By the way which one is the low dust mud? Does HD carry it ?

This is the low dust drywall mud (http://www.usg.com/navigate.do?resource=/USG_Marketing_Content/usg.com/web_files/products/prod_details/Sheetrock_Brand_Lightweight_All_Purpose_Plus_3_with_Dust_Con trol-Page.htm) that jikkjack pointed out. HD carries it at like $12 for a big fat bucket.

The smell that it does have is far from unpleasant. I wouldn't smear it down my shorts or anything, but it's not bad.

HA HA! Wait until it is smeared everywhere in the room and drying...then you will see. It just doesn't have that new house drywall mud smell like the green cap. Oh - and bring the wife in for a second opinion if you dare... :D And if you are really brave, try to smear some on the wife. :cool: ;)

I've used the setting type 45 minute joint compound and it smells different than the All-Purpose. Not a foul smell, but different.


This is the low dust drywall mud that jikkjack pointed out. HD carries it at like $12 for a big fat bucket.

Thanks. I'll look for it today. I've never noticed it at HD before.

I use that low dust mud as well. Makes clean-up a lot easier. Sometimes I just attached a wide hard-floor type wand to the vacuum hose, place it facing up under the spot I'm sanding (for small projects) and have the vacuum run while sanding.

The only downside is that it does take a while to dry if you are filling a deeper hole. Generally I do an initial cover, and then come back in a couple of hours after the mud has started to pucker into the hole and do a second coat. Then it take a day before coming back to sand.

Hmmmm .....I used the low dust stuff too. But still ended up with loads of dust. Beyond me how you can not create dust if you sanding it.

I hate mudding/taping/sanding too.....worse part of the whole experience. Actually the only thing I can say I hated. Ended up taking 2-weeks of the build so my back could recover.


Good Luck.

Cheers,
Mark

Ditto on the loathing of drywall finishing! I hung all the drywall for my theater and the entire basement did the taping and first coat of mud. I started one seam for the second coat and decided to through in the towel. I got someone else to come in and complete the finishing work for the most part. If I had to do over again I would just plan on contracting out the drywall finishing from day 1.

If I had to do over again I would just plan on contracting out the drywall finishing from day 1.

Ditto. I hung and mudded it once just to experience it. It will be the last time I do it ! :D

Ditto. I hung and mudded it once just to experience it. It will be the last time I do it ! :D

Amen to that, I'll hang it, but im paying a contractor to tape and mud it...

So, my hole cutting talents aren't quite up to snuff. In fact, they suck. This is what I've managed to deal myself...

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20070324/DSC00001.JPG


Any ideas for how to deal with this? Do I just mud over the gap and stop worrying about just how unfathomably shoddy my workmanship is?


Oh, and yes I know there's an $8 hole cutting tool at Home Depot. I saw it only after all the holes were cut. Yes, there are about half a dozen other holes just as subpar this one. This is just the merely first one I get to reconcile.

Here is my technique for dealing with the extra large hole. Warning: this is solely a technique created by me. It is not based on any scientific merit of true construction knowledge.

1) Since sound isolation is somewhat of a concern (thus, the gg and multiple layers of drywall). I started by squirting some acoustic caulk into the cracks.
2) Now you have pretty large cracks, so the caulk will not want to stay in there very well, so next I took a paper towel and squirted acoustic caulk into it. I rolled the paper towel into a soggy hotdog shape. It was sort of the consistency of playdoe (sp?). I then pressed this into the gaps. It really squishes in nicely to fill the crevices. This is sort of a poor man's flexible backer rod.
3) After the aforementioned dries, I put another layer of caulk. This layer bonds a lot nicer since you have created a backing with step number 2.
4) Now, when mudding, I just fill any remaining crevice. Sand and paint.
5) Oh yeah, get light fixtures/sconces that have a big baseplate to cover everything that was done in step 1 thru 4.

Anyway, that is one simple man's technique.

How bigs your light fixtures? I find most light fixtures will fix that hole all on there own, and U can just mud by the 2x4 there to close the circumference, its not to bad at all.

How bigs your light fixtures? I find most light fixtures will fix that hole all on there own, and U can just mud by the 2x4 there to close the circumference, its not to bad at all.

This is the other light that's over the stairs, with what I think will be the final choice for lighting. It was most economical.
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20070324/DSC00002.JPG

Note how in this case you can see a bit of the blue light mount poking through. This was one of my better drywall cutting jobs. Now, in case MrsGeek protests (and I suspect that she may), there are some other options that are all within the genre of an inverted dome with a nipple on them. It's daunting to me that Hustler and other fine periodicals of similar subject matter have not yet marketed a more specific lighting offering. Here's such an example. (http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=170547-76226-LC0413RB&lpage=none) It's a bit pricey, but I think we can make room in the budget for a pair of these.

Anyway, if MrsGeek twists my arm and has her way, then the replacement illuminator will likely cover the hole. I'm not entirely worried about getting it to look right. I'm more about getting a seal on the hole than it looking good. The Unreasonable Quantity of Mud Technique seems to be the way to go, especially that I've got so damn much of the stuff. I'm almost done mudding and I've barely dented the bucket.

I guess I was really just curious if there was any special consideration given that it's electrical.

There are two options that you have as far as I can tell. One is to use a setting-type mud compound. The one that comes in a powder in a paper bag that you mix up and typically have 90 minutes to apply. You can span gaps up to 1.5" IIRC. Regular mud doesn't have the internal strength to maintain its strength and shape with that wide of a gap.

Another options is to create a large rectangular hole around it, that spans to each stud, and recut the box hole in the middle to the right size, so you only have to deal with mudding four seams, which you can use standard mud for and would be a little easier. But the time involved is probably the same.

If the edge of the oversized-hole is visible when the fixture is up, I would mud it and use paper tape (4 pieces-- make a square).

The tape can overhang the box and you trim it off later.

I believe that if you do not use the tape, a crack will form between the edge of the drywall and the mud used to fill the hole.

Of course, if the finish fixture will hide the hole, just caulk it.

Good luck,

Tim

Take a very small piece of drywall screw it into that 2x4 to cover that 1/3 of a circle, the rest of it, just mud it.

Mud is the best stuff ever, just do it in layers and let it dry, you can keep sanding it to get the finish you want, I believe with the leftover hole you will be fine.

You can get an el cheapo fixture at big blue or big orange for < $20 that will make that hole disappear, no worries mate.

I just crammed it full of mud and called it quits. The only kind of fixture that won't cover the mess would be a hanging fixture, and it seems very unlikely that I'll use a hanging fixture for this application.

you know i love you, so take this as constructive criticism, your mudding absolutely sucks if this picture is accurate. You are going to waste your life sanding that garbage.

You need to make your joints about 3x wider than this (12 inch knife, 1st coat is to set the tape, 2nd coat skims the first, and goes out another 6 inches on each side (24" joint). 3'rd coat skims it all/feathers all edges). between coats knock down any ridges with the knife (try to have very few).....there should be little or no sanding.

the joint in this pic is so bad, that you will not want to finish the theater if the whole room is mudded like that, i'm trying to avert disaster.

edit: search the web or watch high end home shows for examples of "high end" drywall finishing, on an 8x4 sheet or 12x4 sheet only about 25% of the original wallboard is visible, the rest is covered with mud because of the 24" joints!

This is the other light that's over the stairs, with what I think will be the final choice for lighting. It was most economical.
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20070324/DSC00002.JPG

Note how in this case you can see a bit of the blue light mount poking through. This was one of my better drywall cutting jobs. Now, in case MrsGeek protests (and I suspect that she may), there are some other options that are all within the genre of an inverted dome with a nipple on them. It's daunting to me that Hustler and other fine periodicals of similar subject matter have not yet marketed a more specific lighting offering. Here's such an example. (http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=170547-76226-LC0413RB&lpage=none) It's a bit pricey, but I think we can make room in the budget for a pair of these.

Anyway, if MrsGeek twists my arm and has her way, then the replacement illuminator will likely cover the hole. I'm not entirely worried about getting it to look right. I'm more about getting a seal on the hole than it looking good. The Unreasonable Quantity of Mud Technique seems to be the way to go, especially that I've got so damn much of the stuff. I'm almost done mudding and I've barely dented the bucket.

I guess I was really just curious if there was any special consideration given that it's electrical.

I concur with your recommendation of joint widths, etc. The best site I've seen for explaining drywall mudding is this one (http://www.drywallschool.com/protips.htm).

Most of the "mudders" in my side of town only do 24" on the non-recessed butt joints. The joints that meet both recessed edges only get 12" of mud, but I do agree with "longtimelurker" on his evaluation of your joints. :o


Yup Drywallschool.com has a very good eplanation on how to mud.

Oh, well it's a bit late now. Hmm... the entirety of my drywalling instruction was a 45 second web clip that showed joints that wide so that might have something to do with this. Oh, I also COMPLETELY suck at working with my hands.

The good news is that this is that over the stairs is the only place that is getting real drywall finishing. The rest will all be covered with fabric.

I concur with your recommendation of joint widths, etc. The best site I've seen for explaining drywall mudding is this one (http://www.drywallschool.com/protips.htm).

I agree. I used his site to learn Spanish knife texture when I was building our wine cellar. I'm *very* pleased with the results. :)

-drin

Poking around that site, they also seem to be using less viscous mud. I've been just applying the stuff straight as it comes out of the bucket. I'm starting to think this isn't right.

the joint in this pic is so bad, that you will not want to finish the theater if the whole room is mudded like that, i'm trying to avert disaster.

Ok, I just realized which joint you're finding to the be the really horrific one. I take it you're talking about the one that's towards the top in the picture. Yes, that one is a total nightmare. Because of a short bit of planning with the framing to deal with the HVAC ducting, that joint came out extra funky. Extra extra funky actually.

It's one piece of drywall lapped on top of another. The amount of fill in there is extraordinary. Given what I was dealing with, that came out beyond my expectations.

geek - you should not have to water down the dustless mud at all. the dustless mud is a little bit (35%) more dense than regular mud but takes less coats to finish.

trial and error - you will get it.

Sounds like you're enjoying your project about the same as I've enjoyed mine. Thank goodness it does come to an end!

FYI, crappy mudding job + one of these babies (http://www.oneplustools.com/sander/p400) = a decently smooth job when it's done. I'm sure I would flunk out of drywallschool.com, but it's all getting textured over, so I'm not all that worried about it. I'm sure the primer won't hurt either.

Seriously though, the sanding was a total joke. Moving the ladder and vacuuming took WAY more time than the actual sanding part. I don't know if it's the low dust stuff or not, but when I hit it with the sander, just about all the dust just fell straight to the floor. I take it the dust from the regular stuff kinda hangs in the air a bit?

There is going to be dust floating around, you just don't see it.

geek - you should not have to water down the dustless mud at all. the dustless mud is a little bit (35%) more dense than regular mud but takes less coats to finish.

trial and error - you will get it.

You're right on the dustless stuff also the light joint compound. Don't thin it with water. The texture changes dramatically and it seems to flake off and feels spongy.

Thin the All Purpose Joint compound (Green, Red and White bucket/box)

I don't know if it's the low dust stuff or not, but when I hit it with the sander, just about all the dust just fell straight to the floor. I take it the dust from the regular stuff kinda hangs in the air a bit?

Right. That is the beauty of the low dust mud. If that had been the green top regular mud...you would not have been able to see your hand 2 inches in front of your face. Think of a really good fog scene in a movie...kinda like that without the dust control mud.

Bueller, Bueller ?? Any updates ??

He's probably still sanding...

and sanding ......

and sanding .....

and sanding ....

:D

Oh no, the sanding was done in like 20 minutes. The problem is that I completely suck at the taping part. Most of it is bubbled. I'm going to have to pull it off and then redo it all. I can try blaming the low dust stuff for being not as gloppy, but I'm more than willing to accept the reality that I'm clueless and untalented.

For the next go at it, I'm going to use the fiberglass mesh tape instead. Seems like it would go better. Oh, and a much wider drywall scraper thing. I mostly used a 4" scraper. The folks on drywall school seem to use something about as wide as a Klingon weapon.

Anyway, having to redo all that is somewhat depressing and it's good enough for now. That can all wait until after the rest is done. The bigger thing for now was that I wanted to have that sealed. I've moved onto dealing with the inner surface of the staggered stud wall.

I ran all the conduit I need to run to support whatever speaker configuration I go with, the smoke detector is ironically back to pretty much the original location in the room after being somewhat nomadic, power is run to where power's gotta go.... (oh crap I just realized I forgot to run power to where the riser is gonna go... CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP gotta tear stuff apart), and I remembered to run conduit to the riser as well. Then insulation went over all that, and some drywall.

The general idea is to get the wall finished as far as sound isolation is concerned, mount the door, do what I gotta do there and then actually test the room for isolation. It won't be a great test because the windows aren't dealt with yet, however my worry right now in that department is that I might have to toss a layer of GG and drywall at the ceiling, which I really don't want to do. However, doing that after the riser and proscenium goes up would really stink.

good luck geek. you will make it, just part of the wonderful path of learning. was not the mud..you can be sure of that. :p

The narrowist knife you should use is a 6". Make sure you are using a spackling knife (flexes) versus a scraping knife (stiff).

Fiber tape is fine, if it will be covered. I've never seen a fiber joint that didn't crack a few years down the line.

Tim

Fiber tape is fine, if it will be covered. I've never seen a fiber joint that didn't crack a few years down the line.

Tim


You're not making me feel good here. By covered, I take it you mean with fabric and the like, as opposed to texture and paint.

While, we're at it... what the heck is the entire point of the tape anyway?

geek - the tape is there to eliminate cracks due to house settling (minor settling) or expanding and contracting with temperature changes. somehow - the tape magically fixes that problem but I don't know how.

geek -- If you do not apply enough mud to bed the tape or you have bare spots underneath the tape, the bare spots will create bubbles in your finish. You also need to be careful that you don't put too much excess pressure when bedding it in as that can cause bubbles too.

I usually use the fiber tape for the But joint seams - but you still need the paper tape for corners. I had good success using drywall tape adeshive instead of bedding in the mud.

Cheers,
Mark

... but you still need the paper tape for corners. ...

Cheers,
Mark


I found that the metal Corner bead is best for corners. Some people just fold the paper, but you can't beat the strength in the metal. ;)

Yeah definitely for external corners but not necessary for internal corners (or if being covered up). Those metel corners beeds start to add up.

I'll throw in my two cents.

I have a really old house that is on pier and beam. It shifts and settles CONSTANTLY. I've used fiber tape exclusively for everything that I've done and I've never had a crack. The oldest work is probably 4 years old and it is still looks perfect. So maybe there is a problem with fiber tape, but it could also just be a matter of installing it correctly.

edit: I shouldn't say everything. Like another poster said, external corners get metal, always. I've actually been successful using fiber tape for internal corners though. I wouldn't say it's the best way. Paper tape is probably better for that application, but fiber tape has worked for me.

Mudding and taping...

You guys are kidding me, right? What the hell is so hard about this? I haven't gotten to the sanding part yet, but so far this seems way easier than people claim it to be.


I thought I would remind you of this comment...sorry buddy :D

Yes, metal on the outside corners. You can also use the plastic corner bead (which you can get with a 3/4" radius.. looks cool in the right places) and stick it on with spray glue and staples. StraitFlex is also good for inside (and outside, if not subject to damage) corners if you need them crisp.

I used fiber tape about 18 years ago when it first came out. It was a disaster. I know people who have used it, they say the same thing.

However, I was a little liberal in my description.. All the inside corners (obviously, I didn't use it for outside corners) cracked. The seams held up okay. Some cracks inthe seams but not bad.

I am glad somebody else has had success with it. I have done a lot of spackling over the years (used to be a contractor), and paper tape has never given me a problem.

I have also worked with a lot of drywall guys and have yet to see them use fiber tape for anything.

Maybe the tape has improved (maybe thicker?). My personal preference is paper.

Besides, having the crease in the paper is much easier then using fiber tape in the corner!

Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. That's just been my personal experience.

Good luck,
Tim

I've never seen a pro drywall guy who recommends fiber over paper. None of them will touch the fiber stuff. So there has to be something to it. But, like I said, I've never had a problem with the fiber I've installed. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I thought I would remind you of this comment...sorry buddy :D

I knew I would wind up eating those words at one point. At that time it seemed too easy, which for me indicates I totally botched something.

Dude, like uh, your last post uh, was like uh, on 4-20.

Are you still sanding !!

Huh, what? Dude....

No, it's just been a while since I've even looked at the theater. I've got lots of other stuff to deal with around the house, and MrsGeek spent some time in the hospital recently. These things bite into theater time.

Hey, I hope Mrs. Geek is okay. Life has a way of getting in the way of play stuff sometimes, but it also has a habit of reminding you of what's really important. And as fun as our home theaters are, friends and family trump them every time.

Again, I hope things are going well for you and your family.

Oh she's fine. It's the little person swimming around inside her that was in question, but he's doing just peachy fine as well. Some day when he's old enough, he might just be helping his dad finish a home theater.

Good to hear mom and baby are doing fine !! HT's can wait. :o

Alrighty, help arrived yesterday. He was supposed to be born September 4th-ish, hey, how often do these things go according to plan? He's 1 pound, 7 ounces so it will be a little while before he comes home, let alone operate a miter saw.

http://daniel.carlucci.net

For a brief moment he also had an e-mail account, but I whacked it figuring that by the time he's able to use e-mail, the amount of spam in there would be simply crushing.

Congratulations !! Look's like a fine son you have their, I hope Mrs. Geek is doing good as well!

Congrats on the arrival! So, by my calculations he is about 25 weeks gestation? Looks like he is already on CPAP which is pretty darn good for that age. The next few months are going to be pretty tough, but the light at the end of the tunnel (bringing him home) will get you through it. Best of luck to you, baby, and mom.

Good job thegeek!

Better get that theater done. Baby Einstein in widescreen baybee!

Best wishes,
Tim

MrsGeek is doing great after a whopping 3 minutes of labor. One of the upsides of a premie. We'll be going home tomorrow, but it's going to be a little while before Daniel can come home.

Congrats! I truly wish you, your wife and most of all 'lil Daniel lots of joy and good health. :)

Congratulations on the birth of your son. Looking at his pictures brought back a flood of memories of my twins birth 3 and a half years ago. Daughter 1 pound 9 ounces, son 3 lbs.( 27 weeks gestation) Lots of time in the hospital but this past weekend I just finished assembling their first swing-set. Having the little ones at home is also why my home theatre which I started a year and a half ago is just now to the drywall stage :eek:

Best wishes to both you and your wife!

Congrats! I think WOTW in DTS makes nice go-to-sleep music (or perhaps the LFE demo disc), I'd suggest looping that in the nursery. ;)

Congratulations Geek!

Congratulations Geek! Before you know it he will be turning all the knobs on the stereo and wanting to put the DVDs in himself.

Congtraz on the baby boy Geek ! Hope you get him home soon :)
All the best
Calvin

Congrats mate!

Heart felt congrats to you and Mrs. Geek. I'm also now having flashbacks. Our first went full term, but mom made many trips to the hospital due to Hyperemesis ("...debilitating and potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting..."), they tried lots of different things to control it including one we had to sign a release on because it wasn't approved by the FDA yet, and in the end our son pops out perfect! The whole process is just a frickin' miracle.

The 25 weeks gestation was from the sized based estimates that the sonograms were all turning up. By MrsGeek's calendar on when stuff happened, 25 weeks 6 days was the official gestation period. The nurse in the NICU was saying that Daniel's skin indicates he was in there for 26 weeks, so it seems like he was probably just a little slow with the growing hence the sonograms (probably) estimating a little low.

In either case, yes he's going to be in the NICU for a while. I oh so badly want to have him home. For now and knowing what I know about a premie's immune system, I'm almost afraid to touch him, let alone bring him home. I know the best place for him would be inside MrsGeek, but the second best place is the NICU. It's one of only 5 hospitals in Florida equipped for a case like his, and the staff there is pretty awesome.

Oh, and I've updated the page with the official length... 13 inches. He's a wee little lad.

...they tried lots of different things to control it including one we had to sign a release on because it wasn't approved by the FDA yet, and in the end our son pops out perfect! The whole process is just a frickin' miracle.

Yeah, it is a frickin' miracle. How do those cells know to become fingers? Not a clue! I just know he's got little fingers with little nails and all that.

He also has slightly crooked pinkies just like my grandfather, father, and siblings. I know it's a silly thing, but that was actually the very first thing I looked for on the little fella. Confirming he was a boy actually came like fourth on the list of things to look for while they were prompting me to cut the cord.



Now, it did occur to me that that while Daniel was born early, we still have until September before he's home. Theoretically MrsGeek can help with theater work now that she's no longer pregnant. :-) Yeah, fat chance. We'll be spending all our time at the hospital until he comes home. This project's on ice for a while.

Enjoy the new baby boy. I will never forget when my twins were born.

congratulations
Todd

Congrats and hang in there.

My first son was early, and had to spend some time in the NICU. Hardest days of my life. Worried me to death.

Now, he's turning 4 in August and teaching my wife how to operate our media server so he can watch his movies.

Congratulations Mr Geek, Mrs Geek and Baby Geek

Mark

So by Mrs. Geek's calculations, the "deed".......no, wait......."the miracle of procreation" happened around 12/11/06. Please note the complete and total abscence of postings by thegeek from 11/27 to 01/04. It appears your attention was dedicated to a non-HT project at that time. :)

Congrats on the baby boy--start workin' on that collection of animated DVD's. Netflix delivered Iron giant yesterday--one of the best animated movies out there(with killer bass!).

So by Mrs. Geek's calculations, the "deed".......no, wait......."the miracle of procreation" happened around 12/11/06. Please note the complete and total abscence of postings by thegeek from 11/27 to 01/04. It appears your attention was dedicated to a non-HT project at that time. :)

Congrats on the baby boy--start workin' on that collection of animated DVD's. Netflix delivered Iron giant yesterday--one of the best animated movies out there(with killer bass!).

Don't forget The Wiggles. I filled up a 250 GB hard drive with nothing but all my kids Wiggles DVD's.

Super congrats!! I'm really happy everything turned out well. Here's hoping the time passes swiftly and you get to take him home soon :D

Mike

Don't forget The Wiggles. I filled up a 250 GB hard drive with nothing but all my kids Wiggles DVD's.

My kids were too old when The Wiggles came along. Instead, we were treated to videotape after videotape of BARNEY--if I ever see that purple bastage in person, I will beat him to death--WATCH YOUR BACK BARNEY!!!

Congrats Geek on the arrival of the little Geek!

I'd also like to add my word of congratulations...best wishes and I hope you can get the little fella home sooner than you think!

Yeah, it is a frickin' miracle. How do those cells know to become fingers? Not a clue! I just know he's got little fingers with little nails and all that.

He also has slightly crooked pinkies just like my grandfather, father, and siblings. I know it's a silly thing, but that was actually the very first thing I looked for on the little fella. Confirming he was a boy actually came like fourth on the list of things to look for while they were prompting me to cut the cord.



Now, it did occur to me that that while Daniel was born early, we still have until September before he's home. Theoretically MrsGeek can help with theater work now that she's no longer pregnant. :-) Yeah, fat chance. We'll be spending all our time at the hospital until he comes home. This project's on ice for a while.

WOW! that was the first thing I noticed when they handed me my 10lb 12 oz son 20 years ago! The hands and nails looked just like mine. Congrats, I wish you and your family the best!

Hang in there Mr. and Mrs. Geek, we will keep the three of you in our prayers.

Little fingers....
http://daniel.carlucci.net/images/20070529/DSC00014.JPG

Is the picture posed? Sure it is. Did I only manage to snap the shot in between squirms? Yep. Don't care. It's a great background image.

I got to change his diaper tonight. I'm sure this won't be anywhere near as exciting in the future as it is right now. Then again, last night was the first time I actually touched the little guy. Previously I had cut the cord and that's it.

Paul,
My wife and I would like to congratulate you and wish you and your family all the best! If you guys ever need some help, we're just a stone's throw away!

Your Neighbor :D

Any news on how the little guy is doing?

I really enjoyed reading your thread so far and I wish you and your family the very best.

-Aaron

The little trooper is hanging in there. The road's been a little rough, but not as bad as it could be. We should be bringing him home somewhere around 6 weeks from now.

In the meanwhile the door is hung and some other odds and ends are done. I've got a couple of other things to finish up (yet somehow more blasted drywall....) and then I think I can start on the star ceiling.

Glad to hear the little helper is doing well !!! Here's hoping all continues to go well..

Oh, as long as your are making progress...

Where's the pictures !!! =P

What a way for the Little Geek to grow up... his own personal Home Theater. That kid will NEVER want to go the the regular theaters to watch a movie. He'll be the envy of everyone in his Pre-School, Kindergarten, grade schoo, middle school, AND high school.

Of course it'll make you the "cool dad" as well.

CONGRATS, and glad the little one's doing well.

First I want to say congrats. Second, I want to say that I am surprised by your tactics and methods, surprised that you aren't yourself in the hospital by now, LOL!

Thanks for brining great humor to the thread, it was an enjoyment reading.


So now that you and the other poster are neighbors... have you manage to slave him... err I mean to utilize him?

The little trooper is hanging in there. The road's been a little rough, but not as bad as it could be. We should be bringing him home somewhere around 6 weeks from now.

In the meanwhile the door is hung and some other odds and ends are done. I've got a couple of other things to finish up (yet somehow more blasted drywall....) and then I think I can start on the star ceiling.


Geek,

Congrats and hang in there! I know how tough it can be. My daughter was 10 weeks early (emergency c) and spent 9 weeks in the hospital. Amazing things they can do with medicine nowadays. Today she is a perfectly healthy and amazing 5 (almost 6) year old. Just pray they don't send you home with a Apnea monitor like my son (8 weeks early). That alarm would go off every night when he sweat and I would jump out of bed racing across the house to find him squirming.

PS. Nice work on the HT!

Jay

Just pray they don't send you home with a Apnea monitor like my son (8 weeks early). That alarm would go off every night when he sweat and I would jump out of bed racing across the house to find him squirming.

Ya just haaaaaad to jinx it didn't you.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20070819/IMG_1977.jpg

For the record, that innocent looking box is appreciably louder than two planets colliding. You could probably hear it over Disaster Area from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. (http://hhgproject.org/entries/disasterarea.html)

So the little man has been home for 4 weeks now. Just today we had gotten the order from the pediatric-pulmonologist-lung-doctor-guy to discontinue using the aforementioned apnea monitor of flaming discontent. It's officially time to jump back in.

During the hiatus we had managed to put window film up on the windows up in the theater. We had some left over and hey, it can't hurt. That stuff's chopped our power bills almost in half, but that's not a ton of progress. Other than putting up the door, nothing else had really progressed.

Anyway, it's time for some real work. Drywall? Nah, I hate that. I decided to go for some framing. Yeah, framing is kinda fun. I've got a little spot over the door that needs to be finished up, so I decided to start there. I also learned tonight's lesson: if you're going to drag the air compressor upstairs, make sure the tank drain **** is closed or else a lovely mixture of water, rusty chunks and unknown bio-nasty will drip out onto your carpet.

So the first board I decide to put up is a piece of 2x8 for over the door. If I finish this bit of framing then I can drywall that up and finally have a bit of a seal on the room. Who knows, maybe I'll eventually even get to test the sound isolationyness of it all. It should be noted that this board is at the top of the stairs and pretty much open to down below. It should also be noted that the little boy is sleeping in his room which is just below the theater.

Given the space that I had to work with, I opted for the mini palm nailer. Pretty sure the last time I used it had mysteriously coincided with that time my neighbor two blocks away had called the cops about someone firing a machine gun out in the field behind the subdivision (we're rural). FACP: feedback would be appreciated on this specific topic (8:30 tonight) While nailing away, I think to myself how glad I am that I grabbed the 30 dB attenuation ear protection as opposed to the 22 dB pair. It doesn't matter, it's still damn loud to me.

About half way through using the palm nailer I noticed the door was furiously and repeatedly smacking into the ladder. I get down and find MrsGeek on the other side of it and giving me hell about making enough noise to wake up the babies in Somalia. I'm thinking, maybe Liberia at best, but definitely not Somalia. Anyway, we listen down below... nothing. The little tyke is sleeping through it. SCORE!!!!!!!!

MrsGeek goes in to the nursery picks him up and then gingerly but briskly carries him off to the crib we have set up in the master bedroom. She later motions me to come over and confirm to her that he's still breathing. As he's swaddled up this is tough judgment call. Also we had just removed the apnea monitor, we can't just look at the plastic box and confirm his pulse and respiratory rate. I guess the fact that he's a normal color isn't quite doing it for us.

Several times she has me check to make sure he's still breathing. 95% of parents get paranoid when their baby is sleeping peacefully, too peacefully. Though it's been a few months, we've actually watched him stop breathing so that's not helping the paranoia. Alas, he's still breathing and actually slept through that.

Anyway, I decide to finish up affixing the piece of 2x8 with a bunch of screws and call it a night early. Don't want to push my luck at this point.

Glad everything is going well. Can't wait to see you get back in action with your theater. I've been having withdrawals ;)

- Josh

GACK! All those feelings of panic just came back to me when I read your story. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and having to go put my head in the bassinet to hear if she was breathing or not. I hated that. And it didn't get better with the next one, I went through the same thing with all four. I can't imagine adding a monitor to the mix. My hat's off to you and I sure hope everything keeps going great for you :)

Mike

one thing I was able to do. If you look closely, you can see their pulse in the soft spot on their head. If they have hair over that spot, look for movement. Once I learned this, it made it easier to figure out if they were ok.

I kinda figured "not blue" was a pretty good indicator as well. As the parent of a micro-preemie, I'm quite accustomed to what a baby looks like when they haven't been breathing for a minute or two.

Well, it's great to hear that everyone is home and here's to everyone staying healthy and happy in the future.

Game on!

My buddy came over last night and we made this thing. It looks a little strange, but considering that several design mistakes and oversights managed to cancel each other out, I'm just happy it's rectangular.
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071025/IMG_3000.jpg



Yes that's a lot of random bracing, but we had abundance of scrap pieces of 2x4s and 2x6s as well as an abundance of nails. Additionally there's a pile of 2x3s that have been sitting in the garage for over a year.

Keep in mind that 2x3s are junk to being with, but then get left on the concrete floor for a good long time, unevenly soaking up moisture. Can't do much of anything with those boards other than chop them into tiny pieces. As warped as they are, they're at least straighter than the boards I saw at the local Home Depot. One of them I swear could almost have been used as a hockey stick.

Oh yeah, sorry about the tangent. Have a picture.
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071025/IMG_3002.jpg

There's a few things that have to happen before I can put the top on the riser. Namely, there's a fair number of items that need to be figured out, shopped and purchased. Chief amongst them is the low voltage wiring for the auxiliary A/V hookups for random stuff. Say you want to hook up an 8-bit Nintendo or a camcorder for a couple of hours. It'd probably be more practical to hook that stuff up from the seats, as opposed to stuffing it into the equipment closet.

I also need to deal with the slight fact that I forgot to make some way to hook up buttkickers for the back row. Shouldn't be bad, but I need to remember this little tidbit lest I find myself screwed.

Glad to see your back working on the theater. Hows the little one doing?

- Josh

Glad to see you back! Hope everyone is doing great!

I'd recommend adding a center support leg to the middle of each of those beams spanning the length of your riser. I bet if you stand in the middle on one of those beams it will bow pretty bad.

Game on!

My buddy came over last night and we made this thing. It looks a little strange, but considering that several design mistakes and oversights managed to cancel each other out, I'm just happy it's rectangular.
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071025/IMG_3000.jpg



Yes that's a lot of random bracing, but we had abundance of scrap pieces of 2x4s and 2x6s as well as an abundance of nails. Additionally there's a pile of 2x3s that have been sitting in the garage for over a year.

Keep in mind that 2x3s are junk to being with, but then get left on the concrete floor for a good long time, unevenly soaking up moisture. Can't do much of anything with those boards other than chop them into tiny pieces. As warped as they are, they're at least straighter than the boards I saw at the local Home Depot. One of them I swear could almost have been used as a hockey stick.

Oh yeah, sorry about the tangent. Have a picture.
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071025/IMG_3002.jpg

There's a few things that have to happen before I can put the top on the riser. Namely, there's a fair number of items that need to be figured out, shopped and purchased. Chief amongst them is the low voltage wiring for the auxiliary A/V hookups for random stuff. Say you want to hook up an 8-bit Nintendo or a camcorder for a couple of hours. It'd probably be more practical to hook that stuff up from the seats, as opposed to stuffing it into the equipment closet.

I also need to deal with the slight fact that I forgot to make some way to hook up buttkickers for the back row. Shouldn't be bad, but I need to remember this little tidbit lest I find myself screwed.

I think if he puts 2 layers of decking on there he should be good. I did mine the same way but I used 2x10's and it does not flex. I think with the 2x6's it mite flex some

There was some consideration for center supports, and in the end they were nixed. 2x6s don't really flex in that direction. Those two layers of OSB will be screwed to the 2x6s as well as the frame. There won't be much movement in there. I've already tried sitting and giving it the bounce test. So far so good.

If I have some spare material left over then, sure I might throw in a center support. Otherwise, I'm not terribly worried.

Then again, I might wind up filling it with concrete.

Be sure you fill it with something (personally, I like blown insulation but not blown). You don't want that big hollow box in the middle of your room...

Be sure you fill it with something (personally, I like blown insulation but not blown). You don't want that big hollow box in the middle of your room...

Don't worry, I've got two big bags of the itchy stuff down in the garage. I don't intend on getting fancy enough to try to make it a Helmholtz resonator or anything, just cram it full of glass.

I don't intend on getting fancy enough to try to make it a Helmholtz resonator or anything...

Chicken.

I'm just jealous of you guys who can place a riser on a bare floor without it rocking all over the place. I spent 2 hrs in home depot looking for the straightest 2x10's I could find and let's just say, I'm glad it was built on carpet. :o

Rope lighting under the stair lip is actually somewhere on the horizon. It's not here yet, but I need to start planning for it. Anybody know if you just affix it to the underside of the lip and call it a day? I want the rope light to make the steps glow, but not be directly visible.

One method I've seen to acheive the "hidden" look is to route a groove in the underside of the lip. Then be sure to stop the carpet short of the groove. You will need a pretty good sized lip (1 1/2 - 2" I'd think) and you will probably have to do the routing pre-installation.

Alternately, if you don't want to route - you could just use a strip of floor material on the outer portion of the underside of the lip which would make it thicker - leaving it short of the stair face and, thus, creating the same groove. Make sense...?

I'm going to go with wood stairs inside the theater as well as on the stairs leading up to it, so that's no problem as a matter of rough logistics. My qualm about simply routing a groove into the lip is that the groove would be running parallel to the grain, so taking anything out of it would potentially lead to cracking.

Yes - you would have to have two layers of material, I'd guess...

Due to some logistical issues (not enough planning, didn't move some outlets), the proscenium design has changed a smidge. Here's what we're now looking at:

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071223/thegeek_arch_window_crap3_front.png

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071223/thegeek_arch_window_crap3_overhead.png

Yes the center channel is mysteriously floating in mid air. It's just that magical.

Officially, the above is Version 3.0b. Version 1.0 started to exist, but got heavily modified into Version 2.0a in response to the logistical issues. Version 2.0a was going to look really stupid and just took a ride on the Crowbar Express. Seriously, it was some kind of hideous throwback from a 70s cartoon. It's very dead now.

Oh, and I finally reached the point where I realized this is all really crazy. The exact moment was when I was buying sand to stuff into the proscenium. On just a plain guess and repeated commentary from the peanut gallery, filling the entire proscenium with sand would be too heavy. That much was obvious, so I was just going to have sand under the speakers. Then I thought about it a bit and decided that there would only be a 2 or 3 inch layer directly underneath the speakers. Then we made the first weight calculation. Everything prior was just a total guess of what "too heavy" might entail. At 3 inches thick, it was calculated to be 500 pounds.

Hell no.

Now it's going to be one inch thick. It's still nutty, but it's not quite as bonkers as it was before. I was at this point that I began to ruminate, nay pontificate on the folks who lug down enough sand to completely fill their proscenium.


Anyway, I need to have rope lighting in there. Does anybody have a decent idea of how to wire in the rope lighting? Just having a visible outlet would kinda ruin things a bit. I'm not sure how to hard wire it and have it proper. Any wire junction is supposed to be accessible, right?

Any wire junction is supposed to be accessible, right?

Yes, you are correct.

When you say rope light, what are you invisioning? Around the lip of the stage?

Yeah, the rope light is for around the lip of the proscenium as well for the step up to the riser.

After speaking with my father-in-law (who's an electrician), I'm going to hard wire in the rope lights. However, I'm going to make the junction boxes accessible, probably by providing a small, hopefully hidden door. There's lots of wood trim going in here, so hiding it shouldn't be too hard.

I managed to replace what I had torn out, so for today I'm at a net of zero work. That's not encouraging, but at least this is more or less moving forward.

Space is starting to get real tight. I've got the saw horses, a miter saw and a table saw, plus things like the proto-riser and proto-proscenium are taking up floor space as well. Oh, and a Shop-Vac and a compressor, materials.... ugg. It took a bit hazardous trekking to get in place for this shot.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071223/IMG_3587.jpg

But there you have it, the start of one of probably very few concave prosceniums on here. It isn't quite as concave as the original design, but it's uniquely mine.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071223/IMG_3588.jpg



After snapping the shots tonight, I had turned out the lights and thought it was a pretty good view. Night photography is pretty neat. Just because there's almost no light doesn't mean you can't take pictures!

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071223/IMG_3594.jpg

Here is just an idea for an access panel. As you can see I used a lot of wood also, which made hiding an access panel pretty easy. See the outlet:
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k181/mbgonzomd/IM004730.jpg

Outlet covered with a panel (this is actually on the other side of the stair, but you get the idea):
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k181/mbgonzomd/IM004862.jpg

I like the concavity, strong work.

Why not build out a true Proscenium wall and hide those speakers and subs...?

Why not build out a true Proscenium wall and hide those speakers and subs...?

I'd like to, but the room is already starting to feel pretty cramped. As it is, fully reclined the feet of the front row aren't going to be all that far away from the screen, and the back row is right up against the wall. If it were just one row then that would be a consideration, but 3 seats in a theater just isn't enough.

The mains are the Martin Logan Ascent i. Physically they're 22" deep. Then on top of that you have to have them away from the wall to let them air out a bit. We're talking about 3 feet that gets taken up by the main speakers. This means we're looking at about 15' between the screen and the back wall. Each row is 6 feet deep. This leaves just 3 feet between the front row's feet and the screen. At that point, I can't have a stage area at all other than a tiny little lip.

Ok, so I was in the middle of designing up some way of concealing only the speakers. I had the speakers more or less buttoned down, and I was going to have to get creative with where the subs were going to go or how they were going to get built and then I noticed the real snag that kills this entirely.

The main fire exit from the room happens to be the window over to the right of the stage. Any kind of false wall would block it.

My buddy came over last night and we made this thing. It looks a little strange, but considering that several design mistakes and oversights managed to cancel each other out, I'm just happy it's rectangular.
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20071025/IMG_3000.jpg

Seems like many here have fairly low rear platforms so usually just lay a 2x8 or 2x10 on the ground. I like that you tried to make yours higher.

My solution was somewhat different. I built 14" high mini-walls to which I attached 2x8 hanger joists. To this, I then strung 2x8 joists. The effect was somewhat more traditonal but very over built. I should have used 2x6's because my platform does not have any give and thus is less fun in deep base passages.

http://lh5.google.com/tllenah/RqycfzURktI/AAAAAAAABV0/Ftf7QherKfc/s800/Building%20the%20platform%20011.jpg

Ok, so I was in the middle of designing up some way of concealing only the speakers. I had the speakers more or less buttoned down, and I was going to have to get creative with where the subs were going to go or how they were going to get built and then I noticed the real snag that kills this entirely.

The main fire exit from the room happens to be the window over to the right of the stage. Any kind of false wall would block it.

Window to the right of the stage...?

That's gonna be completely blocked off anyway, right (for light control purposes)?

P.S. Happy Holidays!

Seems like many here have fairly low rear platforms so usually just lay a 2x8 or 2x10 on the ground. I like that you tried to make yours higher.

Mine is two steps up. The stairs leading up to the theater are 7.5 inches up, 10 inches forward, so I stuck with that. The riser height calculator said 14 inches was proper, so I bumped it up to 15".

The solid 2x8s and 2x8s are ripped to height. It was a little easier to build that way. Small pieces with lots of cuts leads to large aggregate errors. Well, at least the way I cut stuff. It doesn't help that my miter saw is somehow lower quality than Harbor Freight's finest.

Window to the right of the stage...?

That's gonna be completely blocked off anyway, right (for light control purposes)?

P.S. Happy Holidays!

The window is going to have a removable plug. There's a difference between something that hinges out versus a bunch of 2x4s bolted into place.

The window is going to have a removable plug. There's a difference between something that hinges out versus a bunch of 2x4s bolted into place.

Not if the hinged thing is never opened... ;).

Seriously, why do you feel you need to keep it functional?

Not if the hinged thing is never opened... ;).

Seriously, why do you feel you need to keep it functional?

That's mostly my fault. :) The room is the entirety of the upstairs, and that's the only window that opens over part of the roof. Seems like walling over the only fire escape might at minimum be kinda not good, and potentially some kind of code violation. Haven't actually checked into that though, just random speculation. :D

That's mostly my fault. :) The room is the entirety of the upstairs, and that's the only window that opens over part of the roof. Seems like walling over the only fire escape might at minimum be kinda not good, and potentially some kind of code violation. Haven't actually checked into that though, just random speculation. :D

Ah...I see. Yeah, since its upstairs it is probably good to keep it somewhat functional. A lot of us have rooms with just one exit (the main door). I think the code just says you can't call it a bedroom if it doesn't have an alternate exit but if its the only room and upstairs I can see your point.

Yeah, if it's a bedroom then there has to be an alternate means of egress. Technically it's a bedroom because it has a closet and a door, but I wouldn't call it that anyway. Bedroom or not, we still have fire alarms inside and outside the room that are tied in with the rest of the fire alarms as well as the alarm system.

I made a few cuts in a slightly ripped down 2x8 that I'll be using for the main curve of the stage front. By a few I mean over a hundred. Nobody ever really explains just how long this takes to do, everyone just kinda does it.

The cuts are one inch apart and about one inch deep. This makes the board kinda floppy, thusly we have the presence of the clamps and various pieces of scrap 2x4 bolted to the underside. I'm fairly certain that if I were to just leave it there on the sawhorses without bracing, it would just snap under it's own weight.

I also used the strip I ripped off the board (maybe this board, I don't know I have so many strips hanging around) to prototype the curve. I completely botched it so there are some adjustments that need to be made before I can proceed with mounting this thing. I made the cuts based upon what SketchUp said each piece should be, however the angles were more or less arbitrary. At least I get to use my prybar again, a device with which I'm becoming far too familiar.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080106/IMG_4367.jpg

Ok, managed to install the board. This thing is really starting to look like a stage! I had started off nailing everything in, but wound going over the short pieces with screws and doing the entire curved board with screws. Frankly, nails pull out very easily and that curve puts an awful lot of tension on things.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080106/IMG_4380.jpg


Last minute length adjustment in the bottom left corner. :)
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080106/IMG_4396.jpg

Great work on that stage front Geek. In the future...you could also use 2 layers of MDF 1/2" board (ripped down to 8" wide)...it bends quite well and you would save yourself a LOT of cuts.

That is what I did. ;)

MDF? I would think MDF would be relatively stiff until a breaking point where it crumbles apart. I would think multi-layered plywood or even OSB would bend better.

The front looks good, Geek.. That's quite the curve, so I see why you needed a lot of deep cuts.

Nope. I have 2 layers of 1/2" MDF for the radius of my stage and it was perfect!

Geek - you are a glutton for punishment. A hundred cuts in a 2x8...?!?

I guess I'm a lightweight. I just faced my radius with plain ol' 1/4" plywood.

Yeah, i think most do that or use a bunch of 1/4 pieces laminated together with yellow wood glue......quick and easy.


Geek - you are a glutton for punishment. A hundred cuts in a 2x8...?!?

I guess I'm a lightweight. I just faced my radius with plain ol' 1/4" plywood.

Geek - you are a glutton for punishment. A hundred cuts in a 2x8...?!?

It was more like 126 or something like that. Speaking of self-flagellation...

While somewhat time consuming, the edges are in fact quite sturdy. I apparently don't have much faith in the compressive strength of OSB or other engineered flat board things. Besides, glue isn't nearly as much fun as power tools. Also, sniffing glue + power tools = bad bad bad.
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080109/IMG_4408.jpg

With one inch of material dropped on top, the lower step should be half the height of the rest of the stage and look proper. Right now it just looks a little off.
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080109/IMG_4456.jpg



One side note, I managed to set off the smoke alarm. I was doing some insanely unsafe cutting and had the guard off the table saw causing saw dust to get dumped straight at the alarm. Might have been that or the smokiness from a piece of wood getting jammed in there good. In either case, one of the steps towards the end of my "build the theater" checklist is to replace the smoke alarm in the theater with a new one. Tonight was just a reminder that it's still full of all sorts of crud.

It's a damned good thing MrsGeek and the little one were at a friends' house because when one smoke alarm goes off, they all go off. It's almost as if the darned things are flat out designed to wake you up.

I feel your pain my friend! About 100 cuts for me...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q113/judsonp/Home%20Theater%20Construction/stage004.jpg

Love the look of your stage, it's turning out great!

Very nice!!

... It's almost as if the darned things are flat out designed to wake you up.

They are also designed such that their batteries expire only between the hours of 2 and 5am - also causing all of the bleeping (pun intended) alarms to start chirping. Always lots of fun running around in your PJs ripping them off the ceiling until you find the one with the bad batteries.

They are also designed such that their batteries expire only between the hours of 2 and 5am - also causing all of the bleeping (pun intended) alarms to start chirping. Always lots of fun running around in your PJs ripping them off the ceiling until you find the one with the bad batteries.

This literally happened to me two nights ago! Makes for a very grumpy day...

Loving the progress - any more pics?

Not much in the way of progress since last time. I'm taking a break from dealing with something that I've been thoroughly avoiding for quite some time now. Today I'm finally slapping on the drywall over the door which last open section.

Right now I've got the fiberglass crammed in there as well as one layer of drywall up. I just need two more layers of drywall along with the requisite Green Glue and I'll be done with that little chore.

As for the smoke alarms, we've got one of the little buggers about 18 or 19 feet in the air. I don't look forward to replacing that one some day. Quick note, don't use lithium batteries in smoke alarms. They will start chirping almost immediately.

Yep drywall sucks Geek but its a happy day when its done. I myself did not mud any of my theater since I was covering it all up why waste my time making it look pretty :p I just used tons of acoustic caulk

Get-r-done

I have to say, the destruction pictures and posts had me cringing, but I it looks like you made it through just fine.

I really like the design of your stage. The reverse arc is a very cool idea. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of your progress once you get the chance to start up again.

Hey Geek - speaking of the reverse arc (which does look nice) what will the treatment of the top (floor) of the stage be? It seems like wrapping carpet around a concave lip could be quite a challenge so I'm guessing it will be something else (or at least a hard trim lip)...?

I have to say, the destruction pictures and posts had me cringing, but I it looks like you made it through just fine.

I really like the design of your stage. The reverse arc is a very cool idea. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of your progress once you get the chance to start up again.


In retrospect, the #1 mistake I've made with this project is not tearing the room down to the studs. Most of my problems have had their root in this being more or less a retrofit of an existing room, as opposed to having open access to behind the drywall.

Still not 100% sure what the top of the stage will be. I'm figuring on wood for the front faces, the top of the lower step and probably the curved edge of the upper step. Depends on which way the whim blows.

Just to make sure that The Geek is still alive...:p

Beuller Beuller? Just checking to see if everything is ok?

The Scripts were previously the mains, but now they're finally getting demoted to rear surrounds.

This is what's going in the front:
http://www.martinloganowners.com/ascent.gif

The picture is an Ascent, but we've got the i version, which is subtly different. You've got the basic idea though.


As for the floor insulation... It's not the sort of thing you can do an A-B comparison on. At minimum, your standard 2x4 single stud, single layer of drywall on either side wall, basic everyone's got one type wall has an STC rating of 30. If you put insulation in it, it goes up to 33. 3 dB of attenuation means basically halving the amount of sound going through. I haven't seen any stats for a cavity with a 16" span, but if you can do it then go for it. If you're not going to have any kind of help who doesn't mind getting really really dirty then I'd say skip it.

Keep in mind though, it's also not something you can go back and do after the fact. For me, knowing that I had skimped on something that I would later be kicking myself over was the thing that finally made me go for it.

As for the can lights issue, if you swap out the floodlights for compact fluorescent lights, then heat buildup shouldn't be an issue. The Commercial Electric brand lights they sell over at Home Depot are really good (at least their 60 watt bulbs are). They come on instantly. From the second juice hits 'em, they're probably at 90-95% of their max brightness.

More importantly for this discussion, they also don't give off anywhere near as much heat as an incandescent. They get warm, and that's about it.

Do you where I can buy that Speaker online?? It's a Martin Logan Odysseys right? I can't seem to find it online at all.

"Ah hate you guys so verah verah much..."

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080607/IMG_8519.JPG

A few years ago I moved about 30 sheets of drywall upstair by myself. That nearly killed me. Good luck and take it slow.

And 70Lbs will kill me after a few minutes,50-30Lbs is pushing it. :eek:

But then again I'm 5'3 and 135 LBs! :eek:

It actually looks a lot worse than it really is. That's only one bag 50 lb bag. The sand is about an inch thick sitting on top of some OSB. The cavity below is filled with itchy stuff.

As for carrying the bags, MrsGeek brought two bags to the stairs and one of them up the stairs while I was dealing with the itchy stuff. I still have two bags out in the garage that are probably going to go back to the store.


Oh, and in the meanwhile since last I last posted a couple months back I got FiOS. The video's pretty nice looking.

Done covering the stage with 2 layers of OSB. Moved onto the riser next, but had some odds and ends to finish. First, had to run the speaker cable for butt-kickers for the front row. I also remembered that there's probably going to be a brass railing on one side of the riser. I've only seen the installed version of a brass railing, but it looks like the base just screws down. Two layers of OSB isn't going to be sturdy enough to screw against, so I added some additional bracing undernearth where it's gonna go.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080612/IMG_8526.JPG

The step up to the riser is going to get some rope lighting added on, so some accomodations will be needed in that. Will likely need access to the riser, so I've started covering the riser.

Tomorrow I hope to have the step built and possibly the riser covered. We'll see. I also have some plywood for attacking the inside face of the door with some mass and Green Glue. I'm somehow down to only 3 tubes left, and then I can throw away my exceedingly sticky caulking gun.

Looking good! Not sure if you plan to carpet the riser, but might want to consider putting a lip on the edge to make it easier to finish the edge. Carpet installers like to staple under the lip so you don't see the seam... My carpet guys almost demanded it....

MrsGeek and I had this discussion yesterday, and we resolved to only have a lip over where the step is. I've never installed carpet so I have no idea what it would take to not have a seem.

Hrmm, might need to adjust some things if a lip is necessary.

Yesh, just covered the step and riser. (FYI, I'm not dead)

thegeek lives!!!!!

Sound isolation is almost done for the door. Unfortunately it's somewhat held up by the doorknob situation, but the remedy for that is on order and should be showing up soon. The good news is that I'm down to my very last tube of Green Glue. I was so happy to realize this. Then MrsGeek reminded me of the window plugs. Sigh...

Meanwhile, I've moved on to finally trimming the lip of the stage. It's been a hazard having the top layer of that thing hanging over the side and catching ankles. Plus there's the little fact that it looks like something you can stand on. Instead it just sinks rapidly when you put weight on it, leaving you to wonder when it's going to snap off.

So, how to trim it? There's a few ways, but I don't trust myself to freehand it so option #2 is to build a jig, a mighty jig of glory and precision.



I give you... the Craptron 5000 Part left-over crap, part machine, all shoddy, the CT5K promises little and delivers less.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080913/IMG_0005.JPG

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080913/IMG_0006.JPG

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080913/IMG_0008.JPG

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080913/IMG_0009.JPG

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080913/IMG_0016.JPG


Actually, it works pretty decently so far. I got about a third of the way through before Mini Me had to go to bed and the sawing got cut short. Today's goal is to finish the front lip, finish the sound isolation layers for the door and then move on to the half step on the stage.... dammit which will need Green Glue.

Really only need a half case, but they sell the stuff by the dozen. I guess I'll be hitting the AVS Classified.

BREAKING NEWS::

The CT5K failed to live up to it's abysmal expectations. The CT5K MKII is currently in the labs being developed. Progress updates expected throughout the day.

Awesome thread, would read again. Can't wait to see the completed room.

Turns out that the exact thing I was trying to avoid actually wound up giving me the best results. The original jig flexed or slipped or something and made it so that I wound up cutting part of the stage lip too short. I was not a happy camper.

I went with something simpler to just mark the line and then cut it manually. I tried a router, but that's absolutely unwieldy for trying to cut a line. Just kept with the jigsaw for the most part.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080914/IMG_0010.JPG


I'm pretty happy with the results. There's a little wobble here and there. and the curve is by no means perfect, but with carpet on it, things should be just fine.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20080914/IMG_0024.JPG


Now onto.... I think the next item on the agenda is another layer on the door. I need to route out some notches to accommodate the hinges. Tackling the half-step on the stage is a task for another day.

Hey Geek,

To quickly work out your wobbles on the lip get yourself a hand plane or pocket plane
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&q=pocket+hand+plane
I used one these to quickly work out my miscuts with the jigsaw on my curved false wall and soffit.

May have a friend who's looking to get rid of either a case or half case GG. Send me PM if you would like to pursue I will get a price for ya.

Edit: Sorry GG no longer available through my friend.

Out of curiosity.. why not just a pencil and cut on the line?

My daughter was born early and had problems breathing. She had to stay in the NICU for a week and a half. It was the worst 10 days of my life. Its so hard seeing all those poor babies attached to wires or in incubators. My little princess had a ton of wires attached to her and a feeding tube down her nose.

Thankfully, she is now a 7 month old, strong, healthy, and gorgeous little girl. Your baby will be too.....

If you get the sound proofing done, won't you still be able to cut after mini-me nods off? or is that one of those you had better not even try issues with Mrs. Geek?

Pounding sounds after hours are more or less out of the question. Part of the theater is directly above the nursery. If I drop stuff onto the floor, it will show up on the baby monitor, but running the compressor or any of the saws doesn't. We wait for about an hour after he's been put down for the night, and so far we've had pretty good luck with not waking him.

In the end, I used the Craptron 5000 MK II to trace the line and then manually cut it with the jigsaw. Manually cutting the line was what I wanted to avoid, but it came out pretty decently.

I have the doorknob situation figured out and pieces of metal cut, however I need to special order 4" 8#-32 brass screws. Right now I've got some threaded rod. Oh, and the doorknob has a big dent in it from the seller, so I gotta return something I bought online. Oh joy!

Geek,
Good to see your making very good progress much more than me :(.

I came on here to actually update my thread, and here I am catching up on yours. The stage does look pretty cool. I really like the opposite curve effect of the upper and lower steps. I was probably going to do my typical easiest solution possible and skip any type of curves on the front stage all together, but now... what am I thinking... 100+ cuts... ACK!!!! Well keep up the good work.

Okay, so I made progress and update my thread... What about you, anything?

Okay, so I made progress and update my thread... What about you, anything?

Nothing really worth mentioning.

How's the little geek doing? All still going well?

How's the little geek doing? All still going well?

Wow... Thats an awfully personal question... :confused:

Ohhhh... You meant how is his son doing... :o

Yeah, how is that little geek doing?

Yeah, how is that little geek doing?

Expecting a sibling in late July. :)

Expecting a sibling in late July. :)

As if your progress wasn't slow enough.... ;)

Expecting a sibling in late July. :)

You know what causes that right?


























Not working on your theater! :p

You know what causes that right?

Not working on your theater! :p


I know, but it's pretty tough to motivate her to get up there and start hammering away. (gonna die when she reads this...)

I know, but it's pretty tough to motivate her to get up there and start hammering away. (gonna die when she reads this...)

Oh I need way more emoticons than this board has right now.... :mad: :p

Okay guys, you've gotta help me out here....I told thegeek he has to have the theatre done by the time the new munchkin is here....because I need at least *one* of the bedrooms back that's currently holding theatre stuff. :rolleyes: "Sorry kid, you don't get a room, but these recliners and speakers do!"

geek, sorry for this being off topic but what camera did you use for the pics? They look great.

geek, sorry for this being off topic but what camera did you use for the pics? They look great.

That's just a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. Most of the recent ones were with the 50mm f/1.8 II lens, which happens to be the cheapest glass Canon makes. Natural light only, no flash.

The secret to those Craptron shots above was that I had the camera tethered to my laptop. Shooting tethered means you run a USB cable from the camera to the computer so that from the computer you directly control exposure and triggering. To do so, you're obviously on a tripod which is always a massive help. The real advantage to shooting tethered is that you have an immediate preview of what the picture really looks like, which is why I was able to completely nail depth of focus and exposure. If I'm going to be on a tripod then 90% of the time I'm definitely going to tether.

The software to do that is a freebie with the Canons.

http://claire.carlucci.net/ :)

At least the star ceiling is pretty much up, that's about all I've got for updates.

http://claire.carlucci.net/ :)

At least the star ceiling is pretty much up, that's about all I've got for updates.

Congrats to Mr and Mrs Geek! :) She looks beautiful and your pics are pretty good! ;)

Congrats on the new geekette...

And as for the star ceiling, if there are no pictures, did it really happen?

Congrats to Mr and Mrs Geek! :) She looks beautiful and your pics are pretty good! ;)

:-) Thanks. Not that Wal-Mart is the ultimate arbiter of all things quality, but they did refuse to print the black and white pictures, claiming that they looked "professional", whatever that means.


Congrats on the new geekette...

And as for the star ceiling, if there are no pictures, did it really happen?

I could cheat and take pictures of the night sky. Would that help? Actually, it wouldn't. I made it to more or less match November at midnight with Orion in the center, so I could either wait a few months before taking the picture or just post real ones after finishing hooking up the fibers. Given how frequently I update this, waiting just might be the ticket.

[Bump]

Geek you still there? Did you get lost in a starfield?

Yeah, I'm still alive. Other projects, work and two small children have kinda taken over all available free energy for working on this. Maybe in the new year I'll do something about it.

Well, I look forward to your progress and pictures.
Like you, my bar is on hold until after the holidays. Good news is Chief of Department Finance (Wife) just cleared funds for new wood floor and AV rack!
Hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season. See ya on the other side of the calendar.

Sigh, going to have to redo the star ceiling. Stars are really only visible from directly underneath.

That stinks. :(

For those of us who haven't started yet, what is the issue? are the fibers too short?

I've got another thread out there in this forum, but there's a large different in brightness between the tile you're standing underneath and tiles out at the periphery. The light coming out of the fibers is too directional. Either that, or I've cut the fibers too short they need to be sticking down a little more. Those are just theories.

Alright, I must have been doing it wrong or maybe I remembered it wrong, or maybe I was huffing spray paint again. The brightness is fine.

Anyway, this is indoors:
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20100718/IMG_9459.jpg
Full resolution image, 631 KB (http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20100718/IMG_9459_full.jpg)


No no really, it's indoors:
http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20100718/IMG_9453.jpg
Full resolution image, 2.4 MB (http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20100718/IMG_9453_full.jpg)

In the top picture that's Orion center-right, Pleiades off further towards the top-right corner. Apparent magnitude isn't super-accurate, but otherwise I'm pretty pleased.

Happy (Belated) Fifth Anniversary of your build! You obviously have not lost any of your super powers! ;)

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr79/hanesian/old_superheroes05.jpg

Even if in order to post this I did have to check the box to acknowledge that "This thread is more than 248 days old. It is very likely that it does not need any further discussion and thus bumping it serves no purpose."

Since when does giving someone friendly grief "serve no purpose?!" :rolleyes:

Where have I been? What's going on?

Well, let me summarize....

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20110812/IMG_4623.jpg

See that cracked tile? If you look carefully and ignore the highly screwed up crack pattern then you'll note that one side is actually higher than the other. It's also crack #114 and goes on for about 12 feet or so.

I'll be picking up a bit on the theater once I'm done replacing almost all the flooring in my house and a fair bit of other work, but otherwise I'm still in this game. Things just kinda got held up due to the uncertainties that arise from a sinkhole.

No, I do not have a third child named "sinkhole".

Welcome back! And bummer on the sinkhole - how much was affected?

Welcome back! And bummer on the sinkhole - how much was affected?

It's not the Gaping Maw Of Hades sort of deal where you at least get this cool hole you can point at and from which the occasional demon lurks out of. No, nothing that interesting looking over here . Long before things ever get to that point the house just kinda seeps into the ground at differential rates which just breaks all sorts of things. They had to pump 21 trucks worth of cement underground. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Did one room's worth of flooring. I still have a bit of trim work to do but otherwise this is 95% done. On the downside, this room didn't have any cracks in the floor as it was carpet prior.

This was some leftover wood, moisture barrier and adhesive from when my in-laws did their house, and this project was deemed high priority as the gooey stuff in cans were getting near their claimed expiration dates back when we started the sinkhole stuff. I sure hate throwing away moisture barrier and adhesive when it's $170 for a bucket.

Well it's technically not wood, but rather stranded bamboo. It's insanely hard and practically stain-proof. There's one more room's worth of this to go until I can move on to more interesting things.

In other news, MrsGeek got into an accident. She got hit precisely in the driver's door while driving down the interstate (Tampa driving can be a bit.... odd). The other car swerved wildly and managed to hit her square in the middle of the door, completely missing either pillar or any kind of structure. The door and the door alone had to take the entire force of the impact. Gentlemen, buy your wives German cars as they seem to be somewhat sturdy.

http://carlucci.net/theater_build/20110905/IMG_4766.jpg

Eeek, Geek!! Hope she's okay!! :(

Flooring in the den is done. Looks just like the stuff up above, so a picture is pointless.

Back to my current project which is making a proper outfeed table for the Table Saw of Relative Doom. It's not a truly glorious table saw, but versus the $99 Ryobi it replaced it is much much better.

Anyway, I screwed up my window plug design and need to slice it down a bit. Since precision is important here it's going on the saw instead of just using a guided circular saw like any reasonable person would. However, the plug is way too damn big to just shove through the saw without an outfeed table, so that what I'm working on.

I needed one anyway, so it's just one of those things.

Would a simple straight edge with a circular saw do the trick instead of building an outfeed table?

Would a simple straight edge with a circular saw do the trick instead of building an outfeed table?

I've never been perfectly happy with the results of the circular saw guide trick. I use it for rough cuts and tearing down sheet goods but not for final dimensioning. If I'm looking to get within an inch one way or another and it's too big to drop on the table saw then I'll go for the circular saw. I'll go final dimension for most things if I can feed it through the saw with a fence on one side and featherboards on the other.

The outfeed table serves multiple purposes anyway. It's the outfeed table for the saw, but also the infeed table for the mounted router table. The RT side will be getting a similar outfeed table as well.

More importantly the outfeed table will serve as a work surface. Space is limited in the garage and I'm mostly using the table saw itself as my primary work surface. That's not a good thing. In that aspect it's a placeholder until I can craft a proper workbench.

This also is part of the fact that I'm finally setting up shop in the garage. Working inside the theater means constantly moving crap back and forth. I just hate that.