Hobbit's HT Basement Build

[deltatauhobbit]

While I'm just starting the thread now, I've actually been working on finishing out the basement coming up on two years this May. Bought the house almost 3 years ago, waited a year to see if any issues would pop up (flooding, etc). For the most part, it was problem free, only some leaking around the basement windows that was solved by installing some shallow wells on the outside and the occasional main line backup of greywater (which I solved by buying a motorized snake and running it through every 3-4 months, it's a little smaller than the ones real plumbers use).

It's pretty slow going but I haven't been in any rush either. I've been doing all the work by myself except for the electrical wiring, I hung all the cans and outlets but left the actual wiring to the electrician. I needed to upgrade the power box anyway since all the breakers were being used with pretty much all of them being split, so that was a worthwhile investment beyond my skill set. Overall, I probably average only 2-3 hours a week on it and there have been a few unmotivated months where I didn't put any work in. Helps spread the cost out though since there's still plenty of stuff left to buy.

I decided to start the thread since the theater/bar room is finally coming together and I'm hoping to have a projector up and running in time for my birthday this July, but that will be a budget issue more than a time issue.


Here is the floor plan I drew up in CAD:


Here is the ceiling plan:



The entire basement was left unfinished and kind of dingy. The slab is uneven in many spots (quite a few dips in the 1/4" range), the entire basement was only lit by two bulbs, 1'x1.5' slab hole was cut for access to some basement pipes, and a couple nasty partitions from awhile ago.

Here are a few shots of the unfinished basement (with loads of my crap down there, made for some difficulty arranging until I got shelving units). These were taken back in March of 2013.


Photo facing the future theater wall (in front of oil tank):


Photo facing the bar area (opposite end of theater):


Photo facing back corner where I plan on putting a half bath:


Photo facing towards the laundry area (the post in the shot will be the end of a 2x10 partition wall):


Photo of the stairs (partial shot of the furnace area and the theater area):




This is the start of the work. These few photos were taken back in May of 2013. For the exterior walls, I strapped 2" rigid insulation by using screw anchors through 1x3's and then hung the 2x4's off the strapping.

Photo towards the bar corner:


Another photo towards the bar corner from the laundry area:


Photo toward the future bathroom, not much done, pretty much laying up insulation sheets at this point:




Coming up soon will be photos taken tonight of the progress I've made. You're going to see a big difference, for some reason I thought I took intermediate photos of the partitions being built and drywall starting to be hung, etc. Turns out, I did not . Maybe if I had started this thread when I first joined, I would have thought of it.

[deltatauhobbit]

Just took some photos tonight of my progress over the past two years. It's been pretty much two years to the date that I started. The photos above are from March 2013 and now it's March 2015.

All the lights have been installed per the reflected ceiling plan above. I have the lights separated on different switch. The (4) cans in the laundry room are on one switch, the (4) cans in the bar area are on another and the (4) cans in the theater and the (1) light in the area outside the bathroom is the final one. Each section are dimmable to set the mood (the area looks much better when the lights are set at 50% instead of full like they will be in the photos. There's also a separate light in the future bathroom on a switch and another light in the oil tank room on a switch.

Since the ceiling height is only 6'-9" (already below code), I can't finish the ceiling. The code guy said it's okay since all the houses in the neighborhood are that way and there isn't much you can do, I just can't shorten the height much more (gonna do it with the flooring but what's 3/4 of an inch). I thought of paint the ceiling black, but ugh, what a mess with it raining down on ya. Instead, I'm going to staple black tulle to the underside of the joists. It's flame resistant (it doesn't burn, it melts), it's wicked cheap, still provides access to the rafter space and finishes the ceiling black like I want.


Here is a photo of the bar area. The partition wall between the bar and the laundry room has been completed. All walls on the bar and theater side have been taped and mudded, primed and painted. For the two back walls, I put up brick facade to make it more pub-like. You can see in the corner what kind of flooring I'll be putting down. It's 5/8" vinyl tiles with a wood pattern on top. Completely mold and mildew resistant tiles, even if the basement floods, those suckers should be fine. For colors, I went with black and a dark red color. The baseboard trim will like be a dark stained cherry, similar to the bar in the photo. I need to add trim where the brick meets the wall edges to cover up some of the gap.


Here a picture of the other corner of the bar area. I'm building in a bookshelf into the wall. Went with this idea because at the bottom, the water main intake is located there and sticks out about 6". This way, I can cover it up (there is a small removable hatch that you can make out, in case I need to shut off the water). Still need to get 1x6's to make the shelving units, I plan on staining it a dark cherry color. The red wall on the left is the beginning portion of the theater area. Each section pretty much takes up 50% of the room. Total room size is about 22'x11'.


This is a picture of the theater wall. The partition covers up the oil take behind it. You can see the upgrade circuit box on the right. Had to upgrade the breaker size, I think it went from 20 breakers to 30, so a 50% increase in capacity which is helpful since much of the house had split lines, eek! The wall is 8' across. I figure I'll be able to install a 16:9 92-96" fixed screen on the wall. I plan on having dark red curtains on both sides of the screen to make it more theater-like as well as valances on the top and bottom of the screen.


Here's a picture of the stairway. I've build a sloping half wall since there was nothing before (it also helped stabilize the stairs since they were kind of rickety). Walls are essentially finished but I need to add a wood cap to the sloped wall as well as install redi-treads and riser boards. I had planned on staining the risers and treads all a dark cherry to match the rest of the wood trim but my girlfriend came up with a cool idea. We're going to back the risers all black and paint the Star Wars opening crawl with the letters smaller at the top and bigger at the bottom to simulate it.


This is the back corner where the half bath is going. Walls have been framed up and sheathed. I've done most of the taping and mudding, just need to sand it for primer and paint. Head room is a bit low because I boxed out the vent, fortunately I'm short so I'll never bump my head even after the floor is installed.


Here is another shot looking into the bathroom, currently used as storage.


This is underneath the stairs. I need to tape up and finish the underside but it's currently being used to store most of the floor tiles. After I get the main room floor installed, I'll be able to wrap that section up and finish the hallway.


Here is a photo looking into the laundry area. Still plenty of work to do in there. The back wall isn't sheathed yet since I was planning on having an egress window installed and that would mean cutting up the work there. But since it's costs about 5 grand to install, I don't have that money right now, maybe in a few years though. I figure, if I ever get the final inspection performed, I'll install it then, or if we ever decide to sell the house. I'll be able to do more work in here once I finish the main room and can shuffle some stuff in there since it's quite crowded with items.


Just another shot of the bookshelf straight on. The shelving will be just deep enough to store blu rays, or maybe other memorabilia like small replica's or beer bottles I've collected over the years (I'm a bit of a beer geek, there's about $1000 worth of beer in that bar, some of which date back to 2006).


Another photo of the theater area. The long red wall will look good with some movie posters put up. I've already got some Full Moon 11x17's framed in my office I plan on moving down.




There's still plenty of work for me to do. Since I only put in a few hours a week, I'll probably be still be at it this time next year.Like I said though, I'm hoping to have the theater portion up and running this July. I plan on getting a Benq W1070 with a fixed screen on the wall. I played with an idea of a pull down screen that way I can have a couple posters framed behind it, but I read enough stories about wavy screens that I'd prefer just go with fixed.

I'll be putting some time in on the flooring tonight and this weekend, hoping to have the entire room floored with those tiles. My Roberts 2-in-1 underlayment arrived from Amazon today. Once those tiles are out from under the stairs, I can wrap up that back corner area.

I had seriously been lazy with this project the last few months. But once I've primed and painted that room and have seen what it can look like, I've kicked it into high gear... for now.

[deltatauhobbit]

So it's been about 6 months since the last update. Still plugging away at it and I'm thinking completion date should be the end of this month if I don't go through a lazy spell.

The entire floor has been finished. The vinyl tiles I bought went together pretty well, they handled all the dips in the concrete floor and for massive dips I just kept piling on the vapor barrier cushion until it was more level. The main room used a faux cherry wood look (that you can see in one of the previous photos) while the bathroom and the laundry room used a faux marble, helps divide up the area nicely and works better with the different paint colors that were used.

Laundry room has been sanded, primed and painted. Also picked up a couple base cabinet units with long top that attached them together. Makes for a good folding surface, also helped add some storage space and use up some of the open space in that area.

Bathroom has also been sanded, primed and painted. Got the door installed. Bought the bathroom vanity and mirror but haven't installed it yet since I'm not buying the toilet until this winter when I can have it installed. So that will be the final construction project but since it won't make much of a mess I don't want it holding up the theater.

I tried stapling the black tulle to the ceiling joists but the visibility through it was too much even after a few layers so I've abandoned that idea. I've heard of using black landscaping fabric but I think I'm just going to take my time and paint it black. No real rush on that though, I could just putter away doing that over the course of a year.

Finished the stairway last week, got all the stair treads & risers stained and polyurethaned and installed. Much nicer looking than the open stairs that were there, my dog is still too scared to go down these steps though. Made a minor mistake that's a bit late to correct but it's not very obvious. Never noticed that the top step is slightly taller than the rest, probably by about 1/2". So even though the treads have a nose that goes down, the riser did not interlock so there's actually a bit of a gap between the top of the riser and the bottom of the tread nose. Causes you to see the actual stair underneath but the gap is only about 1/4" and with the lighting it's hard to see.

Currently working on the built-in bookcase as the final project in the main room. Picked up the oak boards last night and I'm working on cutting them down to size and ripping them to the needed depth. I don't have a table saw so I'm taking my time with a circular saw except the batteries I have barely hold a charge now. After two and a half years, I'm not surprised the two batteries I had are quitting on me. The new battery I'm charging right now will get me through the rest of the project and then some. Not sure if I'll bother staining any of the boards tonight, depends on how long it takes to get everything cut.

I'm holding off on any more photos since the place looks like crap with all the building supplies still in the way, sawdust on the floor and a huge mat of cardboard that I've been staining on. Hoping to provide the last of the construction photos at the end of this month for the finished project.

Then comes the fun part, setting up the aesthetics of the man cave. Still need to buy the Benq W1070 project. I'm now debating whether I want to go with a fixed screen on the wall or go with an electric drop down screen. If I went electric, it would definitely be tab-tensioned to eliminate the waves as much as possible although it adds quite a bit of cost vs the fixed screen. The only reason I'm considering it is because I've been getting some movie prints to hang up and using the drop down screen would allow that entire wall for display.

[Blu Lemmy]

Good job, I like what you are doing.

Shame we don't have this kind of space in the UK......I am alsways jealous when visting this forum, lots of great work being done.

[Riddler The Slag]

This looks very promising! Cannot wait to see final pictures.

[deltatauhobbit]

Got some pictures, major construction is finally over!

Here's a picture looking towards the future screen wall. I'll be adding some dark red curtains on both sides to shield the electrical room and the hallway. You'll notice a Wicked Witch to the right, got that at Spirit Halloween a few years ago, she'll be going outside soon but right now she fits in quite well in the theater room.



Picture looking back at the bar. The futon is a temporary thing. We've had it in the attic since we upgraded our couch a couple years ago. Got a sectional picked out, just need to save up for it.



Shot of built-in bookcase. Made it a peg system out of oak boards so I can adjust the shelves wherever I want. Made a couple measurement errors so there's couple holes where they shouldn't be .



Here's a closer shot. Moved all the DVD's down here temporarily since I ran out of shelf space upstairs and I had a couple boxes of blu's that needed unpacking.

[deltatauhobbit]

Shot of the finished staircase, so much nicer looking and more stable than what existed a couple years ago.



Shot of the staircase and the back hallway, all nice and painted and a door to the future bathroom installed.



Shot of the hallway.



Future bathroom still being used for storage until I buy an upflush toilet.



Got the sink and mirror though!



Shot of the laundry room. Got a couple base cabinets with countertop, really helped fill out some space in there and is quite useful. Got a quote for an egress window, would run around 5k so I'm skipping that until I either get caught by code enforcement or we decide to sell (which my girlfriend likes to joke about now that I finished down there).

[deltatauhobbit]

And now for some toys!!! This came in the mail on Monday. I decided to go with the W1085ST instead of the W1070, it just made more sense to use a short throw projector so it's in front of the seating area than right on top of it (or behind it). Won't have to worry about shadow puppets whenever I get up.



Decided to project it on the wall to get an idea of the overall size, looks to be a good size for me! This is pretty much 100" 16:9 dimension being projected on the wall at the moment.



Since the W1085ST ran a couple hundred dollars extra, I decided downgrade what type of screen I was going to go with. I had decided on an Elite Saker Tab-Tensioned screen but went with a manual dropdown screen as a temporary solution (at a difference of $600, I'll put up with some waves until I upgrade sometime next year). The screen should arrive this Friday.

Also picked up a region free player from 220 Electronics. Went with the Sony BDP-S5200, got them to accept on eBay for $140 instead of the $169 they charge on their website. Player should be arriving Thursday.

Ordered a ceiling mount specific to the W1085ST, should be coming sometime next week so I won't need to stack it on the storage bins for much longer.

Looking at a Yamaha 5.1 system with receiver but I was darned surprised how loud the project speaker worked when I hooked up my tablet and played something. Certainly adequate until I put in a purchase for the speakers.

Pretty much the only thing left is to have a plumber come in to hook up the bathroom, December would be the earliest but I'm not in any rush anymore, might be nice to kick back and enjoy it for awhile. I also want to paint the ceiling flat black but that's something I'll do a little at a time whenever I feel motivated. The photos make it look much brighter up there because of the flash but it's surprising dark when under the lights and since I can dim them it's not much of an issue. The duct does need to be painted though.

[deltatauhobbit]

Since construction is essentially done, I'll probably end this thread and create a new one over in the gallery forum soon.

Things are still coming together piece by piece. The manual screen and the 5.1 system came in the mail last week, got the screen and speakers hung and wired up just in time for some weekend watching. The ceiling mount also arrived so that's finally in place as well.

The components cabinet should be arriving tomorrow. Everything will be placed under the stairs and out of the way. I tried to come up with an arrangement where it wouldn't look so awkward in the main room but it wasn't possible. Picked up an IR extender so the remotes will work from around the corner. Haven't needed to use it since the components are in the open at the moment but once in the cabinet it will be needed.

Might have made a couple home theater converts when some friends finally got to view it in action.