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The Budget Buffalo Basement Build is now underway!

83K views 281 replies 62 participants last post by  kopavi 
#1 ·
For starters, this was my original thread containing design concepts and early preparation questions:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1210229


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Well, although my basement HT/playroom build has been in process since late February, I haven't had a chance to really document any of my progress so far. Now that I'm taking a bit of a vacation, I have some free time so I figured I'd give something back to the forum after taking so much over these past several months. Finally signed up with Photobucket, so here we go. I'm not going to chronicle my build on a daily basis like some people do (I just don't have the time), but I'll try to post updates periodically to allow people to see how things are going and hopefully get ideas from my build. Like I said, since I've gotten so many ideas from others on this forum, I hope other people can benefit from my build in the same way.



I actually never gave much thought to having my own home theater, as I always figured they were just waaaay too expensive and I figured that I might as well just watch my 51" rear-projection and old Boston Acoustics System 9000 HTIB setup (with the HUGE 4-inch micro speakers and 10" sub). But after reading through some of the theater build threads on this forum, it occurred to me that I could do so much better if I only put my mind to it.


Obviously, the basement was the first place that came to mind as far as location goes, but how would I sell the idea to the wife?? Eureka! I'll just build a PLAYROOM for the kids.... oh, and I'll also throw in the theater room while I'm at it. After all, I'm already buying all the supplies, so why not just make TWO rooms? It was actually an easy sell... my wife has been begging for years to rework the basement into a habitable space for the kids, so it was a good compromise. They get half the basement and I get the other half
I guess the reason this is a "Budget" build is that I see lots of people with some SERIOUS theaters and some people who spend more on their speakers than I'm planning to spend on my entire basement. For both of my rooms, I'm projecting a cost of less than $15,000, everything included. And I don't have any existing equipment to re-use. Obviously, some folks are even more budget-constrained and they do a fantastic job of creating a nice space with very little money. So I guess I'm able to spend more than some folks, but less than others. Either way, my budget is limited, so I'm going to have to make compromises here and there.


The playroom will be un-insulated with a drop ceiling. Nothing fancy, just a room with 4 walls. OSB subfloor-over-Platon with laminate flooring (the el-cheapo 99 cents per sq. ft. variety) and an area rug, with a recycled white sectional couch (you can see in the pictures). 90% of the furniture and accessories in the playroom will be recycled from other parts of the house, so hopefully we can clean up the rest of the house by eventually moving some junk down there.


For the theater room, I wanted to have it completely light controlled and more or less "cave-like" (to prevent people from actually wanting to encroach on my space!). The HT will have:


-solid MDF entry door with oak veneer

-drywall ceiling with hat channel

-staggered stud walls between adjoining rooms (playroom on one side and furnace/washer/dryer on the other side)

-5 wall sconces, no ceiling cans (this won't be a general purpose room -- just for watching movies and maybe some sporting events)

-riser-on-a-riser design with rope lighting

-lowered soffit to conceal HVAC ducts

-equipment closet in adjoining closet space

-painted screen (S-I-L-V-E-R formula painted directly onto front wall drywall)

-false wall with speakers and subwoofer behind it

-removeable GOM panels on false wall

-separate ducts in front/rear of room for circulating fan

-one layer of 5/8" drywall on walls

-RSIC V-clips and hat channel on ceiling


Other key details for the HT:

Dimensions: 20x13x8 internal space in the main room (but only 7 foot ceiling height under the soffit)

Screen: 110" diagonal painted drywall with shadow box

PJ: Mitsubishi HC5500 located 12 feet back from screen

AVR: Onkyo SR707

Blu-ray: Pioneer BDP-320

Speakers: 7.1 configuration: Energy RC-50 L/R, RC-10 Center, RC-10 surrounds, RC-10 DSX Wides

Remote: Sony model 601 universal IR remote with RF repeater module (this is *THE* best thing ever invented: http://www.amazon.com/Next-Generatio...1708105&sr=1-2 )

Riser height: 15.75" (leaves 5.5 feet headroom under the soffit, which is why I will have a riser-on-a-riser design)

Seating: two rows of motorized recline Berklines: 3 model #12006 up front, 4 model #12006 in back

Carpeting: Shaw (Queen) Back Stage pattern, color undecided




First, I had to clear out the space. This took about a solid month and a half to do. Between sorting out bins of toys and packing up things for donation to the local Salvation Army, it was actually pretty back-breaking work. Much harder than I thought it would be, and actually harder than building the rooms themselves! Here's what the basement space looked like beforehand:



Looking from the playroom towards the front screen area of the HT:





Looking from the playroom entrance towards the rear wall of the HT:





Looking straight at the rear wall of the HT:





Looking straight at the screen wall of the HT. The wall will be located right in front of the furnace:
 
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#2 ·
I designed the theater room using Solidworks. I use it every day at work, so it was a better option for me than using Sketchup or anything else. Within a few weeks, I had a pretty solid design to work with. But even though I'm already at the point where I'm ready for drywall, I'm still making changes. I suspect I'll be making changes all the way until I'm finished with the room entirely!



Early version of the room:




Later version. New riser style, updated false wall.:




And here's the final version (so far). Shadow box added and new wall sconces picked out. Riser configuration finalized. Changed to a shelf-mounted PJ instead of an upside-down ceiling mount. I think this will protect the PJ better from people banging their heads against while standing on the rear row riser. Granted, their heads will be worse for wear, but the PJ will survive unscathed! I also added some DSX Wide speakers for a 7.1 layout (with the rear speakers removed). I think the rear seating might be too close to the rear wall for an effective set of rears anyways, so the DSX Wides might be a better solution. I'm wiring for both, so if one method doesn't work out, I can switch to the other.:
 
#3 ·
Basement has been cleared. In the playroom, the electrical panel and sump pump area will be enclosed with two 36-inch bypass closet doors, which will also enclose the equipment rack. A hinged GOM-covered acoustic panel will allow access to the equipment rack from within the theater room.



Rear wall of HT. Notice the "jog" in the duct near the rear window. That will be moved to the adjacent joist bay (see next picture):




Before:




After. And voila! No more lousy ductwork in the way. Notice also that I have added some drywall and Green Glue to the subfloor in the room above. This may or may not help with sound deadening, but it didn't take very long and I got the tubes of GG for a good price. So what the heck.





Front wall (in front of furnace) of HT:




View from playroom entrance looking into HT:




View from playroom entrance (overall view of space):




Equipment closet area. This will finally give me the chance to replace that cluster$^&% of a cable splitter arrangement and put up a real amplified 8-port splitter.
 
#4 ·
Hauling wood home. This load is probably 90% of the framing members that I ended up using for the whole space. I had to make several smaller trips for more wood throughout the build.




Some of the walls are up. Equipment closet taking shape. Lumber pile going down. Those blue 4-inch vertical support beams will be enclosed in columns within the HT room. Matching false columns will be built on the opposite wall. I should have probably built the walls and drywalled them before adding the column structure, but I didn't. I'm hoping the small amount of loss in soundproofing won't come back to bite me, but since I'm not going all-out with soundproofing anyways, I doubt it will matter much.




Front (screen) wall is up. I gotta say, the Chicago Tools compound sliding miter saw that I bought from Harbor Freight for $120 is AMAZING (mounted to the table). One of the best purchases I've ever made. And it's got a 12-inch blade!




Equipment rack access hole at rear of HT is starting to take shape. This will be a "Larry Fine" style DIY adjustable rack made with slotted supports and adjustable shelf mounts. I will also have a slide-out shelf for media discs. I figure I can fit around 30 or so DVDs and Blu-rays in the space that I have allotted.




Soffit construction under HVAC ducts is made up of 2x2 stringers with 1x3 pine boards. The 1x3s are actually much stronger than I originally thought. Since the span is around 5-1/2 feet, I had to add vertical supports at around 44 inches from the soffit edge to connect the 1x3s to the floor joists above. You can just see them in the lower right hand corner of the picture, right on the other side of the ducts. I figure each 1x3 will be responsible for holding 10 lb. of drywall weight over its entire length. I think they will be strong enough for that. This picture also shows the PJ shelf support added. You can see the hole where the 2-inch Carlon conduit will be installed for the PJ cables. I will be installing vertical steel hangers that will protrude through the drywall, then screw the side panels of the shelf into the steel hangers. The tough part will be cutting slots in the drywall to exactly match the steel hangers. But since they will be located inside the side panels of the shelf, I doubt anyone will notice if there are gaps.




More detail of the soffit showing the false wall extension on the front wall. I wanted to make sure the false wall blended with the ceiling, so I decided to drop the entire soffit down along the front wall where the false wall will be, so everything will be on a straight line. In hindsight, I *SHOULD* have just built the ceiling normally and drywalled it, and THEN built the soffit onto the drywalled space. This would have allowed me to add some ceiling can lighting without worrying about sound leakage. But what's done is done. I may end up putting some small pocket lights in the shadow box area to provide some more lighting on the screen area. Who knows. You can also see the 2x2s (one on each side and one in the center) mounted to the ceiling for the hat-channel RSIC clips. The 2x2s were needed to space the ceiling down enough to clear the plumbing and gas pipes.
 
#5 ·
Closeup shot of the window located at the rear of the HT. This has been completely framed in and will be covered with a hinged GOM-covered acoustic panel for access. I'll probably never open the window anyways... maybe just to let some fresh air into the room from time to time.




Carlon conduit being installed for the PJ and front (false) wall speaker wires. I made convenient use of the central I-beam to run the conduit. All I did was to install some pieces of 2x4 with Liquid Nails onto the I-beam. The conduit clips get screwed into that with wood screws. The front wall will have two blue conduits: one for the LCR speakers + subwoofer, and one for a spare. The orange PJ conduit will contain only an HDMI cable and a VGA cable. No component video and no network cable. If I ever need to add more cables, I can always just run it inside the soffit anyways. There is a straight path from the equipment rack to the PJ area. What's funny is that I see lots of comments from people who use conduit and expect to "add more wires later". I gotta say, I had a ***** of a time running just those two lousy cables into the 2-inch orange conduit. There's absolutely NO WAY I would ever be able to install another wire in there without pulling everything out and re-running all of the cables again. And even then it would be a bear of a job. So, adding cables? No way. Replacing cables? Maybe.




Conduit runs to front wall. You can also see the soffit completed with the vertical supports for the 1x3 cross-members.




Here is a neat little trick I used for the wall sconces. I took a metal box and reversed the mounting tabs to give me enough extra distance to protrude properly through the drywall. Also, I made the columns 11 inches wide. Using two 2x4's side by side, (7 inches total), this left a 4-inch space for the sconce mounting boxes. These boxes were just shy of 4 inches wide, so I installed a couple of small washers to move out the mounting tabs just enough to reach the 2x4s. You could HANG from these boxes and they wouldn't come off the wall. Very strong! I'll try to get a closeup of the column construction later.
 
#6 ·
Below you can see the entryway into the HT as viewed from the entrance to the playroom. This is going to contain a standard solid-core oak-veneer door from Home Depot ($150). Only thing I haven't figured out yet is whether or not I want to extend the jamb from the off-the-shelf door or special order another door with a 6-inch jamb. Problem is, I suspect I'll be paying a small fortune for the custom order door, since the $150 model off the shelf is a ridiculously good deal.


Another thing to notice is the switch located outside the theater door on the left. I am not planning to use a Grafik Eye or any special controllers for the lighting. I have standard Lutron dimmer switches inside the room to handle that. I guess maybe I'm just too cheap to spend hundreds of dollars to turn lights on and off. But since the room is completely sealed and 100% light-controlled, I figure that instead of trying to stumble my way into a completely pitch-black room to turn on the lights, I put a 3-way switch attached to the first set of wall sconces (nearest to the door) so that I can turn them on before I enter the room. Then I can access all the other dimmers and switches on the main panel once I get in there. This seemed to be the best solution to my problem.




Wiring for the room is just about finished in the picture below. The viewing angle is from the screen wall back towards the equipment rack. You can see the columns built around the vertical beams and also see where the sconces will be mounted, exactly 66 inches from the floor.




Projector mounting area. The lead-in to the blue plastic box is a 2-inch threaded PVC coupling. It will be a tight friction-fit for the orange conduit into the coupling. The fit is actually remarkably tight and I don't have any adhesive in there. The drywall ceiling will be spaced off of the floor joists by around 3.5 inches, meaning that I will have to use "old work" electrical boxes for both the cabling and electrical pass-thrus to the projector. I'll get some detailed pictures of the PJ shelf supports when they are installed (as soon as I am ready to install the ceiling).
 
#7 ·

 
#8 ·
Reserved for future grief giving and haranguing.



P.S. It's about bloody time you hopped into the build thread pool, Drew!


Subscribed!
 
#9 ·
Looking good so far
 
#11 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Todd Lee /forum/post/18506699


You've got some great shots of the framing. It's given me much to think about with planning my basement build. Can't wait to see more!


Edit: Did I miss the room dimensions, or have they been posted yet?


I tried to plan out the framing method as much as possible, so I had very little to re-do. I think it turned out exactly as I had planned.


Regarding the dimensions, I updated the first post with more details.
 
#12 ·
Nice Buffalo representing! Hell with 6 months of winter you know we will use these spaces more than our southern counterparts.


Framing looks great. I did the same thing with one of my windows...it just didn't make sense to keep and was harder to accommodate for such little natural light.
 
#13 ·
Looks good! I am also from Buffalo (Sunny Cheektavegas!) and am working on my theater right now as well. I hope to have it done by the time World Cup starts and hope to have the rest of the basement done and fully insulated by winter. I really should start a new thread to show my progress.
 
#14 ·
I am currently planning to have only 6 wall sconces (2 on each of the side wall columns and one double-fixture on the rear wall) to illuminate the entire room. I'm not trying to generate a million candlepower in the room or anything like that, because my main focus for the room is 95% movie-watching. I have a portable halogen flood light that I can pull into the room if I need to do any serious cleaning or other work in there.


But since I have a black ceiling and dark colored walls and flooring, I'm starting to get a little worried that I might not even have enough light in there to really enjoy the room at all. Even with 100 watts in each of the wall sconces, I'm concerned that the dark ceiling and floor will just absorb all that light and make it actually TOO cave-like in there.


So I have two questions:


1. Does anyone else have a dark room like this with very little lighting in it? Is it enough for general illumination? Maybe not enough to read comfortably, but is it enough to actually SEE in the room?


2. What does everyone think about installing a centrally-located ceiling electrical box for future expansion, or possibly just installing this type of fixture:

http://www.lampsplus.com/products/Pr...re__23191.html


I suppose I could always throw another dimmer switch in the wall along with the ceiling box just in case. But I'd better do it now!


Anyone got any advice?
 
#15 ·
6 fixtures at 100w each should be ok. I have 10 fixtures at 50w each and I am ok with the power it puts out. You could look at my theater to get a comparison. I also have black ceiling and dark brown walls.
 
#16 ·
My room is 14x23 and I have 5 sconces in there. I had 60w bulbs in them and they lit the room just fine. I have since put 100w bulbs in them which makes it really bright and overlights the room IMO. I would think you should be fine with your six sconces.


As far as the ceiling box is concerned. If you ever think that youl will change the room then yes.

If you are planning in staying there and while and will never take the theater out (which is probably more than likely) then I guess I wouldn't. You would always run a wire up there though and leave it curled up in the space just in case you ever want to do anything.


You are making some good progess there...Keep the pics coming.
 
#17 ·
Thanks for the input guys. I'll check out those pics, Adam.



Mr. Goodcat: do you have any pics of your theater room with the lights on? (Without a camera flash, that is.)
 
#18 ·
Any other opinions on adding the ceiling light?
 
#19 ·
I have a room about the same size as yours. My drywall is up at this point, but the room is not painted. I have (4) 6" hats running right now with those compact flurescent bulbs in there. They are probably equiv to about 50-75 watts each and the room is plenty lit enough. However, when painted and decorated, I think that the room will become much darker so I have (4) scones in my plans and (3) HATS that will through light on the screen wall. This might be overkill, but the way I see it, lighting can not be changed after the fact. At least not without a lot of work. You might want to add more lights now JUST IN CASE, because regret is forever. I might add that I have a 100% light controlled room (ie underground and no windows).


One other option would be to run the wires for HAT lights and just terminate them in an eletrical box for now. Then, if you need the light later, you can pull out the box and replace them with retro fit type HATS.
 
#20 ·
I think what I'll end up doing is to run the wiring in the wall and just leave it hanging. One end will be free inside the walls near the switches so that I can add an "old work" style box near the switch panel and also in the ceiling. That way I don't have to wire up any switches or boxes now, but can easily just cut holes in the drywall and add boxes later, then fish the wires through and connect the switch to the existing light switch panel (which has power running to it). It will look like an "add on", but I actually don't have enough room to add another switch anyways, as my double 3-gang switch panel can't be expanded any more than it is, as the joist bays are filled (as you can see in the pictures above).


I'm hoping it will be all right to do this without it looking too much like an afterthought.
 
#21 ·
Drew, one thing to consider (keep in mind I'm not an eletrician) is that I think its not code to leave a wire "hanging like that" inside the wall. Now, just today I did exactly what you propose. I left a "hanging wire" under my riser in case I need an outlet in the middle later. However, other end of the hanging wire is in an eletrical box and I do not intent to connect it at this time. In this way, there is no change of "hanging wire" becoming a fire hazzard as the wire is not live. I'm still not sure that the way I did it follows code. My understanding of the code is basically that ALL high voltage wires need to termiante in a box. I'm not sure if this means that all non-live high voltage wires also need to terminate in a box.
 
#22 ·
The wire is not hot. Both ends will be just coiled up behind the drywall. I'll have to connect both ends (one to the incoming power at the switch and the other to the ceiling fixture) if I decide to install the wall switch and ceiling boxes.


Either way, it's done. I think it's a good compromise and will allow me to expand the lighting later on without much hassle.
 
#23 ·
Making some progress after a week off:



After 4 solid hours of continuous work, 80% of the insulation is in. This stuff takes a LOT longer than I thought. I figured 2-3 hours, tops. But nope, I would say I have another hour at least and I still have to go out and get MORE insulation to finish it up. I like the brown Eco-friendly Knauf batts, though. Seems like a pretty high density fiber and not as much glass dust during installation.


I made the mistake of using a button-down style dress shirt (old work shirt) during installation. Big mistake. The buttoned sleeves just let all sorts of glass dust down them. What you really need is an old turtleneck or something with elastic sleeves and neck. My sleeves were too loose and the split in the wrist area was just letting too much dust in. My forearms itch like crazy. Bottom line: use a turtleneck (perferably slightly oversized) if you're installing insulation.









Projector area. You can see the coil of 14/2 that I have next to the PJ area. That's a dead wire with coils at each end behind the drywall for future expansion to a ceiling track light as was discussed earlier.

 
#24 ·
Just finished up the insulation today. But I have a question:



When installing insulation, do you have to fill up every little gap, or is it sufficient just to fill the majority of the spaces? I ran out of insulation and I noticed that there are still a few spots where I could squeeze in an extra 6 inches or so worth of material in between some of the pipes and ducts.


Also, I don't have much clearance underneath the ducts (only about 1-2 inches, max.), so do I just leave that space empty, or should I try to shove some insulation in there somehow? Will it really matter all that much?
 
#25 ·
Nice work Drew...your cruising along.


As for insulation it's for sound so its really up to you. I know I have some nooks and crannies that could have gotten more insulation but such is. If I went all out on sound insulation I would have been more critical of that stage.
 
#26 ·
Well, I bought some more insulation and crammed it in there. It's really bulging out under the soffit because of the shallow depth, but the drywall will just have to hold it in!


I've always been convinced that the only purpose for insulation is to eliminate resonance. But I have to admit that it is REALLY quiet down there now in the room. I have the washer/dryer just on the other side of the screen wall and it's already much quieter with just the insulation in. I can't imagine how quiet it will be with drywall installed on both sides of the staggered stud wall. I'm only doing a single layer of 5/8", but I think it'll work out well.


I got the hat channel and RSIC clips installed, and I finally got the drywall lift and cut my first sheet of drywall today. Couldn't get it on the lift myself. I ruined a sheet of drywall already by trying to do it myself, ended up with the sheet slipping off the lift and punching a hole right through the center of it as it fell right on one of the casters!


I'll hang drywall this coming week. Hopefully I'll be able to have Richard start doing the finishing work by next weekend. Pictures will be on their way!
 
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