Spartan94's new Bar & Theater Build Thread

Lots has happened to my basement since this thread has started. Here are the most recent sketches (as of 11/25/2009):

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...7#post17604057





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Original first post and outdated pics & images:


Well -- after nearly a year of thinking about it, the time has come to start work on the basement theater and bar. I will be doing most of the work myself. The left portion of the basement is already finished. The bottom right was finished off as a room, but those walls will need to be torn down.

The screen will be going over an entrance to a crawlspace, so it will either need to be retractable, removable, or hinged. I am leaning toward hinged.

The ceiling is mostly drop ceiling except for the hvac runs (down the middle) which is drywall.

Here is an obligatory sketchup:


With more views here:

http://www.screencast.com/t/fJ0pMNphwh
http://www.screencast.com/t/GqVJ2RKjicr
http://www.screencast.com/t/bLxmAEhS

Components I already have:

• Pioneer VSX-01TXH Elite Receiver
• Panasonic Viera 42" 1080p Plasma (will go upstairs once projector & screen is installed)
• JBL Studio L Series Speakers (L890 Mains, L820 Surrounds, LC2 Center, & L8400P sub)
• Samsung BDP-1500 BluRay Player
• Custom Built HTPC running SageTV client w/ HDMI out attached to media server
• Wii
• Harmony 890 Universal Remote (w/ RF)
• 12' Shuffleboard table & arcade games

Components needed going forward:

• Projector (will be one of Panasonic, Epson, Mitsubishi 1080p)
• Screen (will likely be 100" & 16x9 format)
• Remote Lighting control
• Another set of L820 for rear surrounds
• Furniture (likely narrow Berklines -- i think its the 086 or 088 series) Will get one row for starters, perhaps add a second row with riser & bar if space (and money) permits
• Gas fireplace / pellet stove / other heat source
• ????

Construction photos: http://www.screencast.com/t/oBsiUnpdhxB There are links to RSS and iTunes if you wanna subscribe that way!

Finally, here is a link to my original exploration thread. It's dated, but that it what I started with... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008869

Most of the demo work has mostly been completed now and the drywall has been taken to the local dump. Next up is frame the naked parts of the foundation and secure the wall that I had moved.

Here is the newly opened area:



Here you can see the crawlspace door that the screen will (mostly) cover. I Need to remove the furring strips and pegboard around it:



Looking back towards the future bar area. Those shelves will be coming out!

Thanks. We picked up the shuffleboard table off of craigslist about 8 months ago. It is only 12 foot, and is definately not top of the line, but it is still plenty fun to play. I think this model retails for about $1200 and we paid $500 for ours.

Thanks for the input!

That's true about the tile angle. The sketchups are definitely going to change over time. My wife and I have also talked about taking the tile all the way over to the stairs (along the black line you see there). it is also quite likely that we will change colors (of the walls, carpet & tile), as well as flooring going forwards.

Fortunately there is plenty of time to make those decisions!

Did some framing tonight of the wall that will be behind the screen. I am attempting to reuse as much of the old studs that I can, but still have to pick up a 9' treated 2x4 for the base plate.

In the meantime, here is a pic with tile (now parquet floor) extending to the stairs, and the room and carpet a different color:



http://www.screencast.com/users/Matt...5-50d7c6d8bf9a

Higher res: http://screencast.com/t/i3KT2bKFBY6

The sheet only adds to the excitement! Lots of ooo's and ah's from the kids when they saw that! I'm looking forward to finishing the framing this weekend.

That's the entrance to a crawlspace. I had already put down plastic and cardboard over the gravel to make it a really nice storage space, so we can't close it up all the way.

In this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1107548 he shows how he hinged his screen. I was thinking of doing something similar. A guy a work recommended rollers, so the screen could roll left and right. But I worry about ball bearings rattling...



Of course, I could also do a retractable screen

Finished most of the framing over the weekend. The reason that there is drywall on the wall to the right, is that I moved that wall as one big chunk. I had to adjust it slightly to account for the increased width in the ductwork above it, which is why the drywall does not go to the end of the wall...

Next up is to run speaker wire & electric...

haha -- no, that will come much, much later in the process...

Well, I have a plasma screen downstairs now and when the furnace room door is closed, you really can't hear i -- except for the water rushing to the humidifier. I may have to do something about that. I couple of things that should help are insulating the walls (furnace room was bare studs in the inside, previously), and a solid core door. The previous owner of my house was an FBI agent and he had a "secret" room in the basement. This room featured a solid core door w/ security on it. We all wonder what went on in there...


You know, an electric fireplace is really tempting b/c they are some damn easy to deal with, but I think I am going to hold out for a gas or pellet stove. I figure to have about 800 finished sqft in the basement and when we run the little space heater down there now, you can barely feel it. (I don't know the BTU on a space heater, but I think it's something like 1200 watts)

Regarding combustion air, thanks for pointing that out, but I already have a pipe bringing in *very* cold air in from the outside.

And yes -- go green! (They looked good last night in Iowa City!)


Ah, well, the 'S' isn't on the pub table yet -- just in the mockup. Anyhow, you'd probably like my shuffleboard table better seeing how it has crimson felt on it! (At least my Dad (OSU alum) does)...

Just a quick update (no pictures on this one).

I went out to Menards last night and bought a 250' spool of 14 gauge speaker wire. I ran it to all seven channels and now have a pile of wire hanging down where the a/v cabinet will go. I still need to run the wire for the sub (coax) as well as put in the boxes and pick up some wall plates (probably from monoprice.com). I'm thinking about this one:



I also picked up 3 packs of R15. All of it was on sale (so I guess I saved big money!)

I totally agree and am a frequent monoprice shopper, but I really wanted to run speaker wire last night b/c my goal is to be able to do some drywalling this weekend. We'll see if I can pull that off or not...

(as an aside, all of menards a/v section is 20% off this week, so that helps...)

I went with 14 gauge b/c it was 1/2 of the price of 12 gauge (14 gauge was about $50 for a 250 ft spool). If I had bought from monoprice, I would have went with 12 gauge.


Well actually, my wife talked me into *less* carpet than what is shown in the picture. You see, the area to the immediate right of the stairs is already carpeted -- about a 5' width. We were thinking of leaving that there, then we can take the other existing carpet from the bar area and move it to the theater area. If it works out, it could save us a bunch of money. She is also concerned that our crazy kids (we have twin 6 year olds) will come flying down the stairs, make the turn and wipe out on the tile.

As for screen size, I think 100" is the max based on available space and seating distance. We'll see when I actually get a projector though!

I ran the subwoofer cable (coax), reinforced the wall where the center channel will be mounted, put a header over the crawlspace, added an outlet for the subwoofer, and put up some insulation. I think I have decided to make the crawlspace door out of MDF and utilize those "euro" hinges which stay hidden. It should take the paint well and since it will be the same thickness as the drywall, it should look nice and flush.

Exciting times!



Also, my wife and I figured out where we are going to add recessed lighting. Currently the basement has a few cans and 24x48 florescents. We think we are going to keep all of those and add some additional cans to round out the basement. Furthermore, we want to put the game room cans on one switch (dimmer), and the bar/theater side on another. An additional switch will light 3 smaller cans down on the screen (we've all seen that before).

I intend on making the cans all remote controllable via my Harmony 890. Once I get the idea modeled in Sketchup, I'll post it. As for now, it's time to get ready for a RockBand party at the neighbors house!