I have my pick of Room Size !

My wife and I have decided we need a larger home. We had twin boys about 1.5 years ago and can see our current house shrinking on a daily basis.

We've been searching for a home with a theater being one of the top priorities. We found one that is at the top of our list right now, But before contracting with them I wanted to get everyones input on how to best use the space. The basement will give us a space of 45'x30'x9' ceilings. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be blessed with a space like this. Therefore, in all of my reading on this forum, I never paid much attention to the larger room theaters.

Here is a list of our desires:

1. Seat about 10-12 with overflow capacity of about 20.
2. Screen size can be constant height with maximum width of about 144"
3. All equipment needs to be located outside of viewing room (except for projector)
4. Room will be used for 70% movies, 30% sporting events.
5. Budget for electonics will likely never exceed about $12,000 (I give this not for equipment selection, more to give an idea of what budget range the room might fall in)
6. Lobby area with ticket booth, popcorn/snack area
7. Game room, with pool table/pingpong, darts, card table

I'm attaching my first stab at a layout, but want to hear some input. At this point, the theater design itself is just sketched in quickly. My main concern is determining wall placement, as this will dictate where the builder puts support posts.

I would be willing to use a much larger portion of the basement for theater if it was needed for my purposes.

Hopefully, this thread will turn right into "Twinsletown II" construction thread!

 

BASEMENT PRELIM.pdf 8.0234375k . file

Wow, 86 reads and two days time with no responses!

My basic question is, if you had a 45x30'x9' blank canvas, what dimensions would you carve out for your theater based on my criteria?

I've got some time to plan, as we will likely not sign with the builder for another 30-60 days. But at that time, he needs to know where he can put supports.

Come on guys and gals!

The builder is not offering any plans for the basement. I need to meet with him and my preliminary plan to find out if it will give him the support locations needed.

The beams are running parallel to the shorter (30') dimension. This is part of why I'm showing the wall at 17', which is within 2' of the center (hope that works without resizing, etc.).

The 28' depth puts the wall nicely at the point that the bay has a corner.

Joe, yes, the space is worthy of being jealous. I just can't get over the fact that it finally looks like I'm going to get my dream space. I've had makeshift theaters in several different homes, from a 20" tv in an apartment to a rear projection living room/theater, to my current dedicated room of 16'x19'. I'm scared at the responsability to do things right this time!!!

Andy, that's a good idea, but I like a rectangular look to a room, and wonder if 22.5' by 30' will look too square for my taste?

Tomorrow I will post a plan that shows the room at 16'x30'. I wonder if that is getting too narrow for the length?

Kras, enjoyed your post. I will have to let my wife read it. She's very accommodating with my HT disease. Although, the game room portion is as much for our children, and the Workshop is only so I can maintain all my wife's things. hahahaha....

I'm trying hard not to count my chickens, but these initial design studies are part of the decision process on buying or not.

It seems you have been down the road that I am on. We don't want to double mortgage, but I don't know how you keep a house from slipping through your fingers unless you do so. In the end, I don't know if we'll actually bite on the double mortgage, or if several more design studies are in my future. From the title of my thread, you can see that I'm emotionally involved already, so that is not a good thing.

A house just like our current one and in our neighborhood sold in just 2 weeks on the market last month. This and other research gives me confidence that we will sell in a few months time at most. Do I feel confident enough to pay two mortgages? don't know yet.

I wasn't impleying that the builder would do whatever I draw up. I'm sure he will have comments and massage what I bring to him. Although, I'm showing a wall very close to the middle of the basement, and another that almost quarters the space, so I'm hoping that is close to what he will need. I completely agree, that we will not be building the house on a "hunch" that it looks right.

Seth, what do you mean by "all that space" Do you mean that 28x17 is not necessary? I am also showing a lobby/gameroom that will likely include a bar.

By "utilities", do you mean bathroom? I wasn't planning a bathroom, as there is a bathroom right at the top of the stairs. Pre-plumbing for bathroom is an additional $800. Doesn't sound like much, but there are about 30 different $800 things that we need to make decisions on.

Here is another idea, orienting the room in the other direction. Not sure if the 12' wide game room will accomodate a pool table as shown?

 

BASEMENT PRELIMc.pdf 8.0908203125k . file

So it would work with 52" cues on a 7' table. Or I could find another foot and use 58" cues.

I could loose a foot in the workshop if going with plan 'c'.

Thanks for the link to the chart. I would assume that if the room accomodated pool it would also work for ping pong?

I thought that might be what you meant. This particular house is also built without a basement, so hot water heater is in garage and a/c units are in the attic. No utilities in basement. Although, that is a great point about it being easier in the basement. I'll ask the builder about that. Thanks.

I expect to hear from them by the end of the week as far as can they do our wish list of about 50 different changes, etc. There are 4 or 5 big items on that list that would kill the deal for us, so my fingers are crossed. One of those items is to do the basement in 9' ceilings as opposed to the standard 8'. Do you all think this plan is still doable with 8' basement ceiling? maybe so, but then I would have to orient the room so that seating is arranged in fewer rows.

Again, I hope to hear from them by Friday. I agree, I will get 9' if it is an option. Also agree that the plumbing for a restroom would be nice.

I just have to decide which of the dozens of $800 items don't get done. Can't get them all. We're at the very top of our (expanded) budget before any of these options are added, so you can see, the $800 does start to become a big deal. Now, maybe we don't get granite in the kitchen and those monies are better spent on the things we can't easily add later, like the bathroom plumbing. ???

We've always lived below our means, but this house is our "forever" house, so we're going out on a limb and stretching a bit for it. Scary stuff for us.

By the way, thanks for all of the input. It's nice to have a sounding board, much less one that has the home theater in their best interest.

Thanks Video. Fortunately, the first floor is on trusses. I saw, in another house, that all utilities were running through them. This will give me a finished ceiling hieght of 9'. I think you're correct about the price jump to 10'. I'm expecting the 9' option to come in at about $3500-4000. Worth every penny of that!

JD, good info. I'm showing 17' width. My current chairs are the Coaster Directer's series. I have a row of 4 in a 16' wide room and it is just a hair tight, that's why I was figuring 17'. The Coasters are a little narrower than your Berks.

However, I will likely go with Berks for my "sweetspot" row. I'll see if I can draw a version up with 18' width.

fore, I am quite handy and will have to decide which things I will do myself to save some money.

Here is another plan. I think I'm starting to get somewhere. I like the open feeling from the game room to the theater in this one. It is also a very deep theater. The downside to this plan is that the workshop is shrunken down to the bare minimum, and my wifes exercise room is also. This does show a half bath downstairs in a configuration that would allow the exercise room to become a bedroom if ever needed.

I like the ticket booth with access on both sides too.

 

BASEMENT PRELIMD.pdf 8.2763671875k . file