The Old Theater
Hello,
My name is Steve, and the first thing I would like to do is thank everyone that has offered their tips and advice and for those that have shared their own theater building projects in this forum. All of you have helped to motivate me to begin my quest to build a home theater and Finish the entire basement.
My family and I have been waiting a long time to begin finishing the basement in our home. We have recently had a new air handler installed (not electrically connected yet) to service the basement it is a good size basement (2500 square feet); the main floor and second floor consist of 2800 square feet so the first air handler is handling that portion of the home. As you will see we are dealing with several lines of heat ducting going through the space that has been chosen for the theater room. This room has the following dimensions 20 X 16 x 9' 6"
I will use this thread as a way to track the progress of this endeavor and will update it accordingly. I will try to make it as detailed as possible and share the results along the way. Quite frankly I will be asking a lot of questions as well because this will be my first attempt at building a home theater. I hope this thread and your continued tips and advice will be the tools to continue to motivate me to make this a reality.
I will be contracting out the electrical work and some of the framing immediately but will try to do most of the rest myself.
I have already acquired a projector and built a 140+ screen, the audio equipment is also on hand. In fact, all the theater equipment is up and running in an adjoining room with dimensions of 11'6" X 22 X 9 (this room has quite a bit of concrete surrounding it and would quickly become very narrow limiting the choices for seating arrangements, screen size, acoustics, etc...
I have attached pictures of the room pointing out some of the issues that must be overcome:
1. Facing wall location where 140” screen will be placed requires additional framing to mount the screen or will have to be framed to accommodate a perforated screen and speakers.
2. Rigid HVAC ducting coming off air handler running from front to back of the theater room, this system services main floor upstairs and second floor 2800 sq feet. May look into relocating this into the adjoining room.
3. Air Handler in adjoining room up against front left corner of theater room. Will have to isolate the noise from the theater room side as the builder did not leave any room to install drywall in the adjoining room. Need advice on this?
4. Doorway to future rest room and kitchenette, will need to remove or relocate to allow room for stage and speaker placement.
5. Main return line of new air handler installed to service 2500 sq foot basement, may not be a problem....
Note: with 5800 square feet being treated with TWO HVAC UNITS there are several lines coming through this room, will need to reroute as much as possible in order to save as much headroom as possible. May route the supply line to this room right next to the return line to save room in the ceiling above the theater.
6. Doorway exiting basement at back of room, this wioll be removed and relocated.
7. Window in back of room will be removed.
8. Cutout for fireplace in back of room will be used to house all the electronics.
Original Outline for Construction Steps (please feel free to chime in if I missed something or have it out of order):
1. Install new air handler (done)
2. Move existing HVAC lines if possible.
3. Remove doorway and window and frame up back wall. At this time the rest of the basement will be framed out as well so that the basement is ready for the electricians.
4. Run electrical and lighting to all rooms at one time to save cost on labor.
5. Run Speaker, RCA, Cat5e, Cat3e wiring, etc..
6. Install insulation and fiberglass panels
7. Install Whisper Clips and Hat channel on ceiling and walls.
8. triple drywall and green glue ceiling.
9. double drywall and green glue walls.
10. Install star panels
11. Install floating floor
12. Apply acoustical sealant as required.
13. Install columns and sconces
14. Install stage and wiring
15. Line stage and fill with sand
16. Install riser and wiring
17. Line riser with insulation.
18. Install Bass Treatments
19. Install Carpet
20. Install Screen
21. Install Projector and electronics
22. Install molding
23 Install seats
24. Install Solid wooden exterior door(s) weather stripping and bottom threshold isolation devices.
25. acoustical analysis and treatment

Hello,
My name is Steve, and the first thing I would like to do is thank everyone that has offered their tips and advice and for those that have shared their own theater building projects in this forum. All of you have helped to motivate me to begin my quest to build a home theater and Finish the entire basement.
My family and I have been waiting a long time to begin finishing the basement in our home. We have recently had a new air handler installed (not electrically connected yet) to service the basement it is a good size basement (2500 square feet); the main floor and second floor consist of 2800 square feet so the first air handler is handling that portion of the home. As you will see we are dealing with several lines of heat ducting going through the space that has been chosen for the theater room. This room has the following dimensions 20 X 16 x 9' 6"
I will use this thread as a way to track the progress of this endeavor and will update it accordingly. I will try to make it as detailed as possible and share the results along the way. Quite frankly I will be asking a lot of questions as well because this will be my first attempt at building a home theater. I hope this thread and your continued tips and advice will be the tools to continue to motivate me to make this a reality.
I will be contracting out the electrical work and some of the framing immediately but will try to do most of the rest myself.
I have already acquired a projector and built a 140+ screen, the audio equipment is also on hand. In fact, all the theater equipment is up and running in an adjoining room with dimensions of 11'6" X 22 X 9 (this room has quite a bit of concrete surrounding it and would quickly become very narrow limiting the choices for seating arrangements, screen size, acoustics, etc...
I have attached pictures of the room pointing out some of the issues that must be overcome:
1. Facing wall location where 140” screen will be placed requires additional framing to mount the screen or will have to be framed to accommodate a perforated screen and speakers.
2. Rigid HVAC ducting coming off air handler running from front to back of the theater room, this system services main floor upstairs and second floor 2800 sq feet. May look into relocating this into the adjoining room.
3. Air Handler in adjoining room up against front left corner of theater room. Will have to isolate the noise from the theater room side as the builder did not leave any room to install drywall in the adjoining room. Need advice on this?
4. Doorway to future rest room and kitchenette, will need to remove or relocate to allow room for stage and speaker placement.
5. Main return line of new air handler installed to service 2500 sq foot basement, may not be a problem....
Note: with 5800 square feet being treated with TWO HVAC UNITS there are several lines coming through this room, will need to reroute as much as possible in order to save as much headroom as possible. May route the supply line to this room right next to the return line to save room in the ceiling above the theater.
6. Doorway exiting basement at back of room, this wioll be removed and relocated.
7. Window in back of room will be removed.
8. Cutout for fireplace in back of room will be used to house all the electronics.
Original Outline for Construction Steps (please feel free to chime in if I missed something or have it out of order):
1. Install new air handler (done)
2. Move existing HVAC lines if possible.
3. Remove doorway and window and frame up back wall. At this time the rest of the basement will be framed out as well so that the basement is ready for the electricians.
4. Run electrical and lighting to all rooms at one time to save cost on labor.
5. Run Speaker, RCA, Cat5e, Cat3e wiring, etc..
6. Install insulation and fiberglass panels
7. Install Whisper Clips and Hat channel on ceiling and walls.
8. triple drywall and green glue ceiling.
9. double drywall and green glue walls.
10. Install star panels
11. Install floating floor
12. Apply acoustical sealant as required.
13. Install columns and sconces
14. Install stage and wiring
15. Line stage and fill with sand
16. Install riser and wiring
17. Line riser with insulation.
18. Install Bass Treatments
19. Install Carpet
20. Install Screen
21. Install Projector and electronics
22. Install molding
23 Install seats
24. Install Solid wooden exterior door(s) weather stripping and bottom threshold isolation devices.
25. acoustical analysis and treatment