The Stonewater Cinema Build Thread - Page 10

Hmmmm.....that's a little nugget I could have used three days ago!

I actually considered that, but went through the exercise of fitting each piece so I would have as few seams as possible. I can tell that things upstairs are not being heard quite as clearly, but I am still a LONG ways off from completing the soundproofing. My goal is to use the room at any volume at any time without ever having to adjust that volume down. We'll see....

Thanks Bud. Headed back down to the theater now to install some of the smaller, more fiddly pieces that I can handle on my own so I can focus on the 8' sheets when I have help. If all goes well I should finish the smaller pieces tonight and can move on to pre-cutting many of the longer strips to be set aside for when I have a second set of hands. I would be absolutely thrilled if I finished by this weekend. Progress pics to follow....

Thanks David. Glad you like the design. But feel free to chime in with any ideas or suggestions you might have - especially with the aesthetic as I am still working a few things out. As I said above, headed downstairs to make some more progress now... *sigh*...how's that old commercial go? Time to make the donuts!!

Ha ha! I'm not falling for that trick of offering a target finish date!! Oldest trick in the Forum! Well, the theater was always "iffy" to finish by the time the baby is born because I am also finishing off the entire basement at the same time. So far I have all the framing complete (including all the new structuring I had to do), all the plumbing complete and most of the HVAC complete with only the theater ducting left to attach once I get this ceiling drywall strips complete. I also have most of the electrical done at this point so with a little luck and a lot of hard work I will be ready to call the drywallers by mid-March. From there it will be a 4 or 5 week race to completion with all the finish work.

As long as I have the soundproof shell, the HVAC ducting and the high/low voltage wire complete in the theater I will be good to go with all my inspections and can relax on theater progress for a few weeks while finishing the entire rest of the basement. I would rather take my time with the theater finish work than rush through it just to meet an arbitrary deadline. Don't get me wrong - I want to get it done as soon as I can, but I am only one guy that travels a lot for work. That's why I made the comment in your thread that it was a bit disconcerting for my own timeline when it took focused effort by an entire team to get your theater complete. As it's just me putting this thing together with a ton of detailed finish carpentry and even more detailed lighting plus a fiber optic star ceiling....it just doesn't bode well to get everything done very quickly. But I will try!

I had a couple of PMs that I wouldn't want to get "Loganed" if I slowed down, whatever that means.

This post is for all of you Art Deco fans....

I was working on the design aesthetic again this evening, specifically the decorative metalwork and I came across a website for an insanely talented graphic artist from Mexico that loves the Art Deco style and absolutely nails it with his movie poster recreations. So he will take a Batman, Ironman or whatever other movie and recreate a movie poster for this modern movie in the old Art Deco style and his work is phenomenal in my opinion.

If you have a few minutes, spend some time on his website or to his gallery where his full artwork can be seen, appreciated and purchased.

One of my favorites is his Ironman poster found here:


More specifically, his entire "heroes" movie poster collection can be found HERE

I think you can reach out to them directly to pay for a license fee for the imagery to be sent to Spoonflower for printing. They may not do it, but at least you could ask.

Sounds good. I hope to have the soundproof shell, baffle wall and screen wall done by that point. I don't know if I can make it all the way to building the perimeter soffit by that then, but that's definitely a project where an extra set of hands is a nice thing to have. Send me a PM to coordinate when you are ready.

PROGRESS UPDATE:

I received a call on Monday from my friend who gave me a hand with the drywall strips last weekend saying that he had Thursday available to help me. I didn't waste a moment of time and filed a request to take the day off. We ended up working from about 8:30AM until 6:30PM yesterday, stopping only for a combined lunch drive-through / supply replenishment trip as I had run out of caulking. I couldn't believe how much caulking is needed to complete this part of the project and I severely underestimated how much caulking was needed. But I guess in retrospect, even if I had a nice, tight 1/8" or less gap I am still filling that 1/8" gap to a 5/8" depth....twice.

Just so everyone knows the process I used, I did no caulking during the installation of the first layer. Instead, I waited until the fit of the second layer was confirmed before caulking the first layer. Then, while the first layer was still wet, I installed the second layer with the Green Glue then caulked this second layer immediately. I did a fairly meticulous job of caulking the first layer, taking a small drywall knife to scrape any excess caulking completely flush with the first layer of drywall. Once the second layer was in I smoothed out the caulking for the second layer with my finger which gives a slightly rounded finish bead at the intersection of the drywall and the side of the joist. As much as I took my time fitting the first layer of drywall, I REALLY took my time fitting the second layer to ensure a really nice and tight fit with a slight gap on all sides to allow for caulking. I also made sure there was significant overlap on the first layer's seams by staggering the seams of the second layer. Anytime I had a butt joint I laid a bead of caulking for when I pushed the two pieces together to really get an ultra-tight seal. If my house flipped upside down I feel completely confident this basement ceiling would hold water.

All-in-all I have to say the job looks really good but I will let you be the judge of that for yourself. I have 39 smaller pieces left until I can say that I am completely done with both layers so hopefully between this evening's work and tomorrow's work I can declare this part of the project complete. But even before the last of the caulking is dry, I am going to immediately be moving on into the wall decoupling brackets. To be perfectly honest, I think it will be a dream to stop working with heavy drywall and caulking above my head and get back to normal wood-based construction!!!

Now, on to the pics:
Back right of the theater


Back left of the theater, all seams fully caulked


Close up of one joist bay


Close up of another joist bay. You can see a light amount of the caulking "squeeze out" between the butt joints.


More progress pics to follow tomorrow, hopefully showing the completed ceiling soundproofing.
Edited by TMcG - 2/1/13 at 9:11am

It's too soon to tell definitively since much of the basement is open to noises coming down the stairs and other areas of the basement. But I will say that I can tell a difference in the level of footfall sound and that of our dogs running across the floor above. This noise is still audible, but much less.

According to the Soundproofing Company's website, this is part of their recommended Level 5 construction with the highest possible noiseproofing rating that can be achieved through retrofitting the solution. The only better way to soundproof would be a soundproofing / decoupling underlayment for under the hardwood flooring to really capture foot fall traffic at its source. Since I am not willing or able to rip out our hardwood floors to install this underlayment, my options are therefore limited.

I'll let you know my thoughts once the room gets a bit more closed up and the real impact of this installation can be heard. But despite my own opinions on the matter I believe Ted and company actually lab-tested these different construction techniques so their data is unassailable.

Maybe I'll hold my pics hostage until you get some fresh full room pics on your thread!!! I think good 'ol RT ROSE is going to go into convulsions if you don't get that boy some fresh visual content!!!!
Edited by TMcG - 2/1/13 at 1:53pm