...must...create...ReedZone...Theater...thread

A preview of the end results:

















Although not theater related - here is a picture of our Family Room 5.1 system:


-----------------Original Thread Start------------------------------

Well at long last I am ready to publish my theater thread. Before I do though, I would like to offer a huge thank you to everyone here for the incredible quality of advice, suggestions and examples to draw from. I can only hope I do it justice with the end product. Now on to the show.

Here is the basement floorplan I ended up with. We went back and forth many, many times before settling on this. We obviously made some compromises (double doors to the theater for example). But the idea is to allow us to sit at the "bar table" and watch the Game with friends. Shut the doors and its movie time.



Here is the theater design (edited to reflect design change):

It makes me shudder to look at these pictures again. Here is the before of the theater area. Note the HVAC supply duct running down the right-hand side


First step was to move the ducts out of my way. I ended up running the supply right under the cold air return. Here is a diagram of what I had done (Option 2) and pictures of the end result:





The water / gas pipes you see on the right-hand side by the beam have all been relocated as well

With that work done, I now had to concentrate on the rest of the basement. The biggest job was moving the footings. The posts holding the main beam in the Rec Room area of the basement were too close together (about 7' apart). I needed them 15' apart. So I hired a structural engineer to give me the specs and went at it. I'm including this here in case its helpful to anyone who needs to do this in their theater area:

First step: cut in new footings:



Then carry 1 cubic meter of concrete into the basement in 5 gal buckets. Not fun.


Put the new posts in and grout the base plate with high-strength grout:


Pull out the old posts using a temporary telepost:

Pick up 15' C-Channel to reinforce beam (do not attempt to carry this on the roof-rack of a Dodge minivan :


Hoist into place:


Hire Welder:


Done!


Here is what it looked like before:

Framing time.

Main Rec Room area:


Entry to Home Theater:


From the front to the back of the HT:


View of lobby/bar area from the stairs:


Home Theater entry from lobby/bar:


Bar/lobby cabinets will go here:

My floor was really out-of-whack (crowned in the middle). So I decided to hire a floor leveling company to even things out. I lost a bit of ceiling height ~1/4" - 1/2" but it will be worth it when the stage / risers etc... are being built. I did the entire basement at the same time since the it was a problem everywhere.

This actually occured prior to the framing being finished. I DID NOT do this myself. They had to tear up quite a bit of the floor since I had converted our cold cellar into a steam shower (not many cold cellars have a plumbing rough-in

I used RSIC clips to connect the perimeter walls. 2 of the walls are double-studded, and the other 2 are along the outside concrete wall. I framed the wall sections about 1" short of the joists all the way around. You can see in this picture that the "outer" wall is framed under the steel beam that runs down the right-hand side of the theater and opens into the furnace room.

I don't have a pic of the clips attached to the cement, but I used Tapcons for that.

I also wanted to do RSIC clips on the ceiling. My problem was that a) I didn't want to lose ceiling height, b) I have 12" centered joists (not much room in those cavities) and c) there were HVAC supplies running through many of the joists. I had ordered the clips from BPape and was ready to go, but almost pulled the plug when I saw how much work it was going to be. But a conversation with BPape steeled my resolve and I figured out a nifty way to do it.

What I did is create a jig out of metal 2x2 studs. I screwed them to the bottom of the joists with 1/8" spacers then set the hat channel on top of them (so they would not touch the joists). Then I cut a 2x4 "block" to fit between the studs and attached the RSIC clip to it. Next step was to put the RSIC clip on the hat channel and then to screw the "block" to the joists. Where i had ducts in my way, I sistered 2 2x4's to the side of the joist in the same way.

Here is the diagram of what it looks like:



And some pics of the process:







You can also see in this pic the framing I did for the in-wall speakers. There is a piece of 3/4" MDF screwed to the back of the framing. I added some 1x2 to the back of the studs to give it a bit more depth

Last step was to fill the joists with insulation. To do that I simply pulled the Hat Channel off the RSIC clips. But it was still a massive pain-in-the-a**

I used Roxul Safe N' Sound. Since my joists were 12" OC, I could cut a 24" OC batt in half for each run. The Roxul is 3" thick and my joists are 2x10 so I used 3 "layers" in each joist cavity.

Along the outside perimeter walls I have 2x6 R-21 Roxul. The inside walls (since they are double studded) have 2 layers of 2x4 "Safe N' Sound".

Thanks! A bit of both. I hired out the Plumbing and Electrical and drywall hanging (will post pics soon). The plumbing I didn't want to do, the electrical I actually enjoy doing but it would have taken WAY too long. Same with the drywall. If it was only the theater it wouldn't be so bad, but I'm doing the entire basement so I have to pick my spots carefully.

The black stuff is tar paper. My town requires it (code) between the concrete wall and the insulation to prevent moisture from getting into the insulation.

More pics on the way!!

Well that's enough slacking off for today. The drywall and Green Glue is done so I'll post more pics tonight.

Ok, one more post. I realized I didn't say much about the wiring I did.

Electrical: You can actually see the details of the electrical on the floorplan of the first post. I'm sure many will wonder why I put 10 potlights in after all the soundproofing I'm doing. Bottom line is that it was a WAF concession. I will be using a Lutron Grafikeye 3106 as follows:

Zone 1: back 6 potlights (i.e., back of the theater over the seats)
Zone 2: front 4 potlights
Zone 3: 6 wall sconces
Zone 4: Screen potlights (in soffit)
Zone 5: Soffit ropelight
Zone 6: probably a step light but not decided

I also put an outlet in for the PJ and another one on the ceiling at the front wall for future rope lighting. Both sides of the stage have an outlet for the sub(s)

Speakers: LCR on the screenwall are all bi-wired with 12 GA. from Big Orange. Sides and Back are single 12 GA. The speaker rough-ins on the front wall also house 2 CAT5E and 2 RG6 Each. The rough-in for the Right speaker has a Blue Jean Sub cable which is probably overkill given the RG6 up there, but what the hell.

Projector: HDMI and Component cables from Blue Jean. I also stuck 2 CAT5E's in there and, for good measure, a conduit that runs into the equipment room.

Family Room: I ran a 50' HDMI (again, Blue Jean), 3 RG6 and LCR speaker cable up to our family room (directly above the HT) for a Plasma above the fireplace. All the sources will be in the HT equipment rack and run from there. I also ran conduit to the family room for good measure.

The rest of our house was pre-wired when it was built. Almost every room has a "smart port" (2 RG6 / 2 CAT5E) and speaker wire in the ceiling running to a wall plate (i.e., light switch level) that also houses 2 CAT5E (I did the same in the rest of the basement rooms)

Yes, its a lot of wire folks (believe it or not, this is probably only half of it):

Here is the 3-sided fireplace that separates the bar / lobby area from the Rec Room. The equipment rack is directly opposite the fireplace.

Had a bit of a SNAFU with the drywall supply. The guy who I had hanging it gave me the total sheets I needed, then split out the portion for the Home Theater so I could double it. Or so I thought. Since the rest of the basement was 1/2", he included the sheets of 1/2" in the total, then split out the 5/8" sheets I needed. I had assumed he broke out the HT sheets so I could order both 1/2" AND 5/8". Bottom line is I have 38 extra sheets of 1/2" drywall in my basement. Anyone in the GTA need some drywall?

Here is what 152 sheets looks like - the guys who brought it down to the basement were not happy campers. Best $300 I ever spent ($2 per sheet in-home delivery)



You can also see the rough-in for the equipment rack in this picture (across from the Fireplace) and the resilient channel on the ceiling in the rest of the basement.

Before posting pics of the Drywall stage I wanted to throw out a tip of the hat to Ted White at Audio Alloy - this company cares about customer service. One of my boxes of GG had some of the tubes broken and, needless to say, the inside of the box was a bit of a mess. Although it was Big Brown's fault, Ted had another box out to me ASAP and helped me out with some unexpected cross-border COD charges. Turning a potentially poor customer experience into a great one is a hallmark of really good companies and Audio Alloy is certainly one of them. Thanks again Ted!!

Some of the Green Glue aftermath:

Thoughts on the double doors opening in, or opening out?

Opening out has the advantage of opening up room in the HT, and the angled walls going in are designed for that. I'm leaning that way but wanted to get some other perspective before I decide...

yeah, the rubber on my shoes melted Actual elapsed time is more like 4 months. Lots of work to do yet, but we're hitting stride now so I'm getting pretty excited. The only problem is that pesky "rest of the basement" thing the S.O. keeps bringing up.

Craig.

Question for those of you who have done double drywall. In the seams before you taped the second layer did you use acoustic caulk? I put a bead in the seams of the first layer (I didn't tape it) but not sure if it will cause problems with the taping. Thoughts?

Tedd, when you say you caulked the seams in both layers, you are referring to acoustic caulk, correct? Thanks for the tip on the Durabond - will do.

Thanks Bryan! When we talked last you convinced me to stick it out with the RSIC clips and I'm really happy I did (as you said I would be). I only ended up losing about 1/8" on the ceiling, which is better than I could have hoped for.

Sent you a PM about the acoustic design

Thanks! I've been lurking on your thread for awhile - I love what you're doing in your theater and the look you are putting together. The wood looks fantastic (the time spent staining was clearly worth it )