JCM2M9's Basement Build - Advice Welcome!

A little background on myself. In the last year I have graduaded with a Mechanical Engineering Degree, bought a house and got married. I have also almost completely remodeled my house. I finally decided that it was time to do something for myself. I would like to remodel my basement and transform it into a home theatre / bar / game area. I have to keep in mind that I am only planning on living in the house for 5 years. I can not spend a ton of money in the room.

Here is a pciture of the room when I was looking at the house.





Here is going to be the new layout.




Here is what I know so far. I would like to do a projector. I am currently looking at the Optoma HD65 and a Denon AVR-590. I have also decided on using in-wall speakers. My wife would like them to be hidden and this will also be a plus if the next homeowner has kids. It will be less likely that they will get broken.

I have been looking at speakers from "The Speaker Company". Does anyone have an recommendations for in-wall speakers that are relatively inexpensive. I was hoping to do the projector, receiver and speakers for $1500.

I am going to do a paint on DIY screen.

I am going to have an 11' throw on the projector. From my calculations, I will have about a 93" screen. Does anyone think this will be a problem when we will be sitting 10-12' back?

I am starting this thread in hopes that people will help guide me along the way. Please speak up and give me any recommendations or adive.

Thanks!
James

Just a little update.

The wife and I just started cleaning up all the junk out of the basement. Man, we sure did accumulate a lot of junk in the year that we have been in the house. I am hoping to get construction started in the next month. I am trying to finish up my garage remodel project and then finish a few other small projects I started and never finished.

I am planning on building a concrete bar topper as shown in this thread.


(edit: can't post links yet)

I am also going to move my washer and dryer into the basement and locate them next to the restroom and behind the wall I am constructing for the screen. Currently, they are crammed into a little room with the furnace and water heater and i would like to open up this room for storage.

I will be tiling the floor. The wife and I went and looked at tile this weekend. We are going to have to do something cheap, as in less then $1.50 per sq ft. Our choices are pretty limited.

I will post some more photos this week of the room as it is now, that way everyone can get a better idea of what I am starting with and see the awesome skating rink carpet that is currently in the bathroom. I might also post pictures of the rooms I have already remodeled.

Thanks
James

I am going to tile the entire floor. I know it is not the best for accoustics, but I have never been a fan of carpet in a basement. We are planning on putting a big area rug down on the theatre side of the basement.

Could you send me a few links to slim on the wall speakers?

As promised, here are a few before and after pictures of some of the areas of the house that I have already remodeled.

My father and I have done all the work.

Kitchen









Outside (Before I put the shutters up)





Garage (I am still finishing)

No, we completley gutted the kitchen down to studs and subfloor. The cabinets are from Homedpot. I sanded, stained and polyurethaned. I think they came out really nice for only around $1000.

We moved a door and single window out of the kitchen and uninstalled a double window in the dining room. We then installed a 6' sliding door in the dining room where the double door was and then put the double window into the kitchen and relocated the sink to infront of it. It looks 10x better now.

I should finish up the basement this week and then I will finish up a few other small projects so the basement work can begin.

I am trying to sell the Polaris Predator. I just do not use it enough and need to pay off some bills. Anyways my true love is bass fishing, the other toys are just for fun.

I am still trying to finalize my equipment selection.

I am really considering the Denon AVR-590. (http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR590-5.../dp/B002AKKFQM). Will this receiver pass video and audio through the HDMI cable when I am using my Wii? I only want to run 1 HDMI cable from the receiver to the projector. Will this work?

I am almost positive that I am going to use the Optoma HD65. For a lesser expensive projector, it gets very good reviews. How exact does the placement have to be I am seeing that this projector does not have any horizontal or vertical shift. Does this mean that I have to get the projector located in the exact position it has to be in?

Finally, on recommendations from this build (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1061375). I am going to go with in wall "Acoustic Audio" speakers from "thedeepdiscount.com" unless someone talks me out of them.

I will be purchasing all my cables and misc items from monoprice.com

We I started doing a little demo work last night and found a bunch of mold in a soffit below my waste line serving the floor above. It looks like I am going to have to do a little more tearout to make sure all the mold is removed. Plus, I have to determine what is leaking.

If its not one thing, its another!

Thanks for the compliments everyone and a little man to man "advice". LOL

I am definitely going to get rid of the mold. I am planning on doing it Thursday night as Friday is trash day and it can get that nasty stuff out of my house. I will then spray everything with the Kilz mold killer.

mmeister- thanks for the advice. I am going to get the cover put back on the panel this weekend. I have been finishing the electrical work in the garage and just got all the circuits wired up to the panel. That panel feeds an old subpanel in my laundry room. When I remodel the basement I am going to reroute all the basement circuits to the new 200 amp panel.

You would not believe the electrical mess that was in my laundry room when I purchased it. It made me so nervous that I completely cut the power to the sub panels until I was able to fix the problem. The previous DIY homeowner fed the sub panel with 10 gauge wire that simply tapped off the the main lugs of the 200 amp panel. I had found it places where the wire had partially melted through.

Needless to say we got that fixed asap. I am surprised the house did not previosuly burn down.

On a side note, I have decide to also build a DIY arcade machine. Has anyone done it or have any advice for me?

I finally have most of the demo done. I am hoping to finish the demo work and then start hanging the polystyrene foam insulation.

I have decided on some more componets. I have changed my mind and decided on the Mits HC1600 and TheSpeakerCompany inwall speakers.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/mits...600_review.htm

There for my left, right and back.

http://www.thespeakercompany.com/PT-...akers-C38.aspx

This is the center channel.
http://www.thespeakercompany.com/NTI...akers-C39.aspx

I did some more work over the weekend. I have all the framing done except for my bar. As soon as I finish the bar this coming weekend, I will get some pictures added.

Thanks for the compliments! We really liked how the backsplash came out as well. The amazing thing is that we only spent about $500 in tile for the entire kitchen, that includes backsplash, floor and countertop.

I just finalized my order with monoprice and I should have the rest pf my cables by the beginning of next week. I decided that I wanted to hook my computer up to the receiver so that I can watch netflix videos. I had to order a 40' HDMIa, 50' RCA cable and the necessary wall plates.. I hope this is all I need.

That is definitely a very good idea that I had not thought of.

Just a little update. I finished the wiring and plumbing over the weekend. I should be able to start hanging drywall next weekend and then find someone to finish it for me.

I would post a few pictures, but it is not much to look at, just a bunch of wires and copper pies. After next weekend It should be more to look at.

So I lied, here are a few updated pictures of the basement. The purple x's you see on the wall are where the wall sconces will go.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been down the with the flue for the last week. No fun at all. I should get the rest of the drywall hung this weekend.

Stay tuned for updates.

I will start posting full size picturs in the the thread. I was just trying to keep the post loading a little faster.


Sorry.

I finally have had some time to take some updated pictures. I have 98% of the drywall hung and started finishing the drywall this morning. It is going to be a long tedious project, but I is going to look awesome in the long run.









The wife and I also picked out all the furniture last night at Nebraska Furniture Mart. I will try and post pictures tonight. I also have finally decided on the Optoma HD65 and the Denon 590.

I am actually in Kansas City.