chiahead's Man Cave

Index:
Subfloor
Gas Line Leak
Framing and MLV
Lowered Theater Ceiling and Arches
Electrical
Plumbing
HVAC and Low Voltage
Fire Blocking
Frankensub
1 Year Progress
Insulation
Theater Ceiling Isolation
Drywall
Green Glue
Surround Speakers
Sub Panel Hook-Up
Drywall Finishing
Spray Painting
Bathroom Tile
Berkaline Chairs
Rack find
Sub Build
Bathroom Vanity and Bar Floor
AV Closet Tile
Vanity Granite and Bar Cabinets
Bar Counter Tops
Riser Construction
Stage construction
Soffet construction
Column construction
Behind the Screen construction
Soffet finishing
Column Installation
Fabric Frame Construction
Carpet
Screen Construction
Final Theater pics

Yes, there are wrinkles in the screen, but when the movie is on, you don't notice them at all.

Most of these shots were using a wide angle lens.

Screen with masking in for 16x9


Screen without masking for 2.35:1


normal lens looking towards the seats


wide angle towards the seats (can see the sconces here)


I tried to get a shot with something on the screen, but most did not come out well, here is the best I had.


First, I would like to thank Chinadog, Sandman, Swithy, and a myriad of others for all the documentation they did on their threads which in turn has helped me plan and visualize my future theater. Hopefully my thread can be payback for all the information I have received from them, and in the future help other people learn what to do, or in many cases what not to do. Further brown nosing will be sure to come in the future.

This will be my man cave, my place of refuge, and probably my doghouse. This will be a slow build, because I will not go into debt on it, and I can only save about $100 a month for it. Tax time and bonuses will help the funds jump, but I am not counting on these. So I am probably worthy of being “Loganed”.

We moved into this house in November of 2006. I have been letting the basement settle, and watching for leaks. We had all the cracks sealed and a Radon vent put in. I did the plastic bag taped to the concrete test to look for moisture, but didn’t see any. Still I am putting Delta-FL down first and will build the walls on top of that. Doing it in that order will keep me from making many extra cuts on the Delta-FL and the OSB going on top of it, and I will not need that nasty PT lumber to go in as the base plate for the walls.

This will be a dedicated theater, rec room, bathroom and kitchen/bar area. For a total finished area of about 1050 Square Feet. The thread will cover the whole basement with focus on the theater.

At this time, I do not know most of my equipment. I will build the room first, and equipment can come later (besides, I am sure it will all have changed by the time the room is complete). Some items I do know:
SMX screen: I purchased the material before Sandman was no longer allowed to sell just the material, so I will have an AT screen. I think I have 5 yards (I will have to check) and I am not sure of the screen size yet. I am leaning towards 2.35:1, but will probably do it on zoom at first, and look into lenses later.
Left, Right and Center Channels: Homemade. I watched Swithy build his, and followed the thread he used to build his. I built my speakers this last winter. I did not make the curved sides as he did, and I used the center channel from the design thread, not another tower like he used. Here is the link to see the speaker design if anyone is interested. The thread is a short one, only about 2000 posts to wade through… http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthr...3&page=1&pp=35
No idea currently on other equipment.


The current plan is for a room that is 20’ 6” x 12’ 6”. I am restricted on the width by my furnace and a Lally column, and for the depth, 2 feet will be cut off for the screen, and the rear wall probably won’t be pushed out more so it doesn’t work too far into the kitchen/bar area.

The plan is for 2 rows of 3 seats with rear row on a riser, a stage for the screen, columns for the surrounds, star ceiling, double drywall with Green Glue. Clips and track for the ceiling, walls using RISC-DC04. I am in Colorado, and must have floating walls, so I will use MLV for the 3” gaps at the bottom of the walls. Frames on the walls, covered in GOM, probably a red and black theme. An AV closet is up by the screen. Completely light controlled, no windows in this area. I am planning a Grafik Eye for lighting control.

The bedrooms are 2 floors away, and the basement and main floor are on a separate heat/AC system than the upstairs, so sound shouldn’t be too bad when the kids and wife are sleeping.

Equipment:
WRK-40-32 Mid Atlantic Server Rack
Left, Right and Center Channels: Homemade. http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthr...3&page=1&pp=35
Side and Rear Surrounds - Emotiva ERD-1
Elemental Designs Dual 13Av.2 Sealed DIY Sub Kit
SMX DIY screen material
And of course 6 Berkaline 12003 with power reclines.
Panasonic Projector PT_AE4000U
Yamaha RX-V667 receiver
APC UPS BE750G

Wanted:
DISH 922 VIP?
Popcorn Hour A-200, A-110?
Server (UnRaid box?)

Here are my pre-build basement pics:

This is shot from the stairs looking towards the bar.


This is shot from the bar looking towards the front of the theater.

Thanks for the response Cathan.

I did consider putting the rack in the room, but I didn't want the lights or the noise added, so the separate room is what I chose. I wanted it all hidden. Putting it next to the wate heater doesn't thrill me either in case there is a leak, there goes the whole rack. Also, all those pretty buttons would be tempting to the kids, so keeping it all in a back room out of site seems the safest route. The closet will vent directly into the utility room with a fan and a temperature switch for it.

As for the $$ issue. Yes it will hamper me, but I just got a bonus from work, and an early christmas present, some tax refund left over, along with rent we saved when my brother in law was living with us, so I have been able to start.

As soon as the floor is done, the rest of the stuff can be done a little at a time (walls, cables, etc) until drywall, that will be a huge purchase (drywall, green glue, somone to finish the walls), then comes the carpet, woodwork, tile, fixtures, electronics...

I will be using Delta-FL. It is not a water proof system, but instead a vapor barrier. It will allow air to circulate under the floor, and keep the carpet up off of the concrete. It will make the floor softer and warmer in the winter.

I purchased the product through Lowes. The number the Delta-FL website gives to lookup in the computer is 132387. That will get you a list of items from the company.

The Delta-FL is easy to cut with a razor, and is pretty light. The OSB I am putting on top of it on the other hand is heavy (at least after hauling 40 sheets into the garage, then 28 sheets to the basement, so far). I have a refurbished hammer drill from Amazon I am using to drill into the concrete, then I am using Tapcon ¼ x 1 ¾ Phillips head screws to secure the sheets of OSB to the floor.

The flooring arrives:


If you are exact in your measurements, do not use 5' as the width of the rolls of Delta-FL, instead plan on 4' 9 ½. 2 ½ are cut off of the first strip, and the same is overlapped on each row after that.

Image of the flooring installed:


My kids are helping me with the floor. It's funny how I can get more done without any help

Thanks for the response Tony.

No blood yet, but I am sure that is to come. Hopefully it is only mine and not my kids. As for sweat, there has been alot of that, but that isn't saying much since I tend to sweat just walking up stairs...

My main usage of the theater will be for movies and games. If I open the back up, then I would have much more sound leakage (so I wouldn't be able to crank it up at night), and possibly have to deal with the window for light issues.

As for viewing from the kitchen, I have plans to place a touch screen on the counter to select and control a flat screen in the rec room. It would display the same thing as the theater, or it's own station. Of course that will all come much later down the road. I will just run extra wiring to all my possible locations to handle it in the future.

Thanks for the response CJ.

I do plan on fabric, currently a black and red pattern with frames on the walls.

As for the SMX, I guess since I have already made my bed I will have to sleep in it. But thanks for the offer.

I like all the work you did on your bar area with the ceiling soffet over it matching. I am planning the same type of thing, and it will help me to hide a beam going right through that location.

My goals are to finish the floor this weekend (or run out of Delta and need to go order more).

Who needs the Loganator for motivation when I've got friends like allworld here? I'll take care of you on COD...

Well, I got the Delta-FL all down, and the OSB on top. Stepping on the OSB, you can hear the clicking of the Delta underneath, So I am about 1/3 of the way through with putting more Tapcons in to rid myself of the clicking, when I notice a drop of grease fall from the drill, then it shuts down and smokes out the back.

I let it cool, but no dice. So I called Bosch today, and I get to drive it to their repair shop at lunch. I'm just glad it has a 1 year warranty. They told me it would be about 5 business days to fix it, so it doesn't look like the floor will be complete this weekend. Then the next 2 weekends, I am in the mountains, so no walls will get done for a while.

Yeah, it will be awhile, but I enjoy the thinking the project through, and actually doing it, so I'm not in a huge hurry.

And since my drill died on me, I should have time for the SOCOM beta when it comes out this weekend. I'll deal with Mailman there.

Thanks for dropping in Fuse.

Thats ok, it would only get lost in the mail. Our mail in Parker is terrible, about once a week, we have to re-deliver our neighbors mail to them. I never send anything from home. We have had bills not get paid because they have been lost for over 8 years now. I always send my mail from work now.

The Delta-FL is 5/16" the OSB is 23/32" for a total of 33/32", or just over an inch.

Yes I hate those columns. They build the quickest they can without thinking down the road to use a beefier beam and spread out the poles. I also have the lazy plumber issue you have where my AC lines are all run under the joists. So now I have to loose some ceiling height to hide those.

Sorry, but I haven't looked yet. I have seen some online, but I am not ready for that yet, so I haven't compared all those prices.

Well, since the hammer drill is in for repairs, I thought I would do something in the basement, so first thing is first; I hung the required thinking chair in the theater. It is a single point hammock swing. My kids will sit in it with me and decide how to build the walls. My daughter thinks we should just use duct tape (I’m training them right).


Since some of my walls in the basement will not fall directly under a joist, I started placing blocking between the joists to have something to attach to.


And the build is official. We now have first blood, although the blood is almost entirely contained within my thumb. Note to self… make sure thumb is out of the way before swinging hammer…


You don’t realize the miracle that opposable thumbs are until you are deprived of one. This photo was about 1 hour after the strike. This morning, the thumb is swollen to about double the other one, and is bruised all the way through to the other side. It is still throbbing. I think I will auction off the nail when it falls off to help pay for more basement work.

I have a framing nailer and compressor, this was just from hammering the blocking into place from an akward angle. Hammer, thumb and wood, no nails involved for this accident.

Unfortunately, that statement is all too true (and painful)