AVS › AVS Forum › Home Entertainment & Theater Builder › Dedicated Theater Design & Construction › Should I build the rack under stair or other room
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Should I build the rack under stair or other room

post #1 of 17
12/24/12 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 
I was planning to do my rack on the back of the HT, but wife so the empty space under the stair and want me to build it there. What you guys think? It this a fight worth to fight? Here is the picture,
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 17
12/24/12 at 2:55pm
If I had the room, I would have preferred to put my rack outside of the theater in another area to eliminate the heat from the equipment. Unfortunately, there wasn't a good place to put it outside of the theater. It looks like you may have a really good option. If that area is right outside the theater, you could make a lobby area and have the equipment there. With all of the remote software and network control of devices, it isn't necessary to have the equipment in the room any more.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 17
12/24/12 at 5:09pm
I have my rack going in its own room under the stairs.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 17
12/24/12 at 6:32pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesB77 View Post

I have my rack going in its own room under the stairs.
I told my wife that I consult the avsforum guru and they told that it can't be done, she was ok.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 17
12/24/12 at 7:24pm
My rack is under the stairs as well. There isn't a lot of room behind it, but then again I rarely need to go back there. No regrets.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 17
12/24/12 at 7:39pm
Thread Starter 
Can you guys take a picture of your rack under the stair.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 17
12/25/12 at 11:22am
I put mine under the stairs because I wanted the gear in the room and also access behind it. Here's some pictures.







The back of the rack is a bass trap ans is removable to access the hardware.



Here is a shot with the back removed.



Pick of rack from the front.



I would do it again in a heartbeat! It was inexpensive as I made all of the shelving and the bass trap is completely functional. Also accessing the rack is nice. The bass trap is kinda heavy but I'll take that tradeoff with being able to move things around and work on wire management sitting down with a beer!

Hope this helps.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 17
12/25/12 at 12:35pm
Thread Starter 
Is that mdf?
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 17
12/26/12 at 10:43am
FWIW, I decided to build the equipment closet under the stairs since it was a more efficient use of space and it was easy to access and yet unobtrusive. I did have a little bit of an issue since I had a load bearing column in the way, but I was able to get 22" of usable width after installing the trim. The original stairs were fairly flimsy, so I rebuilt that and added insulation between the stairs and MDF that went under the stairs. In order to keep the rack cool once I add a glass door to the rack, I added an air vent to draw in the air from the floor level from one of the sides with an exhaust fan on the other side to draw the hot air out. I also built an access door to the equipment rack, I do have to crouch a little while I am playing with the connections). The rack was built using closet maid standards and brackets with MDF boards for shelving with trim and stained it. Some pictures below -





Reply
Reply
post #10 of 17
12/26/12 at 3:22pm
Awesome!
love the "PeeWee's Playhouse" type door to acces behind the rack.
I have the same molding you used for your shelf fronts on a powder room mirror frame I built.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 17
12/26/12 at 4:51pm
I snapped these with my phone a few minutes ago so you'll have to ignore the poor lighting and mess.

This is the rack from right outside the room. The door to the right of the rack leads into the back.



This is what's through said door. I didn't have enough depth in the room to get a good shot, but I think you get the idea. The second rack in the back was just because I ran out of room in the first, so it's where all of the networking equipment ended up. There is just enough room for one person to stand and turn around in.



And to put it into the perspective, the stairs exit into the basement on the left. The ceiling of the rack room is the landing for the stairs.



The only downside to the rack being where it is, is running all of the wires into it. That structure is load bearing, and I ended up making a lot of holes in the studs to pass the wires through. My contractor said it was no problem, but I doubled up every stud just to be sure.
Edited by scl23enn4m3 - 12/26/12 at 7:16pm
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 17
12/26/12 at 7:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by scl23enn4m3 View Post

I snapped these with my phone a few minutes ago so you'll have to ignore the poor lighting and mess.
This is the rack from right outside the room. The door to the right out of leads into the back.

This is what's through said door. I didn't have enough depth in the room to get a good shot, but I think you get the idea. The second rack in the back was just because I ran out of room in the first, so it's where all of the networking equipment ended up. There is just enough room for one person to stand and turn around in.

And to put it into the perspective, the stairs exit into the basement on the left. The ceiling of the rack room is the landing for the stairs.

The only downside to the rack being where it is, is running all of the wires into it. That structure is load bearing, and I ended up making a lot of holes in the studs to pass the wires through. My contractor said it was no problem, but I doubled up every stud just to be sure.
How big is the frame opening without the rack?
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 17
12/26/12 at 7:14pm
Just shy of 21" if I remember correctly. It's a 19" rack so that plus the width of the side posts.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 17
12/26/12 at 7:18pm
Thread Starter 
What is the height and the depth of your rack.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 17
12/26/12 at 8:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by amb1s1 View Post

Is that mdf?

Yes the side walls are all 3/4" MDF and I used a piece of pegboard as a reference guide to drill out the holes for the shelf pegs. All of the shelfs are cut from MDF also. It worked very well and was VERY cheap to do. Certainly more room to make it more elegant, but I wanted functional and to blend in to the area...
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 17
12/27/12 at 7:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dynfan View Post

Yes the side walls are all 3/4" MDF and I used a piece of pegboard as a reference guide to drill out the holes for the shelf pegs. All of the shelfs are cut from MDF also. It worked very well and was VERY cheap to do. Certainly more room to make it more elegant, but I wanted functional and to blend in to the area...
How do you do the frame where the mdf are sitting and attach to? And how do you do the mdf box? Just a simple glue and nail?
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 17
12/27/12 at 10:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by amb1s1 View Post

How do you do the frame where the mdf are sitting and attach to? And how do you do the mdf box? Just a simple glue and nail?

I framed the closet like I would any other project. I then had it drywalled like the rest of the theater and put my MDF over the Drywall and screwed it in to the studs. I planned on doing this so I took my measurements in to account but in reality I had a ton of room. I wanted to leave everything as poen as possible to provide plenty of air circulation around components. As it stands now I am making more shelves so that NO components are stacked on each other and each has it's own shelf.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Home Entertainment & Theater Builder › Dedicated Theater Design & Construction › Should I build the rack under stair or other room