LEVEL 4: Center for Entertainment build - Page 3

You crack me up, John! Ok, ok, I've been wanting to post something, here goes...

Well the holidays are busy. We hosted 20 people at our new house here, which was crazy and fun! But you don't care about that.

I've been busy with some tasks that aren't all that glamorous, except for:

My projector lift (most of you have seen this already, so I'll move right along)!

More info here.

I finished a few things and I'll point them out in the pictures.

A quick shot from seating to warm you up


The front wall
You can see the soffits are done and ready for drywall.
Pulled the cables through
Ran the electrical for the front


Left (outside) wall
I marked the location of the columns
Killed the outlet there
Light installed in soffit for wash downs over acc. panels
AV cables pulled through existing soffit for column mount


Where the right wall is going to exist
Just wanted to point out the cut in the carpet and beam are where the new wall is going


Ceiling
Cleaned up the area where the coffering is going


Building materials
Carried down all that drywall by myself, phew!
Wood for stage, screen, and new wall
Also, r30 unfaced for ceiling is in the garage


Clamps and magnets
This is how I get my kids to leave my clamps and magnet alone!


View from the screen
You can see my rear speaker placements


Screen test
So, I took a few weeks to test the screen size and placement. I found it was awesome. Obviously, the screen will be lower, but the size is good. The RS45 is stellar. It was hard taking that sheet down! One note, I played avatar in 3d after buying the MonsterVision 3d and the ghosting was just too much for me. This will be a 2D only theater, wired for 3D for when time comes. I'm not sad about it.


As I type...
Best $2.99 you'll spend for a pale ale, my friends.

Man, you're quick! I mean.... Ok, I'm slow!! (I read your comment in the Caddyshack tone, of course)

I updated the design image a bit. The colors are not even close to accurate, but I needed to brighten up some surfaces so they would show up properly.

So I framed in the back right column, pictures are below. This is the most complicated column since it wraps around that corner. The other will be simple boxes.

My switches will be wired into this jbox, and my in wall Monoprice 6.5" surround 3-way speaker will be about 2/3 of the way up. I will be sheetrocking the column and then applying a 1/4 plywood veneer and trim on top of that.

I have some R30 insulation in the garage. Should I stuff that into the column after I get my wiring setup? If so, do I need to separate

I'm at a point in my project where I can start ripping some plywood for columns. I don't have a table saw, but I decided to buy one.

I bought this dude: Bosch Table Saw with Gravity lift and the outfeed extension.

It's pricier than your HD $150 ryobi, but I feel a table saw is a worthy investment. I LOVE my Bosch drills, so I hope this is the same high quality.

Other updates:
Framed the wall up on the right side of the theater
Moved the current switched to a 4-gang box in first column
Wired the electrical for the ropes and front screen to the 4-gang box
Pulled 2 more speaker lines to the front
Replaced stairway canned light and secured it to joists
Made a big f'ing mess

My screen is a 2.35 11" wide deal, which makes a 114" diaganol 16:9 image. The projector is 16' from the screen which is just about the closest it can be. I tested the feel of the image from 11" away and I liked it a lot!

You could get the MV3D glasses which are often less than half the price. If it helps, I watched Avatar on mine and the 3D was very ghosting. I decided to go 2D only as well. I just couldn't even finish watching.

I wanted to get the pj sooner than later because I wanted to be sure of the screen size, throw,brightness, etc, and the only way to know for sure was to try it.

Thanks TheaterChad. Sometimes it feels like I'm an island doing this, so it's always nice to hear from others around here that have or are working on theaters.

MAN! I just want to go home and work on the theater. Went home for lunch to put up about 10 furring strips and wanted to finish the section I was on. Oh well...

I do have a question, if anyone knows any tips. I'm trying to run furring strips across this part of the room, pictured below. The problem is, as you can see, that I can't attach the end of the furring strip because the closet wall ends between two joists.

Also, between the joists is some aluminum, which, I assume, is there to box in a return air channel.

Anyone have thoughts on how I can attach the furring strips? (the black shows kind of where I was planning to run them.)

Sound isolation is something I gave up on at the start of my project. Mind you, I have insulated the ceiling (pics incoming) to help a bit, but since my walls are already done traditionally and I have other difficult areas like the stair case and storage closet, I won't be able to isolate this room easily (or cheaply). I would have to essentially rip everything out, and I'm not willing to do that. I do not have enough money or patience for it. It's tempting, especially seeing EVERYONE else here do it, and, admittedly, it's probably my biggest "I wish I could have", but oh well!

Also, my room is 3 levels lower than my kids' rooms and in the opposite corner of the house, so I have a slight advantage. I also don't usually listen to my movies/tv too loud at night. During the day, I can go crazy.

So! On to the problem. Here's what I did. After sicking the level on the furring strips, I realized I didn't have to put the boards at the top of the wall. I had a little space to work with.

I made a 2 x 6 grid on the floor, nailing the cross strips to the board that would run against the wall. Then I lifted this up on the joists, shimming in the cross strips, and screwing it in.

On the one that runs against the wall, I predrilled and put some 3" wood screws through it, so it is able to get through the sheetrock and into some studs. It seems very strong and I am confident it will hold well.

Here's a picture.

I'm planning to put a cold air return here, above the media shelves. I'll block it in with 1x2's and cut out the aluminum. It'll be the only remaining return in the room! The other two are behind the media rack and in the now sealed off room to the right of the screen. (pictures coming of that soon)

So, first of all I finished the unique column. It's different because it wraps around to the wall and has a 4 gang bank of my dimmer switches. I moved two of the dimmers in my room to this spot and created two new ones for the lights over the screen and the uplights in the soffit tray.

Here's the column before I add my 1/4 plywood and trim. Also, you can see the wall I added!


Now, let's take a look at my kick ass insulation protection plan!
I used standard long sleeves, mask, and my Dr. Horrible costume goggles.


Here's some drywall on the side room, which is a snack room for phase 2


Here's the back of the room insulated


Here's the front part of the room, taken from that wall I just built.


Here's a shot of the same ceiling with the oh-so-popular front wall money shot.


The open space in the ceiling is where I'm putting the inset coffering with some R13 insulation above it.

By the way, I would have loved to do some better whole room shots, but my room is a MESS!

Here's another shot of my column from the other side to give you a better idea of the size I'm using. The column is 14" by 7", as will be all of the others... once they're built.

They might!

I don't mind, my goal here is to get 60-70% of their rooms, if I'm lucky. If I can achieve that, I'd be ecstatic.

We're all surfing the top 98% of multimedia here anyway.

"I'm just jazzed to be on the show!" -Guy from Galaxy Quest

Though I won't be doing as much as I'd like for sound isolation, I will be doing my best to get the room acoustically tuned up. I have plans for acoustical panels and bass traps. I've got a back case of scope creep!

Progress

After having put the insulation up, there were about 10 things I needed to finish before I could sheetrock. Some of them were blocking the access panels for the lift, putting in and blocking an HVAC return over the rack cabinet, some furrings that I realized later I would need, some cleanup, and pulling another pair of speaker wires to the front in case I ever decide to add stereo music speakers in front of my screen.

I also realized that I need to get my 6 lights in place up front over the screen before I sheetrock. So, I've been playing with my new Bosch table saw, measuring, and measuring some more, and I'm close to having those done. Pics coming soon!

Design update

I've made the room look very close to how I have it planned. I didn't bother getting the columns on the right trimmed like on the left, but they'll match in the end.

After seeing these images, I think I may continue my columns to the end of the room even through I have no need for them. They would stop about 2 feet short of the back wall, but I can drywall to bridge that gap or build a shelf, maybe.

The images were a little dark, so I brightened them up in Photoshop.

Front of the room


From the back of the room

Here are two 1/2" osb boards cut and ready for getting some 3 1/8 holes drilled into them.


Here's the piece of @&#%^*@ jigsaw that broke on me half way through cutting one of the curved edges. My friend lent me a Bosch jigsaw for a day to finish the job. Side note, unbelievably wonderful saw. Wow. (the Bosch, not this POS)


Holes cut and boards mounted. I left 3/4" on each side for 5/8 rock and an 1/8 for the velvet I'm gluing to this board after I'm done with the messy stuff.


Some of the OSB had started to split apart, so I crammed a bunch of wood glue in there and clamped it for a day.


The lights are lined up straight. Also, you can see the tick mark on the wall to the right of the blue tape. That's where my screen wall/screen is going.


I remember jdanforth wired his cans all together before stringing them up. I did this, too, and it worked great! Here they are before I seated while testing.


I've got the lights seated and here's a shot of structure. I used 1x2's to keep the insulation from creeping toward the lights. Once I add sheetrock across that face, I'll add more support to that front lip.


I love this shot because it shows a lot of imperfections you don't normally see in most of my pictures. The split 1x2, the jigsaw line not perfect, and one of the lights is not flush, and more if you look! The curved front of the soffit will hide the imperfections in my curve, as will the velvet. Also, the lights seem way far back, but that's mostly the angle I took the shot in.


And here's the front all lit up!


I also received and tested my 30ft of incandescent 120v rope lights. They work great. More pictures of them once I get my trip up.

So far, I'm very happy with how things are turning out!

They're from Home Depot. 3" NON-insulation contact remodel can lights.

They are small, indeed, and I thought they'd look nice since there were 6 of them.

I suppose Ryobi fills that nitch of "I need this tool for this project". Disposable tools. I have had decent luck with their orbital sander, and I have a router that is still boxed. I'm considering seeing if HD will take it back on store credit and getting a better router...

I started hanging the drywall. Man, it's fun to see boards go up!

Thanks for the encouragement, by the way.

I took the day off yesterday to finish the sheet rock in my room. I had finished all the soffiting, but my dad swung by to help with the bigger pieces on the ceiling. I'm a little stiff today, but happy with the results!

Here's the front of the room.


Another shot that shows the ceiling a bit better.


Here's the back of the theater.


The entrance on the right side where I'll have my snack and bar area.


The right side: I wanted to show some of the detail on the soffit. I'll be adding a trim face and uplight to the MDF.


Here I wanted to show that I built in two 6X12" access holes to service the actuator for my lift.


I added a cold air return right above my built in cabinet to suck out some of the heat coming off of the gear. I have no other ventilation (though I can add some if needed).


Tonight or tomorrow, I'll run to HD and pick up some taping and mudding supplies.

I've been "planning" on getting new carpeting for the room, but wasn't 100% sure I'd need it. After sheetrocking (and definitely after sanding), I know now I have no choice. The current carpet is nice to work on, but it's going to have to go! I disliked the color anyway.