Cyclone Cinema Build - Page 8

11 pages back is too far to look for my thread - should be able to work on the basement much more now that my test is done. I have gotten a little work done this past week (somewhat theater related).

Here is a teaser picture...


I think I am really going to like it!!!

Worked in the basement last night. Focused on wiring. I have been nervous that I did something wrong while pulling wires, and now that the drywall is finished - I won't be able to fix anything without demo'ing walls.

Well, I started in the bathroom - and I am happy to report that everything works as intended. THe bathroom fan is on its own switch and works fine and the three lights are on the other switch and work fine, along with the GFCI outlet by the sink. Score one for me.

After that was finished I moved on to the other place that had me worried, the A/V closet. The only reason I worried about this was because I installed a bathroom fan in the ceiling to pull air out when the room got to a certain temperature (controlled by a wall mounted line voltage thermostat). All that wiring was installed behind the drywall so I was hoping I installed it right. I must not have been drinking that day, as when I finished wiring everything up and flipped the breaker everything worked as designed.

I think I will be very happy with the temperature control in the A/V closet, but only time will tell.

I would take pictures....but there is nothing to take pictures of. Still is exciting when everything works according to plan.

Worked on the basement this weekend. Got some of the laminate flooring installed and the ceilings painted. Everything BUT the theater should be painted by the end of Thanksgiving weekend.

I guess I should be happy I have accomplished anything, as I am still recovering from the BEST game I have ever attended in my life...that is the Iowa State vs. Oklahoma State double overtime upset last Friday night!

Go Cyclones!

A quick update, with pictures to follow after I clean the basement up a bit.

I made some progress over the holiday weekend and got most of the laminate flooring installed. All that is left is the stairwell and the transitions. That is a huge relief, as I had been dreading it for awhile now.

Also the basement ceilings are painted and the walls of the bedroom are painted (thanks to my wife). She is going to paint the remainder of the basement walls over the next week or two.

I also installed my first door. I used metal clips a gentleman from Home Depot recommended. I think they are called "The Quick Door Hanger" - it made installation a breeze...almost too easy...does anyone around here have any experience (good or bad) with them? Just want to make sure they hold up over time.

I will get a few pictures taken after the mess is cleaned up.

Well, I just looked over the last page of my thread and noticed I hadn't uploaded any pictures of the bathroom with the paint complete or the lights installed. I will work on taking a few quick pictures showing that progress.

I quickly swept up the MDF dust this evening and took a couple pictures with my phone. They at least give an idea of what the space is looking like....plus its been awhile since I posted pictures.

Here is a picture of from the bedroom looking towards the hall. The flooring looks a little more red in this picture than it actually is. It also shows the wall color for the bedroom...kind of...it is a lightish green...I let my wife choose the colors, as I am partially color blind - and totally interior design blind.


Here is a picture in the hall looking towards the door hung for the bathroom.


Here is the open living room area. Still dusty and dirty, and I need to trim the plastic that was installed under the flooring. You can also see that there are a few paint samples on the wall...that should be completed soon hopefully.


Another view of the living room area.


Here is a view of the clips I used to install the door in for the bathroom.


Here is a closeup of one of the brackets.


If anyone is familiar with the brackets, let me know. It made installation very quick and easy, and I think it will be plenty strong (especially when the trim is installed).

Quick question for those of you that have been through it already. I am going to start trimming doors, windows and floors next week - for the baseboards, do you cope the inside corners, or just cut an angle with a miter saw? If it matters, I will be doing painted trim. Any advice would be great.

Thanks for the input guys - I will just use the miter saw!

Thanks for all the replies guys. I will try both ways and see how it goes. I can practice coping on the painted trim to help when it comes time to do wood trim in the theater.

Also, thanks for commenting on the door brackets ModestHT, makes me feel a little better knowing others had good luck with them. So far I have no problems with them, but wanted some input.

There was no progress this past weekend as I was back home deer hunting, but I will be back at it this next weekend...or later this week if I catch up at work sooner than expected.

Though not picture worthy, I suppose it can be counted as theater related...I found out yesterday that I passed my PE exam! So instead of studying the next 3 months to retake the exam, I should have time to actually work on the basement. That combined with a nice end of the year bonus should allow work on the basement to pick up considerably after the holidays!

Thanks JPA! Its a relief to have it over with, thats for sure.

I need to take some pictures, but I have made some progress on the basement. Progress made includes painting most of the basement area (non-theater), cutting the stringers for the stairs (still need to be attached), painted 3/4 of the basement trim, installed the bedroom light fixture and smoke detector, installed outlet covers, other small things, etc.


Looking ahead:
-I bought some kitchen cabinets for the basement area last weekend, and hope to install those this weekend.
-I had a glass company out to measure for the shower glass. That has been quoted and ordered. In around 2 weeks they should be out to install it.
-I plan on buying wood this week to build the riser for the THEATER!!!

Thats right, I plan to start working on the theater again. I wanted to get the majority of the basment area completed before I dig into the theater...I feel that I am getting far enough along to start on it. There is some miscellaneous things to complete on the rest of the basement, but it will give me something to do when I hit a roadblock in the theater and need to think through the problem.

That brings me to a theater related question....

I want some thoughts/opinions on the screen location...here is a picture.


Hopefully my sketch is not too confusing. First of all, I am struggling with height issues and want to minimize the riser height.

I created two scenarios:
1 - screen positioned high enough for the second row viewer to see over the top of the first row viewers head.
2 - screen positioned only high enough for the second row viewer to see over top of the seating in front of them. (Coincidentally, this follows the 1/3 height guideline recommended for screen height).

My original stage was only 6" high, I increased the height of the stage to 12" with a 6" step. I did that to help balance out the screen wall - because if I mount the screen high, the layout seemed/seems odd...

A few things to comment on:
-I dont want to increase my mini-riser any taller than I have it (I think it would start to look odd)
-I dont really want to increase the height of the riser (as I show it, there is 6'-3" to the bottom of the bulkhead...already lower than I would like)
-I seem to like the lower screen location better, but in order to use a projector with lens memory, (which I would like to do) the projector lens needs to be pretty low - and the mini-split starts to interfere (I should have measured that and added it to the sketch).
-The lower screen location also starts moving the projector closer to the 2nd row viewers head (annoying?)
-I would consider the primary viewing location to be in the front row. Therefore, "down in the front" seems appropriate.

Thanks on both accounts...they both turned out as planned!

I looked through a few pages of the "show me your screenwall thread" and it looks like quite a few people have their screens mounted pretty high. I would still like a few opinions on how high people like to mount the screens...

Still, the projector mounting height might dictate where the screen goes.

Well, last night I bought the lumber required for the riser. I plan on using a 2x8 frame around the outside with the inside supports being 2x6's.

My question is regarding tar paper underneath. I see a lot of people using tar paper under the entire riser. Can I put the tar paper only under the 2x8's, as they are the only thing actually touching the floor? I assume that will be acceptable, but wanted to make sure I wasnt overlooking something.

I put together the riser this evening quick. It all went well, but I am thinking of making some changes.

Here is a picture as it sits right now.


Right now the 2x6's are 16" on center. I am thinking about adding 6 more to make them 8" on center. My reasoning is that I will be able to reduce the deflection in the plywood on top.

Normally, a person could use two layers of 3/4" plywood and 16" centers would be plenty. If I add some more support, I plan on using only one layer. I would install the plywood so that all seams are centered on supports.

Can I get by with 1/2" plywood, or would I be better off with 3/4? I feel that with the extra support 1/2" would be sufficient, but wanted to check with some of you that have already done this.

Thanks again!

Just for fun I pulled some pictures from my phone of a recent Christmas present to myself...dont really need these YET, but there was a sale (that's how I justified the purchase)

Here are some pictures...


Double boxed with foam protection...




Free shirt!








I just texted the pictures to my computer, so the quality isnt great, but you get the idea...I now have surround speakers!

Got a little more work done this weekend. I installed trim around a few doors, installed the threshold between the tile and laminate flooring at the bathroom, routed my stair trim and installed a door to my upstairs laundry room.

Here are a couple pictures of my riser...this one is showing the step light I installed.


Here is the front outlet for the front of my riser (will be used to power chairs)


If you compare the risers in the pictures in this post with the riser I posted a few days ago, you will notice I added additional support for the 1/2" plywood. This should keep the deck from flexing, but I wanted to determine the requirements for turning the riser into a bass trap...mainly the number of vent openings into the riser, and the distance of these openings from the wall. I will need to notch out the 2x6's to make room for the grilles and need to do that before installing the plywood top.

Any advice is appreciated.

I read up a little bit on the riser bass trap....sounds like it can get pretty involved to find out the best location/size of grilles...it also sounds like you can actually tune the riser to absorb specific frequencies...I have no idea what frequencies I need to take care of, so I might insulate the riser, not cut holes for grilles until the theater is complete and I get some measurements. Then if I have some problem areas, maybe then I can determine what what to do for size/placement...or maybe I pay someone to figure that out for me (if it sounds like it would help).

So after looking through some of that information I do not feel so bad that no one commented on size/locations when I asked the question.

Here is a question that someone may have some insight...

What height do you like to mount wall sconces?

These will be mounted on a low profile column that I plan on building soon. I will likely frame them up with 2x4's then use 1/4" plywood and solid wood trim to finish them out. I wanted to put in a 2x4 cross support for the sconce, but wanted to know what height to put it.

Here is a picture of the sconce my wife picked out


They are relatively cheap, so there is a chance we find something we like better and switch them out at some point. The sconce measures 12" tall, 5.5" wide and 4" out from the wall.

Thanks for the input - makes perfect sense.


I traveled to my brothers wedding this past weekend so I didnt get to do any work, but I did go order the theater room door today after work.

I got a 1.75" solid core slab door prehung on interior trim. I will likely get an automatic door seal and adjustable seal to replace the jamb stop (not sure on the correct terminology). I have talked with thesoundproofingcompany about the seals and will probably order those when the door comes in (there is a 21-28 day lead time).

Of course I have another question that I am sure plenty of people have enocountered....

I have white trim/doors, but want a stained wood in the theater. Do I stain one side of the door and paint the other (then what about the door jamb)? Do I stain the whole door and leave white trim around the hallway side? Do I stain the whole door and trim around the door with stained wood to match the door (and bring the white baseboard up to the door trim)?

Hopefully I am explaining my situation well enough, if not, I can try to do a better job explaining.

Thanks for the input. I also wanted to quickly say that if anyone has pictures of their combination it would be very helpful to see....