Home Theater from a Noob - **Now the Epiphany Home Theater

Just finished Warren Peterson's book and a little overwhelmed! (to say the least) Thanks to our cats destroying the carpet in our TV room (you don't want the details) I now get a Home Theater!! (I guess I can't be too mad at them - )

The room will be split off with a new wall giving me 19 x 15.5 x 8.5 ft space - so not huge. (The wife gets a lounge area in exchange for Theater)

The first design I was going with looked good but the screen wall was the new wall and also had the door (which I understand is a bad idea). Two other walls are outside walls and the opposite wall to the new one is essentially a rock wall with a large inlaid rock base on the floor. (Currently has wood burning stove and vent to rock wall which is actually part of fireplace.

Here is my first idea:



And the current:



What I was thinking was create another new wall in front of the rock feature and treat it like a concrete wall - attach the new wall with RSIC clips. Then build a stage & proscenium for the screen.

Problems:

1) What do I do with the rock floor?? I guess I can try to remove b/c if I try to cover with the stage - that's a bit big. (It's 64 in long)
2) Do I put insulation between the rock wall & new wall?
3) Could I make the new wall a screen wall?

Thanks for any help in advance !!

Jeff
Edited by jefftr - 9/19/12 at 9:42am

Unfortunately I can't get rid of the rock wall as it's part of the fireplace. The first design I had it was the back wall and made (I felt) a nice backdrop but the issue was having the entry door on the screen wall.

Thanks for the reply Warren!

The rock floor is actually made up of 20x20 stone tiles about 2 in thick. Now that the carpet is out and I can look at it closer it appears to have mortared on top of the subfloor. The whole thing rises almost 3 " off the ground. The rock wall is made up of, well a bunch of big rocks, (sorry was pre-med never took a geology class) also mortared to the wall/fireplace. The wall and floor are not connected (except by mortar)





I guess I could lay down another layer of subfloor but it would prob be a little taller or shorter than the rock floor.

The door is my issue then. The rock wall and the wall with the single window are both outer walls and the floor on the rock wall side is actualy 3-4 ft off the ground compared to the outside. The wall opposite the window is a guest room/currently my son's room - I've already been told no door there.

I guess the only other option is to have the screen wall be the outer window wall but that makes the length of the theater only 15 ft.

BIG -

Thanks for the heads up. I was wondering about that myself. I saw a design with a table/bar in back and my wife loved it so I added it and it seems to fit but I was worried about it being tight.

I wasn't sure what was the optimal distance between rows - I think I have 2 ft right now and once again it looks ok but as I said, I'm a noob at this.

Thanks for all the help so far

Jeff

@BIG

Thanks again - losing the bar/table - the wife is not going to be happy with that but I appreciate the expert opinion.

I guess it goes back to my original question - is it viable to put up a wall in front of the rock wall. I think I am stuck with the door where it is....

Nice! We were just at Home Depot last weekend - it's 1.5 hours away from us. Oh well, next trip!

Closest Lowe's is probably 4 hours away - we are somewhat isolated here on the Northern California coast. The Home Depot is the closest but ironically in an even smaller town than ours!
Yes we do have to plan ahead...

I did get the "stone" floor up - turns out they weren't real stone tiles just just plaster mixed with rock. They came up relatively easy!

A new question is about speakers and cost. I have an expert design and a recommendation for Triad in-ceiling speakers along with subwoofers and was kind of shocked at the price. However, I am a noob at this and was wondering what most people feel is a reasonable amount to spend on speakers/subwoofers (for a 7.1)?

Ok, progress has been slow. Mostly waiting for replies from contractor. Got permit approval last week and I've done the demo so far - here are some pix of the space as it stands.




There will be a false wall in front of the "rock" wall and windows. Another wall will go just in front of where I'm standing.

Thanks for the comments Gareth!

I've already accessed a few of the great resources on this site; Dennis Erskine has done a design, had a few conversations with John Hile from the Soundproofing company, and BIGinDC for advice. All great!



As you can see from the image I've already received my order from John. The 2 new added walls will be decoupled and the back wall will actually be 2x6 w/ staggered studs. The screen wall (where the rock is now) will have an air space behind it to go with decoupling and insulation. Other 2 walls and ceiling I have the clips & (will get) channels as our master bedroom is right above this. All will have DD+GG (goo is sitting in the garage)

The bar idea had been thrown out a while ago in favor of 2 rows of seats but we have a little bar area in the lounge being built right next to the theater.

I always appreciate input or suggestions, especially design idea as I don't seem to have the amazing range of creativity I've seen on these forums.

Also forgot - Warren Peterson's e-book!!!

So as I was cleaning out the room my college-bound son just vacated (adjoining the current HT space) I had an epiphany! Why not add to the current space, flip the orientation 90 degrees and have a bigger space. My wife was out of town and I thought she would dismiss it but when I casually brought it up to her so loved the idea!

So we are going from a 19.5' x 15.5' space with a window we are not allowed to remove:


To now a 16' 9" x 25" space (with a dedicated equipment closet in the corner - the back wall is almost 24' wide)



My wife was happy as her lounge area gains some width and it makes the door replacement easier on the contractor.

Now, of course I have a bigger space and need some ideas!! I'd though I'd turn to the AVS world and see what suggestions people had. Some features which may not be clear from the pictures are that the added space is actually 6" higher than the current space (the yellow area) so a built-in riser! The doors on each side of the back will stay although the french doors will be replaced with double solid core doors. The current single door is already solid-core.

Some ideas I've considered so far:

-2 rows of seating (somewhat as shown) with a bar-type table in the back or another row of stadium theater seats for parties?
-Taking out the equipment closet and creating a projection booth/equipment room in the back of the room.

So all suggestions, crazy or not, are welcome. (Sometimes, the crazier the better?)

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

Ok spent the weekend doing demo - it's mostly done. (I was too chicken to remove the beams with outlets )

Panorama



View from left side of theater - wall to be added



View from left to back of theater



View of back wall from screen - the pocket doors will be going, back wall will be just that - wall



View from back wall to screen - window will be drywalled over

After doing some BIG consulting tonight I realized I haven't updated this post with the new design, courtesy of Warren Peterson.

The writing on the layout was for my contractor to get permits but can work for comments/advice as well.













The funny part is he just threw down some colors and column designs to have placeholder, but I kind of like them!

We also will have a soffit, just not shown here. Ignore the measurements, they are off by a few inches but the shape is correct.

Comments & questions are welcome!

Jeff

Construction Day!

Contractors here today and started to put up walls after sealing part of floor due to cat damage!

Here is a few days before, after I finished the demo:




Working on new wall - staggered studs:






Sconce


More framing tomorrow, prob. take out old sliding glass door for new, smaller door with air vents on sides for wife's lounge area. Unfortunately I have to work entire day, I'd probably just get in the way anyways.

Progress

Staggered stud wall done



Stone wall done



Rest of the time this week for wiring, which passed inspection! Putty pads going up.

I measured out the room again now that the walls are up - length is 25' 8" and width is 15' 9" with the little alcove in the back for entry door.

This weekend going to run some conduit to projector and for under riser, have to give my contractors a lighting diagram.

Ok, I'm leaning towards the Panasonic AE8000 and I downloaded their projection simulator but I'm not quite sure how to interpret it. I need to pick a location to run conduit as the contractors are likely drywalling next week. These were my results:



So I can place my projector anywhere from 13 - 27 ft (the latter kind of hard) but do I want it about 18-19 ft from screen? I am confused......