[Erich H]

Well, I'm kicking around an idea that might get me thrown into the looney bin by my family.


A couple years ago I got the home theater itch and built my first room in the basement of my 100 yr old home. I didn't know how addicting the hobby would get. The problems I have can't be overcome though. Very low ceilings (under 7') and a nice support beam or pole always in the wrong place that can't be moved. I've dealt with it for a year or so, but I just can't make it work enough to be satisfied.



Here's the part that could get me committed: About 3 minutes from my house I happen to own a warehouse where I store equipment and stuff for a small business. Well, there's a smaller building attached to it that has never been used for the 7 yrs I've owned it......and I don't see that changing. It's about 40'x60' with 10.5' ceilings.


One of my friends jokingly said "You could make part of this into a theater, you live close enough too."



Hmmmmm.

So I'm coming here to ask 2 quick questions:


#1. What would be the optimal sized room for a theater if you had 10' ceilings? I'm thinking 18' x 30'? or 20' x 35'?


#2. Would it be completely nuts to have your theater away from your actual home? Honestly, I'm not 100% sold on the idea. But it would allow me a lot of space for the hobby!

Feel free to bash the idea, or call me nuts.....I won't take offense.

 

[dogone]

I'd do 20 X 30

That way, you would have ample room for huge columns to put your "huge speakers in!...

 

[whiskey alpha]

It would give the "I'm GOING to the movies" a whole new meaning. I'd say do it, as long as you think the site is secure.

 

[Suntan]

If its 3 minutes from home, at least you wouldn't have to worry too much about sound issues for family members sleeping the their bedrooms... That said, if it is just a wharehouse of sorts, does it have the plumbing and electrical that will be needed?


I currently live 2 minutes from the local movie-plex and I wouldn't think to go there on a weeknight just to watch a movie. I think you already know the biggest drawback, the question is if it is a deal breaker for you or not.


-Suntan

 

[Erich H]

Thanks guys. Yeh, the site is pretty secure and can be made even better. Very few people would even know it was there. Plus, it could be given a "secret door". So even if someone figured out that this unassuming building housed a theater, they'd have to find out how to get into the room, and that's after they decided there might be something in the room worth anything.


I thought about making the rest of the warehouse into my wood working area, which would give even more stealth to the theater.


This isn't the best photo, but it might help. The pillars in the middle of the room are right around 20' from the sides. The idea was to make the theater over in the corner directly to the right of where I was when I took the photo. Not the corners directly ahead. I'm actually standing into the room a good 15' or so.

Electric is no problem, I have a full breaker of 20 amp fuses. Access to water is no problem, it's got it's own meter. One issue is the 2 bathrooms are in the other building, but that's only 20 steps away and that building is connected. This warehouse (which I have always called the showroom area believe it or not) did have a bathroom at one time, so all the drainage plumbing is there.



The nice thing is that a 20' x 30' room wouldn't even take up 25% of the entire showroom area! The rest could be used for building........building more speakers!!!

But I'm still not sure. I know that if I don't do something with this room, it's just going to sit like this, or be a wood working area, tool area, etc. I just thought I'd ask the serious guys here if I had lost my mind or not!

 

[Chrisx510]

I would do it! What size screen are you planning on going with if you do decide to build this theater?

 

[jlachanc]

Sounds pretty cool to me. With that much space you could put in 30 seats and start charging. It's all about marking up the concessions, you see.


It would be sweet to have a permanent workshop adjacent to the theater. You would never not have an excuse to upgrade or tweak things. I could have taken 2 months off my build if I removed all the trips up/down stairs from the basement to the garage.


Don't forget the other critical Man-Room, (or Man-Palace in this case), accessories such as : bar, pool table, pinball machine, video games, hot tub, and stripper poles (make the latter retractable if WAF is needed).

 

[Erich H]

Yeh, Man Land, Man Palace, Man Warehouse, etc......it has all crossed my mind.

I've only been thinking about this for a week though. But it's very tempting and doable. I'm not sure I want to spend a fortune on it, but the room itself shouldn't be too expensive. I've got all the tools to get the room done. And I have most of the audio stuff to at least get it started before more speaker building starts as I upgrade or experiment.



Here's my current setup. That screen is about 110" I think. So you can see that I don't have tall ceilings right now in my basement (like 80" tall). My "room modes" are pretty rough and seating isn't optimal.

Notice that the "upgrade" factor just isn't there. But only because I don't have any more room!!

 

[Suntan]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Erich H /forum/post/16938482


I just thought I'd ask the serious guys here if I had lost my mind or not!

You do realize that coming here to ask this is akin to asking a bunch of alcoholics if you should crack open a beer...

-Suntan

 

[Suntan]

Now the real question is, where in all this man-pad warehouse space are you going to put the bowling lane?

-Suntan

 

[kezug]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Erich H /forum/post/16938482

I see strippers dancing on those poles!

 

[RTROSE]

Dude! Are you nuts? Well of course you are but why in the world would you let that stop you? You have the perfect opportunity to create this space with only your imagination (and your budget) to limit you.


Seriously you have a great opportunity to do the "real deal". Game room, concession stand, stadium seating, the WHOLE ENCHILADA! I say go for it.


Let us know what you decide, and if you decide to go for an off site movie theater let us know, start a build thread, and don't mind all of us as we help you spend your hard earned money and beg for a meet when it is all done!


Regards.


RTROSE

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

Dude come on, Rent it out and use the income/tax deductions (depreciation etc.) to make the payments on a nice addition to your house that includes a top drawer theater. Your friends don't want to meet you at a warehouse, they want to come over.

 

[RTROSE]



Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGmouthinDC /forum/post/16938977


Dude come on, Rent it out and use the income/tax deductions (depreciation etc.) to make the payments on a nice addition to your house that includes a top drawer theater. Your friends don't want to meet you at a warehouse, they want to come over.

Aw Big, come on man. Why do you always have to be the voice of reason? Just for the record I'd meet a buddy or two at a warehouse for the purpose of enjoying a kick butt movie theater.


Regards,


RTROSE

 

[Mike70]

Haha,I am relatively new to the scene but this post made me chuckle to myself a bit ,oh by the way go for it

.It just seemed like this post is like a wolf holding up a bunny saying "should I eat this bunny?" to his fellow wolves and they reply "Ya eat that bunny!!" "I can't believe you haven't already ate that bunny." "What are you waiting for hurry up and eat it!!" haha.

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

If you are at the stage of your marriage when you need a reason to get out of the house and hang with some buddies then do it. If you are building for family use I still think it will miss the mark.

 

[whiskey alpha]

Those look like stripper poles to me.

 

[jroyv]



Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGmouthinDC /forum/post/16939953


If you are at the stage of your marriage when you need a reason to get out of the house and hang with some buddies then do it. If you are building for family use I still think it will miss the mark.

I think BIG nailed it. If you want a place to spend with the family an in house option would be better. If you want a place to "get away" this would be great.

 

[Erich H]

Ha, thanks for the comments guys. We have actually bowled in the warehouse connected to this, it's over 90' long!

BigMouth, I have considered renting that showroom out, but the work needed to get it rentable would be around the $10k mark, and there are a lot of other rental places around right now going for pretty cheap per month. So it would take years to recover the initial investment. The electric for the warehouse, and the office area are all in that showroom, so it would have to be split. Plus a bathroom would needed, then divide off that from my current warehouse, plus possibly adding a garage door for access. Then make it look nice enough for someone to run a biz out of.



I'm not married yet, but my 'future wife' didn't see much wrong with it because it would keep some of the stuff out of my house......she doesn't live there yet. Plus she said it would allow me more room for my crazy hobby.



But yeh, the obvious concern is whether people would meet there to watch a movie, play pool, etc. If you ask them, they would of course say "YES", but would they????


Then again, no issues with yelling, loud music, etc.

 

[Erich H]

I should have noted better, I'm not married yet and don't have kids. When I said "my family", I meant my parents, brother, sister, nieces, nephews. They kinda think I'm nuts already. If I did this, they might have me committed, I don't know!


I don't plan on living in my current house for more than another 5-7 years.