[lindino08]

So this has been a long time coming. I have meant to write up a post a while back but you know how that goes after your projector goes up . So here it is!

I have always had a passion for the Audio/video/Home theater arena and have been mentally planning my basement overhaul even before my wife and I purchased our first house in 2012. One of the selling points (without my wife knowing) was that it had a pretty decent basement for a projector. After a couple years of living in the house and plenty of hours picking the brains of the experts here on AVS I started putting my plans into action. I'll add the steps I took during the process as well as pictures. I'll add step one to this post.

1.) First step of the room renovation was repainting and was not looking forward to it at all. Wife was pregnant and I new all the edging was on me . My basement was a light tan, cream color and I knew that I needed to darken it up to make it the best possible environment for the projector I chose. I wanted a more rustic/earthy tone to my theater so I chose a dark green for my walls and a slightly lighter green for my ceiling in the front half of my basement. It matched very well with the wood trim and was very pleased in how it turned out.

First Pic: Before paint / previous owners setup

 

[lindino08]

2.) Second step was building my custom equipment rack. This I was very excited for. The AV rack was a very welcome and needed project. I am sure all those Dad's out there will agree, equipment in the reach of kids under 3 is painful. I had all my AV gear before building so I took measurements of each to have a more custom looking rack. Each slot was a certain size for certain pieces of my gear. I added one on the top as a spare for remotes for now or if I add another box in the future. I had to cut out one of my studs and move it over a few inches to make room. Screwed in some 2x4's behind the wall to make a shell for it to sit in to make it plenty sturdy. I also used 4 metal L brackets to attach to the 2x4's.

My original plan was to have a tinted glass door covering the front but after using it for a couple weeks I realized it would probably be a pain in the but to open and close so many times. So I decided to leave it as is and I have zero regrets.

 

[lindino08]

3.) Third step was waiting for my projector to go on sale . I already knew that I was going to go with the Sony HW40ES (Quiet, fast response time for gaming , etc) and just missed one of their sales. In the mean time I ran my speaker cables and made sure my measurements for my screen, projector placement and other things were correct.

These holes were already there from previous owner. They had them covered with a white painted piece of wood. So I ended up using these to pull along a Coax and Cat6 cable from my storage area where my router and coax spliter resided. That was fun to do...

 

[lindino08]

4.) Fourth step was figuring out what kind of screen I wanted and if I should purchase or go the DIY route. After many hours of research and reading hundreds of pages of different posts I decided to go the DIY route. This lead me to a wonderful gentleman and expert in this business. He goes by the name MississippiMan. I can't thank him enough for the amount of help he offered along the way and the time he spent replying to all of my questions.

Projector, mount, and paint for the screen is purchased. I had my Dad's company make me a custom L bracket with holes drilled to match the projector mount. Bracket was perfect and I think was sturdy enough to hold a few cars + my projector .

 

[lindino08]

5.) Fifth step, mounting projector and deciding on screen size. I Ran the HDMI and power cables through my ceiling. I originally had a hole drilled in my custom L bracket where I planned to run the cables through to have a cleaner look but my brother in law that did home construction said it's a big no no to drill a hole that size through my main beam . Since I do not build houses for a living I took his word for it and drilled a hole in my ceiling and ran the cables over the top of the beam (another fun task). After I had power and video to my projector the fun times began . I booted it up and started messing with screen sizes. We watched a few movies at different sizes and was shocked at how well the image looked on a Dark green painted wall..who woulda guessed. I was impressed and had almost contemplated not even having a screen. But after watching various content you can definitely tell the whites were greenish.

 

[gec5741]

Looks really cool! Your av rack is a lot like mine. I just put a backing on mine. Found that it got hot inside so I added some fans. For now I have the fans on a switch but I may end up going with a thermal sensor so they come on automatically when it gets to hot. But it works well. Check out the end of my build for specifics.


Edit: Page one I have some shots on the construction of the "rack" or shelves what ever you wanna call it. It's funny you said you had to cut out a 2x4 stud and move it a little because I had to do exactly that as well. Then if you look at the end of the build you can see the backing and all that. I may go buy another pice of the backing material to redo it and make it look a little cleaner but it dose what it's suppose to. I suppose if I did end up going with a thermal sensor then maybe I'll rebuild it. Will see.

 

[lindino08]

6.) Sixth step...screen build. This was a challenge, more so because it was time consuming and I had to force myself to have patience. I now decided on screen size which I think came out to 142-145 inch range. I haven't officially measured it; but I set it to max zoom and I based it off the projector calculator. I know my lens to screen was around 14 1/2 feet. I decided to go the biggest I could since I knew I could always move my couches back and I don't want to regret having too small of a screen when I spent so much time creating it.

I started by making sure my image was level and centered on my wall. I then tapped off the screen and started the sanding process. I sanded..a lot..and spackled any and every hole or indent I could find. I then sanded again. After the sanding was complete I then needed to tarp off around all the edging and ceiling. To say this was a pain in the butt is an understatement. Since I had walls so close to the sides I had to bring the plastic back a good distance from the sides, bottom and ceiling. I used painters tape for most of it until got to the ceiling. I started with tape but would get half way across and then the tape would unstick and it would all come crashing down. So the genius's here at AVS recommend thumb tacks! . Why couldn't I think of that . Anyway I had some orange reflector tacks from hunting I used and they worked perfect.

4 days later..Plastic is now up and onto the primer. Yea...not even to my main screen paint yet I know, tell me about it. Sprayed about 4 coats of primer and sanded a few times in between. Now finally ready for the specialized screen paint. It's called Silver Fire or Black Flame (MississippiMans stuff). This is a more liquidy paint so I ended up buying a sprayer with a 1mm tip for this job. This was the part that needed the patience. Each layer of paint was very minuscule and was very small speckled like. I had to wait about 35 -45 min in between each layer before it was dry enough for the next coat. Since my wife wanted to see my face after work it took me about 5 nights of spraying before my total of about 12-15 coats was complete. I also learned after the first night a normal cloth mask didn't cut it. Lungs were tight feeling when I went to bed. Purchased a full ventilator mask as Lowes the next day.

After paint was complete down came the plastic. I also learned that you NEED to use a razor blade and run it along the edge of the tape & paint so you don't peel up your screen.

 

[lindino08]

Looks really cool! Your av rack is a lot like mine. I just put a backing on mine. Found that it got hot inside so I added some fans. For now I have the fans on a switch but I may end up going with a thermal sensor so they come on automatically when it gets to hot. But it works well. Check out the end of my build for specifics.

Thank you! yea I have black cloth on the back of mine with tiny holes where the cables enter to plug into the equipment. I have noticed mine gets a tad warm and have thought about adding a fan. But for the most part, my closet behind is just cement and it stays pretty cool in there so that helps. I will check yours out though, thanks for the input!

 

[lindino08]

I'll be back later to add my last few steps and images.

 

[gec5741]

Wow screen is looking good! I ended up just buying a 135 inch elite of amazon for 400 bucks. It was a lot easier. If I had a taller celing on the wall my screen is on I'd of gone bigger around the size of yours. But I had to fit a center channel underneath it. As it is its a tight squeeze. You are smart for going as big as you can. After a year even my 135 inch screen isn't as big as it was a year ago!

 

[lindino08]

Wow screen is looking good! I ended up just buying a 135 inch elite of amazon for 400 bucks. It was a lot easier. If I had a taller celing on the wall my screen is on I'd of gone bigger around the size of yours. But I had to fit a center channel underneath it. As it is its a tight squeeze. You are smart for going as big as you can. After a year even my 135 inch screen isn't as big as it was a year ago!

Thanks! Yea I thought back when I bought my first nice TV when my wife and I moved into an apartment. I got a 47" and the first few months I thought it was huge and then it just felt like it was getting smaller and smaller. When we moved into our house a year later I could barely watch movies on it..lol I know first world problems right?

 

[lindino08]

Bar Table

A little update/addition to my room. I have been wanting to make a bar table behind my couch for a while. Was over at a friends one night and he had about 5 cut slabs that he got from a friend almost exactly the size I needed. He sold me one for $45! I spent a couple evenings sanding it down real smooth. Put a couple layers of stain and 3 coats of Polyurethane for added protection. The company I work for quick through a frame/legs together in the dimensions needed and that was it. Came out exactly as I envisioned.