New unfinished basement - $30K fair or no?

[ShootingBlanks]

Hello -

I'm looking into buying a new place. I'd like to get one with an unfinished basement to turn into a dedicated theater room. Going totally from nothing but an empty basement (no A/V equipment, no building materials), is $30k enough to make this happen? I'm looking for front projection, a 10' screen, and six decent recliner seats.

I should clarify...I'm sure $30k is "enough". I mean, there's so many varying levels of quality. But how decent of a room/setup could I get for that cost?

Thanks!

[vega2K]

Originally Posted by ShootingBlanks

Hello -

I'm looking into buying a new place. I'd like to get one with an unfinished basement to turn into a dedicated theater room. Going totally from nothing but an empty basement (no A/V equipment, no building materials), is $30k enough to make this happen? I'm looking for front projection, a 10' screen, and six decent recliner seats.

I should clarify...I'm sure $30k is "enough". I mean, there's so many varying levels of quality. But how decent of a room/setup could I get for that cost?

Thanks!

Depending on the square footage, I can see the $30K going just for the finishing of the basement. I am assuming you will not do the work yourself and it would require electrical work, heating and possibly plumbing work. If you will do it yourself, then maybe the $30K is doable. I would go to a Home Depot and start tallying the cost of drywall, inulation, 2X4's, etc. to get a better idea. My opinion.

[Fors*]

Also, make sure it is water proof. We had to have ours water-proofed before it was finished and that cost us $10,000 alone!

[ShootingBlanks]

Originally Posted by vega2K

I am assuming you will not do the work yourself and it would require electrical work, heating and possibly plumbing work.

Your assumption is half-correct. I should have provided this info in my original post...I have two very good resources who are friends. One of them does general home construction, and the other one does professional audio installation and calibration for high-end home theaters. I was planning on paying my construction friend for his time and helping him out as well on whatever work I could do without screwing it up (so, that would still cost me money but be cheaper than paying a stranger). And I also plan on paying my audio friend for his help (but he gets huge discounts on a/v equipment, which could save me some bucks)...

...So, that being said, is $30k reasonable?

[vega2K]

Originally Posted by ShootingBlanks

Your assumption is half-correct. I should have provided this info in my original post...I have two very good resources who are friends. One of them does general home construction, and the other one does professional audio installation and calibration for high-end home theaters. I was planning on paying my construction friend for his time and helping him out as well on whatever work I could do without screwing it up (so, that would still cost me money but be cheaper than paying a stranger). And I also plan on paying my audio friend for his help (but he gets huge discounts on a/v equipment, which could save me some bucks)...

...So, that being said, is $30k reasonable?

So have you asked for an estimate from your friends? If you tell me the approximate square footage, I can pose the question to a general contractor I have used so that we can get a better answer (or further questions) from someone who knows.

[Al Bundy]

My buddy just finished his basement. He did it himself, and it was just a standard build. Open space, small kitchen, one full bath. It cost him around 20k (Canadian). Square Footage your looking around 700-800. You might be a little short, or the might not be able to get the equipment all at once.

[BluLobsta]

Personally, I would get a Panny TH-85PF12U and sit on milk crates...but if you decide to go the good-judgment route , just the sheer nature of the value of $30000 means very high quality, whatever you spend it on...

[kingofgrills]

It's definitely possible to finish out a basement into a home theater room for $30k. However, it all depends on what you want to do specifically. There's countless questions that must be answered first including:

Will there be any plumbing for a bathroom or wet bar?

Are you wanting just finished and walls with minimal trim, or do you want the built out sconces and pillars seen in some home theater rooms?

Get a gameplan and design down that you want, including equipment, and start bidding it out with your friends and other qualified contractors. As long as you plan accordingly, and realistically, you should be able to complete the room for $30k.

[ShootingBlanks]

Originally Posted by vega2K

So have you asked for an estimate from your friends?

Not formally. I've asked if they'd be willing to help on this theoretical project, and they both said they'd be on-board.

Originally Posted by vega2K

If you tell me the approximate square footage, I can pose the question to a general contractor I have used so that we can get a better answer (or further questions) from someone who knows.

Since I don't have the place yet, I'm not sure. But nothing too monster-sized. I'd guess between 600-800, maybe.

Thanks, everyone!

[Grand Bob]

It all depends "who" does the finishing. If you are hiring contractors, do thorough - and I mean thorough - research to find trustworthy contractors with a proven track record. I had not learned that lesson from the previous three remodels on our house and last year I watched $44,000 walk out the door without any work being done. I had to borrow that amount out of my retirement fund to finish the job.

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by ShootingBlanks

I should clarify...I'm sure $30k is "enough". I mean, there's so many varying levels of quality. But how decent of a room/setup could I get for that cost?

Thanks!

You can look over my basement thread (in sig) to see mine. I spent ~ 15k on ~1200 sqft.

Granted I did most of it myself. If hired out, it'd be more like 30-40K.

[BarkingGhost]

First, I think I am unclear from the original post if this project is just a portion of the basement to be used home theater, or if you are looking to a) finish the entire basement, of which b) you will outfit a home theater.

While pricing can vary from one geographic region to another, the size of the project (square footage), the scope of the project (whole basement, portion), and level of finishing treatment (level of detail), it can range quite large.

When I got quotes for my basement project (no HT included) it went from $32K to over $60K, to one oddball saying it started at $100/SqFt for my 1200 SqFt basement. These were quotes for hiring the GC to carry out the work.

DIY was not an option, but acting as a GC was. I spent $42K, no fixtures in the bath rough-in, but everything else is finished out. I already have the HT equipment (used in a temp HT elsewhere in the home), so aside from seating I should be good.

Mind you this was in the past 15 months and in an Atlanta suburb, but I think depending on where you are and how you carry the project out it could vary in costs quite big.

[ShootingBlanks]

UPDATE SINCE MY ORIGINAL POST: The house has been bought!!!...it's brand new construction that will be finished for us to move in around April, and there's a nice big unfinished basement!

Originally Posted by BarkingGhost

First, I think I am unclear from the original post if this project is just a portion of the basement to be used home theater, or if you are looking to a) finish the entire basement, of which b) you will outfit a home theater.

It's only part of a basement (the basement is full and unfinished, but for the purposes of this project and this posting I am only concerned with the theater room). Here is a theoretical rough PDF of what I'm thinking about doing:

-- link removed - see updated post/link on next page of the thread --

I did this in Visio. As a description of what you're seeing, you can ignore the bathroom part of the diagram (it's just where the rough-in plumbing is at, so in theory that's where I'd do the bathroom project later down the road). What you see in the bottom right is a bar with a little bar-sink and three stools that I'd like to build. Next to that is the wiring/equipment closet. The things on the side walls are just possible DVD/BR shelves, and the thing in front of the closet is just a small table. The rest should be self-explanatory.

For reference, the width on that diagram is about 16' and the depth is about 32'. There are 9' ceilings. I think I'm gonna go even wider, though. There's actually a lot that's up in the air - I'm pretty flexible at this point.

Originally Posted by sentinel41

to what degree are you interested in making the room, more sound proof?

That is a very minimal concern of mine. I'm just mostly concerned with acoustic quality moreso than silencing the upstairs.

Thanks, everyone - come springtime I'm looking forward to starting my home theater construction thread!

[kareface]

To start, room dimensions. Ideally you want a room that meets the golden ratio design. They provide better acoustics then other room sizes. Figure out which of the 3 lengths will be the limiting one based on the ratio and correct the other 2 lengths with new walls and sound treatments. For the walls, you want to use 24" on center studs, if the studs are up against the cement leave a gap between them (the larger the gap the better). If you aren't worried as much about transmission you don't need to use mechanical decoupling but I would highly recommend (in this order) fiber glass insulation, acoustical caulking, green glue (at least 2 tubes per 4/8 sheet) with 2 layers of 5/8th drywall and mass loaded vinyl. Dampening the low end is very hard unless you do it during the building phase of the wall, which is mostly what is suggested above. If you build any platforms, sand is better then insulation but can be tricky to work with. If you have cement floors, using a subflooring system is nice, but at very least use thick carpet pad and shag or high pile carpeting. Use solid core doors, you don't need to go the full mile and get the overpriced thx certified doors. If you take a sheet of MDF or drywall and green glue it to the inside you'll be fine. If possible making a small entryway is better to reduce transmission but it won't hurt the reproduction if you don't have one. You can use some corrugated conduit to help future proof your room.

Things to keep in mind, if you use green glue, remember how thick the wall will be. Things like boxes for outlets need to be mounted so they are right at the edge of the stud. If you use in-wall lighting build small 5/8th MDF enclosures for the lighting and line them with a dampening foam otherwise you'll have huge gaps for sound to pass through. I know that your goal isn't transmission reduction, but this step can be done very easily and in conjunction with the other steps reduces the transmission greatly. Using heavy texturing on walls is good. It helps diffuse standing waves and broadens the sound stage. Don't carpet or pad the walls like so many others do. This isn't a recording studio, you don't want an rt60 of .1 or 0. Absorbing all the reflection will take all the warmth of the room away and make the room sound strange. Humans are accustom to some degree of reverberation, so aim for a .4-.6 rt60 instead. You shouldn't even worry about panels or traps till after the room is built. You can tune the modes after. I can help when you get that far.

People love hiding speakers, in columns, in shelves, in walls built for the theater, behind projection screens. The problem with this, unless a speaker has a crossover designed for it to be placed in a wall, doing any of what I mentioned above will hurt the reproduction of the speaker. Besides the speaker, the 2 largest factors in sound quality are going to be the room and the placement of the speakers. A 20,000$ speaker will sound like crap if you position it wrong. A 300$ speaker will sing if you can design the room and position it ideally. If you have a projector you can get away with hiding a center channel behind the screen (but if you have an option keep it at least 2 feet from the wall if possible), but don't hide your right and lefts. Acoustics shouldn't be secondary to aesthetics. If you are wiring for speakers try and keep your mains and subs (2 being better then 1) 2 feet away from either wall. I can do a more detailed layout if you care, based on the room dimensions.

[ShootingBlanks]

First off, Sentinel - THANK YOU! What a great and informative post! Although I only understood a small fraction of it (), I plan on passing it over to my audio friend as well as my construction friend because I figure that (between the two of them) the whole thing will make sense!

Originally Posted by sentinel41

Ideally you want a room that meets the golden ratio design.

What is that? I assume it's some x:x:x ratio of w:d:h that a room should have?

Originally Posted by sentinel41

Figure out which of the 3 lengths will be the limiting one

If I'm understanding you properly then I'd guess my ceiling would be my limiting length, right? Since I can't alter the 9' ceiling height, but I have full control over the walls?

Originally Posted by sentinel41

I can do a more detailed layout if you care, based on the room dimensions.

I actually may take you up on that, but not just yet. Around the end of January the house will really start to "take its shape". Since I'll have full access to it during the build process, that's when I'm going to go in and get all the real official measurements on the basement (including the exact position of the stairs, pillars, windows, and plumbing). The diagram I posted above is my estimation based on the overall dimensions of the first-floor plan that I received (you can see the floor plan here - click the Interactive Floor Plan tab about midway down the page) and also my foggy memory of where the stairs were and the plumbing was. When I get a real solid accurate set of measurements, I'll probably write back again...

One other thing that I was concerned about (but that you didn't bring up, so maybe it really isn't a concern) is the bar area I had in my diagram. Is that an okay idea? Or is "rattling of bottles" (and anything else I may have not thought of) an issue?

Once again, GREAT post - and thanks again for taking the time!!!