The Once and Future Theater - Page 6

I'm tired. Whatever Captain I had in me is gone.

My friend Travis was here this morning. We got all the wood inside and sorted,



then my Dad came through town and helped. We had time to build most of one wall.


At that point, I ran out of nails.

What?! Ran out of nails?! On the first day?

Well, I still have a box of 2000 nails I haven't even opened. Unfortunately, the framing nailer they're designed for is unusable. I bought it used from a private seller on Amazon (back in March), and hooked it up for the first time today. It promptly leaked all the compressed air from my tank right out through the leaky seals. sadface. So we built what we could from the nails I had on hand, and I'll have to locate a rebuild kit for my "new" Stanley Bostitch N80SB-1 Framing Stick Nailer.

Chuckling at my own stupendous sense of humor about my clever picture with the pile of wood outside, I invited my dear wife to come admire my joke. She puts down the kindle and comes to see how funny I am. "That's kinda cute, right?" I say. She smiles. "It is funny: somebody else thinks you need a haircut too."

Which one of us is the funny one, I ask you!

Thanks for posting Brent. I'm always glad to see that someone else is following along.

I got a used GRX-3506. I would have enjoyed the RF features of the newer RadioRA models, but I will be very happy with this one. I still need to figure out how to get a custom engraved seeTouch wallstation. I am planning on putting the main unit in the closet and wiring the seeTouch into the theater so as to keep the look more sleek and minimized. There's just so many details in the Lutron catalog - like, what's the difference between an "insert" and a "non-insert" panel? I tried to speak with the lighting folks at Lowes about it, since the Lutron website lists them as retailers, but they know less about it than I do and the catalog on the desk doesn't even have Grafik Eye components in it...

Oh, I almost forgot - you can't have a work day without at least one unexpected trip to the store, right?

Today's unplanned adventure came thanks to a $200 Duo-Fast DF-27 .27 Caliber Powder Actuated Tool. I have given up on waiting for my boss's buddy - who volunteered to lend my his Ramset. Instead I bought the next-to-last 27 caliber (red loads capable) tool on the shelf at the local Lowes. I figure I can get most of my money back on craigslist or eBay when I'm done. The first one worked exactly 9 times before the trigger jammed or something - I think maybe the reload/reset mechanism wouldn't catch at the end of it's travel and reset the pin. In any case, that one went back to the store. Once I had waited for about 10 minutes for someone to bring a ladder to get the last one off the top shelf, we were back in business.

So, I wouldn't say it gets my highest recommendation, but the red charges certainly does the job! (most of the time)

strange. maybe after a couple weeks with no activity, they remove it or something. I'll upload my current version tonight. You should know, however, that other people are much better with sketchup than I am, so I may be putting things together in some kind of dumb way that will make it harder to work from. Also, I have tweaked it to include some speakers and such, so it's a little cluttered. If I have a plane version, I'll upload that, but I think the cluttered version is the only one I've got.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/vdm791

Try that one.

Right at 12 feet wide, by 9 feet tall, by either 21 or 23 feet long, depending on which section you measure. (I think - working from memory) I haven't woried too much about actual dimensions of the finished room, as I know I'll loose a bunch to treatments and such.

I'll make no claims about my skill at framing. It's not noteworthy - but it's happening.


What I am sure about is my attention to detail. Let's just hope it pays off.


Also, it's hot around here. I don't have a thermometer in the basement, but it's 92 in the ATL right now. I'm sweaty and taking a break.

Thanks for checking in Daniel. Choosing is the hardest part - and Lutron doesn't really make it easy. I figure that given the option, I'd rather be wired than wireless. So sticking with the earlier series (35xx) just means more careful planning for future needs.

The riser issue is still tough for me. As I get the are framed in (slowly, like everything else in this process) I really start to feel the "smallness" of that corner space. I'm looking into running some plumbing to put a small sink in there - maybe a space for a kegerator. I'll revisit once I get the walls all framed in.

HA!

No, seriously - there will be updates....

soon? I sure hope so. I have excuses if you want them, but while they're true, they're mostly cop-outs - (out of town guests, still tending to the rental, sister with car trouble... this list goes on.)

I have non-progress and good news. First, my sister and her lovely nearly-6-month-old baby are coming to town this weekend, bringing my brother-in-law, who has committed to helping me frame all day Sunday. I'm sure we'll get the rest of the walls up, and maybe the ceiling joists too. (cross your fingers, but don't hold your breath)

Also, my good friend Kim has pulled some library strings (she is a librarian at a "state university system of Georgia" school library) and gotten me my second bit of theoretical reading. If you don't have access to a university library, I suggest you make friends with some librarians - they're good people.

A couple months ago, I actually read (as in, not just referenced, but sat down and read - though not every single page) Acoustic Absorbers and Diffusers: Theory, Design and Application (Cox and D'Antonio). This was not much for good reading. It is, here and there, referenced as some sort of gold-standard in acoustic treatment design and construction. Well, I am not a book reviewer, but I can tell you that a) it's not fun to read ( ) and b) extraordinarily technical. If you are not an engineer (the sort who does multi-variable calculus for fun) this is largely over your head in terms of math. While the authors claim it is application-based and practical, that's only in comparison to a purely theoretical treatment of the subject. To be honest, there is very little I read in that book that I hadn't already read in the acoustical treatments master thread - that which was new was largely useless to a DIYer. It does define the general relationships between things like wavelength and diffusor design features, or the differences between diffusion and scattering, but if you're reading the book to learn those things, you're going about this all wrong.

So, tonight I'm starting on my second book relating to home theater acoustics. I'm much more hopeful that this will be fruitful. If any of you have interest in this book, I'd be happy (and interested) to search the book for answers to your questions. Feel free to post here or send PM. Pictures or it didn't happen, right? And if you're curious, this book is a lot bigger, but still less costly than the Cox and D'Antonio - actually reasonable at less than $50, if it proves useful.

Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, Floyd Toole.

Edited by HopefulFred - 8/30/12 at 6:43am

The plan has been to notch the bridging. The existing floor joists are 2x12, and my new ceiling joists are 2x8. Plus they'll be lower by around an inch or two. That should leave 4 inches of intact bridging at the top of each joist bay. I don't know if that's a code issue or not, but the architect friend I showed the space to didn't flinch when I said it - so I'm proceeding, unless you are very persuasive with a counter-argument.

And yes it is nice of him to volunteer. It's sort of a trade between us. I fix their clunker (driving from Atlanta to Athens on my day off - and I call it a clunker but it's not that bad, plus if it is a clinker I have only myself to blame, as I helped them pick and buy it.) and he brings his considerable building/framing experience to bear in my basement. I'm happy with the trade.
Edited by HopefulFred - 8/30/12 at 8:27am

Well the work-day has come and gone. There has been lots of progress in framing. My brother-in-law is both experienced and hard-working, so we got a lot done in only 5 or 6 hours. We didn't get everything done, but I'll show you later. It's too late and dark down there with all the framing in the way of the light for me to take any worthwhile pictures tonight.

Here's what we've got - a dark room. The floodlight I bought last black Friday is blowing bulbs. Now sure what to make of that, but it means I need to use the flash, and video is pretty well impossible right now. :/


From inside the room, with the flash, you can see back to the rear wall. We've left a 40" opening for a door. Not sure what I'll actually need - any advice?


There are two small places where I haven't yet engineered a framing solution. One is just working around the drain where it goes back out to the street at the screen-end of the room. I'm not too concerned. The other is midway down the right wall, and I'm not quite sure what the best option is. I've built wall up to the problem area from each side, and need to tie them together. Based on the ceiling design and overhead floor joists, there won't be a ceiling joist to support in this area, but I need to do what I can to assure that the walls are well tied and as cleanly sound-proofed as possible. Ideas are appreciated. Let me know if there's more that you want to see - I'll take more pictures.


Happy Labor Day!
Edited by HopefulFred - 9/4/12 at 10:22am

A couple things have come together to get me next week off from work, so I need to make the most of it. The primary reason is that we have a new puppy. Axel needs some training. I'll be home with him all next week - working on house-training and name-learning.

The secondary reason, the one that needs more planning, is that I'll be in the basement finishing my framing. That really shouldn't take more than one day to frame in the closet and tie in the walls, so I'll be doing a few other things, like setting up to run wires and load insulation.

Given the ceiling area will be chock full of joists, no batt insulation is going to fit properly. I'm thinking that a blown-in product is the best solution. I'm not sure how that works. The videos I've seen on the internet are all about blowing insulation either into attics or into fully built walls. Neither of those is what I need to do, since I don't want to build walls only to cut holes in them - though I suppose I could cut holes in the first layer and then add the second layer without too much negative impact on sound isolation. Does anyone have experience or recommendations to offer?
Edited by HopefulFred - 9/4/12 at 10:45am

Good point about compacting and recoupling - I've read that and forgotten it - definitely not what I want to do. But cutting batts is going to be a huge hassle... maybe there's another way.

And he's a pound puppy - he was found alone and riddled with ticks, so the humane society took him in. They guess he's Grate Dane and Labrador Retriever. Seems like a fair guess.

This is what I need! I was thinking about plastic sheeting - but that's a vapor barrier problem. If there's a net that will hold it, that's what I want.