The ch.14 "Fire Power" Theater - Page 5

I am trying to come up with a plan for conduit but every idea I come up with poses a major issue. Still not giving up

Plumbing inspection passed!!!

Inspector was really cool. We walked through everything I did and he thought I did an excellent job. He was excited I was putting in a bar and was curious what all the OSB was for. When I told him it is for a theater he was really impressed

He also didn't mind that I put the sump pump in, he gave it a good look and said it was done well.

Great News!

Passed electrical inspection yesterday morning
What a relief! Everything went very well, the inspector was really nice and as I was walking him through everything I kept say "I did this here because...I did that here because..." at which point he asked me if the contractor did the work and I responded it was all my work. He was surprised and said I did a better job than most contractors.

He was there for about 20 min and went through a few outlets and switch boxes and then we spoke about the theater and sub panel. Great experience overall and glad I saved a ton of money doing it myself. I asked before he left if I can turn the lights on in the basement before my final and he said sure...

Of course right after I got home I wired up all the lights and switches and flipped the break on. Finally having power and light again in the basement was such a great feeling. I was so excited last night I could not fall asleep till about 2AM...of course this morning I woke up at 5:30AM so I expect to fall asleep early tonight.

Enough of my yapping, let there be light

Passed framing inspection this morning. Again a very positve experience with the building inspector

I'll be working on insulation this week so hopefully getting to the first layer of OSB by early to mid next week.

I found a plan for conduit. It isn't very efficient (especially to the projector) but it will certainly do. I decided to go with the Carlon Resi Gard raceway due to its flexibility. The cost is quite a bit higher than PVC but with the amount of bends and drops I need the price becomes a lot more reasonable.

I need to look into an IR repeater, does anyone recommend a specific kit? Preferbly one from SmartHome?

Lastly I put the fire putty pads on the electric boxes yesterday. That was a pretty entertaining task. I used 3M brand fire putty pads and it seems to work really well.

My head has been spinning a little today regarding screw sizes.

What screws should I use for my first and 2nd layer of OSB on the ceiling?
First layer will be 19/32 and the 2nd layer will 23/32

For the 1st layer of 19/32 I was thinking 1 5/8" screws which would give me a little over 1" penetration into the ceiling joist
For the 2nd layer of 23/32 I was thinking 2" screws which would give me a little over 5/8" penetration into the ceiling joist plus the 19/32 through the first layer of OSB

I think the price difference between 1 1/4" and 1 5/8" for 2,000 screws is about $6 so I can live with that

The price from 2" to 2 1/2" is about $50
Check that, my Senco screw gun only drives up to 2" so that is the max I can go with that unless I need to go longer and using a regular gun
Edited by Larry M - 7/11/12 at 12:07pm

I wanted to give everyone a little update on the theater. I’ve been working a lot down there since I passed my inspections except for 1 week I took off because I was waiting on materials. I’m also still waiting on HDMI cables from Monoprice, they’ve been out for several weeks but are supposed to be back in stock this week so I will be quick to order once I get my in stock alert.

Installed putty pads around all outlets




Outside theater wall insulated. I did insulate the other half of the 2x6 wall but I don’t have a photo


Bar area insulation


Theater walls insulated


Before I insulated the ceilings I ran my 2” conduit to all speaker locations and the projector. I used Carlon Raceway Flexible Conduit. I could have used PVC but decided with all the turns it would be easier to work with this.






Conduit to the TV room next to the bar.


Picked up some R19 insulation for the basement ceiling. I decided to do the entire basement since it only costs about $10 a roll




Now on to the OSB, it is pretty time consuming but I am almost done. I can’t really do too much more until my Monoprice HDMI cables come in so the route from the projector to the equipment room is not done. From the equipment room to the projector I am running 2 CAT5, 2 CAT6, and 2 HDMI along with the conduit. The conduit isn’t very efficient to the projector as it runs from the yet to be built soffit to the projector. I couldn’t run it in the already built soffit which would have been the shortest route because of the support beat and HVAC duct work in place and lastly and most important the fire blocking would be compromised



HVAC system drain into sump pump


Radon pipe; I will fill in the large gap with acoustical sealant and make a tighter circle cut when I do the sheetrock. Admittedly I got a little lazy but only because of the angle the pipe takes is not straight.


I’ll cover this with OSB but make it easy for myself to access to make sure the Radon fan and pressure is still working


Ceiling and soffit work








My home made protractor to cut the openings for the HVAC vents that will go in the other soffit.



I ended up making the holes way too large and did another board that came out much better.





Latest facing screen wall




Latest facing back wall




I also started using the acoustical sealant. I lined the perimeter of the ceiling and began the soffit but the tube ran out and didn’t feel like cutting up another tube until I am a little further along


The acoustical sealant is nice to work with. Originally I couldn’t find the size marker on the tube and cut about a 1/8” to ¼” bead and my hand was going to fall off squeezing that viscous stuff through it. I found the markers on the tube and cut it to 3/8” bead which is MUCH easier.

Also some bad news, while installing the ceiling OSB the stupid drywall lift I bought broke. The cable snapped and luckily I had the pair of “3rd Hand” tools holding the board so only the posts came crashing down on my brother I fixed the cable, but I don’t know how it ran…sort of like a serpentine belt without directions

Check mark on both of those. The cable runs on the inside of the unit and it is a cheap chinese knock off brand so no instructions online

I got the unit to raise the OSB to about 7' or 8' but I did something wrong on the piece that extends for the rest. I'm close but one of my pulleys must be in the wrong direction not allowing the last piece to raise.

Ahhhh great idea

Back in business

I figued out the pulley system on the drywall lift. Only bad part is Monoprice changed their in stock date to August 6th so I won't have the HDMI cables till at least Aug 13th

I guess I'll be doing drywall outside the theater for the time being

In case anyone runs into a broken cable again, here is the link for how to replace the cable http://www.hytopz.com/products/Material_Lifts_Hoists/PDF_files/Drywall_Panel_Lifts/Cable_Replacement_Instructions.pdf

I also saved a hard copy in case the company goes out of busineess

Yeah I checked out their site, the only one that seems good for 30'+ is $100+ where the Monoprice cables are $45. I need 2 of them so its a pretty decent price difference.

Also the Blue Jeans cables are pretty thick where the Monoprice Redmere are pretty flexible and I'll need the flexibility running through the ceiling joists and such.

Sorry guys for this ridiculously late update. I’m sad to report that the project has been put on hold; I haven’t done any work in the basement since week 1 of the NFL season. The reason I am putting the project on hold is because the time I have been dedicating to my MBA program has been overwhelming. Every day after work I am either going to class or doing homework and on the weekends I am either going to the Jets game / hosting the Jets game or have a group project related to school.

The good news is that I did get the projector up for the game and we had a blast watching the Jets destroy the Bills. I don’t have the screen up yet so I am shooting the image on sheet rock and it is pretty damn impressive. I am excited for the time when the screen does go up.

Well anyway here are some “progress” pics

I started my sheet rock outside the theater to get started since it was a small room




I had to clean up a bunch of old twisted lumber so I decided to make some shelves in my utility room and ended up with this. I think it weighs 10,000 lbs and can hold a tank





Unfortunately it claimed the life of one of my tape measures as I didn’t pay attention on the chop saw





I still have some lumber leftover so I’ll build another for the small room in the back

Next I started green glue application in the theater







After I finished the ceiling I went back to the outside the theater




And now back into the theater for the walls





It was hard as **** doing sheet rock by myself. I seriously don’t know how I did so much on my own. Luckily my dad came over to help me with the last 10 sheets








Next we started the beginning of the stage. We still have a lot left to do but here we are



Also tackled the beginning of the riser for the back seats




I let my dad start using the nailer and he was in love shooting nails everywhere


Next we started some soffit work






After this I went back to outside the theater and tackled the Stop Sign Soffit




And back to the theater to build the soffit above the stage





I’ve still got a crap ton of work to do but with school I don’t have the time. I think I get a 2 week break sometime in November so at that point I’ll spend some time in there and try to finish the sheet rock and start building the columns in the theater / finish electrical / stage / riser….**** I have some much left to do

I am more than likely going to hire someone to spackle because I suck at that **** so that’ll save me some time. Hopefully I can get to that by New Years
Most of the work in these pictures was done in the 1 week I took off from work so looking back it Is nice to see that with enough Monster Rehab drinks I can get work done

Thanks guys!

I'm off this week so I'm hoping to get some work done!

Goal is to finish sheet rock and electric. Any free time beyond that will go toward the riser and stage.

Does anyone have a program that calculates arcs?

Wow I am really not liking the new photobucket. Posting photos is so much more difficult and my ancient laptop is running much slower with the new page.

Anyway he is my update: After taking about 2 months off from school I finally got around to finishing most of the sheetrock. All that is left at this point is the soffit above the screen which is quick and easy but I can’t get to it until the sand dries.

So here are the photos

Filled in the soffits with insulation and ran the conduit to each location


I took the riser apart in order to build the steps. I thought about curved steps but I was getting pretty close to the door entrance so I just went with a normal. I bought a router bit so I can bring the OSB more flush to the wood (I’ll offset it to about ½”) and add some moulding to give me a profile. The step is deep but I wanted something solid because there will be a column not too far from the step and I want to be able to turn on the step toward the seat.






I ordered 2 yards of sand to fill the stage. I think I have quite a bit leftover but I am adding sand in small increments as I want it to be completely dry.





My patented shoot system


Thus far I have filled the main section of the stage and have to create the arcs and fill them in as well since I have so much sand. It has taken the first ~1.25 yards of sand 2 weeks to completely dry. I just brought down the remaining .75 yards and I am hoping it dries a bit faster.



Installed the screen lights







Above the screen I have 5/8” drywall with green glue; I needed to cut an opening to fit the screen lights in since I went with an old construction kit.



Here is a few pictures of the silly pieces of sheet rock I had to cut in order to fit the ceiling in the bar room. I’m a little bit of a perfectionist so the pieces took anywhere from 1 to 4 hours each.









And finally some pictures of the drywalled bar area.









I’m hoping to have some contractors in by the end of the year to have it taped and mudded.
Edited by Larry M - 12/2/12 at 4:40pm

Thanks RS!

I planning on going to HD tonight so I can finally start the arc on the stage. Was planning on doing it yesterday but had some school work to do

Time for some more updates

The stage is finally done! It took a few weeks for the sand to dry. I’m sure I could have dumped it in sooner but I was very cautious of adding sand to the stage until it was completely dry. I would add about 1-3 inches every day until it finally filled up…I still have a little bit of sand left that I will dump in the woods behind my home.







I did fill up about half of the cavity on the left leaving enough room for me to work on the sump pump. For some reason the pics didn’t upload to my photobucket account

I went with a less pronounced arc than some have in the past. I originally started with the big arc but didn’t like the way it was coming out. I’m very happy with the finished product







Another major hurdle was completed and that was the subpanel and whole house surge protector.

The whole house surge protector was ridiculously easy to do. I had it sitting in the box for about a year because I wanted to do it with the subpanel because I thought it would save time. It took all of maybe 15 minutes to do and now I feel a lot safer since lately we’ve been getting hit with storms and power outages.



















Lastly since I have been avoiding building the columns in the theater (don’t know why, I’m just cautious to start them) I decided to take some of the twisted and crooked wood that has been taking up space in the basement for about a year now and turn it into something usable.

I went to Home Depot and picked up a 1,000 lbs furniture dolly for $20. I’m skeptical of the 1,000 lbs claim but it works for what I need. Cut a few 10ft 2x4s into pieces and made myself a rolling tool cart. It has been a giant waste of time running from room to room grabbing power tools, hand tools, various length screws, etc

The finished dimensions are 54”x18” and it rolls around pretty good











I could probably add some King studs on the ends for added rigidity but it is pretty darn strong as is so I’m not worried.

I’m off on Friday so I’ll start the job I have been putting off for a while now and finally build the columns and framing support for the screen. After that I have 2 companies coming in to give me a quote on tape/mud/sanding so that I am ready for trim and painting

At least watching the 2013 Super Bowl might not be too far fetched at this point. The room won’t be done but at least having the screen up is possible.