My home theatre/basement - Page 2

I thought symmetrical was bad? I have already framed everything (pics coming tonight-ish). It wouldn't be aggregious to change, but it wouldn't be fun either. I just didn't want a bunch of square angles everywhere. I guess that's why I have rounded corners throughout my house too.

Did you get your room professionally calibrated? I probably won't do that from the get go, but maybe down the road.

more pics...framing is almost done! Time for electrical/hvac/plumbing!


First pic of theater, looking in through what will be the french doors.

2nd pic of theater

Looking back through theater from screen perspective

Looking down the hall. Theater to left, bathroom to right, and bedroom at the end.

Closets. Yippee.

Another. Here you can see all the track clippings I left on the floor. My forearm is huge now.

Here's the AV closet.

That's all for now.

well, now I'm miffed. Apparently Dietrich Industries came out with UltraSteel studs that have better acoustics than your average steel studs. And I can get them at a sheet rock supply company for about $2.50 a stud. Which is WAY less than the $5.60 I've been paying. That's awesome. Well, at least I haven't screwed in the studs yet, but I'll probably not use 40-50 studs that I've already cut for the theater. Oh well. Maybe I can get HD to price match my previous purchase.

Well, I need to put some pics up but the basement is almost completely framed! The theater has the new ultrasteel studs installed, and it looks great. I've framed up the bar wall, and have started a false wall which will have a wine rack in it as well. I still have to space and level out the studs and screw them in, and have a few more doors to frame and some small things to correct, then framing will be done until the plumber fits the shower basin. Then I can finish the bathroom framing and REALLY be done framing.

I'm going to start electrical work soon, and I'm trying to get all of the theater electrical work mapped out. That's going to be a beast. Let me line it out...

Here is what I'd like to have.

2x wiring to 7.1 locations, even though I'm only using 5.1 (maybe 5.2)
A motorized curtain to cover the french doors for acoustics and light control
A fiber optic star ceiling
Wall sconces
PJ conduit
possibly some sort of lighting to light the screen area up for effect before/after movies
rope light inside crown moulding around perimeter of room

What I would like is a macro-based remote control that could dim the rope light/sconces/turn on star ceiling/turn on appropriate appliances. I know there is stuff out there, but a design + appropriate equipment is escaping me. Plus I'm on a budget so the high dollar custom install stuff is out the window. Any ideas?

well oh well. I took a break to go snowboarding in Winter Park, and so I haven't got that much done. I have a feeling though the next 6-8 weeks will be a race to get ready for sheetrock. I have the plumber coming for rough-in next Saturday, and I have almost all the framing done. Should have an HVAC guy out soon too, although I'll probably confuse him with the requests for the theater ductwork sound isolation stuff.

I'm starting the electrical, and have quite a few lights ran already in the workout room and closets. I need to correct a few issues with some of the framing (warped wood) and frame out the bathroom walls completely for the plumber.

I'm starting to think that I'm going to 90% finish the rest of the basement before starting on the theater. That way I can dedicate a lot more time/money/brain waves towards just the theater, and not be thinking about 100 different things like the electrical, tiling, bar area/cabinetry, etc. Then the theater will probably move a lot quicker, too! It'll give me some time to think about CIH, HD-DVD, etc.

What fun!

Gerry,

I haven't picked out the french doors yet, I just want some sturdy exterior/patio doors with 12 glass panels per door. I'll be doing something similar to your electrical set up too, with a Harmony remote, and a Grafikeye controller. I wish automatic drape closers weren't so flipping expensive, that'd be nice. But having another $400 in my pocket is better than having automatic drapes.

The plumber got the rough in done this weekend, and I have most of the lights installed. I'll be installing switches/outlet boxes tonight, and cleaning up some. Then I get to start cabling all the electrical. Yippee.

It's moving along nicely, and I think we'll be sheetrocking in May by the looks of things, which is well ahead of the schedule I had in mind. I'm sure there will be plenty of other things to slow us down in the months ahead. ;-)

Finally, I'm starting to see the end of my basement project. Electrical is done to the point to where they can rock, and I had my initial HVAC consult today. Looks like I need to incorporate either a zone system or add a furnace since my 5 ton is almost at it's limit, and that's before I add 1250 sq ft of basement. The expenses never end!

My wife went up to HD to buy Behr paint at 25% off today, and I'm ordering a crapload of insulation tomorrow. I'm hoping to start sheetrocking by the 2nd week of May. The guys should be done in about a week, and then we can start priming/painting. Then get the trim/doors in, finish electrical work and plumbing, then the theater process can officially begin.

NICE.

My freaking camera broke. So much for pics. Damn you, Sony, damn you!

I'm going ballistic now. I took the day off tomorrow, as I have 30 bags of insulation being delivered! My HVAC guy will be out to do his work on Saturday, and then I'll have Wallboard Specialities out next week. The wife has bought about 15 gallons of Behr premium paint and primer to get to work on Memorial Day weekend.

And I also did this...



:fistpump:

Good times.






My back is already tired. Jeesh. All this doesn't even include the theater wall insulation. LOL!!!!

The sheetrockers are working as I type. I took some pics late last night, and I'll take another tonight (24 hours later). I need a nap!

No tapers/mudders yet, I would guess they would be out there today. It's so nice to see work getting done and me not having to do every little bit of it. Like I told my wife, we're basically buying our time back.

Everything looks great, and now we're picking out tile for the bar/bath. Cherry McKinely cabinets have been ordered from Lowe's, and should be there in 4-5 weeks. We got the Chocolate Glaze cabinets, and they happened to be running a deal where glazing was free, as was the sink base. It's always nice to save a thousand dollars.

My HVAC guy still has a bunch of crap lying around the basement, which isn't a huge deal, but it would be good to get it out of the basement and get my registers from him. He positioned the HVAC return/supplies so that I can drop them out through the soffit in the theater, and he put a few bends in the ductwork to minimize any sound transference.

I also bought some foam weatherproofing strips to put on the ceiling joists to help dampen impact noise. I'm hoping that will help a little bit. Not as good as doing RSIC clips, but I get to keep one inch of ceiling height and $500 in my pocket.




Entry into basement



Stairs, with a playroom underneath for the little one.



You can see the opening for the wine rack (right hand side) and the door for underneath the stairs. I had to get a 78" door for this due to the low soffit heighth.



Here is all the 5/8th's rock waiting to be deployed.



The screen wall of the theater is still open because that's the cedar closet and I'm going to put plywood up instead of sheetrock.



Bathroom/shower with Durarock.



Egress window, which is still wide open for all of the workers.

I found a few pics, but I think the best way to do a soffit was with a trick my neighbor showed me. The took a 2x4 and nailed it to the joists where he wanted his soffit to be. He then hung and nailed a ripped piece of plywood to the 2x4, which would act like the side of the soffit. Then you can run 2x4 or whatever for the bottom horizontal edge of the soffit.

Framing a soffit with steel isn't too bad, other than cutting all the short studs and getting everything in square on 3 different planes. With the steel studs, I made the sides of the soffit first (like building two 12" walls hanging from the ceiling) and then cut the horizontal studs to the proper width to keep the independent walls square to the ceiling.

The trick is to only screw in one side of the studs on the top piece of track so the short "walls" can move in and out while you square them up.

I hope that makes sense. Feel free to PM or email with more questions.

Here are the newest pics!

Painting has begun! I'm working on the cedar closet, then I'll probably stuff theater insulation until my bar cabinets get here. So much to do, so little time. We have the tile for everything but the shower picked out, so that's waiting for me as well as finish electrical. It all kind of hit at once.



Game Room

Bar from a far

LCD wall (note HDMI cable of joy)

Theater

Bar w/ wine rack

Bar again

Workout room

closet off of workout room

Cedar closet with plywood almost in place

Shower

I went 24 OC on the walls, and I did that for acoustical reasons. I didn't write a paper or anything on it, but it seems that there would less mechanical transference with a lessor amount of studs.

I am doing 5/8's dbl/gg on one side, and one side 1/2". Not perfect acoustically, but my hallway is already quite tight.

C

yes, unfortunately. I wish I would have done a 20 ga. The cost isn't much more, and I believe you have a lot more options in regards to hanging things on the wall. Also, more mass is better in terms of acoustical isolation.

I did find out one trick in regards to trim (since you can't nail to metal studs). Take a 5" rip of plywood and screw it to your studs at the base of your walls in place of sheetrock. Then just sheetrock the rest of the wall (5" from the floor up). Now you can just use your finish nailer and knock the trim out in a hurry.

It's amazing how much we've got done in the last few months. All of the painting is done, and the bar is going to be done soon. We got our granite installed yesterday, and now I'm waiting on replacement cabinets and our under cabinet lighting to get in. This is all very exciting.

Once the bar is done, we're moving onto tiling the bathroom (floor/shower) and the bar (floor/backsplashes). Then it's time for trim/doors, and then the carpet. My wife had painted the workout room with the existing color of flat paint from our first floor, but now she wants to repaint it with something eggshell. I don't blame her, I think flat paint sucks except for its ability to be touched up easily.

I'll try and get some pics up tonight. I'm thinking that we'll be done with the basement in the November/December timeframe, and then the theater construction will begin. I'll be having a local HT meet before I start construction, to get some ideas and see what I did right and, more importantly, what I did wrong. I'm sure there's a lot.

so here's the pics, as promised. The bar looks almost complete, although there is much to be done. Enjoy, and feel free to critique or ask questions. Compliments are welcome as well!






Thanks!

6 weeks have passed, and I feel like not that much has changed, although it has!

The tile backsplash is done, I have a little bit of caulk work to do still, and then seal it, but then it'll be golden.

I've also got the replacement cabinets hung, and the undercabinet lighting installed. It looks really nice, I'll have to get some pics here soon. We're still waiting on some trim from Slow's (aka Lowes). The jackass up there has screwed up this order more ways than I can count. Lowes has been banned for the rest of the project. Now I have to go to Home Despot, which is only marginally further away..

The bar floor is laid and grouted, however, we're not very pleased with it. We did it when we were tired, and we got sloppy and so now I have some spots that I'll have to scrape out excess grout. On top of that, the grout color is about 19 shades too light due to us using too much water. We have a grout haze remover that should help, and bought some $$$ sealer that is supposed to enhance the grout color as well. Hopefully that should take care of it.

We've laid the bathroom floor tiles, and I went ahead and sealed them so we don't run into another deal like the bar. We are in process of tiling the shower. I can't wait for all of this tiling nonsense to be done.

I've sheetrocked the area under the stairs for my little man. I've been doing a rough tape and mud, and we're painting the cement with chalkboard paint and we'll paint the sheetrock with magnetic paint so he can use magnetic letters or whatever. We got the flooring in for that room, which consists of 1x1 tiles (crimson and blue, just like our Jayhawks!). I think that room should turn out pretty cool.

We took delivery of the 9 interior doors and some 300 feet of interior trim. I'm looking forward to having my wife paint all of that. I'm sure she is too.

I ended up buying a mitre saw stand (one of those's Delta stands with the folding legs.)
It works like a champ so far.

I'll try and get some more pictures up soon. I've been thinking about the theater as time allows, but there is still so much to do...