[Expat444]

Hi There

I've been reading the boards as we've just moved house so I now have a basement I could convert to a small. The specific issue I have is that we're on a hillside so the basement is wedge shaped and pretty small (10'5" wide and the floor follows the hill slope so the height ranges from 8' high to 4'10" if I put the rear wall in at 14'3").

Has anyone else dealt with this shape of room or would I have no alternative but to dig it out to be a regular shaped room then add back in the pitch so that I could fit two rows of seats as that would probably blow out any budget I could get approved.

It would be for a dedicate HT for watching movies and I have an existing projector & sound system I could use to validate this as an idea.

I've attached a couple of rough sketches I made that hopefully make my situation a bit clearer.

Thanks for any suggestions/help and I'm so glad I found such a great resource.

 

[cdy2179]

Not sure I completely follow you. Are you wanting to put the screen on the low ceiling side? If so you have enough room for a 110" screen or so. My buddy just finished a room with a low ceiling on one end. the screen hit ceiling on one end we raise it off the floor 10".


Anyway sitting 10 feet back 110" would be about right for a THX viewing angle. I'd go with a seymour xd screen so you could put the speakers behind it to make keep from cluttering the wall and the speakers would be out of the way and at optimal spots. paint the ceiling and front wall black, the walls a dark red or what ever and when the lights are down you'd never know how low the ceiling is.


I built a 135" seymour screen for under $300 as did my buddy who just did his.


Of course I'm assuming you want to use the short wall for the veiwing wall.

 

[cdy2179]

After looking at your info again, I see you want two rows. I have an 18' long room and it's not quite large enough two rows. 14' is way too small IMO for two rows. However can be just right for 1 row.


from the drawings you have I'd put the screen on the short wall and build a riser under the seating area that levels the seats off so they don't slope back, maybe even a step along one side from the rear of the chairs to the platform . That's all I can think of besides doing like you said and redoing the foundation...really odd they did it that way, seems like they would have to dig into the hill and pour a level foundation by code.


but anyways...i think it could look pretty cool once carpeting ties it all in. I'd definately stick with one row unless you can get into the 18-20 foot range. Unless you go with a little screen.. but as you said you have a projector and it's hard to go from a large 100"+ screen back to a 60-70" flat screen.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

If you have to do two rows do bolt down theater seats.

 

[Expat444]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdy2179 After looking at your info again, I see you want two rows. I have an 18' long room and it's not quite large enough two rows. 14' is way too small IMO for two rows. However can be just right for 1 row. from the drawings you have I'd put the screen on the short wall and build a riser under the seating area that levels the seats off so they don't slope back, maybe even a step along one side from the rear of the chairs to the platform . That's all I can think of besides doing like you said and redoing the foundation...really odd they did it that way, seems like they would have to dig into the hill and pour a level foundation by code. but anyways...i think it could look pretty cool once carpeting ties it all in. I'd definately stick with one row unless you can get into the 18-20 foot range. Unless you go with a little screen.. but as you said you have a projector and it's hard to go from a large 100"+ screen back to a 60-70" flat screen.

I was thinking of having the screen on the big wall (on the left) and maybe terracing the slope so that I can fit in the rows and it would be like a normal movie theater, I was also thinking of the ~2' wide seats rather than the big recliners as there really isn't much room (about 9' between the floor foundations).

I could post pictures if that would help.

Hadn't thought about facing the other way, it's an interesting idea, thanks.

 

[cdy2179]

Ok... I see now. Yea that would work....short people in the back though. How big a screen are u wanting? Don't forget to check a projection calculator to see what your projector is capable of projecting at that distance. That could be a limiting factor for screen size. How many seats do u need total? Just thinking rtheaters has a power sale on now and some 13175 (i think that's their model #) is very narrow and 4 may fit in a 10 foot wide room.


You'll probably also need to build a sound absorbing hush box as the projector will very close to your heads.

 

[Expat444]

Here are some slightly improved diagrams, the width at floor level is 9' as there are foundations but I'll be able to put the right hand wall behind the two 6"x6" supporting pillars.

The overall room dimension would be 10'5" x 19'3" but the height goes from 8' at the front all the way down to 4'6" at the rear wall.

 

[cdy2179]

you'll be hitting your head by the time you walk to the middle of the room.


If it were me and I was sure there was no plumbing or anything running under that room I would rent a concrete saw cut along walls, 1 foot away from walls and break it out and dig out ,level and pour new concrete.


You have footings under your walls (assuming some or exterior and load bearing ) that's why you need to cut the concrete away from wall a little. This will give you less walking space.


You only have like 200sq' of floor that's only 2.5 yards of concrete for a 4" thick slab. Where I live 3 yds is only $300. Concrete finishers charge 50 cents a sq.'. So if you did all the demo and prep work it should easily be doable for under 1k. Of course I'm in la. We don't have basements so you may have extra prep work to make sure its water tight and stuff beyond using a vapor barrier.


Im a little adventurous when I come to reno.

 

[Expat444]



Quote:
Originally Posted by cdy2179 /forum/post/0


you'll be hitting your head by the time you walk to the middle of the room.


If it were me and I was sure there was no plumbing or anything running under that room I would rent a concrete saw cut along walls, 1 foot away from walls and break it out and dig out ,level and pour new concrete.


You have footings under your walls (assuming some or exterior and load bearing ) that's why you need to cut the concrete away from wall a little. This will give you less walking space.


You only have like 200sq' of floor that's only 2.5 yards of concrete for a 4" thick slab. Where I live 3 yds is only $300. Concrete finishers charge 50 cents a sq.'. So if you did all the demo and prep work it should easily be doable for under 1k. Of course I'm in la. We don't have basements so you may have extra prep work to make sure its water tight and stuff beyond using a vapor barrier.


Im a little adventurous when I come to reno.

So I'm starting to think that I do need to cut the floor down if only to terrace for the seating, the only issue I have is from reading the original plans the foundation beams are 24" deep so I can only go down 12-18" before I expose their base.

 

[Expat444]

Here's a slightly more complete floor plan sketch showing the proposed HT in more context, the room next to it will be storage and A/V along with a sump pump which is why it will all be this way round.

Thanks again for all the ideas.

Ian

 

[Tedd]

So what does building code have to say about room height?


And a few ideas strung together. No demo, just added construction...

 

[Expat444]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Tedd /forum/post/0


So what does building code have to say about room height?


And a few ideas strung together. No demo, just added construction...

Thanks for the great suggestion, I'll be going to see the planning/permits office but I'm not looking forward to it as I think they may try and stop me doing anything with that basement.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Expat444 /forum/post/20836139


I'll be going to see the planning/permits office but I'm not looking forward to it as I think they may try and stop me doing anything with that basement.

Then why go? You may be better off flying below the radar.

 

[Expat444]



Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGmouthinDC /forum/post/0



Then why go? You may be better off flying below the radar.

Thanks everyone for your great suggestions, I got an HT installer friend to come visit and whilst he was here realized that I'd spend my entire budget trying to make an unsuitable location into an HT that only my kids would use.

Net result is that I'll be converting an unused room on the main level (22,8" x 16') and starting a new thread to pick everyone's brains for help designing/implementing it.