Pilgrims Pit - Design & Build - Page 6

Thanks for chiming in Oman. I figured there was a way to fix it. But after a couple of long days, and realizing the problem wasn't going away with just primer you are in no mood to search for the answer. My wife is pleased that there is a straight forward solution.

Well, spoke with the carpenter and we changed the soffit design for rope. Instead or a tray and lip we'll be going with crown.

Diagram in a minute. But my question is any suggestions for the staple to the fabric nearest the crown? The old design let me wrap around and in. I can think of two ways: 1. carpenter cuts to size, but leaves it for me to install on my own once the fabric goes up; or 2. I add a small piece of trim to the bottom of the soffit, essentially extending the crown downward with something like a baseboard shoe (is that the right description? I am such an ametuer). Any other thoughts to hide the staples? I am not worried about the staples by the wall, as the walls will have fabric frames go up, covering the staple there.

Thanks!

Here is the Diagram:

Okay - here are post plaster pics - with some of today's activity.

Starting outside the theater, down the stairs. The notable thing here is to the right the plasterer's adhered plaster to the concrete walls (no framing, no blueboard) using some kind of bonding agent. Its the slowest to cure, but they did a good job:

Here are some pics of the playroom and spaces outside the HT, in the playroom. At the base of the stairs, the adjustable ladder used by my wife and I to prime the stairs and there are some lines up for a planned built-in bookcase:

Coming counter-clockwise, the electrical closet - still a bit chaotic there:

Continueing CCW, this is the corner diagnol to the stair landing, door it to the 3/4 bath:

Continuing CCW, on the left is a closet that will house my desk, as a built in. On the right we will put toy shelving - we are pretty pleased with the sconces :

Couple shots of the begining of the bath:



Continued in next post.

Here is the entrance to the H.T. - it is to the right of the desk/toy shelving area.

Here is the screenwall, from the door. No blue tape for the screen size up yet:

Same deal from the other back corner:

Here is the back wall:

The CRT mount (rods to be trimmed back)

Conduit to the PJ - remember that I had a problem with the pull string coming out - looks like I wasn't the only one. Who ever did it, hid the evidence. Glad I now know the Shop-vac technique:

Here is a wall plate I saw locally - might use it to cover my counduit in either the front secction or at the PJ:

Here is the EQ rack. not puunched through yet, but the 20 amp style outlet is in, designed for the panamax 4400 I got off e-bay (after Gary's sold instantly):

Can't make an omlet with out breaking some eggs. Electrician is a bit of a wildcard - shows up randomly, then forgot that the outlets go in the columns not the wall. So he made an outlet sized hole in my wall. Something to be fixed:

Another fix - smoke detector is where the back soffit will go. Whoops.

Its amazing how many details can be missed. Wish it was more DIY, so these could be prevented, rather than fixed. I am sure I'd make different kinds of mistakes instead. Cest la Vie

That might work. Based on Bud's comment, I have a little more thinking to do:


I follow Bud, the issue is whether I DIY the crown, or let the carpenters do it as part of their finish work. I don't have the fabric on-hand (or the treatment plan), so they will be done and gone when I hang the fabric.

Your second point about seams is something I never thought about. Since I am going for fabric walls, it just wasn't an issue. Now it is. I'll get my thinking hat on.

Okay - we came up with a staple hiding solution today. My carpenter is going to affix the crown to another molding, and just tack or screw it. When I get the fabric and plan together we will take it down from the molding, staple away, and then re-attach it with glue and the whole nine yards. He wanted to spare me the misery of crown, and felt this was the best way. Hope it works.

For seams, I need to figure out if it is price prohibitive, but I am leaning towards just running the fabric length-wise with the soffit. Expocloth comes in 48" widths, so I should be able to get two 17" wide soffits bottoms per length if I halve it and trim to need. We'll see I guess.

In a word, aweome:

Should be. Its is blue LED's, and yes its from 1000 bulbs.

Crown is up, ceiling is painted. Electrician comes tomorrow for finish work, I post pics afterwards.

Small update -

First layer of paint went up, columns built (basic form, will be modified), crown is up, and the stage went in today. Electrician rescheduled, so nothing much there. Wednesday or Thursday.

Few shots:

I only put one line up for the blue tape. We got bum advice (primed before the veneer plaster fully dried), and the primer really pealed with the tape - so I didn't see the benefit of marking all four lines. The line is a 7 foot screen (planned 16:9) here is the front, no flash:

front, flash (shows the milano blue differences):

Side columns (spaced for two Gpower-style panels between columns)

Puck light test - light pattern is a bit broader than ideal. These are to wash the walls, so more of a spot effect is desireable. I can only find pretty generic ones in line voltage. There are many pretty ones in low voltage, but then you risk transformer hum, and compatability questions. I will probably go with these. No lack of light though!

Thanks. My wife is not yet 100% on board with as big as humanly possible - so I am going to set it up, and wait on building the frame until I get the CRT projector dialed in (fixed throw ratio, some adjustability in the strut), and build the screen later to match. I have 4 yards of SmX in the attic. The plan for now is 7 ft wide, or a 92" diagonal. Primary seating is at 10 feet. I think we may be able to bump it towards a 100" diag once we get going. I am going to get a bedsheet or something to emulate with (or the wall). I am happy with the crown so far. Adds a lot.


Thanks. Only one coat of paint up for now, and not edged in the back. They have some holes to patch, and the rear soffit side was built with pine, so we'll smear joint compound over it to eliminate the wood grain and get it to match the other walls. I am anxious to get the rope light up and running too. Wednesday or Thursday.

Curved front soffit goes up today.

She isn't going to be breaking out the tape measurer, that's for sure. The standard we will face is whether the size is comfortable for her. She is visually driven, so when something doesn't look right, she knows it. But she was telling her brother that the screen was going to be 8 or 9 feet wide, so there is some leeway. The other side of the coin is light output from the PJ - I want plenty of pop. I suspect 100" will be the right midpoint between the various constituencies - there I said it.

Gonzo -

Everyone seems to say so, at least in a few threads. Cherokee did it with zwave dimmers (using clear LED rope from them), and some one else (can't remember) confirmed that it works with a grafik eye. I will be able to confirm it works with a GE on Wed/Thurs - depending which day the electrician comes out.

Its ghastly expensive at about $3.70 per foot shipped for the spool. I'll use about 1/3 of the spool, and had a couple inquiries on the rest since I am going to sell the remaining stuff at a discount. There was an e-bay seller who had one with similar specs for about half price, but I had no way of knowing if it would be dimmable, and no real return policy. I held my nose and hoped for the best.

If anyone loses interest, I can let you know if I have some extra. I want to see how much I have left, and how much people need (first come, first serve for Oman and then Bud). Cherokee said they'd sell custom lengths but I didn't notice that on their website and didn't call. Would have been the cheaper option than taking the whole nut, and selling my excess.

I am really looking forward to it going up, to see if I wasted my money.

Its best that this wasn't posted at Curts place. I can only imagine what the more lax forum rules would have gotten me.

You asked for convex - you got it:

Here are a couple of under shots, under construction. The curved part is made of some kind of composite. Like vinyl. It feels plastic to the touch, is meant for outdoor work, and they tell me its paintable. I have some doubts, but worst case I'll remove the trim and wrap it in fabric. I had discussed keeping the portion of the soffit over the stage open, to allow it to be used for bass trapping, if needed. We talked about adding plywood to the bottom of the curved portion, but I haven't talked to the guys yet to see if their opinion changed. I think the curved portion will need a flat surface on the bottom (no jokes here please), but it can be fabric if need be. I have been holding a few open spots for treatments, and sent my questionaire into Bpape - hopefully some of these spaces will serve a purpose. Anyways, some under pics showing the guts.

Another, closer:

I'll need to think about this transition between the curved soffit and the crown. Maybe some kind of DIY emblem or something. Its not too bad as is, but it kind of ends.

This is pretty close to the end of the carpenter's work in the theater (electrician tomorrow or Thursday), so these updates are going to slow down quite a bit as we move into DIY time. Oh well.