The Theater Which Mercy Built - Page 6

Slow progress but finally getting a move on. Clips/channel installed in the ceiling. Insulation going into the walls. Cut the doorway into the existing wall - really makes it feel like a room now.





Question about the screws that go into the channel. I've seen Big's recommendations to use 1 1/4" screws for the first layer and 2" screws for the second. My builder was wondering why the second layer needs to be 2" long if there is only 1 1/4" worth of drywall/OSB?

I'm using 5/8" OSB and 5/8" drywall...builder was just curious, he thought 2" was overlong, but didn't think it would be a problem.

Some progress to report...all the batting was put in, and they finished the first layer of OSB on the ceiling early in the week:





Yesterday, they completed the first OSB layer on the walls (except for the last couple of feet at the bottom) and putting down the acoutic mat on the floor. First pic is of the doorway and the righthand wall of the theater



Back wall of theater:



Front wall:

Well, I'm not doing the work myself so it's not really fair to you! They did have a slight gap between boards (sometimes a little more than I would have liked), but they caulked it all up as you can see by the white lines. Drywall and green glue this week, should be interesting to see how they do with the glue.

Drywall should be complete by the end of today, then they'll start work on the soffits. I'm waiting on the riser till the chairs arrive so I can see exactly how much space I need. Hopefully they'll be in next week. I'll have some pics up tonight. Still trying to push for a Sept 1 completion, but it'll be touch and go.

Ha! I can barely get them to come over here and keep working! Here are pics of the drywall which was completed day before yesterday. They did some taping and mudding and brought in all the lumber for the soffits yesterday, hopefully they will start framing them today.

Metal through the joists and then will go flex in the soffits into the room. Have had huge problems with the contractor and essentially fired him on Saturday, so all progress is at a standstill. I think I found a new guy to finish the rest, but not sure when they'll start. bpape came over last night to drop over some supplies, and we changed the HVAC plan a bit. He felt that one supply should be adequate, and that it would be preferable to have one supply in the front and one high return in the back. So the duct that is sticking out in the back, I'm actually going to disconnect from the supply trunk and make it function as the return. He felt that it's important to have a return high up to get rid of the hot air near the projector, and that having supply in the front would create a better flow of air from front to back in the sealed room. Sounds reasonable for a room that's on 20' x 16'.

Yep, it was great to be able to have him come into the room and check it out. Based on what we talked about yesterday, I have a plan brewing in my head and wondering if it makes sense. Bryan thought the best thing would be to have the supply vent facing forward either above or below the screen wall. Pulling it below the screen wall might be tough. Pulling it above would be do-able -- BUT, I would want to make the top of the screen and screen wall part of the soffit so that I could run the flex duct facing forward above the screen. Thus there would be no fabric frame above the screen -- is this a problem? Hmmm, that doesn't seem easy to visualize, I'll try to make a sketchup pic and post it. I guess the ultimate question is: is it ok to have drywall abutting against the top of the screen frame or does it have to be fabric frames?

Finally, real progress. I obviously had picked a contractor who was over his head and not up to task. I ended up calling a friend of mine who is a carpenter by trade and with whom I've played softball for the last five years (playoffs start tomorrow!). His boss has a small construction company, and also has played ball with us over the years. I had originally hesitated to call them because they were friends and didn't want to get business in the way. Big mistake. They started today and finished framing the entire soffit in one day. His goal is to have the entire room finished within 21 working days. Finally some excitement - but poor iphone pictures.


Front of room, with two tiered soffit. The bottom tier is to curl the flex duct for supply back around and then have the vents forward facing just above the screen wall:



Better view of the front soffit:



Back corner of the room:

The new guys I hired are working really hard. Super efficient and intelligent and it's really moving along. Riser was completed last Friday:



Yesterday they started adding a layer of veneered plywood on the bottom face of the soffit. This will be partly covered with a second drywall layer, much the same as Mario's soffit/light tray in the Cinemar thread. However, I will stain the veneered plywood instead of covering with fabric:

Been making good progress despite the main builder being knocked out for a week with what we think was West Nile. Columns installed, fabric stretched across back wall in front of 4" OC703, walls and ceiling painted, trim installed and stained. Next week: screen wall and door, install acoustic panels, cut in space for rack across the hall, and build dead vent.

Sigh, not well. I've avoided the forum for over a month just because I've been so frustrated. In mid September, I went on vacation to Italy for 10 days. The carpet was due to be installed the day after I got back. Well, got an email from the contractor that the local inspector came by at the behest of a neighbor and was wondering where the permit was. Permit? What permit? Well, 6 weeks later inspections are about complete and some holes were knocked into the finished walls for fireblocking (thanks to the original contractor for telling me he did everything to code). Now the current contractor has to patch up the walls, re-do the fabric which had to be taken down, and build the door. Carpet to be installed next Wednesday, low-voltage wiring to be completed the day before Thanksgiving. So hopefully I'll have all Thanksgiving weekend to play around with iRule and get everything set up. We'll see. I've basically had to stop thinking about it, lest I bang my head against a wall in frustration. I love my neighbors.

Thanks! Well ultimately I only have myself to blame. Should have just gotten the permit in the first place. Ah well.

Well, at least electrical inspection, which was the last major hurdle, passed today. They can re-stretch the fabric at the back and patch up the drywall Monday. Carpet install Wednesday and rack/electronics install on the 21st. Finally.

I will post pics once the walls and fabric are patched up -- the casework and trim really looks awesome actually. Thanks for the support and kind words!

Got the walls patched up, cleaned the room up, and had carpet installed...finally some pics and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday I assembled the screen on the floor, put the projector on the floor, hooked up the blu-ray player...projected Braveheart onto the screen. There was no sound and the picture was partly distorted because the screen was on an angle, but it was cool nonetheless. My son was enthralled. Contractor will hopefully install the door in the next two days and finish up the electrical work. Low volt guys are coming on Wednesday to wire the rack and install all the electronics. Getting the room calibrated on Friday by Jeff Meier of Accucal. Almost there!!!

Thanks! Yeah, they did a nice job staining it. Have to thank Mario for the inspiration though!