The Timelapse Theatre - Planning n' Build Log - Page 35

Thanks for all the well-wishes. It looks like the floors and subfloor are now dry. We're waiting on the estimate to repair the ceiling, reinstall the toilet and quarter round molding in the bathroom upstairs.

I talked to our insurance dude this morning and mentioned that the wave panels were damaged by the dehumidifiers. I told him I'd give it a couple days to see if they straighten out anyway. Not sure what to do about them.

The (brand new) furniture is going to get cleaned and we'll get reimbursed for that cost.

When they repair the ceiling they're going to install, mud, sand, etc. the big ass patch but then they're also going to repaint the *whole* ceiling. I was very explicit about that and that it was a very specific black paint. I told them that I would turn them away if they just rolled up to my door with generic black paint.

Updates!

Repair News
The repair work for the ceiling has now been completed. The repair crew put another coat (or two) of mouse ears black on the ceiling and the ceiling looks better than ever. I'm really pleased. The carpets were all cleaned including the 25 year old berber carpet on the stairs that I've been abusing during the whole project. I plan to replace in eventually but seeing it so clean is really refreshing.

Since the ceiling was open I crammed in the remaining R30 insulation that I had from my soffit and stage-filling projects. Not a big sonic improvement but the stuff isn't in my garage anymore so I'm calling it a win.

The carved panels are still warped but I have a plan to fix that. I'm going to glue an undersized piece of 1/2" high-grade plywood to the back of the panels to regain some rigidity. I feel pretty confident that adding that much mass will help a lot. I'm going to take the opportunity to frame the edges too to clean up the installation.

Video News
I have been editing the stills for the next video. This is a slow process and I'm itching for some new computer hardware to help out. Right now I have processed the frames for 12-14 clips that cover painting and screen-wall-frame construction. It's pretty cool stuff but not my most exciting video. The YouTube commentators are beating me up for an update!

Sad News
When we bought the house we knew that the HVAC system would need to be replaced. It was installed when the house was new so it's 25 years old now. Well, the heat exchanger for the first floor and theatre has officially bit the dust. $1700 estimate to repair ($700 part). Obviously that's a non-starter since the system is so old. I have a friend that is a sales rep for Carrier so we get to buy a new system and hire someone to install it! Yay! If you're wondering, it's a gas-pack that's probably a 7-8 SEER. I'm thinking about replacing with a 13+ SEER unit this year. Next year we'll probably replace the second floor split unit.

We have been enjoying the theatre quite a bit in the meantime. We've watched The Avengers most recently but we're down there at least 3 nights a week enjoying Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, etc. on Netflix. I've also gotten into The Walking Dead on Netflix. Fun stuff!

Hahah, YES!

That reminds me. I watched Prometheus when it came out on Blu-ray and enjoyed it. It's not the scariest of Alien movies but it's still good for a jolt or two! I love Sci-Fi so I'll watch/enjoy damn near anything that fits the genre.

Bad news. My Blu-ray player died!

The good news is that my Blu-ray player died!

I've had an early generation Samsung player for years and it now is claiming that "this disc cannot be played" when I put in a Blu-ray. I haven't tried DVD yet. Bummer. Any suggestions?

As much as I wanted an Oppo, I have good/bad news! I reset power on the Samsung unit and now it plays discs again!

In other news, our heat exchanger is cracked in our 25 year old HVAC unit. Time for a new unit. I knew this was coming when we bought the house last May but it still sucks. I have a connection with a Lennox dealer so we'll be getting a discount on their high end 15-SEER package unit. Damn thing's going to cost more more than my entire theatre project!

How did you do the tax refund thing? Is that just federal, state, or both?

I certainly hope so. The existing unit is from 1987 or so. I'm guessing it's about 7-8 SEER.

Oh, never fear. My gadget-lust is being satisfied by the purchase of two of those spiffy Nest thermostats!

I replaced my prehistoric thermostat last night with one of these Nest units. It took all of 15 minutes and I already love it.

The Nest doesn't interface with Crestron, AMX, Control4, etc. It just goes in and then learns your habits. This last part is still to be proven to me but even as a plain-old thermostat it's excellent. It's easy (and fun) to use. The data that it provides is already interesting. Having access to data about your temperature and humidity makes you conscious of it. When you're conscious of it you can choose to do something about it.

Pretty fun. Don't think about it; just go buy one.