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Wolf's Lair Home Theater-Construction/Pics - Page 4

post #91 of 742
12/21/06 at 3:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbgonzomd View Post

Here is the tile cutter



More tiling...


HEHEHE... That's not good.

There should be a post for hall of fame of busted tools and wounds....

I like the tile pattern, looks very nice.
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post #92 of 742
12/27/06 at 3:40pm
Thread Starter 
Tiling is done (for this part of the basement )) Excuse the slight haze on the floor. After 17 buckets of clean water, it still needs another wiping off. This weekend I am on to the cabinet installation, which I have never done before, so it should be interesting.



Where the new tile meets up with the existing tile:



Entrance into the theater and the bathroom:

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post #93 of 742
12/27/06 at 3:46pm
Very nice.... Hi Five!!!
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post #94 of 742
12/27/06 at 8:31pm
Nice work Gonzo.
As far as the cabinet installation, consider putting them together before attaching them to the wall.
Take the doors of the cabinets, screw the cabinets together in front or behind where the hinge is, this way when you put the door back on it hides the screw attaching the cabinets.
Once you get them together find your studs on the wall and transfer your measurements to the back of the cabinets,
predrill usually about 1.5" to 2" from the top of the inside and set your screws in ready to be fastened.
Put your level across the wall and shim any low spots before you put up the cabinets.
Use 2.5" to 3" screws with trim washers.

Good luck with your project.
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post #95 of 742
12/28/06 at 5:22am
Thread Starter 
thanks Eddie,
What type of screws should I use for attaching the cabinets together (deck, drywall, other)? There are some screws that came with the cabinet that I assume are for attaching them to the wall.
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post #96 of 742
12/29/06 at 10:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbgonzomd View Post

thanks Eddie,
What type of screws should I use for attaching the cabinets together (deck, drywall, other)? There are some screws that came with the cabinet that I assume are for attaching them to the wall.


To attach the cabinets together you can use fine thread drywall screws, just make sure to predrill the holes, if you can, use a countersink bit and set the screws just below the wood surface.

Depending on the manufacturer of the cabinets, the screws they send tend to have soft heads and are easily stripped.
If I go to a home store I look for "Tek" screws. Good quality from Germany.
Failing that I get some of the gold 3" or 2.5" exterior screws and some trim washers which are usually in the same isle.

Predrilling takes out alot of swearing and broken screws.

Install the uppers first so you are not reaching.

Make some T Braces out of 2x4's close to the height of where the cabinets will be, just like a 3rd hand, you can shim them up to the desired height when the cabinets are sitting on them.

Just watch they dont tip over.


Good luck.
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post #97 of 742
12/30/06 at 6:58am
Gonzo - Tiling looks great. Bet your glad that jobs done.

Cheers,
Mark
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post #98 of 742
12/30/06 at 1:42pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by BritInVA View Post

Gonzo - Tiling looks great. Bet your glad that jobs done.

Cheers,
Mark


Thanks mark. Yes, I am glad to be done (for now as there is more in the future).

One thing that upset me a little is the grout turned out much lighter than the sample card at the store. And I am not talking a slight difference; it is pretty dramatic. I thought about complaining to Lowes or someone, but what are they going to do? Give me a couple new bags of grout and suggest I redo it

I did see a "enhancer/sealer" product that apparently makes the grout color "deeper." I may give that a try. Even if I leave it the same, I think it is acceptable, although not ideal.
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post #99 of 742
12/30/06 at 1:50pm
Thread Starter 
Cabinets are in. I basically had to build the whole left side from scratch as the corner cabinet was just a door with no cabinet frame and the far left is where the beverage fridge will go. All in all, it turned out pretty sweet Even more important, I got to finally use my compressor/brad nailer.



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post #100 of 742
1/4/07 at 7:43pm
Keep up the good work, I'm still reading (page 2) but am subscribing so I can find it later when I can finish.

its good to hear the good progress, and the not so good stuff. We all are human, some people just don't talk about it!

Tboy
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post #101 of 742
1/7/07 at 5:27pm
Thread Starter 
Worked a little on the the bar front and columns this weekend. Staining and and poly really slows the whole process down due to drying times. Here is the front. The column has been taken down for staining/poly. I hope to get it up this week.
(I took these pictures about 6 times, each time trying to clean my camera lense. No luck. Sorry for the poor picture quality)





By the way, have any of you ever purchased corbels? It is amazing how expensive they are. I am almost tempted to try an make my own.
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post #102 of 742
1/8/07 at 4:53am
Gonzo,

I have not gone through your whole thread, so not sure what type of wood you're looking for, but these were the unfinished corbels I bought in alder. No too bad price wise. They have a variety of wood types, just poke around the site. I bought 9 of these for my bar.

http://www.premierwood.com/catalog/s...idproduct=3452

Looks great, BTW!

Bud
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post #103 of 742
1/8/07 at 5:23am
Nice job on the tiles! Concerning the grout color - normally the darken quite a bit after some time. Even if you use the same bag after a year or two (e.g. for repair) you will have a color difference.
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post #104 of 742
1/8/07 at 6:38am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by chinadog View Post

Gonzo,

I have not gone through your whole thread, so not sure what type of wood you're looking for, but these were the unfinished corbels I bought in alder. No too bad price wise. They have a variety of wood types, just poke around the site. I bought 9 of these for my bar.

http://www.premierwood.com/catalog/s...idproduct=3452

Looks great, BTW!

Bud

Thanks Bud. I am using oak for the cabinets, stiles and rails. I used "sandyply" for the inside of the frames. I have no idea what kind of wood it is, but it does not have the knots of pine. When stained it looks pretty similar to the oak, but it cost a lot less than oak plywood. I couldn't bring myself to spend over $50 per sheet of oak plywood.

One nice thing about using such a dark stain is that it makes any imperfections (like a small gap between the stiles/rails) very unnoticable. It also makes different woods look pretty similar (I think I can get away with using pine crown molding without there being a noticable difference).

Thanks for the link, I will check it out.
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post #105 of 742
1/8/07 at 9:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbgonzomd View Post

By the way, have any of you ever purchased corbels? It is amazing how expensive they are. I am almost tempted to try an make my own.

I bought 4 corbels from the same manufacturer that I bought my cabinets from and they were over $50 each. I ended up needing two more, so I made the final two myself. They probably only cost $5 to $10 in materials, but took a couple hours of time by the time they were built, stained and finished. If I were doing it again, I'd build them all myself. See the attached picture, most people would never notice that the two in the middle on the long section are the "home made" versions...
LL
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post #106 of 742
1/8/07 at 10:20pm
rats....you could have gotten REALLY DIY crazy and tried rock facing on the bar....

Looking great though!
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post #107 of 742
1/9/07 at 12:15am
Just read through your entire thread and love it ! Great tips.

I'm in the throws of home theater construction myself, and like you have had my share of redos. Mostly rethinks .

Have you put together a list of your electronic components, i.e. htpc, projector, amps, etc.? I didn't notice any wiring for speakers or a ceiling outlet for a pj. Just wondering because I ended up biamping my mains and fortunately hadn't rocked the walls yet. So it was pretty easy to add another run of wire for each of those speakers. Also decided to add a vent pipe for the hush box that I'll be building for my slightly noisy NEC XG CRT pj. Never ceases to amaze me all the things you've got to plan for with an HT.

Anyway, keep it coming.

thanks,
Craigo
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post #108 of 742
1/9/07 at 2:34pm
Thread Starter 
Scott, that looks really good. I like the wood countertop. I think I may have to buy my corbels, mostly just to save time. As previously mentioned I am on a short leash right now.

Celtboy, I may be trying to reface the fireplace in the pool room with stone in the future. I keep driving by a building on my way to work that has a stone fasade being added. I say to myself, "I could do that... "

Craigo87, my AV equipment is up in the air for several reasons. 1) I am waiting until my next bonus. 2) My plans have changed so many times that I have developed a little "Home-Theater-Inertia" (a well known clinical disorder). I keep reading, researching, and rethinking. Basically, I have been focusing on other parts of the basement until I am sure I know what I want to do. I do, however, have a 20 amp circuit on the ceiling for the PJ and conduit to to the same location.
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post #109 of 742
1/9/07 at 4:58pm
Gonzo -

Love this thread. Lots of real world what happens when you tackle a project like this. I hope to live long enough to survive all of my projects (but I totally enjoy the ones that are done).
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post #110 of 742
1/17/07 at 2:37pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks Diver90.

Here is an updated bar picture. It is very difficult to photograph. If I use the flash there are hundreds of little spots where the light bounces off the bar. So I set up a temporary light and went sans flash. I think it looks much better in person, but I am probably biased.

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post #111 of 742
1/17/07 at 5:51pm
That looks very level, square, uniform, and done with good attention to detail. Nice progress.
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post #112 of 742
1/18/07 at 10:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbgonzomd View Post

Here is the tile cutter



More tiling...


Looks great! But , oh man, you used a manual tile cutter? You must be a patient man!

From someone who has done 700+ sq ft of DIY tiling (and has an upcoming kitchen counter project), buying one of the cheap tile saws from Home Depot for ~$90 was one of the the best investments I've made.
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post #113 of 742
1/18/07 at 5:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by coastalb55 View Post

Looks great! But , oh man, you used a manual tile cutter? You must be a patient man!

From someone who has done 700+ sq ft of DIY tiling (and has an upcoming kitchen counter project), buying one of the cheap tile saws from Home Depot for ~$90 was one of the the best investments I've made.

Trust me, patience is not one of my virtues. After snapping the tile snapper on the first tile, I went and got this bad boy.

I like to call him El cheapo. After buying 3 tile blades at $35 a pop, I changed his name to El Expensivo. In the end, he was a good investment.
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post #114 of 742
1/19/07 at 2:06pm
Great work! Nice job matching the bar stain with the cabinets. I used the same wet saw, but I had to because I installed slate in the bathroom. It was messy, but went fairly quickly. Anxious to see the theater area.
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post #115 of 742
1/21/07 at 8:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbgonzomd View Post

I can not tell a lie. I made a mistake and I think it is time I fessed up. Several month ago I built a subfloor for my theater. I used the technique outlined on the DIY Network site. I used U-boats to raise the base frame off of the concrete and layed OSB on top of the frame. Because I essentially was building a large drum, I put pink stuff in between the framing.



After completing the subfloor, I built a riser.



I looked great. The floor felt great under foot. Then doubt set in. Is insulation suppose to be on a basement floor? They did it on DIY network, so it must be OK, right? What if moisture get into the insulation? As you can imagine this thought process began to fester. I eventually posted a thread about this type of subfloor and the overwhelming consensus was it was a bad idea. Aaaahhhhhh!!!!

Plus there was the little known fact (at least to me) that you are suppose to build the riser after the room is drywalled. Oh well, I have finally given in and last weekend I began the deconstruction process.


Two positives will come from this. 1) a more moisture-resistant subfloor and 2) I can rebuild the riser after the room is drywalled. Heck, just call it a $200.00 learning experience

The plan now is to rip it all out. I am going to put down Dricore or build a floor on top of Delta-FL. Maybe the original floor would of worked, but the thought of soggy, moldy, pink stuff on the floor under my HT was just not going to work.

I may not get it right the first time, but I can promise you it will be right when it is done.

Pearl #8: Build riser after drywalling.
Pearl #9: Put in a good moisture-preventing product onto the basement floor.

I seriously don't think you need a sub-floor w Dri-Core. I've lived in 3 different houses in the last 15 years and I've finished the basement in all three of those houses (paid a contractor). All you need to do is just put insulated padding and carpet right over the concrete slab. There are many great insulated carpet padding such as ComfortBase and Enviro-pad (which has an R Factor of 4.5). Of course, you need to Dry-lock the walls (you did) and you need to FastPlug the wall-floor joint if you don't have a french drain around the room. I did this part of the work myself. That, along with a nice thick Berber Carpet is all you need. My floor is never cold. If you are getting the sub-floor for reasons of extra bass sound effects, just get bass shakers for under the seats. Save yourself a lot of extra work, time and money.
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post #116 of 742
1/21/07 at 10:53am
Thread Starter 
Easycruise,
I already put down Delta-fl several months ago. I really like the finished result. There are areas on my concrete slab that get moist after a week of heavy rain, so having a product that allows for that moisture to evaporate gives me some peace of mind.
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post #117 of 742
1/21/07 at 5:50pm
Thread Starter 
It was a fairly fertile weekend. I pretty much finished the bar. I got some baseboards for the bar room and started the staining/poly process. There is still about 4 stiles and rails that need to be added (ran out of 1x3 oak ). Then I will just need to fill brad/nail holes and do some touch up staining/poly. I also installed the lights for the bar. Most likely I am going to do quartz for the countertops. Due to the expense, that may have to wait a while.



I also had a major revelation! The theater is never going to get done unless I start working on it. So I finally broke through my HT-inertia. I started putting 24" OC furring strips up on the ceiling. I am mostly doing this because some of the joist are uneven. The furring strips allowed me to shim the high joists. From what I read it also helps decouple the drywall to the joists a small amount (or maybe the 24" OC is just better than 16" OC for isolation, anyway it is suppose to be better for some reason ).

I also installed 4 IC rated 4" can lights in the theater and set up a temporary switch. I am still not sure what I am going to do about lighting control. I would like a graphic eye, but that may need to be an add on later. I may just do old fashion dimmers for starters.

I spent some time tidying up my conduit tamer and running HDMI and component to the bar TV.



I will post some pics of the theater ceiling once I get a little further along (not much to see just yet).
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post #118 of 742
1/21/07 at 6:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tony123 View Post

Gonzo,

I'm really enjoying your thread! Thanks for taking the time to document here.

My builder will start pushing dirt first of January, and I will have a basement to finish. Your thread will be a good source of info.

tony

With new construction, I would wait a year or so after you move in to finish the basement. You need time to spot water leaks, let the house settle, watch drainage, watch for dampness, wait for heavy rain, etc. If you stud out the walls and drywall the basement, you can't see any of those potential problems.

This wait-a-year rule is also common rule for wallpaper. Let the drywall, baseboard, molding, chair rail, crown molding, etc settle before wallpaper.
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post #119 of 742
1/21/07 at 6:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mbgonzomd View Post

That is the advantage of drycore/delta-fl/etc; it allows air to circulate between the moisture barrier and the concrete and eventually venting at the edges of the subfloor.

But the problem with that is that you are venting cold air during the winter, making for chilly feet while movie watching.

BTW, how is your wife putting up with 14 months of hammering and buzzsaw noise? My wife wouldn't put up with it very long. That's one reason why I paid a contractor for each of my basements. Write a couple of checks and get the entire job done in only 3 weeks. If the wife ain't happy, nobody's happy! LOL!

At any rate, I commend you for tackling this yourself.
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post #120 of 742
1/22/07 at 3:31am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by easycruise View Post

BTW, how is your wife putting up with 14 months of hammering and buzzsaw noise? My wife wouldn't put up with it very long. That's one reason why I paid a contractor for each of my basements. Write a couple of checks and get the entire job done in only 3 weeks. If the wife ain't happy, nobody's happy! LOL!

At any rate, I commend you for tackling this yourself.

My wife has been a saint (Honey, are you reading this?). I can tell she gets a little upset due to the time I spend down there. As far as the noise and mess, she is very tolerant. As far as time goes, it is sort of a catch 22. If I don't spend time down there, the length of the project will grow. I hope to be done by the start of next football season...or maybe the '08-'09 season

Anyway, in a weird sort of way, I really enjoy the work.
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