Ack's Media/Basement Build - Page 3

Finished the framing, and ready for the electrician this week (after I clean up). Wife and I really went back and forth on the bar area. We are not drinkers, but like to host parties and wanted a place to serve food during movies, sporting events, etc. We think we found a good compromise with the bar. The back area will be 7'2" and will have upper and lower cabinets, a sink, compact fridge, and microwave. The raised bar area is a little over 6' in length. Here is a pic of the bar area:



I wanted a media rack, but wanted it near the seating position and not in a separate room. Thought about the back of the room, but we want to have a foosball table or possibly a pool table in the back of the room. Saw a theater recently that had the media rack in the front of the room, but turned to the side. Here is a pic of the custom media rack I will be building:



Here is what the front wall will look like:



Will post more pics after I get everything cleaned up.

Electrician cannot start until next week now. I will keep working on cleaning up, and fireblocking so I feel that I am moving forward.

My plumber recommended I checkout a local tile store in Maple Grove, Ceramic Tile Works, and I was blown away when I went there Saturday. Amazing tile there with patterns you would not think possible with ceramic tile. They had some very slick 12x24" tiles that would look really good on a bar top. Prices were in the $4-6 per sq ft range, which seems reasonable considering how cool the tile is. I am about 99% convinced I am going this route vs a cheap granite slab. The tile is very custom and original looking, and combined with the modern stone, it should look very nice.

I also save a pile of money going this route and can upgrade all the tile in the bathroom so it can have a very nice custom look.

Here is a shot of the screen wall and some other changes. The screen will be a 125" SeymourAV AT screen, and the format will be 16:9. Really debated if I should go 235:1, but we watch lots of TV and I love sports. We do watch lots of movies too, but with this size screen from 13-14' back, we should be fine. I really like the size from that distance a lot. We were about 12' or so away from our last screen that was 100" and I really felt like I wanted to go larger. Well, this is considerably larger:



Here is the screen from the approximate seating position:



From my previous post you will remember that I built a media rack in the front of the room near the screen. Well, after thinking about it and posting a thread in the dedicated forum to get feedback, I decided to move the media rack to the rear of the room to the left of the bar. I really think it was a good move. It cleans up the front of the room, and allows better placement option for the front subwoofer (going to be a 7.2 setup with a sub in the front and back of the room). Here is the rack after being moved (don't mind the HDMI cable, just making sure it would still reach, and it does!):



Here it is next to the bar:



Oh yeah and the electrician started:



Electrical will be completed early next week and I should have the electrical and framing inspections done late next week so I will be insulating very soon.

Speaking of insulation, Home Depot had a great sale on the Owings Corning (pink stuff) insulation and I stocked up. Bought enough to do the entire ceiling in R-19. Going back this weekend to get all the R-13 I need for the interior walls.

This weekend I need to get the fireblocking finished. Will post an update on that soon...

Glad to be done with framing. Very glad to be hiring out electrical and drywall...

Electrician working this week. He has scheduled the electrical inspection for Friday afternoon. I am fireblocking and will be scheduling the framing inspection Friday afternoon as well. If all goes well I should be insulating walls and ceilings this weekend.

Will post pics this weekend... Not enough time in the day...

Chad, thanks, I am glad I moved the AV rack as well and like the location. It is not too far from the main seating position but it is far enough away where lights and sound will not be an issue. I am considering cooling options from the rack from here:
http://www.coolerguys.com/

I am not running any big dedicated power hungry amps, but I will definitely get something.

I'll tell you, I really debated between a smaller dedicated theater room with sound isolation, raised seating, double drywall, green glue, etc. But we have three kids 6 and under and decided on a more open family room space that was warm and inviting with a large playroom in the room that would have been used as the dedicated theater room. I am not doing double drywall, green glue, etc in the space where the PJ and screen will be. It is a large walkout space with too many challenges and it would be very costly to properly soundproof if it was even possible. I am insulating all the walls and ceiling and using 5/8 drywall and a solid core door at the top of the stairs. All of our bedrooms are on the second floor so we will have a floor between to isolate the sound. I have played some loud music in the basement even before insulation and drywall and it was not very audible from the kids rooms. I think with the insulation and drywall I will be okay. I don't really listen at reference levels anyway, so it is not as big an issue for me as it is others.

Maybe I will get the dedicated room next time


Nervous for the framing inspection... There is little info from the city on fireblocking, so I can see getting dinged for that. Will post updates soon.

Passed the electrical and framing inspections late last week! I went a little overboard on the fire-blocking, but it kept the inspector at bay. One thing that did come up was that the framing inspector noticed theHeating and AC company did not get their work inspected. So I am getting that done this week and then I can insulate all the ceilings. What I do find ridiculous is that the inspector told me that if I would have done the heating/AC, that I would not need to get the work inspected, but if I hire the pros, I have to get it inspected.. Really Maple Grove???? Annoying...

At any rate I was able to insulate most of the walls (about 90%) and have been pulling AV wires all week as well. It is a lot of work:
- HDMI (high-speed) from the AV rack to the PJ
- 2 Cat6 from AV rack to the PJ
- Cat 5 from all the bedrooms and AV rack
- More Cat6
- RG6/coax to all the bedrooms and the AV rack from the main AV trunk
- 7.2 audio cables

Should wrap up the AV wiring by Saturday and I can bang out insulating the ceiling.

I can say that I really hate insulating.. I will be glad when it is done. Hoping to have drywall starting either this time next week or the following Monday. I am hiring out the drywall and it should be completed in about a week. Honestly for the price, I just could not justify doing all the work. It would have taken me 6 weeks minimum and I loathe doing drywall. Just not my thing.

Here are some pics of the progress:

AV rack:


Front wall:


Bathroom:


This is bracing for my side surrounds (manufacturer requires additional bracing):


Bar area:


Playroom:


Bedroom and closet:

I also solved one of my problems for the outside walls (see screen wall) that is exterior facing and already has some insulation and a vapor barrier. The inspector told me not to put more R rated insulation in that wall. I was a little worried because I am using in-wall speakers behind an AT screen for my mains and really wanted the wall insulated. Well, I found Roxul Safe and Sound sells insulation that is not R-rated and will not hold moisture or create mold. So I get my sound isolation and will not cause potential mold/moisture issues. Very happy.

The inspector told me they have seen moisture/mold issues when folks put R rated insulation combined with the insulation with vapor barrier on the exterior walls. But I have yet to see any moisture in our basement, and as you know, this has been a crazy year for moisture here in Maple Grove.

The permit and inspection process was worth it. The inspectors have been helpful and I learned a lot about fireblocking, and plumbing. The inspector actually found an issue with a pipe that was missed previously (existing PEX pipe that was not properly secured and was near a sharp metal truss plate which could have resulted in a potential leak down the road as the pipe expands/contracts with the temperature changes. With the gas fireplace, I like the fact that the gas line was thoroughly inspected.

More pics to come!

Did I mention how much I hate insulating the ceiling? The walls were not too bad but the ceiling sucked. No other way to put it. 1200sq ft finished area in the basement = a ton of insulation. The 3M mask I bought did the job though. I am almost done with all the insulation and will be ready for drywall next week. Very happy with the sound improvement with R13 in the walls and R19 the ceilings. Changed all the acoustics in the room and really minimized the noise from the main living space upstairs. I gotta think that 5/8" drywall on the ceiling will help even more. I blasted some music on a boom box and could not hear anything in any of the upstairs 2nd floor bedrooms.

Of course movies with my true speaker/subwoofers will be a different story...

Yep, I hear ya. I have several subs that will go below 20hz, but I rarely listen at reference levels or even close to reference. The new house is already quieter than our last house before sheetrock.

BTW, I am a fan of those RF7's. Very solid home theater speakers.

I got three quotes and picked the one in the middle who was extremely responsive. He is charging me $2600 for all hanging, mudding, taping, corner bead, texturing (knock down to match the rest of the house), and the price includes all supplies except the drywall. I thought the price was pretty fair for such a large space. He also came recommended and really seemed professional and responsive.

Chad I called the company you mentioned and they were responsive in the beginning but did not respond to my last couple of communications. But I appreciate the recommendation because the guy I used matched their price, which was the lowest bid I received.

Here are some pics of the room insulated:

Bar:


Shower with Denshield (got this tip from Holmes On Homes, Denshield is better at containing moisture than Durarock/cement board):



Front wall (I installed Roxul Safe And Sound on the front wall so I met the inspectors concern about not using insulation and causing a potential mold/moisture issue):



Back of room:



Side wall with drywall ready to go:

I was pretty pissed at Menards. They offer a carry in drywall service ($2.20 a 4x12 sheet) and I ordered my drywall and had them lined up for delivery this past Monday. My spider sense was tingling so I called them early Saturday to confirm and was told they may not be able to carry it in on Monday morning, but they were "working on it". Uh oh.. I called again that evening and they still could not confirm carry in service (I have a walk-out basement with a large sliding glass door as seen above). I was not happy. I cancelled the order and went with Home Depot. Called my drywall guy and he came over late Monday and the two of us carried 83 4x12 sheets in the basement (1/3 of it being 5/8").. The cool thing is that he refused to take any more money. He has my future business, that's for sure. And Home Depot was awesome. My amazing wife convinced the driver to deliver it right to the back door of the basement.. I just know if I was there he would have dropped it curbside.. We were expecting a storm that night so it really worked out.

The drywall is all hung (they did it in one day) and I will take pics tomorrow and post (taping should be starting tomorrow).

It is amazing how much the room seems to shrink with the drywall on the walls.

And I am sooo glad to be done with insulation!!!

Hey, I'm still here, thanks for checking in! Not much progress to report, we have had three sick kids, and our youngest just turned one, so things have been busy. Drywall guy got behind but will be taping tomorrow. I wanted to start painting this weekend but it is not looking good.

I did determine cabinets though. Did my homework on what we wanted and hope to pick them up in the next week or so. Work is as busy as ever, but I am determined to have this whole thing done by end of November..

Oh, and Menards had a great sale on their Duracore doors, so I grabbed some. So I lied a little . I have made some progress. How are things with you?

I really hated the insulation part, but it made a huge difference with the 5/8" drywall. It sounds like we had some similar decisions regarding the open space for family vs the dedicated theater room. The speakers I purchased have engineered enclosures, and I think the Roxul will help. All of the bedrooms are on the 2nd floor which makes a big difference too.

Your space is really amazing. I am sure you and your family are enjoying it.

Awesome idea.