Hi all. It is for the media room in the basement. I decided on putting in a riser too late. the builder apparently has all the lumber ordered and now cannot add the riser. I was hoping to have it about 1 foot in height and about 10ft wide. I was looking to get a handyman to do it. As u guessed by now I am not a DIY kind off person when it comes to home projects. I was wondering if any of u can give me a gestimate as how much I can expect to spend before I start talking to contractors.

What are all the dimensions for riser? 1' high x 10' wide x ???

Your builder could get more material, he just doesn't want to. They tend to pull their hair out over these little things (to them).

What are all the dimensions for riser? 1' high x 10' wide x ???

Your builder could get more material, he just doesn't want to. They tend to pull their hair out over these little things (to them).


I agree...the bigger problem for me is that the floor will have carpet..... the reason i approached the builder was that i figured that it was easy to put the riser in prior to the carpet being installed.....

The dimensions are 1ft high, about 6ft wide and 10ft long....

I just got material for something similar to a riser/stage. it was 8"high and 6X10 including the insulation, corner brackets, and liquid nails we spent $180.00 at Lowe's for the material. So add a couple of bucks for 12" material. Now if you have a handy man do it for you can certainly add a mark up to that material as well as labor.

You probably want to build a floating riser anyway so having the carpet run is good if you ever want to remove your riser the floor will still be carpeted. Just make sure you know exactly what kind of carpet is being installed and where to get it. Related to the riser depending on your chairs and room it might be better to wait until you have the chairs so you can shape the riser exactly how you want it.

My floating riser is 6'Wx8'Dx8"H. The building materials cost about $200 of wood, screws, liquid nail and nails. I also added two buttkickers, buttkicker amp and isolators which cost an additional $600. I had some rope light left over though rope light is pretty cheap.

I have yet to carpet my riser but expect it to cost another $300. Also you will probably need some insulation which might cost another $50 to $100.

This is a pretty simple project so if you want to experiment might not be a bad thing to try. Either way you should read a lot of threads here to figure out exactly what you want.

You probably want to build a floating riser anyway so having the carpet run is good if you ever want to remove your riser the floor will still be carpeted.

Not really. The riser will leave indentions in the carpet if it sits there for a long time. So the carpet will be ruined in those spots. Plus, with the riser over part of the carpet, you will get uneven carpet wear. The area around the riser will get worn and the carpet under the riser will look like new. So the new looking carpet won't match the old looking carpet. The whole room's carpet will need to be changed when the riser is removed. So you will actually save money by building the riser before the carpet goes in because the carpet under the riser will be wasted.

I guess it depends on the type of carpet you have, how often you use it, etc. whether the carpet needs to be replaced if you move the riser. Personally I prefer the carpet down and the way my room is positioned I can shift the riser if I want to without leaving a bare spot on the floor.

Funny thing is, I just had this exact same issue, to the letter. I decided to put in a riser too late (during new home construction) and building one is just not my strength. What I did was, not have the builder carpet the media room. I closed without being carpeted, but on the punchlist. I brought in a handyman. The riser was built on the pad (not carpet) and it was 12"H x 10'W x 7'5"D. It cost me in labor and materials (I had it fixed priced) $1600. This includes all materials, 3/4" plywood (the kind that doesn't splinter-very smooth), r19 insulation within the riser, liquid nailed, screwed, electrical for plug in chairs (6 plug strip in face of riser), as well as rope lighting triming out the edge and the stair. I thought it was good, but I am about to find out.

When the carpet guys came back to carpet the room, I just informed them in advance of the riser demensions, and they carpeted the riser for me as well as the stair at no extra cost. It was no skin off their back. So as much as it would have been nice to have it done during construction, it worked out better for me, since I was able to really measure out exactly where chairs should go, the perfect demensions of the riser and really get a great sense as to how it should lay out. Had I done it before hand it MAY have been cheaper, but I would not have ended up with the product I did. You can see it here
My construction Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=802028)

Hi all. It is for the media room in the basement. I decided on putting in a riser too late. the builder apparently has all the lumber ordered and now cannot add the riser. I was hoping to have it about 1 foot in height and about 10ft wide. I was looking to get a handyman to do it. As u guessed by now I am not a DIY kind off person when it comes to home projects. I was wondering if any of u can give me a gestimate as how much I can expect to spend before I start talking to contractors.

I made portable risers after the fact and used extra carpet (yes I ordered much more than I needed for the floor) to finish them off. I can pick them up and move them as necessary. I also wanted the next owner of our house to NOT have a riser if they so desire.

Qty 2 of 4'x8'x 7/16" thick OSB approx. $34
Qty 2 of 2"x10" x 8' planks approx. $24
Qty 4 of 1"x10" x 10' planks approx $32
Qty of 2 2"x4" x 96" studs apporx. $8

left over carpet, box of 3" screws and viola Qty 2 of 4' x 5' x 11" high risers.

And they are butt kicker ready!

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/696/frontleftmv8.th.jpg (http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=frontleftmv8.jpg) http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/3615/riserme6.th.jpg (http://img504.imageshack.us/my.php?image=riserme6.jpg)

I'll explain the drawing just a bit. The 2x10 frames are place to be under theater seating such as the Berkline 090's shown. Rubber isolators can be added to give the butt kickers that added punch. You would bolt the two riser sections together to use 1 butt kicker. You can unbolt them and move them easily in the future.

The 1x10's were used to "wrap" the risers to reduce weight. I did not need 2x10's surrounding the riser. Carpet does not wrap around the whole riser, the center of each riser is raw 1x10 so that bolting them together is plank to plank. The riser top (OSB) is 1/4" overhang on the joist framing. This allows a square piece of carpet to be wrapped around and down under the flat top to "hide" the edge. The walls of the risers are wrapped and stapled carpet about 14" wide (wrapped under riser walls and tucked under flat top overhang.)

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Thanks for all the replies. I now have kindoff an idea how much it will cost. Looks like the meterials will not cost much..the labor might cost me some...I would love to do it myself (I actually drool while going thru the construction threads)..but I have no experience with these things and I will have absolutely no time as I go into training in June...........

I will definitely wait until I get the couches do that I can tailor the riser to the couches