishing the concession area and the interior of the equipment closet. I even started the ceilings in the game room. :)

The bad news is my hard drive on my laptop crashed and burned. It was making some serious noises yesterday and will not boot. :mad: The good news is that I did have recent backups of all my data. ;)

Good news. I've been wanting a new laptop for a while, so I bought a new one. :cool: I also ordered a replacement hard drive for the old machine and will have to rebuilt that puppy. :rolleyes:

Bad news, I didn't really want to spent the money on PC crap and it'll put me a little behind buying HT equipment unfortunately! :(

Bud

NOTE: Fotki is having some issues and sometimes pictures don't show up. It's usually temporary, but VERY annoying.

Here are some pictures of the concession area and equipment closet. Its basically done, except for the outer wall of the closet. I left this off to be able to get to the wiring. I'm leaning towards adding an inline fan to the duct that vents from the bathroom fan. It blows pretty hard just from the fan in the closet, but figured it wouldn't hurt. I can tie it into the thermostat so both fans would turn on simultaneously. Even though I've finished the ceiling that the room, I can still get a wire through the ceiling from the storage room in the back, the ceiling is unfinished still and that where I ran many wires anyway.

From the HT room, here is the left side of the concession area. I plan on putting lower cabinets in this area and would house a microwave, maybe a popcorn machine and maybe a minifridge. I don't think I need the upper cabinets, so maybe some movie posters on the upper wall. Notice the outlets are at the normal kitchen height.
http://images116.fotki.com/v714/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2226-vi.jpg

Here is the right side of the concession area, which includes the equipment closet/rack and an area past the rack that will eventually end up with shelving for DVD storage. You can see the wire bundles in the closet from here. The closet will have a door, probably louvered.
http://images9.fotki.com/v178/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2227-vi.jpg

This is a shot at the opening for the Middle Atlantic Slim 5-43 rack for the equipment closet. I used two pieces of 2x6s on the left and right sides of the opening and painted them black to give them a finished look when the rack is installed, If I just framed it out, the drywall would have butted up against the side of the rack. I offset the 2x6s half an inch (forward) so the drywall is completely hidden. I'll trim the rack later and paint it black once the rack is permanently installed.
http://images116.fotki.com/v714/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2228-vi.jpg

Here's a closer shot looking in through the opening towards the ceiling. I have extra wiring in here for speakers in the game room/bar and a bunch of video cables for that eventual plasma/LCD in the bar as well. I tried to keep them separated by area.
http://images9.fotki.com/v169/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2229-vi.jpg

Here's a shot with the rack in temporarily.
http://images116.fotki.com/v714/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2231-vi.jpg

Shot of the back of the rack towards the ceiling. The wires come in perfectly at the back of the rack. I picked up some cable/wire management accessories from Middle Atlantic and Gruber, which will work out great for organizing he cables.
http://images9.fotki.com/v178/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2232-vi.jpg

Here is the shot of the outer wall of the closet, left off the drywall until I complete the last of the wiring.
http://images9.fotki.com/v172/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2233-vi.jpg

Bud

Nice work! Getting me motivated to start my own project!

Do you have access to the back of the rack? Or the ability to put in an access panel in the back? Will the rack pullout? I'm just curious how you're going to handle wiring post-completion.

Edit: The first pictures didn't show up, but now I see that you have a door for access to the rack... (although you might get too much equipment and need to use the door for another rack... :))

Nice job...

Tim,

I got annoyed and sent Fotki a note, glad all the pictures finally came up. It looks like they're upgrading their servers. I somehow doubt I'll be be needing another rack for a while. Lets hope not!

Maggie Guy,

Thanks, could use some more motivation myself!

Bud

Played around with the Buffalo IR system tonight. I connected two of the three IR receivers, one in the soffit (pictures in post 44 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5840919&&#post5840919 ) , layout of IR system in post 75 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5942557&&#post5942557)). To test, I installed two ceiling speakers in the game room and connected them to an old Kenwood receiver and CD player that I planned on using for music in the bar and gameroom. I then wired up connected the IR components. I was able to get the CD player to work fine, even from the bar. The Kenwood receiver would not work, but I suspect either there is a frequency incompatibly issue (apparently a few brands and models use higher frequencies). I connected another receiver I had, but it does not have a remote, so I need to setup a universal remote and play with it some more tomorrow. I was happy the CD player worked, the IR receiver in the bar is about 50 feet away, connected with CAT5. I need to close the walls up in the bathroom and the receiver is in the wall that is shared by the bar and bathroom (maybe I'll put a urinal in the bar ...). Now I'll have to tear out the wall if the receiver needs to replaced.. but thats ok, I'm getting good at drywall.

Bud

Looking good...... I like it a looooot.

Well, I took today off and will be taking tomorrow off as well to work in the basement. Half of the ceiling is now done in the game room as well as a few soffits. Plan on finishing up the ceilings in the game room tomorrow. Saturday I'll do the ceiling and last wall in the HT room. Sunday I have a buddy coming over to help clear out my storage room (move it all into the HT room so I can do the ceilings in there. The walls have been done since last winter. I will however, need about another 20 sheets of drywall (I've hung about 85 so far) I expect I'll go through the last ordered of 30 tomorrow. I'll probably pick up 10 on Saturday morning and another 10 on Sunday morning.

Oh and BTW, I'm in the middle of restoring my hard drive on my laptop and I decided NOT to pull the trigger on the other new laptop. I called them back that same day and canceled my order. I'd rather put those funds towards something a little more fun....

I'll post pictures on Saturday.

Bud

That's right, keep your priorities straight, Bud... :)

I'm amazed at your willingness to throw up that much drywall, BTW. I'm quite a DIY-obsessed guy, but I'd probably hire out the pain involved with that much drywall...

Without the lift, I'd be SOL and there is no way I could do it. Also, it's going to save me 2500.00+, which is incentive enough for me. That's a projector right there! I like the challenge. Keeps me determined and motivated. Did I mention it's going to save me like 2500.00?

Bud

looks better and better..we want more pictures!!

Without the lift, I'd be SOL and there is no way I could do it. Also, it's going to save me 2500.00+, which is incentive enough for me. That's a projector right there! I like the challenge. Keeps me determined and motivation. Did I mention it's going to save me like 2500.00?

Bud


LOL. 'keeps me determined', 'I like the challenge'. Delusional I tell you! ^_^

But the money savings, that's the piece of cheeze at the end of the maze. I'm not sure why but my second layer of drywall is so demoralizing for me. My brain keeps telling me, "Dude, we already did this! And now we've got this sticky green crap going inbetween!? What's wrong with you?!"

Wait, was that my brain or my wife? :-)

Man Bud you are making great progress on your basement!!! I'm just getting over poison ivy and a bad case of the hives so I haven't been able to do much lately. What fun that's been for the past 4 weeks!

Have you listed anywhere in your thread about what cables you're running, quantity, where they're going to/from, etc....??? I don't recall seeing anything.

Just curious because I'm trying to think of all the cables I need, but I know I'll forget something. :rolleyes:

heartsurgeon,

Thanks. I've got your pictures... right here.. Give me a another day or so, you'll get your pictures. :p

Chirps,

I hear you. Delusional is my middle name. My neighbors just shake their heads when the see me (or another delivery of drywall). Did I mention, I expect to save 2500 bucks? Gotta keep pushing otherwise the light at the end of the tunnel starts to dim. Double drywall? Does that mean I need to buy another 110 sheets or drywall? Ahhhh! Could have been your brain, your wife, your kids, siblings, parents, postal person, priest or rabbi, congressman or congresswoman, boss, mistress, neighbor, dog OR someone here on AVS! Doesn't matter. Press on.

Jerrod,

Poison Ivy? Hives? Sounds like you met someone else on another flight. You need to practice safe flying. :D I don't think I posted cables here. I did start another thread a while back about what I was planning and got some feedback. Here was my initial thread on the subject:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=525863

I've used a variety of vendors online for cables and wire. The only wire I bought locally (from HD), I returned. I bought a ton of Carol 12 gauge speaker wire though partsexpress.com. I've also picked up R59 from them as well. I picked up RG6 (all copper) through a different vendor, can't remember the name, but could look it up if you need it. Component, SVGA and HDMI I bought through pccables.com. Monoprice.com also has some decent cable prices, but have not used them. I also bought CAT6 and CAT5E. If you need anything or have any questions, let me know.

Time to get some sleep, got lots of work to do tomorrow!

Bud

That's right, keep your priorities straight, Bud... :)

I'm amazed at your willingness to throw up that much drywall, BTW. I'm quite a DIY-obsessed guy, but I'd probably hire out the pain involved with that much drywall...

Tim, Forgot to mention and point out in my other post, not only did I hang it, but I CARRIED every damn sheet down to the basement myself!!!! I should have muscles like Chirpie by now. I've SO happy I spent 6 bucks on those panel carriers! Takes me 10 minutes to carry 10 sheets from the garage to the basement.

Bud

Yep, that's a chore... especially going down stairs... ugh.

Oh, and for $2500, I'd do it myself too, now that you put a price on it.. :)

Tim,

No stairs, thankfully! I bring it around the back through these doors....

http://images28.fotki.com/v1003/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2173-vi.jpg

Bud

You're gonna have forearms of Popeye after running that many sheets of drywall into the house. :D

You may have mentioned it, but what is the size of your rooms?! I just got thinking after you said that you were fininshing the ceiling in your storage area, that maybe I should do that. My theater and lounge take up 2/3 of the basement, and the other 1/3 is storage and mechanical. I left the storage area unfinished and hung a curtain between the finished and unfinshed area. Maybe if I finish that area and put in a door, it might help to really complete the whole basement. The house had plumbing already in place for a bathroom in the basement, which I want to do... but once the projector was mounted, I haven't done any more construction down there. Let that be a warning to ya! :p

Sean,

I may have Popeye arms, but my knees are killing me!!!

The game room and bar area are like 17x33. There is some additional square footage (like 12x8) in addition to the bar, it would be the area under the breakfast area. The HT room is 13x 19. The concession area (without the equipment closet) was 8x10. The storage room off the concession area is like 12.5x12.5. I have a workshop that's like 11x17 and a small mechanical room thats like 9x17. I also have a small area between the bathroom,HT room and game room. I'm not really sure what the total livable space is in the basement. The house upstairs is like 4100. So I'm guess that the livable space is around 1400-1600 in the basement. Too tired and lazy to calculate it!

The storage room has electric and cans, I just never got the ceiling done. If we didn't have so much crap (er, if my wife didn't have so much crap), that room could have been a nice workout room or home office when done. Finishing it will give it a nice look.

I'll post pictures tomorrow night. I'm damn tired. No plans for the projector yet, need to save some cash... but I hear ya.

Bud

Another productive, yet tiring day. Went to Home Depot this morning and picked up another 16 sheets of drywall and started mid morning. I didn't get quite as far as I had hoped. My dad and I spent about 5-6 hours working though. I have a friend coming tomorrow morning to help out. Here are a few teaser photos, more tomorrow.

Here's the bar area:
http://images116.fotki.com/v716/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2259-vi.jpg

Shot of the gameroom:
http://images114.fotki.com/v638/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2260-vi.jpg

Put in some in-ceiling speakers in the bar and on the far side of the gameroom. I've got them hooked up to the receiver/cd player in the rack. They sound pretty good, they're Hometech HT603Rs. I think Speakercraft makes Hometech. I bought these on ebay for a steal. Controlled by the IR receiver in the bar area. Can you spot it in the picture of the bar?
http://images11.fotki.com/v210/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2261-vi.jpg
http://images114.fotki.com/v638/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2262-vi.jpg

From the opposite corner in the gameroom looking at the bar:
http://images116.fotki.com/v716/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2263-vi.jpg

First sheet on the HT room ceiling. Needed to pull down the plywood on the cove and take down the rope light to get in the corners. This gives you a good shot of the framing for the plywood as well.
http://images115.fotki.com/v674/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2264-vi.jpg
http://images110.fotki.com/v563/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2265-vi.jpg

Thats it for now.

Bud

Bud,

It is looking Great!!!! By the way, I believe HomeTech speakers are actually made by Sonance.

~Josh

I stand corrected, that's right. Long day...

Bud

You are kicking some serious tail! Very impressive. I always like the progress pics as much or more than te finish pics

I am letting a good friend of mine do my sheetrock since hes a pro and I hate it with a passion ( the sanding phase the most, uhhggg) I about fell over when he said it would take him 3 days and cost me $2,000 Labor & Materials finished.

I said "when can you start?"

He said 10 days and I said see ya then.

need to post to get to 5 posts so i can post urls.

need to post to get to 5 posts so i can post urls.

Thanks for that insightful post. I noticed you did this in some other threads as well. For future reference, there is a "Post Test Area" (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=46) thread you can use so you don't have to post garbage.

Mark,

Sounds like a good deal. How much square footage are you talking about?

Bud

Watching you go simueltaneously gets me to think " how hard can it be" and "definitely want to hire that out".

Impressive nonetheless.

Bud,
I think its around 1000 sq ft and a couple patches.
Its not the sq. ft as much as the details of the ceiling as in 40 can lights and a recessed 6' wide circle for a chandelier, and an equiptment room with so many outlets, lights, exhaust fans and airconditioners that he will chow through several roto-zip blades I am sure

Still looking nice Bud! I had my neighbor over this evening while I was doing some wiring. He's going to start finishing his basement in a few months, and wants to help me so he can learn. SWEEEEET! I told him things are OK righ tnow, but I'll definitely need help when it's drywall time.

One thing I plan on doing as much as possible is to use "things" to cover the drywall seams. That way, I don't have to worry about the finished look. For instance, the theater will be covered with GOM all around. In my gameroom/kitchen area, I'm going to coffer the entire ceiling (where the seams are). For the walls in this area, I'm going to put bead board over the drywall on the bottom, and then use stained 1x6's to cover the vertical seams.

It's going to cost me extra in wood and all, but a lot labor on my part, on $$$ out of my wallet to pay someone.

BTW, it sounds like your basement is freakin huge!

Spent a few hours today wrapping up the ceiling in the HT room and the one outstanding wall with the windows. I framed out around the two windows in that room in preparation for drywall in the AM and my friend John spent about 6 hors or so here helping me drywall. He and I framed out his basement, did the drywall and trim and I painted his prime coat, so he owed me. I plan installing drywall over the windows as well, but wanted to be able to pull it off easily if I ever had to. I have some ideas on how to do this and will post pictures as I move forward with my plans.

Here's the HT wall with the windows. Notice the black area on the wall. I had to cutout a small section where the gas pipe comes into the house. The pipe extends out past the end of the framing about half an inch on the bottom. If I drywalled over it, I'd have a nice bulge. I already taped (fiberglass mesh tape) and mudded it.
http://images115.fotki.com/v674/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2266-vi.jpg

Here's a shot of the ceiling now. I think I'll leave off the cove plywood until I get the ceiling taped and mudded. It'll' be easier that way. I don't plan on doing the underneath of the soffit until I get my stage and proscenium designed so I can figure out the three 4" cans in front and make a decision on a projector.
http://images116.fotki.com/v716/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2267-vi.jpg

I also went around and mudded all the screw holes in the gameroom, bar, bottom of the stairs and concession area. I had an hour burst of energy after watching Ty on Extreme Home Makeover. I guess I'm working on the Extreme Basement Makeover....

Going to be very busy with work this week, not sure if I'll have the opportunity to do any basement work this week.

Bud

Watching you go simueltaneously gets me to think " how hard can it be" and "definitely want to hire that out".

Impressive nonetheless.

Thanks. I little sweat and knowledge goes a long way. Having the right tools is half the battle. Its not rocket science, thats for sure. Just know your limitations. I weight the purchase of the tools into the cost savings factor of what I want done. I also include a pain in the ass factor as well. And as my father-in-law says, once you've got the tools for the job, you've go them for next time....

Bud

Bud,
I think its around 1000 sq ft and a couple patches.
Its not the sq. ft as much as the details of the ceiling as in 40 can lights and a recessed 6' wide circle for a chandelier, and an equiptment room with so many outlets, lights, exhaust fans and airconditioners that he will chow through several roto-zip blades I am sure

Mark,

Yes, the more stuff you need to cut out, the longer it takes. I made two mistakes marking boards from the wrong end for cans and when I go to put the board up, the hole is on the wrong side. Aggravating, for sure. I have 32 cans, pendants for the bar, a few chandelier type lights, a ceiling fan and who know how any outlets.

Bud

Still looking nice Bud! I had my neighbor over this evening while I was doing some wiring. He's going to start finishing his basement in a few months, and wants to help me so he can learn. SWEEEEET! I told him things are OK righ tnow, but I'll definitely need help when it's drywall time.

One thing I plan on doing as much as possible is to use "things" to cover the drywall seams. That way, I don't have to worry about the finished look. For instance, the theater will be covered with GOM all around. In my gameroom/kitchen area, I'm going to coffer the entire ceiling (where the seams are). For the walls in this area, I'm going to put bead board over the drywall on the bottom, and then use stained 1x6's to cover the vertical seams.

It's going to cost me extra in wood and all, but a lot labor on my part, on $$$ out of my wallet to pay someone.

BTW, it sounds like your basement is freakin huge!

Jerrod,

Having a helping hand is nice. My father doesn't do too much physical stuff, but he hands me stuff when I'm on the ladder, double checks measurements, runs down tools, etc. Every little bit helps.

I plan on taping the seams, but wasn't going to do the screws initially. I will do all the walls in GOM and they'll be covered, but it doesn't take long at all to mud screws, so I'll probably do them as well. I thought about beadboard in the gameroom, but then decided not to.

I guess its large. Bigger than our old house at least. Looking forward to completing it so I can use it!

Bud

Diary of a madman
You must be an Ozzy fan.....

Looking forward to completing it so I can use it!
Amen!

Hey Bud, it is true how nice it is to have a helping hand. Even if they just stand there and drive you like a drilling instructor the motivational factor alone is desired.

Looking good.
I realy like the bar area.

Craig

Craig,

Thanks. I worked with someone at Home Depot to design it. Free service. I gave them my requirements and measurements and they ran with it. I then made a few modifications later. I had to get that done in order to get the dimensions for the half wall so I could build it. Once that was done, I had the plumber put in the copper and drain for the bar sink (can't see it in these pictures though). I have a few more tweaks to discuss with them when I'm ready to actually order the cabinets, but that probably won't be until the spring.

Bud

Spring!! Will your theater be done before then?

Craig

Spring!! Will your theater be done before then?

Craig

Probably by the end of the year for the HT room, spring for the rest of the basement. My son starts up baseball in about two weeks and that'll chew up some spare time. Still have the bathroom drywall and fixtures, tile work, cabinets, flooring, trim, doors, Linacoustic and GOM, paint, equipment. I expect to have the HT room done before year end (except for maybe seats, who knows). Cash flow is king!

Bud

Cash flow is king!

Bud

Sound like the quote of the day to me. ;) ;) ;)

Craig

I thought I'd move this here instead of Jerrod's thread, particularly about the Ascend speakers I'll be going with. What I posted orginally over there:

I'm going with the Ascend 340s in the front. I haven't bought them yet. Because my side surrounds are in a weird location (above the door) and the fact that I didn't want columns, I'm putting in in-ceilings for the side surrounds. I just decided to match the rear surrounds as well, instead of going with in-walls or on-walls. I did a little investigation (including talking to Ascend) and Ascend recommends the S622TRs (http://www.sonance.com/subs/product_details.php?product_id=311) to match the Ascends. I ordered two pair last week from two different companies and one arrived today. They'll fit perfectly where I need them in the side soffit. Also, the in-ceilings that I put in the bar/gameroom are Hometech, which apparently are also made by Sonance. Anyway, they're pretty reasonable for surrounds. I plan on getting the Ascends in the not so distant future, when I have the cash. In the meantime I'll start building my proscenium and stage using the Ascend dimensions published in mind and adding some for flexibility or change of mind later.

Here's the Sonance site (http://www.sonance.com/subs/products.php?category_id=1)

Bud

I had posted in the Audio Theory, Speaker Setup forum recently about placement of my surrounds given my room layout and got some good info regarding my situation. I had also contacted Ascend (as mentioned) and they recommended going with two pairs of the S622TRs instead of in-ceilings for the sides and in-walls for the rears. Sanjay in the other forum suggested the same. It makes sense to me, keeping them at the same height. That's one less thing I need to worry about. Sanjay referenced the 7.1 Dolby setup and placement of the rears based on the sweet spot. Apparently a 60 degree angle to the rear speakers is optimal according to the Dolby ProLogic IIx diagram. Based on the distance from the sweet spot to the back wall (8 feet from center seat, front row in my case), you can calculate the distance between the rear speakers by taking that distance and multiplying it by 1.2 for a distance or 9.6 feet. Here is reference to the Dolby diagram:

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/roomlayout2.html

Now, from the instructions from Sonance for a 7.1 setup, they recommend about the same distance between rears (6-10 feet) for a 5.1 setup. The the 7.1 setup they recommend no farther than 6 feet between rears. Check out the Sonance Symphony S622TRs manual here (link no longer working) (http://www.sonance.com/image_data/downloads/newsym_ic_im.pdf).

Here's my current layout with the six foot spacing:
http://images11.fotki.com/v210/photos/6/649633/2311872/surrounds-vi.jpg

So I'm not sure what to do here. :confused: I would assume I'd want to go with the Dolby recommendation. Maybe split the difference and make them like 7.5 or 8 feet? Any recommendations? The S622TRs have both pivoting tweeters and woofers, so that'll help.

Bud

I'd keep them at 6' apart -- they'd already each be 3' from either side wall, and I wouldn't want to go closer than that. Seems like a good balance on the back wall (essentially centered on either half of the back wall).

Bud, the 7.1 setup they recommend no farther than 6 feet between rearsAt what distance from the back wall? Or is it a fixed separation no matter how far you're away from the speakers?

Sanjay

Bud,

For what it's worth, my rear surrounds will be around 5.5 feet apart. The angle (I think) is around 162 degrees from the front (72 degrees from the side like you measured). I know it's a bit narrow, but I wanted to keep my back columns as "similarly spaced" apart as my side columns. Plus, I'm going to have 3 sconces on the rear wall.

I'm probably going to sacrifice a bit of something in the surround sound experience, but in my mind if I build it this way, it will sound better than anything else I've heard, so that will do. I guess there has to be a compromise between looks and placement in some cases....

Hey Sanjay!

It doesn't specify how close it is to the wall. Take a look at the diagram on page 2 of the Sonance Symphony S622TRs manual here (http://www.sonance.com/image_data/downloads/newsym_ic_im.pdf). The show distance behind the seats at 2.5 feet, but do not disucss distance to the wall. This was for a single row of seating. I will have two rows.

Bud

Tim and Jerrod,

Six feet or eight or nine is doable with my setup, since they're in-ceilings. Since I'm now a drywall expert :rolleyes: , could always move them if I had to. We're talking about a one foot shift for each speaker. I guess it'll come down to personal preference, but not sure I want to move them if I can avoid it and rather get it right the first time. I'm curious why the discrepancy between Sonance and Dolby. As far as looks go, I plan on using linacoustic/GOM to cover the underneath of the soffits, so no need to be concerned there.

Bud

Ahh... FYI, that's a pretty big compromise to put any surround speakers in the ceiling (especially when you're going through the work of making it dedicated). They'll end up being too high, and need to be angled down... Any reason you're not putting them on the wall (or in the wall)?

Ahh... FYI, that's a pretty big compromise to put any surround speakers in the ceiling (especially when you're going through the work of making it dedicated). They'll end up being too high, and need to be angled down... Any reason you're not putting them on the wall (or in the wall)?

The issue that put me in the is position is the side surrounds really. I was going to do inwalls in the rear, but am concerned about the effect of the sides being higher than the rears. I asked Ascend if there was an any recommended inwalls, but they suggested using a second pair of the S622TRs for the rear. I don't have a lot of options (any really, except on walls above the door and its a tight fit). Then I have the issue of matching the surrounds with the fronts. This seems to be the best compromise as far as matching the Ascends as well as not having speakers mounted on the walls. The good news is that both the woofer assembly and the tweeter pivot. The rear surrounds will be at about 7.5 feet from the riser, a listener seated, maybe 4 feet. Farther obviously from the front row.

Agreed, not an ideal situation. I've been chewing on this for some time. Is it a compromise? Sure. How much of a difference will it make? I'm not sure yet. I've also come to the conclusion that my video tastes are much more particular than my audio tastes. Maybe since I'm getting older and finally got glasses that I can see again!

Bud

Bud, The show distance behind the seats at 2.5 feetLook again: the distance is shown as 2' - 6' behind the seats. At first glance it looks like 2' 6" (2.5 feet) but it's not. I'm curious why the discrepancy between Sonance and Dolby.Because Dolby is giving you angles, which will result in varying spreads depending on how far you are from the speakers. Sonance's recommendation is a distance range, which doesn't make much sense to me.

I mean, what if someone suggested placing your front speakers 8-10 feet apart. Would that give you a wide or narrow front soundstage? I guess it would depend on whether you were 6 feet or 16 feet from the front speakers. I don't see how someone can recommend a spread using numbers instead of angles.

The Dolby recommendation is not something you have to follow strictly. For example: I set my rear speakers up by ear and they ended wider apart than Dolby recommended. If you are more comfortable with Sonance's recommendation, then stick to that. Or split the difference.

Best,
Sanjay

I wonder if you angle them to point at the wall and reflect off of it, if that will help diffuse the sound field so it seems like it's coming more from behind/side and around you, or if it was just make the sound muddy. Something to experiment with. I agree timbre matching is very important.. any reason you don't want them on the walls? Is it a space issue (for walkway)?

Bud, Look again: the distance is shown as 2' - 6' behind the seats. At first glance it looks like 2' 6" (2.5 feet) but it's not.

Good find. I didn't look too close since I'll have two rows and not a lot of room to play with there.


I mean, what if someone suggested placing your front speakers 8-10 feet apart. Would that give you a wide or narrow front soundstage? I guess it would depend on whether you were 6 feet or 16 feet from the front speakers. I don't see how someone can recommend a spread using numbers instead of angles.


That's a good point.


The Dolby recommendation is not something you have to follow strictly. For example: I set my rear speakers up by ear and they ended wider apart than Dolby recommended. If you are more comfortable with Sonance's recommendation, then stick to that. Or split the difference.


I'm not totally comfortable with Sonance's recommendation, which is why I posted. There's is only a recommendation, as well. I'll have to play around with them I suppose and see what the impact is at say 6 feet and at 8-9 is.

Thanks for the replies. I'll post the result when I get there.

Bud

I wonder if you angle them to point at the wall and reflect off of it, if that will help diffuse the sound field so it seems like it's coming more from behind/side and around you, or if it was just make the sound muddy. Something to experiment with. I agree timbre matching is very important.. any reason you don't want them on the walls? Is it a space issue (for walkway)?

I'll play with this as well, although not sure how flexible they are to turn 90 degrees, although I can turn them within the hole pretty easily if need be.

If I had the room, I'd do columns and there would be no issue. Trying to maximize the space with seats and because of the position of the front row, the column would be where the door is. I just don't like the look of speakers mounted on the wall, personal preference. I think in-walls and ceilings have come a long way. I know not everyone agrees. I really wanted to go Triads, but just can't justify the cost. I'm trying to get best bang for the buck on my limited budget, hence the Ascends, hence the surround issue.

Bud

Bud,

I have thoroughly enjoyed following the progress of your HT. Keep up the good work. :)

New HT,

Thanks for the compliment and welcome to the forum!

Bud

Hey Bud,

I see why you have no time to build the poker table!!! The work you are doing is truly inspiring!!!

Keep it up!!!

David

Yes Bud,

Your work is really motivating me to work on my HT!!

~Josh

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Been playing around with the IR stuff some this week, have had a time getting a bug out of the system. I've exchanged emails and phone calls with Larry Beach from Buffalo Electronics. I would post pictures on Fotki (where I post my photos to reference to here) and send Larry the links. Usually 5 minutes after sending my email, I get a phone call from Larry. He's a good guy. Anyway, I have one more thing I need to try today to resolve my issue. I can get my CD player to work remotely, but having my old receiver is not working remotely. We think it has to do with the frequency Kenwood uses. Once thats resolved, I can close up the wall in the bathroom (where the remote shares the wall with the bar, no I don't have a remote-controlled toilet or anything). I have a guy coming out on Saturday to give me an estimate on mudding and IF I use this guy, I want him to do as much as possible, which means getting the outstanding drywall done (not much left though). I plan on completing the soffits in the gameroom and bar area this weekend and possibly the ceiling in the storage room.

Baseball practice starts this weekend for my son, so I'm glad I've gotten as far along as I did, I think things will start to slow down some.

Bud

If I had the room, I'd do columns and there would be no issue. Trying to maximize the space with seats and because of the position of the front row, the column would be where the door is. I just don't like the look of speakers mounted on the wall, personal preference. I think in-walls and ceilings have come a long way.

Bud

from your layout a few posts above, it looks like there might be a spot for in-walls for the sides right where the riser starts. to the right of the entrance and to the left of the back window.

Rich,

Thanks for the post. If you were referring to the diagram, that window is not exactly in the correct position in the diagram. Its more left than shown. So if you were to put a side surround there, the only place to put the opposite surround is above the door. I think if I had to go above the door, I might as well use the in-ceilings that pivot. With the soffit, there's only about 8 -10 inches in height to play with (due to framing, door trim, crown). To get that surround by the entrance to be at the same distance form the front of the room, I'd have have to move it forward in front of the door at about 8-9 feet and move the seats forward a few feet (and probably shrink the screen down some since it'll be closer).

Well, I was able to get my IR stuff working. I need to play with it some more, I only have on receiver hooked up now, but I'm pretty sure I got it resolved. Need to send Larry an email.

Bud

Bud,

Are you going with In-Wall Speakers for your HT? If so, what type?

~Josh

Bud,

Are you going with In-Wall Speakers for your HT? If so, what type?

~Josh

Beatboy77, see the quote below. ;)

I thought I'd move this here instead of Jerrod's thread, particularly about the Ascend speakers I'll be going with. What I posted orginally over there:

I'm going with the Ascend 340s in the front. I haven't bought them yet. Because my side surrounds are in a weird location (above the door) and the fact that I didn't want columns, I'm putting in in-ceilings for the side surrounds. I just decided to match the rear surrounds as well, instead of going with in-walls or on-walls. I did a little investigation (including talking to Ascend) and Ascend recommends the S622TRs (http://www.sonance.com/subs/product_details.php?product_id=311) to match the Ascends. I ordered two pair last week from two different companies and one arrived today. They'll fit perfectly where I need them in the side soffit. Also, the in-ceilings that I put in the bar/gameroom are Hometech, which apparently are also made by Sonance. Anyway, they're pretty reasonable for surrounds. I plan on getting the Ascends in the not so distant future, when I have the cash. In the meantime I'll start building my proscenium and stage using the Ascend dimensions published in mind and adding some for flexibility or change of mind later.

Here's the Sonance site (http://www.sonance.com/subs/products.php?category_id=1)

Bud

Craig, you're quick!

Josh, only for the surrounds. See the links in the other post for links. The Ascends can be found at the Ascend Acoustics (http://www.ascendacoustics.com/) site.

Bud

I had a mud estimate today. He wanted 2300.00 (then he came down to 2150.00) for mudding the basement and only the ceiling in the HT room. He said I saved about 700.00 doing drywall myself, but mud would cost more than I thought because I used 8 foot sheets instead of 12 foot which requires additional labor for the extra seams. He also said that if I had them do the whole basement, including the drywall it would have cost about 3800.00. That close to what my neighbor paid. His number included mud, corner beads sanding and cleanup. I may get another estimate, but looks like I'll be doing it myself. Wouldn't be the first time. Granted if I had the cash on hand, I still would have probably done it myself. I figure I'll save another 1800.00 by doing it myself. It may take a month or more, but hey, I've got time. I'll have to post a picture of me on my stilts!

Bud

That quote definitely seems on the high side... Doesn't make any sense to have the drywall hanging 1/2 the price of the mud job... It would have cost a lot more than $700 more if he did it. Since it's already done, he raised the price for the mud only, is my guess.

The mudding part is the nasty part by far, not the actual mudding but the sanding, mudding, sanding final coat mudding, sanding ARRRRGGhhhh but I thought you were going GOM , why not just Fire tape and save about $1200?

Mark,

I am going with GOM, that cost only included the ceiling in the HT room! The rest is the gameroom/ bathroom/ bar area/ concession/equipment area and the and a small area at the bottom of the stairs. I guess they go by the number of boards, which he estimates is 80, which is almost right and may be actually low.

Tim,

I think the other piece that adds in there is a factor for all my damn soffits, since its extra outer corners. Not sure how much of a factor that would be though in the price.

Bud

I think the other piece that adds in there is a factor for all my damn soffits, since its extra outer corners. Not sure how much of a factor that would be though in the price.
Good point -- inside and outside corners are the most time consuming process. It still seems a bit high, though... oh well, if you're going to be doing it yourself, enjoy the savings you'll make! It's a good excuse to get slightly better equipment.. :)

Made pretty good progress today on the soffits in the gameroom. Probably another two-three hours to finish them up. I also added the last panel in the HT room and moved two of the cans in my storage room as well as carry down the remaining drywall. I also put my saws away and cleaned up my workshop some. Next thing for me is to finish the soffits, tape and mud the interior of the equipment closet, finish the IR setup, put up concrete board around the tub and finish the drywall in the bathroom. After that, I'll be tapin' and muddin'.

Bud

Looks great, I like the rack.

Ronnie

Ronnie,

Thanks and welcome.

Bud

Bud,

I have been following your progress for awhile now. It's looking really nice.

I will be happy if mine HT comes out half as nice as yours.

William

Hey Sportrac, thanks and welcome. Although it's gone by like a blurr, it seems to be taking forever. I've got a ways to go. Good luck with yours. Tucker is on the east side of Atlanta, out I20?

Bud

Actually it is close to where 85 and 285 cross on the north side.

Sportrac, Got it, thats right.

All,

Well, mud has begun. I just got back upstairs from the basement and did all the seams in the HT room. Still need to do all the corners, but will get to it.

Ahhh, the fun is just starting. Pictures to follow.

Bud

Here are a few pictures of the HT room with some mud. Most of the seams have one coat, as do the butt joints. The screw heads have two coats. I used fiberglass tape on the joints. I did one seam in the equipment closet with the regular tape (mud first, then tape) and said "forget that". I'd rather have the adhesive on the mess tape and the re-enforced joints, especially on the ceilings. I plan on using this tape/metal corners for the inside and outside corners. I used the outer corner ones last time and they work pretty well. I'm going to try the inside corners this time. They come in 16 foot lengths and I did not have the right car to bring them home last time I was at HD, otherwise I would have started them too. Here is some info on these type of tape-on corner beads. I don't think these are the ones that HD carries, I don't remember the name, although USG makes one called BEADEX, so my guess is its theirs. Anyway, gives you an idea as to what I'll be using: http://www.dietrichindustries.com/products/pdf/catalog_170-178.pdf

You'll notice that I have not covered the windows yet. I need a few more sheets of drywall. I actually may use green board if I have some left over from the bathroom. I also have a plan in my head for the proscenium/stage. Once I take some measurements, I'll be able to finalize my plans and finish the front soffit and the side soffits. The rear soffit I'll probably do last.

Here is the front wall:
http://images40.fotki.com/v1339/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2358-vi.jpg

Here is the backwall:
http://images12.fotki.com/v213/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2359-vi.jpg

Here is the ceiling:
http://images12.fotki.com/v211/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2360-vi.jpg

Bud

Looks like you and I are on the same page except I got lazy and had a friend come and save me the headache, those pros are amazing , 1 day rock 4 hours fire tape

Looks like you and I are on the same page...

Mark,

Thanks, but not exactly. I'm working on a home theater, you're working on the Palace Theater in your home. Just saw your status, simply amazing. Can't wait to see yours done, forget mine!

Bud

Bud,
Not my home, well sort of since the actual owner is never here but this is on a horse ranch my wife and I manage. After remodeling our home on the ranch the owner asked if I wanted to " tackle" his Home Theater hes been waiting years to build until he found someone as mentally sick as he was to tackle the abomination.

I am enjoying almost every second of it since I am designing on the fly with his input or shall I say " Thats sounds mental, go for it" approval.

My dedicated HT will start this winter after I am done "practicing" on his.

We are looking like we are on the same page in progress and I hope you stay a little ahead so I can learn from you, I like the detailed progress reports like yours

Finished the underneath portion of the soffits yesterday and tossed out a bunch of drywall scraps. Had some time this morning before baseball and taped some of the seams in the gameroom and bar.

http://images12.fotki.com/v214/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2415-vi.jpg
http://images12.fotki.com/v212/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2416-vi.jpg

I'll finish the drywall in the bathroom next Saturday and Saturday night we're doing a "Movie Under the Stars" and a barbeque here. Sunday is golf and a night out with the boys, Labor Day, more mud and tape.

Guess I better fix the date on that camera, as well!!!

Bud

Nice. You are coming along nicely :) Keep going. :)

Bud,
Not my home, well sort of since the actual owner is never here but this is on a horse ranch my wife and I manage. After remodeling our home on the ranch the owner asked if I wanted to " tackle" his Home Theater hes been waiting years to build until he found someone as mentally sick as he was to tackle the abomination.

I am enjoying almost every second of it since I am designing on the fly with his input or shall I say " Thats sounds mental, go for it" approval.

My dedicated HT will start this winter after I am done "practicing" on his.

We are looking like we are on the same page in progress and I hope you stay a little ahead so I can learn from you, I like the detailed progress reports like yours

Geez, well I guess this is great way to practice in preparation for your own HT. Pretty cool, I hope he's paying you for it!

Bud

Saturday night we're doing a BBQ and having a movie night for the neighborhood. I'll spend Saturday afternoon setting things up and will take pictures. I'll post a few here.

Here are the tickets I made with the Excel ticket maker MikeWh posted in this thread. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=441835) Works great!!

http://images12.fotki.com/v216/photos/6/649633/2596582/GarfieldTicket1-vi.gif
http://images12.fotki.com/v216/photos/6/649633/2596582/Lemony-vi.gif

Enjoy your holiday!

Bud

So what's your plan for handing out the tickets? When do you give them to the guests? Also, where are you going to show the movie? Those tickets are pretty cool! I haven't noticed that program yet (though I don't have a need for it yet, either...)

My wife made up a flyer and imported the tickets, so we're just handing out the flyers to the neighbors, includes all the relevant info, time to arrive, what to bring, etc. We did these last year. I have a screen I built out of PVC and a sheet we hang off the back deck and we take all the furniture on the deck and bring it down in the yard.

Last time we played Shrek and every time someone said "Donkey", the men had to drink. Made for an interesting evening!

Bud

I love following threads like this. I'm jealous as hell; this is a beautiful project you have here!

Keep those pictures coming, I can't get enough.

OnlyOne,

Thanks dude!

All,

Bought and installed a few inside corners today. Also picked up two more buckets of mud. I just finished one so far, believe it or not, but I have not started the ceiling yet. Seams use more than you think. The inside and outside corner tape (with metal) that I mentioned a few threads ago from HD are actually USG and are 10 feet long. They're pretty easy to install. First you need to cut them to length. You then mud the corners on both sides about two-three inches. You insert the corner and press it in place, then go over the corner with a mud knife (the inside corner one works well). This will make it adhere to the corner. You can then take a mud knife and run it along the sides to pick up all the extra mud. I then put one layer of mud on one side of the corner. When it dries enough, I'll do the other side and keep alternating until its done. Here are some pictures of the corners uninstalled (inside and out) and installed with one layer of mud.

The inside corners have smaller widths. The other corners have a lot more tape to them. If you look close, you can see the metal on the bottom pieces.
http://images46.fotki.com/v1442/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2417-vi.jpg

Here is one installed by the bar, with one coat of mud on the left side (and still wet). These are pretty easy to work with and give the corner some strength. I probably won't use these on the ceilings because I plan on crown everywhere. I will probably use these on the HT room ceiling since I don't plan on crown in that room.
http://images47.fotki.com/v1400/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2419-vi.jpg

EDIT: Here is another picture of an outside corner. The right side has been mudded. The mud looks wider on the top because I had a vertical seam there and thats been mudded as well.
http://images12.fotki.com/v216/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2421-vi.jpg

Bud

Appreciate the behind the scenes tips Bud. Very helpful, any thing I can learn by watching. You can't imagine how surprised I was to discover that a brad nailer was smaller than a finish nailer. To my untrained ears a finish nailer sounded like the small job device. Wasted two Sundays on my living room trim project (faux wainscoating, finishing up this weekend) because I kept splitting the wood using nails that were too big.

Home-ownership is an adventure.

Dave,

No problem. I'm sure people do things different, but these corners are great. Maybe it'll help someone else out. I have a brad nailer, wouldn't want to do trim without it. I'll start that adventure in the not so distant future. I actually enjoy the trim work (helps when you have a compound mitre, brad nailer and compressor though). Crown on the other hand is a pain in the butt, but I'll get through it in due time.

Bud

chinadog,

Question for you. I see your outlets flush with the sheetrock. if you are using GOM or some other fabric on the walls, and you put furring strips up first (guessing you would be doing this) to staple to, won't the outlets be too far behind the GOM to use? Don't the outlet boxes need to be sticking out of the wall 3/4 to 1 inch?

I know this is a far out question with many assumptions, but I thought I'd bring it up to hear what you plan to do with the GOM and the outlets.

gary

Hey Gary,

Actually, the boxes are the Carlton adjustable type you get at Big Orange. They were only recessed while I got the drywall up. I've adjusted most of them already in the HT room, but haven't gotten to them all. I do plan on GOM and will build boxes for around the switches to give me something to staple to.

A few pictures:

http://images109.fotki.com/v771/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2423-vi.jpg
http://images116.fotki.com/v714/photos/6/649633/2373380/DCP_2422-vi.jpg

Bud

"Carlton adjustable type you get at Big Orange"

Cool - that is good to know. I probably should return all the regular boxes I bought at HD.

But what is the Carlton Adj type from Big Orange? They got one of those in NJ?

Never heard of those....

Gary

Gary,

I may be wrong, but I believe that "Big Orange" is a reference to HD's trademark color. I think you'll just be doing an exchange, not returning and going to another store.

Bud,

Looking good, your basement is one of my favorite threads, it's an inspiration for the day I start building a whole house with a basement all about good times. I think I need some money and land first, but I'm not sure ;)

Good luck with your outdoor theater Saturday... Do you burn the intro Reaper helped everyone out with to a disk and use it for your outdoor theater nights? That would be cool.

Later,
Brian

Gary,

Brian is correct. Sorry for the confusion. Big Orange or Big Orange Box is a direct reference to Home Depot. And my apologies, they're Carlon, not Carlton. See pictures below.

Brian,

Thanks! I'm amazed by the number of people that follow it, I'm glad people are enjoying it or getting something out it. I have not burned the DVD yet, but will try it today. A few threads ago I said I canceled that laptop I bought, but then reordered it after a second hard drive crashed. I didn't have a DVD burner before, but I do now. ;) I'll have to run to Staples and pick up some blank DVDs on the way back from Home Depot. Going to be a busy day setting up.

Carlon boxes:

http://www.carlon.com/gallery/albums/Zip%20Box%20Blue%20Outlet%20and%20Switch%20Boxes/B234ADJ.jpghttp://www.carlon.com/gallery/albums/Zip%20Box%20Blue%20Outlet%20and%20Switch%20Boxes/B121ADJ.jpg

Info on the Carlon site (http://www.carlon.com/scripts/emAlbum.cgi?cmd=show_thumbs&path=Zip%20Box%20Blue%20Outlet%20and%20Switch%20Boxes&tn=1) and the sites main page (http://www.carlon.com/Index.html)

Bud

Do you know how you going to GOM your recessed Can lights yet? Are you using a track system or just using shims with valances?

Mark,

I'll probably build frames out of 1/2 inch plywood (two pieces together). I'll make a square, then cut out a circle and secure. At least thats what I'm thinking at this point.

Bud

For tonights show, you could always run the whole thing from the laptop instead of a DVD player, then you wouldn't have to burn the disk.

Enjoy your movie night,
Brian

great info chinadog. I am in the proces of building my basement. I framed all of the basement except the theater. starting on that now.

Brian / Bud - got it thanks. I will switch to them. I feel like such a tart. Should have got the Big Orange reference. Thanks guys...

Also - saw the post about GOM and the cans. You putting GOM on the ceiling as well (assuming thats the cans he's talking about)? I thought GOM is just for walls. Learn something every day.

Gary

Gary,

Just the soffits. Not the main ceiling. I'll be covering the soffits in linacoustic, so therefore the GOM.

Brian,

Just didn't get the opportunity to do it and forgot! I was rushing up until the last minute getting things organized and people started showing up, so I ended up just forgetting about it. You're right though, I should have done the laptop thing, did that last time.

Larry,

Thanks and good luck, Looking forward to YOUR thread!

Bud

Well, we pulled it off. As I mentioned above, I was scrambling today. Did some mud in the AM including some outside soffit corners, then had to stop and cut the grass. After that, I needed to make a new screen. I was running out of time, so I ended up doing it in one inch PVC and a painters drop cloth. It worked, but I really wanted to build a wood frame. We had a full house for the first movie, but it was just my family for the second. We just wrapped up.

Here are a few pictures of this evening. The screen was 8 feet by 14 feet, but we did not fill the whole screen. I threw in Nemo to check the colors, but ended up watching what we said we would. The screen had a few wrinkles when I opened it, so I used my wifes steam cleaning thingie and for the most part, it worked well. I had two seams in the cloth, but they were not noticeable. In fact you could not see any wrinkles. I added rope light to the tent, worked out great as well.

http://images109.fotki.com/v771/photos/6/649633/2596582/DCP_2430-vi.jpg
http://images26.fotki.com/v893/photos/6/649633/2596582/DCP_2431-vi.jpg
http://images110.fotki.com/v575/photos/6/649633/2596582/DCP_2433-vi.jpg
http://images116.fotki.com/v713/photos/6/649633/2596582/DCP_2445-vi.jpg
http://images109.fotki.com/v772/photos/6/649633/2596582/DCP_2447-vi.jpg

Next time, I'll build a wooden frame and staple the cloth on, then paint it ceiling white.

Bud

Bud,
Glad your evening was a success. Looks like you have a great house and yard out there. That's an impressive porch too. Too bad about the intro and stuff, but if you did everything all-out the first time then what would you do to impress everybody later. This way it builds and you will never cease to amaze your friends and family. That's how you keep 'em coming back. "What do you think he'll do this time?", always keep them guessing.

Congratulations on your theater under the stars (no fiber-optics necessary.)

Later,
Brian

Nice looking place. I gotta move south. . .

Thanks guys, we've been there just two years now. You do get a lot for your money. I grew up in CT, but coming to this area is like doubling your income. You still get a lot for the money, even with the prices of homes creeping up.

Bud

Nice job, Bud!! :)

Randy

Thanks Randy!

Bud...

Did you project front the back side of the painters cloth, or is the projector sitting outside?! I think the picture looks really good!! Nice job!

-Sean

Sean,

Thanks. Projected on the front. The back has a support post for the deck as well as a support for the frame. The projector is sitting on a table, you can see it if you look close at the last picture. I was pretty amazed how well it looked, being so big and relative close, probably about 20 feet. I was also surprised you couldn't see the wrinkles in the screen.

Bud

Well, I did wanted to post some progress. I did some mud work over the weekend and took yesterday off to work in the basement as well. I now have the first coat on all my outside corners done on my soffits in the gameroom/bar, as well as all my interior corners (including where the wall and soffits meet). I also did a final coat on the horizontal seams, but still need one more coat on the butt joints. I still have the ceiling to do. I also did the second coat on all the butt joints in the HT room.

Coming slowly, but its coming. I'll probably hold off any additional work until the end of the week.

Bud

Hey Bud!

I know I need to swing by to check out your setup. Unfortunately have spent the last month out on the west coast. Looks like you are coming along nicely - ah the advantages of working from a "remote location!"

Got a new beamer for you to try - this one will really spoil you! Hopefully we can get together within the next few weeks.

Ben

Ben,

Give me a shout, always here. Looking forward to hooking up.

Bud

regarding outside movie watching

here is a link for an inflatable
http://www.summercinema.com/

Well, I did wanted to post some progress. I did some mud work over the weekend and took yesterday off to work in the basement as well. I now have the first coat on all my outside corners done on my soffits in the gameroom/bar, as well as all my interior corners (including where the wall and soffits meet). I also did a final coat on the horizontal seams, but still need one more coat on the butt joints. I still have the ceiling to do. I also did the second coat on all the butt joints in the HT room.

Coming slowly, but its coming. I'll probably hold off any additional work until the end of the week.

Bud

Bud... you are da man for tackling drywall mudding.
It’s a tough skill to master.
You might think you are coming along slowly, but for the rest of us... at least for me anyway, you are moving right along. Keep it going.


Craig

Larry,

Pretty cool. I've seen a variation of that, but that looks pretty nice. I bet it's not cheap.

Craig,

If I had a block of time I could probably use the fast drying mud and get it done quicker. Unfortunately, I usually only have a few hours here or there so I'll mud one side of inside corner, then do a different corner, mud a seam and use whatever mud is left on the knife to cover some screw holes. I feel like I'm bouncing around the room a lot and not getting one thing done at a time. You have to be patient with this stuff as well, if you rush it, makes a mess and thats more sanding later.

On top of the squeeze for time now, I'm considering seriously switching jobs and/or companies. I'm not sure how that'll impact my progress, but would expect that I'll have even less time. I've got some tough decisions to make.

Bud

Hey Bud,

Question for you...

I was looking at your drywall hanging photos and it looks like you wired up all of your switches and outlets prior to hanging the drywall. I had always thought I'd do that after drywall -- I guess because that's the way the electricians did it when they built our house -- but now that I think about it, it seems perfectly logical to hook up what you can beforehand. Especially if you're not an electrician and you just want to make sure some things work before covering the walls!!!

But that raises a question for me. Did you cut the switch and outlet holes in place with a rotozip or something? Seems like it would be pretty easy to mess up an outlet or switch with a rotozip -- at least if I was the one doing it. :) Or did you do more of the measure, then cut, then hang method?

I know what you mean about bouncing around. It's much easier to find yourself doing that when you're finishing an enitre basement like the 2 of us are. I need to update my thread, but have been re-pulling all my coax and Cat 5, and building soffits. Nothing much in the theater though.

Looks good Bud!

Steve,

Good find and good question. Glad you brought it up. Yes, normally thats the case and you usually do the rough in electrical work then drywall then put in all the switches and outlets later. Since my father-in-law did all the electrical work and lives 1000 miles away, it was just easier to do it that way than having to make two trips. This way you can actually use the outlets and switches as well, plus we know everything works prior to the drywall going up. It allowed me to play around with where I wanted the switches, cans, etc. In the early pictures I had sconces in the HT room and later removed them. I also moved a bunch of cans several times and changed out positions of some outlets and switches a few times. It allows you to get a feel for how things are laid out without having to wait for the drywall to go up (too late then anyway).

A few things to point out. First, as you eluded to, you can't just stick a rotozip tool in there and carve out the box once the drywall goes up. This is a preference thing though. I prefer to measure and cut with a dywall saw and razor knife. The rotozip (I have a Dremel with a drywall bit) gets pretty messy with all the dust. I only used my Dremel when I had to. Same with the cans, I measured the outer edges, drew the box, found the center of the square and used a circle tool/drywall saw to cut it out. I tried the lipstick trick, but preferred to do it this way (and didn't want to ruin all my lipstick, er.. my wife's lipstick... yeah, thats the ticket).

We also took off those little "ears" on the top and bottom of all the outlets and most of the switches were we could. These little ears extend past the basic box size and are a pain in the ass because they get in the way of the drywall when you're putting it on the wall and you have to trim the drywall for them. By removing the four ears (not the center ones) you can slap the drywall up with the outlet/switch in place pretty easily. The dimmers that were installed had to be unscrewed from box and pulled through the hole then rescrewed back in the box since those particular (rocker type) dimmers have "fins" for heat dispersement and extend past the outside of the switch box. The wires were not removed from the dimmer, the outlet just hung out out of the box an inch or two just until the drywall went up. Electricians please chime in here, but I believe those ears were used when plaster walls were popular and are not really needed, although the give some support of the switch/outlet againest the drywall. The ears have a little line across them and with a few bends using a plier, then pop right off.

Of course, you probably want to turn the power off to that circuit in the area you're drywalling so you don't put a screw through a live wire. I didn't, but its probably a smart thing to do.

Bud

Jerrod,

Yeah, its funny. Its like organized chaos sometimes. I hate redundant stuff, so this allows me to shake things up a little. Of course it seems to take longer to complete one thing. It'll all come together in the end!

Bud

Bud,

Thanks for the explanation. I might just try that method myself, assuming I hang my own drywall. I'm not sure if I want to tackle that or not, but I'm a pretty staunch DIYer most of the time and will probably at least give it a shot before hiring out.

Jerrod,

You can count me in on the whole-basement-finishing crowd as well. I think I've been saying that I'm about 90% done with framing for about a month now. But it's really those last few details that eat your time. Soffits, nailers, short little walls that you put off for various reasons -- it all adds up! I can't wait to complete framing and move on. I have some central vac rough in to do first, then it's on to electrical!

Bud,
Thanks for the explanation. I might just try that method myself, assuming I hang my own drywall. I'm not sure if I want to tackle that or not, but I'm a pretty staunch DIYer most of the time and will probably at least give it a shot before hiring out.

Steve,

Get yourself a lift if you plan on doing it. I could not have done it without it. Are you planning on attempting the mud?

Bud

Bud,

My original thought was to hang it myself and then hire someone to do the mud. But some people have warned me that that's not the best plan since many finishers would rather not work on someone else's hanging job. I'm not sure if that's really the case or not, so I'll probably just get some estimates both ways and see for myself.

Steve,

I think thats the case for the most part. They ding you on just the mud job because "they would have used 12 foot sheets" or "you have too many seams". The way I looked at it was that it saved me quite a bit, but it'll just take a lot longer (crew of one -> me, with a little help from my old man). If you have the time, its not a big deal... a little messy, but doable.

Bud

Bud,

It seems drywall lifts are readily available on ebay for the same as you paid. I just checked rental rates and they're not too bad, $54/wk or $162/(4 wks), but using the normal rule of thumb that it always takes me twice as long as I originally plan for, I will certainly save by just buying my own and reselling it when I'm done.

So, my question is, using the drywall lift is it really a one man job? I'm thinking of just getting one, but it has to be doable by myself alone because most likely I won't have any help.

Instead of cutting the ears off outlets and such you can always leave them un-screwed and stick them horizontily in the box when sheetrocking and mudding, just becareful not to touch the sides is all,

Watching the pros do my latest project I learned ALOT. I have odds and ends sheetrocking to do like behind the screen (done) and other odd and ends and my friend introduced me to hot mud, dries in 45 minutes and really speeds things up without cracking and the Loooooong mud drying waits. he taped and mudded my equiptment room to a finished room in 2 hours ( about 30 minutes of actual work using 20 minute mud on finish top coat)

I tried it behind the screen wall and was really impressed with the speed after a little practice, mixing it seems the hardest step.

I am certainly in the roto-zip club instead of sawing, I can usually get my son or wife to hold the wet-dry vac hose close to the cutting area if I want to stay spotless

Steve,

For the most part, you can do 90% yourself. If you can pick up an 8 foot sheet by yourself, you can pretty much do it yourself. You just need to put it on the lift. My father helped me with the small pieces around the soffits because it was easy to do small pieces without the lift and he was eager to help. Also, I have someone who is going to buy the lift from me (meeting him next weekend as a matter of fact), so you can recoup some of the costs of the lift and you have it as long as you need it.

Mark,

True on the ears. I have small kids (4 and 5) and I didn't want all them hanging out, just in case. Under different circumstances, I would have done it that way probably.

I was aware of the fast drying mud, but was concerned that it dried too quick. For my skills, its probably ok to use for small things, but for larger areas, I'll stick with the regular mud. If I were on some time crunch and needed to do it in a few days or a week, its a good option. I don't usually have more than a few hours here or there and maybe a day on the weekend if I'm lucky, therefore the drytime is not a big deal.

The other problem I had with the Dremel was "wandering". Sometimes I'm not actually up against the box or can and I end up going off on a tangent. I did use the Dremel for windows and doors though. I would just put up the drywall over the area and then cut out the opening. Still had some wandering problems, but used a rasp to clean up the edges.

Bud

All,

Monday was a very tragic day here. I don't want to put a damper on this thread and actually discuss the event here, but want to let you know that I'll be taking some time off from the basement to spend some more time with the family, neighbors and friends. Rest assured though, I'll be back.

For those metro Atlanta people that read the AJC or watch the news, you probably heard of the carjacking/cement truck accident. Kim, the victim, was our neighbor and our friend, our sons go to school and play together. My wife would babysit for their two year old. Kim was here last weekend and her husband and daughter are pictured in the last photo of my movie-night post. We're all shocked and saddened by the event that occurred and really puts things in perspective. We'll miss her and our hearts go out to her family. As I sit here typing this, I can see her house and the visits from family members, neighbors and friends. They are also fellow HT enthusiasts and completed their HT and basement last fall.

As for Shawn Roberts, he is also a resident here in our subdivision. I don't know Shawn, but plan on trying to meet him at some point and shake his hand for what he did for Kim.

For those others outside of ATL, here are a few links about what happened.

Carjacker, Victim Killed in Cobb (http://www.11alive.com/help/search/search_article.aspx?storyid=69104)
Police ID Dead Cobb Carjacker (http://www.11alive.com/help/search/search_article.aspx?storyid=69194)
Carjacking Victim Laid to Rest (http://www.11alive.com/help/search/search_article.aspx?storyid=69341)
Carjacking Victim's Family Mourns (http://www.11alive.com/help/search/search_article.aspx?storyid=69354)
Police:Carjacker Linked to Rape (http://www.11alive.com/help/search/search_article.aspx?storyid=69377)
Carjacking Widower Goes to Capitol (http://www.11alive.com/help/search/search_article.aspx?storyid=69661)
Accomplishments This 2006 Legislative Session (http://www.kimberlyboydlegacy.org/news.html)
Bridge Dedicated to Slain Mother (http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=80713)

Talk to you guys soon.

Bud

EDIT: I updated these links as information became available.