The Bradley Build

Hello everyone, I have been reading in this forum for a couple of weeks now and have finally decided to take the plunge into joining and posting. I moved to Omaha, NE about a year ago and have a new house with an unfinished basement. Both my wife and I come from the cinema industry, so having a dedicated home theater is a must. I am currently in the early stages of planning this new build. While I continue to think, rethink, and overthink my plans for downstairs I decided to post pictures of my first home theater in our first house back in Michigan. As you will quickly see, budget and design challenges (not to mention a little one quickly on the way) ended up turning this into a great entertainment area, but not an acoustically sealed room. This time around, I am working towards a room that keeps the movies in and allows the rest of the house to sleep. Anyhow, here are some pics and quick blurbs on my first foray as I prepare for the New Bradley Build.

This is the space the previous home owners left us to work with. Each side was about 13ft wide and about 40 ft long or so if I remember correctly.
Edited by Skip-B - 12/16/12 at 1:32pm

So in this space we decided to make half of it a home theater, the other half would house a bar and sitting area as well as my desk/office area as I work from home.
We took down the drop ceiling that was in there along with the awesome Christmas lights and palm tree effect. Studded the walls out with 2x4s and R13 insulation. We built a half wall between the theater and the rest of the basement. Obviously I dont need to explain what challenges this introduces into getting the acoustics to sound right.

I also used R13 insulation in between the floor joists to try and deaden some of the sound before reinstalling a portion of the original drop ceiling.

This was the attempt at building a soffit around the HVAC. I placed the 2x4s flat instead of on their side which would have given me more strength, but height was a concern.

It became very apparent at this point that the transition between the drywall ceiling and the drop ceiling in the theater was going to be interesting.

A picture of some work in progress. We show all of the necessities here. Libations-I find this helps recruit more 'volunteers'. Beds- Never know when a long day turns into a long night especially after the libations. Tunes-always easier to work with music. The gas can you ask? That is in case the firepit outside needs any assistance (its 10x10 so sometimes it takes a little persuading)

Drywall is up. I had to attempt to tape and mud myself. Having never done it, but hey I had a book, how hard could it be? Well I now know that the next time, someone else will be doing the mud and taping. After fighting this for nearly a month, I conceded and hired it out to be finished. Lesson learned.

This was our screen wall with built in for equipment and storage.

Slider door ripped out and replaced with new french doors. We actually did this early on in the build to allow for an easier time getting all of the building materials into the basement. One of the best decisions I made on this.

Walls and ceiling painted and built in bookshelves built and stained.

Nothing says progress like carpet being added to your site.

Concurrent side project- Office Desk.

In the stairwell, we built a shelf and wired in a poster case from the theater my wife used to work at before they closed it down.

I fabricated a projector mount using threaded rod to anchor into the floor joist and come through the drop ceiling and allowed me to adjust the projector any way necessary for about 10$. Built speaker shelves to hold the surround speakers. Ran wooden rods between the columns and made red curtains to keep out the day light if needed.

Finished shot of the screen from the back of the theater.

Finished shot of the desk.

Finished shot of the non-theater side of the basement. Close up of the custom bar coming next. My friend is a hell of a wood worker.

13ft long coming off the wall at a 45 degree angle. Loved that bar.

This is a layout of my current basement in Omaha. I am struggling with the decision of whether to place the theater where it is here (Upper left of the layout) which is under the upstairs bedrooms or to do it on the right side of the basement and lose all of that open entertaining area, but then I would be underneath the kitchen and dining room.
The proposed theater back wall is about 11' 6" opening up to about 14' and is roughly 22' long.


Any thoughts or opinions out there?

Thanks Snickers,
Yeah I have a 3 yearold and a wife that doesnt sleep well so noise would be a deal breaker. I have some pictures below. Ceiling to floor joist is 8'5" but as you will see I have some I-Beams that are 7'7" so that sucks.
Here is the front of the room taken from the back


Here is the back of the room taken from the front. The black loveseat represents that back of the room (about 3ft beyond the I-Beam which has the drain coming down alongside it) You can see the security system walking around there as well.


This last one is taking a look at the proposed entry (where the table is) So I am contemplating a door where you see the christmas tree and a right hand turn followed by a left hand turn into the theater both with archways. The short hallway this would make across from the actual door we are talking about a built in poster case. Possibly an equipment rack built into the back of the stairwell. Otherwise I end up with a door in the back corner of the theater which creates problems.

Something I wouldnt mind getting a collective opinion on from more experienced people of the forums. I need to replace my circular saw and need to get a new table saw as I get ready to embark on this project. I have a Rigid Miter saw currently. Kind of hoping to stay in a reasonable price range-$125 for a circular and $300-$350 for a Table saw. Any recommendations? Or any that I should steer clear of?

Thanks,

Well phone calls placed to HVAC and plumbing companies to start getting bids. Although quite honestly, I just finished the Cinemar build thread and I almost quit right there and then... wow..

Ah, I wish I would have joined this forum sooner and found that meeting. Looks like there are quite a few of us around here. Sounds like my kind of trouble.

Revised basement plan already.... On the right side of the theater, the craft room is gone and replaced with a pair of arched walkways. The wall directly in front of you as you walk in will have a built in poster case.

Currently the screenwall is going to be at the top, the underside of the stair runner is sloping into the room so the useable space is just as wide at the top of the room as the bottom. I was planning to leave the arch ways open and seal the enclosure with the doorway leading into the main room. Although after speaking with my first plumber yesterday it looks like I can set the back wall 2 feet further into the mechanical room than previously thought, so I may flip flop the room again. Haven't decided just yet.