Tomek's theater build - with pics.

An office? That would be a terrible waste of space. That's a perfect location for some arcade games, maybe a pinball machine and definitely a kegerator.

You have plenty of room for a second row of seating (which I would recommend). Are you looking to have a dedicated space or are you going to keep the room open?

I will be following this build the entire way. You have almost the EXACT same layout that I do for my proposed basement (my stairs are in a different location and I don't have quite as much space as you for 14'x10' area but it is close). The 25' 4" measurement is exactly the same as mine. Crazy.

My plan right now is for one row of seats with a counter right behind them for 4 additional seats when I have company over. If I go with 2 rows of recliners they will only get fully used a couple of times a year. I'm also keeping the entire room open but kind of delineating the "theater" by using 1/2 walls and the seats and maybe some soffits on the ceiling. As much as I'd like a "dedicated" room I know that I would the only one who ever used it. The open layout is much more inviting and I know my wife will hang out down there with me if she can read a book or something while I'm watching football.

I think you are off to a good start with the layout - I probably wouldn't make an office down there next to the furnace/water heater (I'm opting for a bar/kitchenette area and some arcade games) but that's just me.

What if you rotated the theater area 90 degrees so when you came downstairs you were in the back of the theater behind the couch? You might be able to get some more floor space back near the office/sump pump wall for something else... just a thought.

Are you building this yourself?

Interesting,

Just remember that there is no progress without proof (pics) so if you say there is progress then you must provide evidence of said progress.

Love the fish tank idea, much better than an office.

Welcome to the madness, I will be following along. I also see a sump pump in the diagram. Is this a sump that runs on a regular basis or one that goes years without running. If it is the former and not the latter, I suggest you look into a battery backup system. The last thing you want is to finish your space and have the sump fail filling your basement with water.

Regards,

RTROSE

Why don't you build an aquarium into a bar base? If it is an either or type of thing I vote bar as you would get more use out of it.

Regards,

RTROSE

Looking good. The subfloor will make a huge difference in the "feel" of the basement space. Who is that reading directions on the floor there? Hmmmm.......somebody has to be the brains of the operation now don't they.

On the boxes, plates and what not I did a wiring diagram to help me figure out where the low voltage boxes went and what they were for. I ran five different sub woofer cable runs to allow flexibility in placement, I ran HDMI and component to the projector location and I also ran two runs to the front three speaker locations either to biamp/biwire the speakers (should that ever be necessary) or to run separate speakers for a two channel set up.

Don't for get to run power to the ceiling for the projector. If you can run conduit for all of the wiring you can. Will make it much easier to run future cables should that be necessary.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

RTROSE

Very clean work so far. First time I have seen that OVRX flooring. Is the OVRX similar to dricore?

Ok,

I'm not an electrical professional, so take the following with a grain of salt. To me it looks good and at first glance you have all of your bases covered. Here are a couple of suggestions. I would put a light in with the sump pump if it is a floor to ceiling space. Having a closed off space for my sumps I put in a dedicated light and have not looked back. Looks like you will have plenty of light down there in the space but I would suggest setting up the dimmers a little differently.

For example in my room I have 8 pot lights and four sconces. The sconces are on their own dimmer. the front two (by the screen) are on a dimmer, the next four on a dimmer and the last two on a dimmer

________

x x

x x


x x


x x

X's being the pot lights underline being the screen.

Personal preference but according to your diagram looks like you have some "zones" that maybe overlap. You also may have a very good reason for doing it the way you have. Just an observation.

Regards,

RTROSE

I would put the lights closest to the screen on their own dimmer. Especially in an open space like this you may want to have the rest of the lighting up (but dimmed) but not have any direct light hitting the screen. It also looks like the side speakers are a bit to far in front of the seating position.

Oh, I think that you may reconsider when you entertain in that open floor plan. For a movie yes the ideal is darker is better, for big games, tv, and such sometimes a bat cave is not the most conducive to social events. Having the ability to have some lights on without being directly on the screen washing it out is a plus. Just something to think about.

Regards,

RTROSE

Looks like you have a big mess of cables there. Good thing that you labeled them all. Making good progress though, that's good news.

On the HVAC front, I'm just curious how many supplies and returns did you end up putting in. Oh, and on the register/supply, is it local code to have it in the wall vs. the ceiling or was that your choice. My returns are in the walls, my supplies are in the ceiling. I find that interesting.

Regards,

RTROSE

Keep the progress pics coming.