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Omaha Area Dream Theater Build

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#1 ·
After a long wait, I finally get to build my dream theater. The house construction is "done" and it's time to get to play in the basement. The theater room is under garage and is essentially a concrete bunker. It is 21' 8 " wide by 28' 9" long with a 12" riser in the concrete 18' 4" off the front wall. Lower tier ceiling is 9' 3" and upper tier is 8' 3". The entrance is in the back left corner.


Framing is starting next week and will be a slow process as this project will be DIY. After struggling with how to make soffits without drilling into the span-crete my framing buddy suggested spanning the room with I-joists and supporting them in the outer framed walls and then putting some dabs of PL400 on the top side of the joist to set up against the ceiling. I will be using these soffits for HVAC and a place to put the projector. I absolute loved the idea and will let you know how it turns out.


One thing I don't have figured out yet is what to do with the ceiling. The span-crete is made up of 4' wide panels with the equivalent of drywall joints in between. What can I do to "mud" them? My friend W00lly on the forums suggested fabric panels and I like the idea as it made the joints a moot point but then started seeing some of the star ceilings and thought that might be cool. I think I'd have to do a painted one though since there is no "area above" to work in and I don't want to sacrifice any height. Any suggestions on how to make this a smooth ceiling? Durabond?


I'm a woodworker by hobby and will be wainscoting the room and putting up columns with crown and sconces for some of the lighting. One thing I'm contemplating is insulating the walls with unfaced fiberglass and spraying it black where there is no woodwork and then mounting fabric panels over top. Any thoughts on that? Seems like I'd be able to have great sound treatments and avoid the drywall mess all in one shot. It would also give me the freedom to easily run future wiring upgrades as needed. Again would love your thoughts on this. Thanks in advance!
 
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#78 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by HuskerOmaha  /t/1506638/omaha-area-dream-theater-build/60#post_24303421


Photos.

Not much to report in terms of pictures. I've been spending a lot of time getting the wood shop put together. In the interest of not inhaling a lot of dust, I decided I wanted to get the dust collection installed before I start cutting so have been working on that lately. I should have it wrapped up this week. I also have my drywaller finishing the ceiling so I can't do much in the room until he gets that done anyway. I'll touch on the details of the ceiling finishing process in case anyone else could benefit from it...


The hollow cores I used resulted in a roughly 1" wide beveled edge joint where each slab met. This was initially filled with a product he called vinyl patch that looks like a gritty mortar but apparently is very "sticky" when it comes to the concrete. It is not sandable so you need to get it "in" the joint and not have it run below it. He tried to embed Durock tape in it without success and decided to do that on the next pass. This first step may be a bit of overkill but better safe than sorry. The second coat was Durabond. It looks like joint compound but sets similar to concrete in that you mix it with water and have a limited time to work with it. It is sandable and rated for direct contact with concrete. The hollow cores have a slight arch to them and the amount of deflection also varies slightly from one slab to the next. As a result, some panels may require a little more fill than others to fan out the joint enough to blend the variation away. At this point we have 2 coats of Durabond on. The next step will be to roll on a coat of Durabond to cover the entire surface. That will then be finished with a topping coat and be ready for paint. The end result is a paintable surface that looks as good as a smooth drywall finish without having to glue or screw anything to the hollow cores.




Now on to some pics though there is little progress in the room since my last update...


Knee wall with first coat of mud




Special delivery!




I know you've all seen this but I'm still blown away.





Got the epoxy on the floor in the wood shop. It's so much easier to clean up than bare concrete




MDF waiting to be cut for the subs. There are 20 sheets of maple plywood against the wall behind me when I took this pic.
 
#80 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by pdxrealtor  /t/1506638/omaha-area-dream-theater-build/60#post_24306327


Nice table saw setup.

Thanks! It makes quick work of sub enclosures.
Woodworking is another item on my list of what my wife describes as "too many hobbies". I made the outfeed table just large enough that you can push a 4' x 8' sheet of wood through the saw and let go. No need for anyone to play catch that way. Don't have to wait for friends/neighbors to be able to help cut wood now. I'm always so impatient.


The saw sits just in front of the pipe you see coming up through the floor in the pic above it. That's my dust collection port that runs over to a wall so I don't have to worry about tripping over any hoses. I tried recycling as much pipe as I could from my old shop but still need some fittings to get it put back together. Going to pick those up tonight.
 
#81 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by W00lly  /t/1506638/omaha-area-dream-theater-build/60#post_24306657


It would be awesome to have a feed table also. Looks a lot like my setup. I have 3 sheets of melamine your welcome to have 1 or 2 as I bought a bunch from some guy off Craig's list a few years ago that's just taking up space.

Scott, I may take you up on that. I'm still in the process of figuring out where everything will go. I'll have to keep you posted on that. Thanks for the offer!
 
#83 ·
Back third of the room from the entry. Leaning towards just putting a counter along the back wall now as I don't think there is enough room for a third row of seats comfortably. Will likely put a small fridge in it but need some ideas for other "nice to haves" in a theater. I have a small popcorn popper that will likely go on the counter as well. All of the equipment will be in a closet outside of the room so no need to worry about space in the room for that.



You may want to consider a small 18" dishwasher. We did and it will save a thousands trips up and down the stairs with dirty glasses.
 
#84 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by nitro28  /t/1506638/omaha-area-dream-theater-build/60#post_24307804


Build looks great. I ll be starting my theater on our new house in Gretna this summer. Don't be surprised if I ask you some questions when I get started. Mine is a little smaller at 16x22 with a sunken floor up front.

Thanks and congratulations! New houses have their share of challenges but can also be a lot of fun. It's nice to start with the clean slate. Your theater will be very comparable in size to my previous home. That's a great size. The only reason this one is as big as it is is because it is under the 2 car portion of our 3 car garage. I'd have made it a little narrower if it made sense. Less room to heat and fill with sound.
Feel free to reach out anytime and make sure you start a thread early. There are a lot of very knowledgeable individuals on this forum that are loaded with great ideas as well.
 
#85 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rkinmoval  /t/1506638/omaha-area-dream-theater-build#post_24139115


Wasn't feeling so hot today. Ate something I shouldn't have. Still managed to get the knee wall done and the duct ran. Will start electrical and speaker wire tomorrow. I'm planning on pulling 2 high speed HDMI and a cat 6 to the projector. Anything else you guys can think of that needs to be in the walls besides speaker wire? I did see the suggestion for the projector outlet to be on a UPS. I love that idea and will incorporate it into the wiring as well.

Put at least two Cat 6 runs. I did three to my projector. You can never have too much wire at this stage.
 
#86 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tfleming675  /t/1506638/omaha-area-dream-theater-build/60#post_24307816


Back third of the room from the entry. Leaning towards just putting a counter along the back wall now as I don't think there is enough room for a third row of seats comfortably. Will likely put a small fridge in it but need some ideas for other "nice to haves" in a theater. I have a small popcorn popper that will likely go on the counter as well. All of the equipment will be in a closet outside of the room so no need to worry about space in the room for that.



You may want to consider a small 18" dishwasher. We did and it will save a thousands trips up and down the stairs with dirty glasses.

Thanks for the suggestion.
One will certainly be needed. There will actually be a kitchenette/bar about 7 steps outside of the theater room that will be open to a large game/family room. I'll have a sink, stove, and full size fridge along with a dishwasher over there. Keep the ideas coming though! That back wall still seems plain.
 
#90 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by greedo  /t/1506638/omaha-area-dream-theater-build/90#post_24309300


Great looking build, and good to see another Husker area build!
 

Theater is looking sweet. 

 

Go Big Red.

 

Signing day tomorrow - should be a good one. 
 
#91 ·
Here are some updated photos of the room highlighting some of the ceiling aspects I mentioned earlier.



Final coat of mud on the knee wall



Close up of the concrete imperfections. These will get filled when we roll on the Durabond



Slab deflection example
 
#98 ·
Slow progress on my front as I've been out of town and still working with the drywaller on finishing my ceiling. He did a fantastic job but the one panel that had a higher arch in it needed more fill so we'll have to see what it looks like after this week. Shining a light across the ceiling was showing a shadow and I can only guess a projector would emphasize that. He's pickier than I am so I'll be patient as I know he'll make it beautiful.


In the meantime, I did make some progress on the baffles for the subs. Desertdome and Dlbeck came over last weekend to build some enclosures and DD let me try out his Jasper circle cutting jig. I like it much better than my Bosch jig in the fact that you put the pin at the diameter you want and there you have it. I have to set the radius with a little trial and error on my Bosch jig as it's infinitely adjustable. I also have to duct tape the center point to the piece of work with the Bosch jig. However, the Jasper jig I was using was 3/8" short of being able to make my outer baffle so I had to get the Bosch jig out today to finish those pieces. The Jasper DD had would go to 19 3/8" and I needed 19 3/4". I think I can push 24" with the Bosch jig. I don't recall for sure.


Below is a pic of the sub boxes with the front baffles dry fitted. Next step is to make and install the cross bracing. Should be able to make that happen this week in the evenings. Thinking ahead... what is everyone using these days for fill? Is poly fill from the craft store/Wal-Mart still the most economical option?

 
#101 ·
And now for some photos... Sorry for the iphone pics. They look a little cloudy.



Ceiling is primed. The blemish in the middleish area is the picture and not the ceiling. I was really happy with how it came out. Only downside was the amount of variation when you get the plywood up close to it. No worries in the long run as the crown will hide it. I'll be dropping the crown off the ceiling and inch or so and laying in rope light behind. I'll have to play around with the height to make sure the gaps are hidden as much as possible but still getting the most benefit out of the light.


I did stop at W00lly's this week to clean out his garage of unwanted melamine and see his theater for the first time in 2 years. I've been worried about not having the can lights in the middle like in my last theater but Scott put my worries to rest.
He only has rope and sconces and the room has plenty of light. Thanks again for the melamine and plywood!




Columns are started. It will be a layering process to get everything built out to where I want it. Still need to attach them. The boxes are only 6" deep but I will have 11"+ of depth for my surrounds when it's all said and done. Should be plenty.


You may notice the horizontal plywood strips to the right of the far right column. I ended putting those on to ensure I had a continuous nailer to hit all along the way and added a shim in places where the studs were less than straight to keep everything even. Worked like a dream. To keep vibration to a minimum, I've been using PL400 to attach the plywood to the studs/I-joists. I'll be using wood glue to layer out the wainscoting etc. so I can keep things tight.
 
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