The Arizona Basement Build - Page 4

Didn't get as many non-blurry pics as I would have liked, but here are a few while putting up the ceiling. The big reason I wanted to do the first layer myself was because of all the intricate detail with the backer boxes for can lights, projector wires, lighting, wires poking through, etc. and it sure did take quite a bit of time to get all those things just right. The other reason I wanted OSB as the first layer was to have an unlimited nailing area for hanging speakers, projectors, ceiling fan, acoustical panels, etc.

Speaking of the projector wire backer box, I needed a way for the conduit ran to the projector to gracefully enter into a backer box. I was going to try to use a cut 45deg angle piece, but instead went with a little jog piece with a conduit nut to secure it to the box.





Over both the projector and ceiling fan, I ran a 2x8 board on top of the OSB and between the joists to spread the weight a bit and give something solid to grab into. Also beefed up the clips in these two spots.



You can see the large backer boxes that were built for the HVAC supply vents. These were very heavy so I didn't want them resting solely on the OSB. Got some RSIC clips tie them to the joists. There was one spot though that I had to leave the one on the right touching the joist with a piece of blocking. Hopefully that doesn't compromise things too greatly.



Just general ceiling progress

Alright, family vacations are over with and now back to theater building. I've had the drywall scheduled since the first week of July to begin today. So all weekend and last night until about 2am, I was frantically trying to take care of last minute things like setting the door jamb, cleaning up, and caulking everything. Somehow I've managed to go through 2 cases of caulk during this build - that's 24 tubes. So last night at 7pm I'm trying to find out if HD or Lowes carries acoustical caulk and reading on the forums about using regular latex caulk. I ended up skipping caulking the bottom of the first layer of OSB because I just didn't have enough time or caulk and convinced myself doing the 2nd layer would be sufficient.

Go to bed at 2am, wake up at 6:30am and take care of some more last minute things like diagramming exactly where some hidden wires are located. I'm tired but feeling good because I've got adrenaline rushing through me in anticipation of the door bell and the hours of slinging green glue ahead of me. Then I get that dreaded call. The drywall company scheduled the material drop off for the wrong day. ARGH! Took the day off work and everything.

The bright side is that it gave me some more time to track down some more acoustical sealant at the local drywall place. As I drove to pick it up, I was telling myself I'd pick up 6 tubes and that should be enough, but for some reason when I got there I told the guy to give me a whole case. We'll see if I can go through another case before I'm done. I'm already forming a list in my head of more things I can caulk.

Adrenaline is now back to normal and I'm dead tired, but here are some pictures of the space ready for drywall.

Entryway, where I added the arch instead of the second communicating door (for now).


Towards back wall


Towards front


Towards door


Installing the jamb first allowed me to run the osb up pretty close

Drywall is done!!!

I can't tell you what a good feeling it is to have the drywall done. It feels like a major weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. In fact, I feel like I've been so focused on prepping and planning everything for drywall that I haven't even had time to think about what comes after it (i.e. riser, stage, can light install, all the other fun stuff). Now that it's done I feel like I can finally focus on the other stuff and start seriously picking paint and decoration themes, which has given me an odd kind of exuberance and second wind.

Drywall is really the first thing that was subbed out so far, and boy am I happy that I did it, but things did get off to a rough start with the missed delivery date. The second day was not much better unfortunately. The delivery did come on time and the supply place guys hand carried the 58 4x10 5/8" sheets down the stairs. I got the impression they don't have to deal with stairs all that often around here, but I didn't hear many complaints. I did feel bad for them though so gave them a decent tip. The rep from the company then showed up and we walked the job. The windows were a particular concern for me because of this weird lip on the shell holding the window. The company estimator originally told me they'd just fur it up and then sheetrock to the window, which would give me a finished look similar to what was upstairs. The rep tried telling me that wasn't in the estimate and we bantered back and forth a bit and i ultimately caved to have them shim it up and use 5/8 osb to support that final layer of drywall. This worked for me because my priorities were a) both sides of the basement finished the same way, b) 2 layers of material so I could use some green glue and c) as much of an airtight tunnel to the window as possible.

The company rep got a call while we were talking from his crew chief saying he'd be an hour late, but the hangers should be there shortly. The crew chief finally shows up, walks the job, then leaves and no one hears from him. The company apparently couldn't get a hold of him either (not sure if they were just lying to me). One hanger showed up at 11 and started working on the small closet areas. I got the impression that the crew chief wasn't coming back, so the one hanger called in a 'friend', which was basically just another body to hold the other side of the sheet. That guy finally arrived around 3pm and all three of us started working on the theater ceiling. Wife was leaving at 5pm so I had to watch the kids and I didn't want them working in the theater without my oversight, so we only finished maybe 80% of the theater ceiling. I felt pretty stressed and rushed because I had this prebuilt soffit sitting on the floor waiting for install once the back ceiling/wall was finished. I had already taken 2 days off work and hadn't even had time to install the soffit yet. The silver lining of not getting started until later is that it gave me a chance to really caulk the windows in the theater area. After they were shimmed up, there was a significant 1/2" or so gap all the way around the window.

The next day, I had to go back to work, but luckily I can work from home, so the hangers came back at 6am and we worked on the theater from 6am to 10am to finish it up. At this point I'm digging in the bottom of the green glue bucket and everything is sticky and gross. I'm ready for a nap, but had to go to work. At least I had the confidence that the walls and ceiling had great coverage. Later that night I had some help over to put the soffit up. I had my FIL help me prebuild the soffit from his last visit, so we ended up building it slightly different then what is recommended. Because the soffitt was kind of a last minute decision, I didn't read the soffit construction manual until the first layer of OSB was installed. Once I read it, I saw the part where it says that an extra channel and additional clips are needed to support the weight of the soffit. My joists were already 24" on center so this concerned me greatly. So we ended up building it as more of a header where a good portion of the weight is on the side walls. Using OSB for the first layer has already paid off in more ways then one.

Luckily the next few days went smoother. The next morning I installed insulation and some wiring in the soffit so they could close it up. I still need to figure out how I'm going to use it for lighting, if at all. More on that in future posts. At that point I was happy to get the heck out of the basement and let them finish the rest of the job. Tape, mud, texture, sanding. Everything looks pretty good now.

On the bad side, given the open stair case design, quite a bit of dust made its way upstairs, despite a plastic barrier. I went a splurged on some filtrete filters, which do seem to help. Also made a purchase of a Hepa filter and drywall pickup bags for the shop vac. Additionally, sound carries incredibly well now between the upstairs and downstairs. Certainly the theater and office will improve with fixtures and carpet, but it's making me a little weary of putting tile down there in the center area which is open to the stairs.

Here are some pics:

Looking into the theater


Towards back, note the soffit for duct work


Towards door


Towards front


Up close soffit

Thank you, much appreciated. I haven't had very many comments lately, probably due to my erratic updates.

So let me toss out a question. I'm considering subbing out the painting as well because I hate painting and my wife is gung ho about hiring it out. Should I bring painters in before doing anything else like trim or riser construction? If I did this, I guess I would have to paint the trim myself later on, which doesnt sound too horrible.

Thanks for the feedback. No columns in my build and the one soffit is complete. Riser and stage will be an issue though timing wise. I would like to finish them first as you say, but the WAF is pushing for the rest of the basement to be finished and painted. Talked to a company today about painting and they said they usually put the trim down first before painting and then they spray it all at once. Getting quotes for everything at the moment.

Seeking input on back wall

I'd like to solicit some feedback on my rear wall. My plans have evolved (or devolved, as the case may be) heavily over the course of the build regarding what I want to do with the space left over in the room. The room was just shy of 22' to begin with and subtract 5 inches for the CC/DD, then we are looking at probably 21.5'. Subtract 2' for the false wall. 11.5-12' viewing distance for the first row, leave me with maybe 6.5' - 7' behind the front seating sofa. The plan right now is to put in some pivoting club chairs and a short bar or some tables for the 2nd row of seating which will leave me with a few feet behind the 2nd row since no reclining space is necessary.

My original requirements for the back wall were:

• 6 and 7 channel speakers (obviously)
• 2nd subwoofer
• Bass traps in corners

A soffit to hold my return duct was a late addition. The soffit sticks out about 20" from the wall.

Here is what I'm currently thinking. Finished room is 16'x21.5'

• Add vanity depth cabinets all the way across or possibly only part way
• Add countertop on top of the cabinets, would be nice to hold snacks or whatever.
• Build bass traps using stacked and fabric covered 703 between the countertop and soffit, or possible all the way to the floor if cabinets are shortened. In my mind, triangles would look really funky sitting on the countertop, so I guess these would have to be 18x18 or 20 x20 squares. Still need to research this.
• Store 2nd subwoofer in the middle cabinet, which is where it is wired currently.
• Possibly add lights. I've prewired for it. See questions below.

Questions

1. Any problem (rattling or otherwise) putting the sub in a cabinet? I could build the middle cabinet bottom to be filled with sand.
2. How would you do the bass traps in conjunction with the cabinet/countertop?
3. Lights. I know you aren't supposed to mix lights and duct soffits but I have so many other compromises in my room (windows, subpanel) that I don't know if its going to matter too much.. I know it's impossible to find IC rated 2-4" remodel cans. I've been looking at puck lights, but the line voltage ones you have to cut and splice off the power cord. 12 volt ones you have to put a klunky transformer somewhere, which I didn't plan for. Also been looking at some 2" remodel cans as seen here (http://www.usalight.com/2-Low-Voltage-Remodel-Recessed-Housing-p/bl2r-e-50w-at.htm). Only 3.25" depth and transformer/ballast is built in. Takes 120vac input and I assume you can pass through to wire multiple ones. They are non-IC, but do have a overheat circuit. Soundproofing issues aside, I think I could install these without touching any insulation. I could use some low wattage bulbs and probably be okay. Thoughts?

Here is an embarrassingly bad paint mockup:

Jeff you're right I've been doing some major thread update slacking. Since the last post, I took a break to finish up some other parts of the basement and get my office up and running so there was a long gap between August and December with big gaps of no progress, although I did manage to build the riser, stage, doors, trim and paint the room.

In December, I got my JVC RS-46 delivered, bought an Epik Legend on their closeout, and sprang for carpeting for the theater and office. Since then, I finished all the wiring for lights, added a first row of theater chairs, hauled my old Athena towers out of storage, added linacoustic on the front wall, and bought some black out cloth for a temporary screen (with plenty of wrinkles so I don't get too comfortable with it). Then the first movie started around end of March- about 40 hrs so far on the JVC so far. That last post I was still thinking about doing some cabinets in the back, but I nixed that idea do to space and rattle concerns. I built the riser at about 80" from the back wall to give me the option to put some recliners back there instead of the cabinets and club chairs that I was planning before.

At this point I'm trying to decide on a final screen size, but I've decided to build the false wall first and then reevaluate with the screen 2 feet closer.

My to do list and not necessarily in this order:

1. Detail work like outlet covers and vents and probably a lot of spray painting. Also need to touchup some walls/trim
2. Buy staple gun and fabric
3. Build false wall and panels
4. Determine screen size and order it
5. Seal door
6. Order a second row of seats
7. Build bass traps and wall treatments
8. Build window plugs
9. Speakers! Looking at DIY SEOS design

Here are a few pics. On a side note, it's crazy to me how much dust is apparent on the camera lens even now. Makes me worried for the projector. Thank goodness for a sealed lightpath I guess.

Also, the paint in the room looks very green on camera. In fact I don't really like it at all. In person it's more of a dark taupe.

I'm in the metro area and basements are certainly not as rare as 10 years ago around here. You find them in pockets here or there due to the way that builders around here only offer them in certain developments. It's also a crazy upcharge compared to elsewhere. We picked up this house secondhand during the housing downturn here, but the original owners left the builder's option sheet and an unfinished basement was +90k and finished basement was +150k and that's for roughly 1k sq ft. For the most part, basement space is treated as livable square footage and included in the house's sq footage in the tax records. Ceilings height is usually similar to upstairs at 9 or 10'.

They do make a lot more sense to me here. We do have expansive soils but little concern for water drainage issues. Temperature in basement hits about 81 when it's 115 outside so the AC cooling load is much lower then the same sq footage as a second story, which is the norm around here. On a hot summer day, what's better than a dip in the pool followed by a movie in the cool, dry basement? Hope to find out in a few months.

On a soundproofing note, I'm pretty dang happy with how it's turned out. Master bedroom is directly above the theater and a movie or song playing at standard volume is undetectable upstairs. I watched Iron Man 2 the other night at -25db or so at about midnight, just expecting my wife to come down and yell at me and nadda. She didn't hear a thing. Now some might say that just means I need another sub, and they are probably right.