My wife and I have decided we need a larger home. We had twin boys about 1.5 years ago and can see our current house shrinking on a daily basis. :)

We've been searching for a home with a theater being one of the top priorities. We found one that is at the top of our list right now, But before contracting with them I wanted to get everyones input on how to best use the space. The basement will give us a space of 45'x30'x9' ceilings. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be blessed with a space like this. Therefore, in all of my reading on this forum, I never paid much attention to the larger room theaters.

Here is a list of our desires:

1. Seat about 10-12 with overflow capacity of about 20.
2. Screen size can be constant height with maximum width of about 144"
3. All equipment needs to be located outside of viewing room (except for projector)
4. Room will be used for 70% movies, 30% sporting events.
5. Budget for electonics will likely never exceed about $12,000 (I give this not for equipment selection, more to give an idea of what budget range the room might fall in)
6. Lobby area with ticket booth, popcorn/snack area
7. Game room, with pool table/pingpong, darts, card table

I'm attaching my first stab at a layout, but want to hear some input. At this point, the theater design itself is just sketched in quickly. My main concern is determining wall placement, as this will dictate where the builder puts support posts.

I would be willing to use a much larger portion of the basement for theater if it was needed for my purposes.

Hopefully, this thread will turn right into "Twinsletown II" construction thread! :D

Wow, 86 reads and two days time with no responses!

My basic question is, if you had a 45x30'x9' blank canvas, what dimensions would you carve out for your theater based on my criteria?

I've got some time to plan, as we will likely not sign with the builder for another 30-60 days. But at that time, he needs to know where he can put supports.

Come on guys and gals!

Use Terry Montlick's room size calculator to get good dimensions for acoustics:

http://www.tmlaboratories.com/Room_Dimensions_Calculator.xls

You will probably want something on the order of 20'x30' to get that quantity of people in (think room for 3 rows of 6).

Andy K.

I will work with the builder to see the plans they are offering. For structural and cost-effecience reasons, they will have to put the support poles in the middle of somewhere. They can probably move the poles a bit father away but then the beams need to be a bit bigger and they need their engineers and architets to revise the designs and get approved. You probably end up paying for the re-design and the extra strength support beams/poles.

Not an expert by any stretch, just a homeowner with 2 poles in the middle of my otherwise perfect basement area for an HT. :rolleyes:

If you put the beam supports (you will probably need two) along the 30' length you will have two 22.5' x 30' spaces, which will maximize the usefulness of that basement space.

Andy K.

I'm too jealous to comment. ;-)

The builder is not offering any plans for the basement. I need to meet with him and my preliminary plan to find out if it will give him the support locations needed.

The beams are running parallel to the shorter (30') dimension. This is part of why I'm showing the wall at 17', which is within 2' of the center (hope that works without resizing, etc.).

The 28' depth puts the wall nicely at the point that the bay has a corner.

Joe, yes, the space is worthy of being jealous. :) I just can't get over the fact that it finally looks like I'm going to get my dream space. I've had makeshift theaters in several different homes, from a 20" tv in an apartment to a rear projection living room/theater, to my current dedicated room of 16'x19'. I'm scared at the responsability to do things right this time!!!

Andy, that's a good idea, but I like a rectangular look to a room, and wonder if 22.5' by 30' will look too square for my taste?

Tomorrow I will post a plan that shows the room at 16'x30'. I wonder if that is getting too narrow for the length?

Not to put a dasher on the process - but been there done that...

When I was house hounting a couple years ago - my third house that we offered on is the one we actually got. The second house needed $20-$30K of roof work - the first house was contingent on selling the current house and that fell thru. I only got the third house because I did not go the contingent offer - instead I double mortgaged for six months! It helps when you have a neighbor that is a mortgage broker....

I (re)designed a theater for each of them - the one I got had the worst basement to work with. Good design practice - but keep in mind there is more to house buying than the basement! The homeowners/agents were more than accommodating to my need to get detailed basement measures/plans - though they thought it maybe a bit strange as far as house priorities go.

BTW basement theater never happened - spent the leftover equity on suing the neighbor when she tried to claim 10' of my carport so she could infill development and turn an old shed into a three-story duplex. You never know what will happen in the future! In the end I ended up with 3' more of her property and a fence and motorized gate al at her expense - but stuck with a fugly house next door and most importantly - no basement HT. Supposedly I won - but nobody wins legal battles.

Like grandpa always said - don't count the chickens before they hatch!


Anyways looks like plenty of space to work with - my only comment is I see 3/4 of the basement is HIS room, and 1/4 is HER room. Are these mutually developed plans?

Andy, that's a good idea, but I like a rectangular look to a room, and wonder if 22.5' by 30' will look too square for my taste?

Tomorrow I will post a plan that shows the room at 16'x30'. I wonder if that is getting too narrow for the length?

For 12+ seats 16' is too small, in my opinion. Its probably not great acoustically, either.


Andy K.

Kras, enjoyed your post. I will have to let my wife read it. :) She's very accommodating with my HT disease. Although, the game room portion is as much for our children, and the Workshop is only so I can maintain all my wife's things. hahahaha....

I'm trying hard not to count my chickens, but these initial design studies are part of the decision process on buying or not.

It seems you have been down the road that I am on. We don't want to double mortgage, but I don't know how you keep a house from slipping through your fingers unless you do so. In the end, I don't know if we'll actually bite on the double mortgage, or if several more design studies are in my future. :) From the title of my thread, you can see that I'm emotionally involved already, so that is not a good thing. :)

A house just like our current one and in our neighborhood sold in just 2 weeks on the market last month. This and other research gives me confidence that we will sell in a few months time at most. Do I feel confident enough to pay two mortgages? don't know yet.

All the supporting elements are there for a reason, some support the 1st floor, some support the 2nd floor, and some support the roof. I’ll be worried if my builder move them around without re-design and get approval of the entire house

Don’t mean to rain out the parade, but if you are building your dream house, the last thing you need is a safety nightmare…

I am really curious about what your builder can do to you. Please keep us posted and good luck. :)

I'd definately not use all that space. leave some for a room or maybe a bar or a lounge etc. I think cutting the room in half would be good. Face the 30' wall and have the room stretch deep behind you. Its a place to start. The rest is in the details.

Seth

I wasn't impleying that the builder would do whatever I draw up. I'm sure he will have comments and massage what I bring to him. Although, I'm showing a wall very close to the middle of the basement, and another that almost quarters the space, so I'm hoping that is close to what he will need. I completely agree, that we will not be building the house on a "hunch" that it looks right. :)

Seth, what do you mean by "all that space" Do you mean that 28x17 is not necessary? I am also showing a lobby/gameroom that will likely include a bar.

Where are you keeping all your utilities, in one of the closets?

By "utilities", do you mean bathroom? I wasn't planning a bathroom, as there is a bathroom right at the top of the stairs. Pre-plumbing for bathroom is an additional $800. Doesn't sound like much, but there are about 30 different $800 things that we need to make decisions on.

Here is another idea, orienting the room in the other direction. Not sure if the 12' wide game room will accomodate a pool table as shown?

Not unless you use short cues.

http://www.brunswickbilliards.com/need_information/room_size_requirements.html

So it would work with 52" cues on a 7' table. Or I could find another foot and use 58" cues.

I could loose a foot in the workshop if going with plan 'c'.

Thanks for the link to the chart. I would assume that if the room accomodated pool it would also work for ping pong?

Utilites such as a furnace, hot water tank, etc. You know all the junk most of us have in our basements. I lived in Virginia where basements are rare and I had all that stuff in the attic which was a real pain.

Utilites such as a furnace, hot water tank, etc. You know all the junk most of us have in our basements. I lived in Virginia where basements are rare and I had all that stuff in the attic which was a real pain.

I thought that might be what you meant. This particular house is also built without a basement, so hot water heater is in garage and a/c units are in the attic. No utilities in basement. Although, that is a great point about it being easier in the basement. I'll ask the builder about that. Thanks.

I expect to hear from them by the end of the week as far as can they do our wish list of about 50 different changes, etc. There are 4 or 5 big items on that list that would kill the deal for us, so my fingers are crossed. One of those items is to do the basement in 9' ceilings as opposed to the standard 8'. Do you all think this plan is still doable with 8' basement ceiling? maybe so, but then I would have to orient the room so that seating is arranged in fewer rows.

1- You definitely want a full bath in the basement. At least have the rough-in so you can build it later. Besides, $800 would not put a dent on your mortgage, but no needs to climb stairs for you and your family/guests when natural calls, priceless.

2- You will just have to pay for the 9', that's it. It's a pretty standard upgrade I think.

Do you all think this plan is still doable with 8' basement ceiling?

That would get awfully tight in the third row. Pay for the 9', you won't regret it!

Again, I hope to hear from them by Friday. I agree, I will get 9' if it is an option. Also agree that the plumbing for a restroom would be nice.

I just have to decide which of the dozens of $800 items don't get done. Can't get them all. We're at the very top of our (expanded) budget before any of these options are added, so you can see, the $800 does start to become a big deal. Now, maybe we don't get granite in the kitchen and those monies are better spent on the things we can't easily add later, like the bathroom plumbing. ???

We've always lived below our means, but this house is our "forever" house, so we're going out on a limb and stretching a bit for it. Scary stuff for us.

By the way, thanks for all of the input. It's nice to have a sounding board, much less one that has the home theater in their best interest. :)

I just have to decide which of the dozens of $800 items don't get done

Ain't it the truth. Feel good about this, in Chicago, it's which of the dozens of $1200 items don't get done :)

Good luck with the build!

Scott

I built my basement 10' deep and with vents, ductwork etc, it ate up a lot of space. If I were doing it again, I would keep the 10' basement walls and use trusses as my 1st level floor joists. That way all the ductwork can run inside the trusses and leaves your ceiling flat from end to end.

Problem was the cost differential from 8' to 9' wasn't much at all, but going to 10' was another 15k because the walls had to be poured much thicker so support the added height. I was not dupped by the builder either because I saw every receipt that the subs provided.

Just a warning and a recommendation. Have fun and good luck.

Thanks Video. Fortunately, the first floor is on trusses. I saw, in another house, that all utilities were running through them. This will give me a finished ceiling hieght of 9'. I think you're correct about the price jump to 10'. I'm expecting the 9' option to come in at about $3500-4000. Worth every penny of that!

Not sure if you already have seats picked out but looking at your drawing I do not see how you will get rows of 4 with aisles down both sides in a 16' wide space. I have 090's (2 rows of 4) in an 18' wide room. The aisles are 3' wide. You do not want them any narrower than that especially if you are doing a 30' deep room with 3 rows.

With rows of 4 I would stay at an 18' wide finished inside dimension min. I would try to go to 20' or even 22' and you could do 3 rows of 5. The room would be much more balanced that way. 16' will look really narrow with a 30' length. Just my 2 cents if you have the ability to preplan go for a little extra width.
JD

JD, good info. I'm showing 17' width. My current chairs are the Coaster Directer's series. I have a row of 4 in a 16' wide room and it is just a hair tight, that's why I was figuring 17'. The Coasters are a little narrower than your Berks.

However, I will likely go with Berks for my "sweetspot" row. I'll see if I can draw a version up with 18' width.

You can hire someone to do most of the options after the house is built for half the price the builder asked. Another 50% if DIY. Of course there are things need to be considered if you choose to go this route, like another construction period to go through and the money you have to come up to pay for it. There are things like 9'/10' basement ceiling or kitchen/family extension you just have to pay the builder but others like granite countertop, hardwood floor, can be done later by your or your contractor. Good luck.

fore, I am quite handy and will have to decide which things I will do myself to save some money.

Here is another plan. I think I'm starting to get somewhere. I like the open feeling from the game room to the theater in this one. It is also a very deep theater. The downside to this plan is that the workshop is shrunken down to the bare minimum, and my wifes exercise room is also. This does show a half bath downstairs in a configuration that would allow the exercise room to become a bedroom if ever needed.

I like the ticket booth with access on both sides too.

thanks for pointing me here tony. we are in similar situations and i went through the same thing once with my last house where i was building it and wanted to get it right. it is true that sometimes it is hard to get the support posts where you want them. i had them use a lam beam there rather than steel and they set it in the floor like a joist rather than put a steel beam under the joists. this way i did not have a beam goiing through the middle of my ceiling in the theater. i also watched REALLY close to make sure all mechanicals were routed around that room so i did not have air ducts in the ceiling and put a dedicated air duct that was lined so i did not get air noise. lots of things to consider.

i would consider trying to put one less thing in your basement. each of these things is a little squeezed. a workshop that is 11' wide (have you accounted for taking out all the wall thicknesses). do you want a 12' wide pool room (remember george costanza's pool room). if this is a basement where are the windows? if there are none or if they are only on back that affects this. my wife WON'T go hang out in a room in the basement that has no windows.

if i could pull it off i would put a 19.5 x 29' theater on the left side where you have a shop, gameroom and game table then figure out how to best use the rest. this is assuming you can work around the support poles. if they use steel they can span that 19' with little problem. if there is an issue put a support pole 2' from each outside wall so you only have to span 15' and hide them in columns.

i like your attitude when you say you never thought you would be blessed with a space like this. good way to look at it in a hobby where we can sometimes spend so much money that we lose touch with reality.

greg

12' wide pool room wont really work nicely for you and in the end youd be cursing it. The general rule of thumb for pool tables is to have at least 5' of clearance all the way around a pool table for teh standard regulation 57" cue. If your like me the pool room is secondary to the theater but I wouldnt make it that small if it were me. A typical 8' table measures roughly 4'X8' so youd want at least 14x18 and that really is cutting it kinda close to be honest, not to mention if you want the bigger 9' table. Im not trying to sound negative its just that I had a pool table for many years and TRIED to put it in smaller places in the past....I ended up never playing on it and eventually sold it because it was too cramped.

Robert

Robert, thanks for the comments on the pooltable space. It helps to hear from experience.

Greg, I have not counted for wall thickness. At this point, I am pretty schematic. We meet with the builder on Wednesday night to possibly sign contract. If we do that, I will then move into a precise drawing. I agree that one less room might make the remaining rooms better, but I'm going to try not to resort to that.

It is a walkout basement, so the backside will have windows, front will not. Great point about not wanting to sit in a room with no windows. I'll see if we can address that.

Here is a plan that a buddy did. It's always helpful to have fresh eyes look it over. He accomplished what I was trying to but couldn't. :p He was also able to address some of the comments that you guys have made.

He shows the theater at 18' width, which is a plus. The pool / game room is at a 15' width, which should be about right. I really like the game table tucked into the bay window and how the extra wall in the octogon helps make it feel like a room. I like the full bath and the fact that it would be great if in the future Cindy's room turns into another bedroom. And, the workshop is back to a more usable dimension. :D

I've got my fingers crossed that this whole plan works out. As I said, we meet with the builder on Wednesday night. They did call tonight to say that they did perculation tests on 2 of our choice lots, and they will accomodate the basement!

Thanks again to everyone for ideas, etc.

Tony

if this is your basement, do you need room for hvac? water heater? storage?

g

No, the house was designed without basement, so all utilities are elsewhere.

For HVAC in basement, I will be adding a third unit to the house. The basement will be its own system. I think that the hotwater heater will be sufficient, as the basement bath will very rarely be used.

Now storage is a good point. The workshop will be workshop/storage, and there are two sizable attic spaces. I may try to work another closet or two into this latest layout. If I have to loose a room, it would be the workshop. Things like tablesaw, etc. could just go in the garage. Hate to do that though, as a two car garage will become 1 car plus workshop.

ok, i had this problem and almost put the shop downstairs but a friend with the shop in the basement talked me out of it. even with dust collection he has wife issues with sawdust and he hates carrying lumber down. the approach i used was to put it into the garage but make it so i can pack it up. te two big things i needed to work around were a delta unisaw with the 54" beisemeyer fence and a compound miter saw. i built a norm style chop saw bench along one side wall with the beisemeyer stop. that is awesome for repetitive work. they key is that i set the chop saw table at 37" high so that i can roll my table saw under one side of it. i built tables that break down and they store under the other side of it. if you need to you can have the builder give you a couple extra feet of width on the garage for this stuff.

yeah i really hate having to break the shop down to get inside and i planned to have an outbuilding when i moved then i planned to add a garage bay then i planned to put the shop in the basement and now i am back where i was with a shop in the garage but it is about the only tradeoff i made in this move so i am ok with it. plus i have plenty of room in my "shop" and i dont have to haul lumber to the basement.

anyway, if you are interested i can share pics of what i did.

g

Well, it's been nearly a month now! I'm still not signed on the dotted line, but have gotten very close. I imagine I will be signing in the next week.

The builder was able to meet nearly all of my requests. The one item I couldn't get him to do, was moving walls around in the basement. I've attached a plan that shows solid walls as the "untouchable" walls. I think it all works pretty well. I'm a little concerned about the large openess to the rear of the theater. Any suggestions there?

I think the space for pool table has worked out well.

I like the lobby space and setup for the marquee and ticketbooth.

By the way, the cost to bring the ceiling from 8' to 9' (he said likely 9'6") was $2000. I thought that sounded like a bargain.

Greg, that sounds like good advice on the workshop comments. You can see that this plan doesn't show one. I'll just use the garage.

I'll keep you all posted, in the meantime, any comments are welcome as long as they don't involve moving the solid walls.

tony

Hey Tony I've got something that you might be able to use to help in your design phase.
I think that you just might like it.

I'm going to resurrect this old thread with an update and some new info.

It has been a long road over the last two months. Things ended up not working out with the builder that I was originally referring to. In the final quote, he slipped in a lot premium that in an earlier meeting had been waved. Then, he denied having waved it. Two of his employees acknowledged that it had in fact been waved, but he stuck to his story. So....we moved on.

Since then, we have had an offer accepted on some property and will contract in the next few weeks assuming it passes perk test, well test and floodplain. We also are meeting with a new builder on Monday to sign contract, hopefully. And last but not least, our current house is now under contract and set to close on October 27th, 2006!!!!

The new house ends up having a more flexible basement than the first. It has two rooms that are each 17'x63'x9' ceiling. I haven't played as much with preliminary design this time, knowing that the space is more flexible to designing later.

With a few more things falling into place, we may turn this into a construction thread yet!

Tony

Many of you may think I am crazy at this point! To tell you the truth, I am close to it.

Update, we have just this past week signed contract with our builder. It has taken us 4 months of hard work, but we are told construction will start the first week of January!

We did close on the old house, and moved the family into a temporary apartment. Building should take 6-7 months.

Anyway, to keep this on "Home Theater" topic, I'll post a floorplan after we actually have construction. At that point, it is a safe bet that the theater will be a reality.....:)

I underestimated how difficult it is to find and buy land and then get a house and builder you're comfortable with.

An all to familiar story, if you think the hard part is over....well.......just hold on.
Pick your battles, do some listening too, SOMETIMES the builder will have a great compromise. Good luck!!

http://homepage.mac.com/stubeeef/PhotoAlbum2.html

Well, here is a copy of the basement floorplan from the builder. If anyone has comments, please chime in. The only wall that is fixed is the 60' wall that divides the basement into the 18' width.

I didn't intend for the builder to draw in the elevation changes for the risers, but it brings up a question. Would it be preferable to have the risers poured as part of the concrete foundation, or do after as the typical wood platforms?

The answer seems pretty obvious to do after with wood so that the space is flexable for future use as something else.

hahahaha......I feel like I'm talking to myself at this point. :)

Since we are nearing the one year anniversary of this thread I thought it might be fitting to chime in again.

We are about 60 days from occupancy!!!! Can't believe it.

Of course, I'll be completely exhausted from the process, so I will need a few months before starting a construction thread. :)

Hey Tony,

Somebody's listening. :)

Just a few more months---very exciting! Can't wait to see your room in its various stages.

Thanks Tom! Oh, you'll get to see it alright.........you'll be looking through safety glasses with a hammer in hand :) hahaha