Nick's Homebrew Bar and Entertainment Area - Page 15

Jim,

I did think about LEDs. That may be an option, but I am concerned about how bright they would be. I am going to make a call when I get home to find out more about the mounting requirements (distance from drywall, etc.) for the lights I have.

I am trying to keep the momentum going in the theater. I called Sherwin Williams to find out about primer. My friend gets a contractor discount there, so it makes it much cheaper. I plan to pick up some gray primer to seal the drywall.

I also ordered my theater door. Eventually I will have two communicating doors going into the theater, but for now I am just going to hang one. I used the mill shop that made the french doors for my home office. They are going to mount a 1 3/4" solid core masonite door with 3 4" hinges. I asked them about mounting wide throw hinges for me, but they said they do not offer them and cannot mount hinges they do not provide. My plan is to use the standard hinges for now and then replace them with the wide throw hinges once I start making the acoustic panels. The total price for the door was $96 plus another 10% off if my friend picks it up for me. This was a lot less than I expected. The door should be ready in 3 days.

I also plan on ordering the automatic door bottom and seal kit from the Soundproofing Company. I need to determine which kit I want to use. They offer two different seal kits. After talking with John, I think I will try the cheaper one to start with. If I'm not satisfied, I will move this seal to the outer door when I install it, but i have a feeling that with two doors I will be very happy with the results using the cheaper seal.

I'm finally hitting the stage of my build where it will be easier to make changes if I'm not happy. It will likely cost me some money, but at least the option is there. Swapping door seals is much easier than going back and adding clips and hat channel to a ceiling.

I got home from work a bit later than I would have liked, but still decided to at least start priming the new drywall. I didn't get started until 7:00, so I was hoping to get at least the ceiling done. Well, I was so happy with how it was turning out and how well the primer was covering, I just kept going. I got the ceiling and all four walls primered. All that remains is to go back through and touch up the corners.

After reading the article on how to select a primer that BIG posted in another thread, I decided it was best to actually go with a primer that is designed for new drywall. To my surprise, it was much cheaper than the other primers I was looking at. I ended up buying 3 gallons of the Behr premium drywall primer/sealer from HD for about $12 a gallon. I am extremely happy with the results.

I had them tint the primer dark gray since I will be painting the ceiling black. I used a 3/4" nap roller to get good coverage and fill any imperfections in the drywall mud. It came out fantastic. It is very even and covered in one coat.

Note that if you plan to tint your primer, Home Depot told me they are only allowed to put up to 25% of the tint for the specified color in the primer. I thought it sounded strange until I thought about it more. They probably don't want you buying the cheap primer for $12 a gallon and tinting it to your final color - basically turning it into a $35 a gallon paint and primer in one. I chose the darkest gray they had on the sample cards and it came out about as dark as the 2nd or 3rd one on the same card.

I will try to post some pictures tomorrow. I hope to touch up the corners and caulk the base of the drywall tomorrow night so that it is done before I mount the new door this weekend (they called and told me that the door I ordered will be done tomorrow).

Thanks for checking things out Ben. Yes, it finally feels like I am getting some traction. Still lots of work to do, but hopefully the momentum continues.

I had sent an email to the manufacturer of the recessed lights I am considering asking them about clearance requirements for materials other than insulation. I specifically asked about having drywall above the fixture. Their reply wasn't real helpful. It said that 3" is specified for insulation and there are no specified requirements for other materials, but that I should check local code to determine the correct spacing.

I should be able to mount the fixture 1" from the drywall above. I am hoping with 3" or more clearance around the sides, this will provide enough air flow. I may have to consult an electrician on this one.

The problem I am having is that most IC lights are much larger. I am going to continue to work on the problem.

Here are a couple of quick pictures of the theater with the gray primer completed. It is much darker than it looks in these pictures. I'm very happy with the results.





I still need to caulk the bottom of the walls and around the wires. We are still planning to install the theater door on Saturday. Once that is done, the shell of the room should be complete.

Because I used a double wall on the door wall, I will need to insulate and drywall the outer wall before I will really be able to test my sound isolation. I want to get this done sooner than later, so I am going to temporarily turn my focus to the main room so that I can get the drywall up. Once we are done with the door on Saturday, we are planning to frame the soffits for the air return trunk and the main drain pipe that collects the waste from the upper floors. Once that is done, I will know where I can install my lighting so I can run the last of the electrical, stub out the plumbing for the bathroom and bar and insulate the walls. Finally, once those things are done, the last of the drywall can be finished. Then it is back to the theater.

I will continue to work on my stage, soffit and riser designs while I am finishing the other pieces.

By the way, my kids have begun lobbying for this carpet for the game room. I keep trying to explain that carpet is last (and a very long way off).

Thanks Mr. Tim!! I was hoping you would come along with some information. I called the local township yesterday and all they would tell me is "We follow the national code. You should ensure that you are within the national guidelines". He wouldn't give me an answer over the phone. I appreciate the info.

I made some more progress on the theater this weekend. My friend brought over the solid core door I ordered. It was very heavy (as I was hoping it would be). I wouldn't be surprised if it weighs near 100 lbs. The door came pre-hung in the frame. They mounted it on ball bearing hinges. Those will get replaced by wide throw hinges later in the project. There was nothing unusual about the install. It went in as planned.



This morning I went back and cut pieces of MDF that were 3 1/2" wide and 1/4" - 1/2" thick to fill the gaps around the door frame. I figured it would be better to fill as much as I can with mass rather than insulation.



Then I went back and filled the gaps with acoustic caulk from the theater side to make it air tight. I still need to caulk the other side.



Once the door was installed, it blocked a lot of sound, but I could still hear sound coming from the sides and bottom of the door. I ordered the door without stops so that I could install the stops I ordered from The Soundproofing company. They Went on with no problems I will need to adjust them, but they work fine for now.





I did notice a couple of things after the install. I must have installed them a bit too tight because now the edge of the door with the latch on it is no longer exactly flush with the drywall. It seems to be 1/8" - 1/16" out from flush. The other thing I noticed is that if I stand in the theater with the door closed and the lights off (no light at all in the room), after allowing my eyes to adjust for a minute or so, if I look closely at the seams around the door at just the right angle, I see an extremely thin line of light passing through. I couldn't figure out if it was leaking in between the metal of the seal and the door frame, or if the seal itself was not tight. I had my son block a portion of the seal with a block of wood from the outside and it appears to be coming in between the metal and the frame. I'm wondering if I need to caulk this. This line of light is extremely thin. I would be surprised if it is even 1/32". I only can see it from a certain angle, but I can see it on both sides of the door.

I also have the automatic door bottom, but I haven't installed it yet. I am trying to decide what to do about the threshold first. I picked up a marble threshold from Home Depot and put it in place to see how it would look. I don't think the light colored marble will look good with a dark carpet, so I think I am going to try to find a black threshold. Other than the color, I think it would work well.



As I mentioned in a previous post, I am going to try to get some work done on the rest of the basement so that I can finish up the drywall on the outside of the theater. Yesterday we framed in the air return trunk as well as some of the ducts so that I can drywall around them.




I also framed around the main drain line that runs along the ceiling.



The only other thing I need to frame around is a short section of beam on the other side of the basement. I am going to do that after I decide what I want to do with the ceiling in that room. With the soffits complete, I was able to start planning for the lighting. I ended up installing 6 can lights in the main room of the basement. I will install them on a dimmer so that I can adjust them as needed. They aren't wired yet, but they are all mounted.



I'm also thinking of installing some of the 3" fixtures that I picked up from Lowes in the soffit. They can be angled, so I want to see how they will look if I aim them at the backglass on the pinball machines. I want to be careful that they don't cause a glare on the playfield glass, but if they don't, it might look nice with the head of the game lit and the other lights in the room dimmed or off. I don't know if it will work or not, so I am going to install a cord on one so I can test it out by holding it in place to see how it will look.

Hopefully I can keep the momentum going. I have plenty to keep me busy. I plan to do some more caulking in the theater and electrical work in the main room of the basement during the week this week.

I have been trying to put in as much time as I can in the evenings. I finished the electrical rough in for the can lights. I have also installed a few more of the boxes for the electrical outlets in the main room. I'm hoping to get more of the wiring done tonight. This would allow me to start hooking up the fixtures this weekend and maybe even get them connected to the panel.

The only thing that isn't finalized on my electrical plan is the bathroom and the outlets and lighting at/around the bar. I am going to hold off on that until the other electrical is done. I am then going to run my water lines to the bathroom and bar sink so I can begin insulating. I'm planning to insulate the outside walls plus the ceiling in the main room to keep the noise levels down from the pinball machines. I'm wondering if there is any value in insulating the other walls that are shared with the storage room. Will this reduce noise that makes its way to the first floor?

I spent some time working on the basement again this weekend. I decided not to post any pictures since it is just some common tasks in the main basement area.

I finished hooking up the can lights and they are now functioning. Prevoiusly I just had a couple of bare bulbs in the main room and it wasn't very bright, so I decided to go ahead and connect the cans so I can have more light while working. I also stripped out some old wiring that won't be used any longer and removed the old light sockets.

I finished running 2 of my 3 circuits for the pinball machines and other games. They are 20 amps each which will easily allow me to run 6 of the newer pinball machines with no problems. That will allow me to have 18 machines running at once. I completely forgot that I was going to put double drywall on the outside wall of the theater, so I had to remove the boxes I originally installed and buy 3 of the Carlon adjustable boxes.

I still had a few pieces of insulation left from when I insulated the walls in the theater, so I went ahead and installed those on the outer theater wall. A friend of mine offered to meet me at Home Depot this week after work so that I could pick up the insulation for the rest of the basement. I plan to insulate the outside walls as well as the ceiling in the game area (to cut down the noise that goes upstairs).

Most of my other time in the basement was spent cleaning and organizing. Shifting things around isn't going to work for long since the basement will be finished. My son helped me carry out 2 old couches that have been sitting around for unused for a while. My wife kept telling me to keep them because we may want to use them until we buy furniture for the theater. Once I notified her that we found a mouse nest in one of them, she told me to get it out of the house as soon as possible .

I may post a separate thread, but I am trying to figure out the best way to distribute video to multiple TVs in the basement. I will probably have 2-3 TVs in the bar and game area. I would like to have the option to play the same thing on all of them, or play something different. What is the easiest way to do this so that I don't have to have a box at the TV? What type of cabling should I plan to use?

I hope to continue working during the week. I still need to finish up some wiring. I will also start insulating the walls this week. I need to run some plumbing to the bar area and the bathroom before drywalling. I'm thinking of replacing my RO filter as well. I don't really need to do that while the walls are open since I already have one (having issues with it), but I was going to reroute some of the tubing to shorten the runs anyway, so I might as well do it all at once. If all goes well, I will have my friend come over in a couple of weeks to help me hang furring strips on the ceiling to provide clearance for some pipes. Then I should be ready for the drywall.

Thanks for the info bzbase. I will have to check that switch out. My biggest worry is the length of the wire runs. I may not be able to use hdmi. I will have to do some investigating.

Thanks BllDo. They are a bit pricey, but they open up a lot of options. The more I look at the space, I may be able to get away with one of these extenders and use regular hdmi cables for the other tvs. Now I just need to decide what I want to do for sources and switching. I'm guessing that most of the time I will want to watch the same thing on all tvs, but occasionally I will want to watch 2 different sources (multiple sports, etc.).

Mario,

It looks like the matrix switch that bzbase listed can play the same source to all tvs, or different sources to different tvs. This would allow me to have a satellite receiver and a DVD player behind the bar and choose what is playing. I could also view OTA on each tv (if connected directly). This would cover many major sporting events and provide an HD picture. I have 3 RG6 cables running from my data closet into the theater. I wonder if I could use one of these to feed a signal from the theater to the switch so that I can have a movie playing on the tvs outside of the theater so you could continue watching if you walk out to get a drink, popcorn, etc.

I didn't have as much time to work on the basement as I would have liked this weekend, but I still got a few things done. I picked up the remaining insulation for the basement. I am planning to insulate the exterior walls with R13 as well as insulate the ceiling joists with R19 to cut down on the noise from the pinball machines. I got a couple of strips of the ceiling insulation in, but not much.

While the access to the storage areas was still open prior to drywall, I decided to get a couple of other tasks completed. I purchased a new chest freezer and got that put in place. I also installed a new RO water filter. I mounted it in the basement near my water softener and whole house filter. It then supplies my ice maker and drinking water tap in the kitchen.

The only other thing I got done in the basement was a task I didn't enjoy. I joked about having a mouse nest in one of the couches I removed, but it ends up that I have several mice in the basement. I set up four snap traps around the basement and have caught 6 mice in 3 nights. The traps were untouched Saturday night and I didn't check yet this morning, but hopefully I have caught the problem before it got really bad. Most of the basement is pretty empty right now except my storage area and pinball workshop, so I have been digging through looking for nests and making sure boxes are sealed. I did find 2 more nests in an open plastic bin and in a platic cat carrier that had an old towl in it. Not quite ready to call out a professional yet, but keeping a close eye on it.

Before installing the thermostat in the theater, I need to install the barometric bypass damper that will prevent pressure from building up in the HVAC system since the theater is such a small zone. I have the bypass damper, but need a piece of 10" round duct and a 10" elbow to install it. I spoke with an HVAC supplier that I purchased a capacitor from in the past, but they said they won't sell to me since I am not a contractor. I called a couple of other heating and cooling suppliers and one of them told me they could order it for me and I could pick it up tomorrow. I am waiting for them to confirm the pricing.

Tim,

I originally had planned on using the built in bypass. It is basically a screw you set that prevents the damper from closing completely. If I remember correctly, about 5% of the air can get past the damper. With the damper in this position, Aprilaire claims it won't change the temperature in the other zones more than 2 degrees. With that said, I chose to use the barometric bypass damper for a couple of reasons:

1. I keep my house pretty cool in the winter - as cool as my wife will let me get away with. I'm worried that if I lose 2-3 degrees upstairs, my wife will make me bump up the temps upstairs. Plus, if she even feels the slightest amount of cool air coming from a vent in the winter she would be very unhappy. No amount of science could explain to her that it won't impact the comfort of the room.
2. Doing all of the math, with the HVAC system being sized for such a large space and the theater being only a very small percentage of that space, the bypass setting on the dampers was cutting it way to close. I didn't want to take the chance of forcing too much air back through the system. If it had been a couple of rooms, it probably would have worked great.

In the end, the bypass damper is really for peace of mind more than anything else. Plus, I discovered the other day that what I paid for the dampers was only a fraction of what I should have paid, so even with the bypass damper I didn't spend that much. I never could figure out how the dampers were so cheap when I bought them. The price is one of the reasons I went this route. Well, it ends up that someone fat fingered the entry when they put them in the system and they are now 3x more expensive. I never would have gone this route for that price. I would have probably just done a mini split.

As a side note, we have noticed that with the house being zoned, it is much more comfortable. The great part is that I can keep the main floor a bit warmer during the day and the second floor warmer at night. I know it has been a very mild winter, but our gas bills have dropped significantly this winter. Plus, our electric bills fell after installing the dampers (compared to the previous year). I mainly wanted the zoning for comfort, but I certainly won't complain if I save some money as well.

I had a pretty busy weekend and didn't get as much time in the basement as I would have liked. I finished lots of wiring. I always seem to underestimate how much work there is when it comes to electrical. Some of that is due to how anal I am about running wiring. I like a very neat install even though you will never see most of the wiring. I still need to finish the rough in for a couple more areas:

• The bar area
• Small can lights to highlight games (when not being played).
• Outlet for rope light in gaming area
• Run electric circuit to bathroom (just main line before drywall of main room ceiling)
• Misc. outlets? (neon signs, other gaming signs)
• Speakers, video for tvs, etc.

I also got some more insulation installed between the joists of the ceiling. I hope to continue working on the insulation and electrical during the week. I'm hoping to get finished with these items in the next 2 weeks. Then I just need to run the plumbing for the bar and bathroom.


As a side note, I need to figure out what the electrical requirements are for a keg fridge (one that can hold 3 half barrel kegs). I'm wondering if it will require a dedicated circuit, or if it can run on the same circuit as the other outlets at the bar.

I continued to make some progress this week. It is getting really hard to go down into the basement with this great weather, but then I just look through some of the photos of the completed theaters and I run back down and get to work .

I finished rewiring my storage area. This included wiring the lights to a switch so I don't have to use the pull cord. Eventually I will replace the existing fixture and add another at the opposite side of the area. I'm not sure what type of fixture yet, so that will have to wait until later. I also finally hardwired my zone controller for my HVAC system. It was previously temporarily wired using a cord run to an outlet. Now it is hardwired. I also rewired the GFI outlet for my freezer. It previously was on the same circuit as the lighting for the main room, but I moved it to the storage room circuit.

I also got more insulating done in both the ceiling and walls. With some of the old wiring removed, I should be able to get more of the ceiling work done this week. I am about as far as I can go with the walls until I finalize the electrical plans for the bar area. My goal is to have all of the electrical and insulation done within two weeks so I can get my furring strips installed on the ceiling during my long weekend. Even though progress is slow, I want to keep inching forward. Once I get back into the theater, things will hopefully move a bit faster.

I figured you guys wouldn't be too excited about pics of a basement build. I'm surprised anyone is even still reading my thread . I guess I can shoot a few pictures for the faithful who check in on my progress every once in a while.