Windy City Cinema Theater Build
What better use for my 3rd post ever than to start a build thread, right? I have been around the forum for many years, soaking up the knowledge and waiting for the day when I would be able to build one of these great rooms. I almost got there 2 years ago, and I had finished all of the rest of my basement (my wife knew I would never finish it if I worked on the theater at all), but I was suddenly forced to relocate for my job and my opportunity vanished. We finally moved into our new house about 6 months ago, which has a space reserved for a dedicated theater. It is not an ideal space, but after reading so many build threads I am not even sure such a thing exists. Everyone seems to have obstacles, and mine will be no different. The room is roughly 20' x 20' x 9', which is great for the width, but not as much depth as I would like. The other challenge is that it is upstairs, since there are no basements in Florida. Even so, I consider myself very lucky to be able to do this at all, so I am going to make the best of the space I have. I will be doing all the work myself, of course. I am a technologist by day, and I have done a lot of construction projects over the years so I have a good foundation of skills and tools to work with. Hopefully, coupling that with all of the great knowledge I have gained, and will continue to gain, from all of you I can make something my family can thoroughly enjoy for years to come.
Here are my main goals for the project, which will ultimately drive the decisions I make along the way.
1. I have 4 young children. This is a space for us to enjoy as a family, which will certainly differ in some ways from an adult focused space. It is also a built in excuse for when I don't make the progress that I should. Funny how that works.
2. Sound proofing is important. I will be trying to do everything I can, within reason, to keep sound in the room. I am resigned to the fact that I won't be watching certain movies at reference level when my children are asleep, but I want it to be as isolated as possible.
3. I want to do everything myself. I don't intend to build my own speakers, but as far as the room goes I won't be contracting anything out. I enjoy doing this type of work in my spare time, and I want the satisfaction that comes with building something with your own hands. Plus, I am afflicted with a certain amount of OCD that would prevent me from having others work in my room. I could probably cure that with therapy, but that money would be better spent on a projector.
4. While budget won't be a primary driver, and I don't have a number in mind to stay within, I will keep my spend to a reasonable amount. I realize that is somewhat subjective, but I would guess I am somewhere in the middle in terms of the rooms I have seen here on AVS. I want a good quality experience, but 30K for a projector isn't for me.
5. Lastly, I want to watch movies. That is why everyone builds these rooms, right?
I don't have everything figured out yet, but I do have some layouts and photos that I will post later tonight or tomorrow. However, I believe I have enough figured out to move forward with construction of the room which I started recently. Mainly, this is demolition of the current space right now. I had to remove all of the existing drywall and sub-floor and start from scratch. I am pretty sure some of my neighbors think I am crazy for demolishing a room in a brand new house, but whatever. I begged the builder to leave it unfinished, but they were not able to do it. At this point, I have removed everything but the ceiling and I am halfway done putting the floor back in place after filling with pink fluffy goodness. I also had to replace a bunch of recessed lights for the room below as the ones they put in were non-IC rated. Figures.
I will post my current progress along with photos and current plans in another post. Hopefully, later tonight. Until then, thanks to all of you that have chronicled your builds over the past several years. I would never have been able to start this without that knowledge. Hopefully, my thread can serve someone else the way so many others did for me. Still so much to figure out along the way, but let the fun begin!
What better use for my 3rd post ever than to start a build thread, right? I have been around the forum for many years, soaking up the knowledge and waiting for the day when I would be able to build one of these great rooms. I almost got there 2 years ago, and I had finished all of the rest of my basement (my wife knew I would never finish it if I worked on the theater at all), but I was suddenly forced to relocate for my job and my opportunity vanished. We finally moved into our new house about 6 months ago, which has a space reserved for a dedicated theater. It is not an ideal space, but after reading so many build threads I am not even sure such a thing exists. Everyone seems to have obstacles, and mine will be no different. The room is roughly 20' x 20' x 9', which is great for the width, but not as much depth as I would like. The other challenge is that it is upstairs, since there are no basements in Florida. Even so, I consider myself very lucky to be able to do this at all, so I am going to make the best of the space I have. I will be doing all the work myself, of course. I am a technologist by day, and I have done a lot of construction projects over the years so I have a good foundation of skills and tools to work with. Hopefully, coupling that with all of the great knowledge I have gained, and will continue to gain, from all of you I can make something my family can thoroughly enjoy for years to come.
Here are my main goals for the project, which will ultimately drive the decisions I make along the way.
1. I have 4 young children. This is a space for us to enjoy as a family, which will certainly differ in some ways from an adult focused space. It is also a built in excuse for when I don't make the progress that I should. Funny how that works.
2. Sound proofing is important. I will be trying to do everything I can, within reason, to keep sound in the room. I am resigned to the fact that I won't be watching certain movies at reference level when my children are asleep, but I want it to be as isolated as possible.
3. I want to do everything myself. I don't intend to build my own speakers, but as far as the room goes I won't be contracting anything out. I enjoy doing this type of work in my spare time, and I want the satisfaction that comes with building something with your own hands. Plus, I am afflicted with a certain amount of OCD that would prevent me from having others work in my room. I could probably cure that with therapy, but that money would be better spent on a projector.
4. While budget won't be a primary driver, and I don't have a number in mind to stay within, I will keep my spend to a reasonable amount. I realize that is somewhat subjective, but I would guess I am somewhere in the middle in terms of the rooms I have seen here on AVS. I want a good quality experience, but 30K for a projector isn't for me.
5. Lastly, I want to watch movies. That is why everyone builds these rooms, right?
I don't have everything figured out yet, but I do have some layouts and photos that I will post later tonight or tomorrow. However, I believe I have enough figured out to move forward with construction of the room which I started recently. Mainly, this is demolition of the current space right now. I had to remove all of the existing drywall and sub-floor and start from scratch. I am pretty sure some of my neighbors think I am crazy for demolishing a room in a brand new house, but whatever. I begged the builder to leave it unfinished, but they were not able to do it. At this point, I have removed everything but the ceiling and I am halfway done putting the floor back in place after filling with pink fluffy goodness. I also had to replace a bunch of recessed lights for the room below as the ones they put in were non-IC rated. Figures.
I will post my current progress along with photos and current plans in another post. Hopefully, later tonight. Until then, thanks to all of you that have chronicled your builds over the past several years. I would never have been able to start this without that knowledge. Hopefully, my thread can serve someone else the way so many others did for me. Still so much to figure out along the way, but let the fun begin!