Midnite's DIY Theater Journal. - Page 3

I talked to our builder and he suggested, I think, the following for the ceiling framing [if this is the wrong way to do this, I'd blame my understanding of what he plans not his actual plan]:



I'm not sure how he plans to tie the roof into this. Can anyone clarify?

And, evidently, I need to figure out how to properly show Flickr images on the forum... but that will have to wait until after work.

Well, that's what I did. Flickr provides two types of links, and I tried both of them. I'll mess with it more tonight, only on a 5-minute break atm.

Can someone suggest a free file hosting site and I'll just post the sketchup plan?

The model was put together by me, and I know very little about framing. Everything should be to scale. It is a "staggered stud" approach to the ceiling joisting system. There won't be a room above this, just an attic with HVAC. The lower joists do extend all the way to the rim joists, although I guess they wouldn't have to.

Maybe this will give a better idea:

Yeah, I just had some extra junk in it that had to be removed. Thanks for the link though, I'll give it a read if I have more problems.

I thought of another question I had that I need to resolve and that is how do I handle doorway framing for a staggered stud wall? I put together something, pictured below, but I'm sure it is horribly off from what it needs to be.

The more I think about it, I think I'll be stuck with a 2x8 on the latch side of the door at least, and probably both sides. I figure the door needs to latch/screw into something, and the 2x2s pictured probably don't satisfy that need.

Well, we are almost to framing. I'm excited, and scared. Good combo I guess.

I just got back from a 4 day business trip and came home to find this:



I also had another meeting with my builder and the current plan is to "stagger joist" the ceiling as previously pictured, and to do a more standard framing on the door:



Thoughts?

Actually it is a 2x6 top and bottom plate with 2x4 staggered-studs. I'll discuss this with my builder tomorrow. I'd love to come up with something to maintain the stud isolation scheme as much as possible - I just don't really know what is required to get the door to work.

I've got another issue I just realized late tonight - the screen wall (short wall closest the door) is actually about 1/3 concrete block:



My question is, will I need to lose another 6" off the room and put up a stick framed 2x4 standard wall with a 2" air gap away from this concrete block, or can I just DD+GG directly onto this concrete block? What will this do to the sound isolation of the room. I've been looking for this info on existing posts in the forum, but this is a critical issue (they are probably framing this in the morning) so I thought I'd post a question on it as well.

Well, after some debate in another thread, I have decided to switch up construction on this room to a room-in-room type construction. The concrete block wall negates my previous plan for staggered stud throughout, and I was doing staggered stud mostly for that wall.

I will be using a standard 4" wall with a 1.5" air gap and an interior 4" wall. There will also be a double-ceiling with a 1.5" air gap. This should be framed tomorrow or possibly Thursday.

My next obstacle is getting my head around what I need to do for a door to this room, and what effect a door choice has on framing.

Here is my room-in-room sketch:



There is a 1.5" air gap completely surrounding the inner room from the outer, including the ceiling. I could make the ceiling one bigger by several inches if needed, but the walls are encroaching further than I'd like already. Hopefully this is what is meant by "room-in-room".

Here are some final designs for what they are framing today. I hope it is at least somewhat competent:

Overview of the HT:



The expected viewing distances are shown with dimension lines to the right.

Frontal view of the A/V Closet:



Framing view of the A/V Closet:



I am having them frame the A/V closet with a 6" Staggered Stud wall. I don't have the space for a room-in-room with the A/V closet, but I still wanted as much sound isolation for this chamber as possible since it will potentially be open to the HT. Thoughts on this are welcome.

They started framing. Luckily, they didn't get too far before I called and told them they needed a flex-sealant beneath the walls. So far they have 2 walls of the A/V closet done. These were, per design, to be staggered stud walls. Here's what they did:



The Red square looks fishy to me. There will be a door to the left of this portion of wall that goes into my study across the hall from the HT. That looks like a LOT of wood, all going straight across the 6" wall.

The green square shows something that happens at both ends of both of the staggered stud walls that they put in - a 6" stud going completely across the board. Is this required?

I updated the initial thread post with a project overview, or at least a placeholder for one. If anyone wants to see my design sketch (Google Sketchup file), you can download it from the initial post.

Well, a bit of good news, I stumbled across an auction for a NHT VS-2.4 on eBay. This will finish off my set for 7.1. Picked it up for $99 + shipping. Now, hopefully it will actually get here and be functional.

I also put together a google sketch of Berkline 45090s. The file is listed as 45003, because this is what I'm actually ordering, but what I ended up modeling was the 45090. These are identical except for the look (and feel) of the back.

 

Berkline_45003.zip 69.2578125k . file

Initial post updated with design information.

I have decided to use a Middle Atlantic rack. So far, I have identified the following needs:

Rack Equipment
AXS-43-26 (rack)
TRACK50 (pull-out tracks)
AXS-WT50 (Cable management tray for TRACK50)

What other options am I going to need. I assume they make some sort of power strips, hopefully that provide conditioned power. Any advice on other "must have" gadgets is welcome.

I updated the front page with some screenshots as well as a link to my current sketchup model.

Link

My framers are almost done with the house, so now it is time to decide what wood is scrap, what is going back to the lumber yard, and what we are keeping. One of the framers suggested that I keep a few of the 24' 8" I-Joists and use those for framing the soffits. Anyone have any thoughts on whether this is a good idea?

Well, the house construction is going well, they are almost done painting. I'll probably put some screenshots up soon. It's about time to get this whole HT thing back on track. My next big hurdle is to do a decent budget and solidify the plan for the home theater. This is going well, but I hit a hurdle in that the SMX screens, which I would like to use, are just too expensive for me to justify, at least without some major convincing. The screen needs to be an AT screen, and I do not mind making it myself. Suggestions on who to look to for a good AT screen material are VERY welcome.