What I'd do differently next time. - Page 16

Originally Posted by mjg100

Look into zone control: www.retrozone.com/index.htm
I used the flex damper system. Easy to install and it works well. I converted an existing room into an HT. Since the HT is located upstairs I placed the HT and bedrooms on the same zone. Install a remote sensor in the HT room. This way you can use the remote sensor to kick on the AC when needed. My room used to get hot, but now I can keep it nice and comfortable no matter how long I run the projector.

Originally Posted by R Harkness

Thank you for the suggestion.

However, as far as I can tell that system requires you already have a comprehensive HVAC system installed, which I do not. My old house has hot water radiator heating and an installed Spacepack Air-conditioning system (Air Conditioner installed on top of our house, pipes were run through our walls into each room to provide air flow). We can not separately control the air conditioning flow to each room; it's either on or off.
I wouldn't want to power up the whole system in the winter, just to try to cool one room. That is why I figure I may have to try something like a ductless air conditioner just for my home theater room, if things get too hot with the room closed off.

Originally Posted by R Harkness

Thank you for the suggestion.

However, as far as I can tell that system requires you already have a comprehensive HVAC system installed, which I do not. My old house has hot water radiator heating and an installed Spacepack Air-conditioning system (Air Conditioner installed on top of our house, pipes were run through our walls into each room to provide air flow). We can not separately control the air conditioning flow to each room; it's either on or off.
I wouldn't want to power up the whole system in the winter, just to try to cool one room. That is why I figure I may have to try something like a ductless air conditioner just for my home theater room, if things get too hot with the room closed off.

Originally Posted by mjg100

I am talking about summer time cooling, when you are already running the AC. For winter time all you need to do is pipe in some outside air.

Originally Posted by strange_brew

Another one just came up in my HT thread - make sure you wire your PJ outlet so you can use a UPS!! I missed that one completely.

Originally Posted by twashade

This is exactly what I'm in the process of doing right now! I bought a variable speed inline duct fan and added a new vent in the theater and then working on getting the outside vent installed. Its basically a bath van in reverse, with the fan outside the room.

The hope is that by running the fan a low speeds that I'll get a good flow of fresh air into the room when I'm not needing to run the AC. I think it'll work great in the fall and spring, but will be curious to see how it works when its really cold outside and I want to just cool the theater a little.

Originally Posted by moguy

I actually painted all my walls before putting in the flooring, baseboards, and crown molding. I could be as quick and sloppy (at the edges) as I wanted. I ended up getting the whole basement finished in a few hours.

I also used premium plus Behr paint, so only one coat was needed over the primer.

Originally Posted by Logic_BomB

I've tried taping (it bleeds under anyway)

Originally Posted by erkq

I've never tried this painting a room, but I used to build R/C model airplanes. We would tape, then paint the tape edge with a clear, let that almost dry and THEN paint the color. Then the tape has to come off before completely dry. The results were absolutely, perfectly straight lines. But I don't even know if there's a "clear" you can use for painting walls.

Originally Posted by Cathan

Instead of "clear" seal the tape edge with the color of the paint that is below the tape. Then paint the wall like normal.

Originally Posted by R Harkness

Well my project is into it's second year, planning and building. At some points I've definitely been stoked and had some fun designing my theater (I hire various contractors to get what I want built, but every inch is custom designed by me with help from an architect friend).

But a lot of the times it's just been brutal. I'm frankly very, very sick of the whole process and not having fun anymore. It's almost done though.

The good thing is that for picky folk like me I get just what I want. All that time of thinking things through, looking at every alternative angle to do something, may have extended the project but also seems to have paid off as everything seems "just right" in the room so far.

Sometimes, due to all the mess and effort, I almost regret how much I've put into the project and think "Maybe I should have just done something simpler and been happy."
But I know that isn't me, ultimately. I would have picked nits. So intead I really went for it on all fronts to get what I want, figuring if I got the room right at this point I could just forget about it and stick to possible equiment upgrades in the future.

One issue that I may well end up regretting is cooling for the room. I did consult some HVAC and cooling guys, but they said it would be noisy and/or expensive to do anything big for my room (it's an existing living room renoed into home theater).
They said things should be ok as is - I have all the equipment, save the projector, in another room. And there is some air conditioning in there. But once I have curtains blocking off the room opening I'm afraid things might get too warm, especially in winter when we aren't running air conditioning. I'm hoping I won't end up having to buy an air conditioner for the room to watch movies!

Originally Posted by mike2060

You could look into a Mitsubishi Mr Slim ductless heating/cooling.

Originally Posted by Logic_BomB

Wow. I'm the king of learning through bad experiences it seems. Here's a tip that will save you some ripped out hair:

Make sure if you caulk cracks in the baseboards (which mine had extensively, almost the entire way around the room), you don't use 100% silicone (non-paintable) caulk. I tried to touch up/paint the baseboards today and it was like oil and water. ARH!!!

Originally Posted by strange_brew

Another one just came up in my HT thread - make sure you wire your PJ outlet so you can use a UPS!! I missed that one completely.

Originally Posted by advertguy2

Can someone put up a link to the monoprice version of the powerbridge as mentioned above? Tried searching their site and couldn't come up with anything. Much appreciated.

Dan

Originally Posted by Suntan

Don’t think this has been mentioned yet, but take pictures of all your framing/electrical/ducting *before* you cover it in drywall.

Three years from now when you wonder if that vertical run of Romex that you want to tap into to add another outlet is 3 studs or 4 studs away from the wall, you can look at the photos and know before you poke a hole in the drywall.