Non-Dedicated Home Theater Build - A multifunctional use of space

[Deadset]

A Non-Dedicated Home Theater Build - A multifunctional use of space

Below is an outline I plan to cover:

Planning
Construction – framing / HVAC
Wiring
Plumbing
Insulation / Sound proofing
Drywall
Ceiling
Flooring
Doors
Trim
Flooring

A plan and layout is the most important part of the theater / basement build process. Without a plan, you’re going to regret it about midway through and seriously regret it by the time you complete it. I hope this information helps anyone looking to perform a similar addition to their house. I am an electrical engineer by trade, hobbyist when I get home, so I’m not the best woodworker, but if you take enough time you can get the desired results.

Depending on interest in the topic, I’ll start with planning and framing construction and continue from there if it looks like this is needed in the forum.

Phase 1: Planning

My plan was to keep an open floor plan, add a 4th bedroom, mini-bar and a great room that 1/2 will be a theater; the other 1/2 will be a kid’s play area with a space to hang a TV for them. The theater will have a window however it’ll be blocked with blinds and curtains. The overall function of this build is not a screened off room fully dedicated to just viewing movies. I want this to be a room for movies, games, TV and who knows what in the future, so it will stay an open floor plan for that reason. The other reason behind it is I want to keep the house from being too unique if I decide to sell in the future. But really I dig open areas and the less I sectioned off my basement the better.

Starting from scratch is a great way to get exactly what you want; knowing your limitations from the things you cannot change. When you build your own basement theater / multipurpose room know this: You will make changes to plan. However, being open minded and using inspiration along the way is a good thing; just don’t be too close minded if you decide to add a feature that sets you back 2 construction days. It’s worth it in the long run. Keep that point in mind during the entire build. Inspiration comes in many forms, sometimes when you’re really thinking of what to do or just out of a mistake that you turn positive.

To start out with, I came up with a floor plan before the building ever began in Jan 2008.

Here is a bird’s eye view of the basement

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/1...ayout01kh8.jpg

This is the most important step of the entire process as everything hinges on this plan. Measure the outermost walls and everything that is fixed and cannot move, those are your limitations. Next, add the walls, doors, and structures where you want, making sure everything is to scale in whatever program you use.

I went to stores to measure heights of chairs I was interested in, heights of desks and countertops. For instance, I wanted high outlets for chili night at the mini-bar, so just go the stores and measure, account for flooring and rough in the boxes.

The minibar setup

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/6...ayout01ta2.jpg

Now that you have everything on paper, take your main layout and print it out at least 3 times. With red ink, mark where you want outlets on one sheet, overhead lights on another and stereo equipment, cable & phone connections and network runs on the other. Having it written down helps when determining counting the number of boxes to buy, plus I’m a visual person so I can visualize where I want certain things.

Before we move on, note that lightning is important, especially down in the basement. I do have 3 egress windows, however I want to light the basement as if those do not exist. I installed 18 can lights that were nailed up inbetween the rafters and installed 5 ambient mood light receptacles. For the 4th bedroom, I wanted it to feel like I real room, so I installed a real light fixture – b/c I had the headroom for it. Putting together a lighting plan is important.

Switches are also important, make sure you know what the use of the space is before you determine what switches control what lights. Knowing that I would walk into a room, flip on zone 3 can lights (lights over the theater section), walk to that section, turn on mood lighting and turn off the can lights….I know I needed a 3-way switch for those can lights…..rather than walking back to the main switch. It’s little things like that, which will add personal touches and character to your build. Remember you’re not doing this by contractor spec, you’ll be putting comfortable features in….such as outlets not directly behind a headboard if you know the bed position.

Phase 2: Construction – Framing

Now that you have your plan, you can start framing. There are several resources and ways to frame a wall. The most important thing to remember about framing is to keep it level and plumb and while you are nailing up studs, visualize yourself screwing up sheetrock. That will eliminate any floating spots when you’re ready to hang sheetrock.

The way I decided to frame was to install the bottom plate making sure it was straight by snapping chalk lines. Do NOT use the concrete wall as a guide to keeping your wall straight, it will NOT be straight no matter how careful they poured your foundation. Once you have the bottom plate, I used a 6 and ½ foot level taped on a straight 2x4 cut down to act as a guide….when the level was level….I marked on the top rafters where and that’s where I put the top plate. Once the top and bottom plates are in place, the next step is to toe-nail in the studs in place, cutting each one to length. The glorious thing about basements is that each stud could be off just a 1/16th or 32nd, so each one was custom cut.

Note that framing is done with 16" centers from the studs, you can pre-mark these on the top and bottom plates before or after you secure them, that way you can easily just nail up the studs. It should also be noted that for corners, I used a square - a rather large square to get the corners just right. You can also use the 3/4/5 triangle method for closets....or a quick and dirty method is measure diagonally from corner 1 to corner 3 and corner 2 to corner 4...they should be the same give or take a 32nd of an inch, that will ensure a square room / closet / storage area.

The way I did it was tedious; you could build a wall and raise it up. However, I prefer the custom fit way as I didn’t want to shim the wall up. I felt this way provided a better fit. It’s personal preference.

Below are pics of my framing with a short description of challenges I ran into. Stay tuned for more on HVAC, wiring and more.

This was one of the first days working, I started framing around what would be the bathroom and set the tub


Another shot from the hall / furnace room. I bought the fixtures ahead of time so I could get a good idea where to place the vanity and mirror.


This wall separates the laundry room and bathroom. You can see the stub in for the toilet and the sink drain. The small sink drain was framed into the wall and connected to the vent stack which is in the laundry ceiling and connects out to the roof. This is code as every sink has to vent.


Framing of the doors for the bathroom, there are king studs next to the normal studs that hold the header studs. You want to leave a few inches around the size of door you decide on and shim it in later.


This is a shot of the bedroom framing, just building the skeleton of the basement.


Another skeleton shot, you can see my level on a stick to get the wall plumb and level.


A good ½” hammer drill with concrete bits sets the tapcon screws to hold the bottom plate.


Sometimes when you frame, the wall doesn’t line up with the rafters, runs parallel, so this is a pic of blocking I installed so I had something to nail the top plate to


All nailing was done with this compressor and nail gun, save a lot of time, you don’t need a high end one, just one such as this that runs about 250 bucks


Pic of framing around the egress window, it’s pretty easy, just start with the side pieces and nail in the headers with the supports


Another shot of the long wall, skeleton is now growing! You can see my RG6 cable dangling from the joist, I had the cable co rough in a few lines free of charge 


Another pic of blocking, it’s important to note that I pre-drilled those. The glu-lams would have been tough to just pop a screw through there


Pic of my work area with a bottom & top plate installed


Pic of window and framing around duct work, slowly working my way around the outside of the basement before I do any interior walls


Went back and filled in the gaps with header boards and supports, 16” on center of course 


Another shot of the wall, this wall is orthogonal to projector screen wall


Here’s a framing pic around the duct work in the bedroom, instead of using 2x2’s like most sites recommend, I found them too flimsy, so I opted for 2x4 ‘short’ walls around them, they turned out great.


Another pic of the 2x4 framing around the duct work, I wanted to hide everything from site so framing around it was essential in getting that finished look at the end of the project


Here is an interesting pic of me clamping and hanging a ‘short’ wall around the duct work, it was 17 foot long


Whew! Short wall is up, you can see upstairs cold air return foil board and a few shots of the phone / cable wiring.


Finally finished covering all the duct work


So that I would have heat in the basement, I made several trunk runs for vents in the rooms. Menards sells collars you can install, just place them on the trunk, mark with a sharpie, cut out with a metal bit using a rotozip, install the collar and foil tape off, then add a few self tapping screws


Pic of the vent extension and boot


I taped it off during construction as I didn’t want to heat / cool the basement while it was under construction


Framing around the cold air return and heat duct


Here is a pic of framing around the furnace room, even though there is a door there, frame as you would a wall, when you rough in the door, you can always cut out the bottom plate where the door will be with a reciprocating saw


This is an early pic of the DVD/Blu-ray storage area, if you look in my gallery you can see the finished pic of it.


Another shot of my closet for blu-ray storage, it doubles as a cold air return. I installed collars to connect into the cold air return and using the 2x4 framing, I created an air channel in between them using foil board.


Pic of the pocket door, I wanted to use that corner for book shelves and just couldn’t get up space using a standard swing door


Here is a pic of the bedroom closet framing, again I used a pocket door frame you can pickup these at lowes or Menards already preformed, just rough them in and install


I used a 22 cal nailgun to install the pocket frames to the concrete


Here is the tool, I bought the cheaper one and used a 3lb sledge to hit the pin which shoots the 22 cal and nail into the floor, it’s pretty cool, but be careful when you do this


Here is an early shot of me setting up the boundaries for my mini-bar, which backs up to the under the stairs closet. I decided to come out 28” and frame around them so the the bar wouldn’t just look like it was floating in the room, I wanted walls around it.


Another early shot of the mini-bar area, also to the left you’ll see the framing I did to conceal the upstairs main drain. I wanted to hide all aspects, so I also framed in a closet around the main drain. Even further left is my smooth fox terrier Murdoc 


Early shot of the mini-bar area and just to the right you’ll see built in storage 1, which will house more movies. That one is different that the built in storage that doubles as a cold air return.


Ok that’s about it for now, I’ll be back with more tips on framing and then move onto wiring.

[Twitch9]

Looks good so far, nice job on the framing, i went metal in my build, but my room is a quarter of the size, plus it's a dedicated HT room so no support is needed on the walls for hanging stuff. How are you going to do your vapor barrier if your planning on one that is. This was the biggest conflict in opinions when doing research on this topic, so i did a standard 6mm poly i didn't feel it was a big deal since i only had a 6' outside wall that i had to do this to. I'm just finishing up my drywall as we speak.

Keep the pics coming

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by Twitch9

Looks good so far, nice job on the framing, i went metal in my build, but my room is a quarter of the size, plus it's a dedicated HT room so no support is needed on the walls for hanging stuff. How are you going to do your vapor barrier if your planning on one that is. This was the biggest conflict in opinions when doing research on this topic, so i did a standard 6mm poly i didn't feel it was a big deal since i only had a 6' outside wall that i had to do this to. I'm just finishing up my drywall as we speak.

Keep the pics coming

I've seen metal studs used in commercial settings and some condos for fire codes, but haven't heard of someone using them in residential. I guess if you don't want to hang anything, they would work great, plus they are easy to cut.

I read alot about vapor barriers and what it really boils down to is you want to keep the cold air and warmer air separate so that it doesn't condense. I read that some people in more humid climates will paint on a vapor barrier right on the concrete walls and then install block foam insulation, then frame around that.

Personally, I live in the north-western mid west, our nominal humidity and dewpoints are 40% and lower. So I wasn't really worried about too much moisture wicking its way through the walls. Also, when they built the house, the wrapped it and sealed from the outside.

When I installed the insulation, I used the plastic covered Comfort Therm from JM. It was easy to staple up inbetween the studs, and the plastic cover was there just in cast moister did seep in through the walls, so it wouldn't get into the insulation and mold. Then I did use 6 mil plastic and covered the outside walls, stapled it all the way around.

Maybe it was an overkill, not sure but that's how I treated it, I really don't want my sheetrock getting wet. Another note which you probably already know, but when you rock, make sure to use at least 1/2" spacers when positioning the sheetrock so that it doesn't come into contact with the concrete. I used 3/4" ones just some scrap pieces of ply board work good to keep the rock off the ground.

Now for someone who is thinking of finishing their basement, take a piece of paper and tape it on the walls and floor all summer long, if the paper gets damp when it's extremely humid, then you'll need to seal everything, especially in older homes.

I think you did the old standbye when it comes to vapor barrier, I did as well, however the insulation I used was also covered in plastic. As for drywall, I used green board in the laundry room and bathroom. For those in older homes afraid of mold - they can use green board in the entire basement. It'll cost more, but it's a bit of insurance.

Thanks for the kind comments, I'll be posting / editing the main post more later this week.

[Beta Man]

ENVIOUS.....

Looks like a great space to work with, and the fact that you're obviously capable of doing much of the work yourself is gonna save you a ton...... I can drywall, finish, etc... but I'm certainly no Framer.......

What do you think (honestly) the construction (not equipment) is going to set you back? How many SQ feet is the room?

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

ENVIOUS.....

Looks like a great space to work with, and the fact that you're obviously capable of doing much of the work yourself is gonna save you a ton...... I can drywall, finish, etc... but I'm certainly no Framer.......

What do you think (honestly) the construction (not equipment) is going to set you back? How many SQ feet is the room?

If you can dryall, you can frame I used a rolling air compressor with a nail gun, the trickest part is just getting the wall straight, level and plumb. I used various methods to achieve this. At one point I used an old fashioned plumb bob just to make sure on one wall that looked off to me. Plumb bobs don't lie The level on a stick worked out great for me, even though my house is fairly new, 2006, I was surprised at how the walls vary. A 32nd of an inch off isn't too bad, but when you start seeing an 1/8th of an inch off or more, you can really notice just how off things can be.

I read many books on how to do this correctly before I even started, this was my first large undertaking of building and I'm glad it turned out well, sure there are some things I probably should have done differently, but overall I'm pleased. Just for the record, everything is done, I just need to catalog it all in the post

The space is just about 1200 sqft, that includes rooms like the furnance room, bathroom and laundry room. The main rec room area is probably about 850 sqft.

I have done some rough estimates on costs and I have all the receipts from Menards, Lowes, Ace, Runnings, and other places I picked up supplies.

I beilieve the lumber alone cost me just about $1000, at an average price of $2 a stud. A box of nails can run about $40 and I think I ran through about 3 boxes, 1000 nails per box. I did frame in some 2x6's in the laundry room to hide the dryer vent pipe, otherwise the big vent pipe would have had to run on the surface of the drywall.

The total cost is estimated to be at 15-16k. Big ticket items I'll list below:

Drywall tape & texture: hired out $2000 cash
Thick carpet, 8lb per sq inch density pad with anti microbial stuff in it: $3600
Wiring: ~ $1500 in wire, switches and outlets.
Plumbing: ~ $2500 (toilet, sink, pex pipe, fittings, mini-bar sink, vent pipes)

Tape & texture and installing carpet are 2 things I didn't want to learn how to do...plus by the time I got to those milestones, I was so worn out it was worth just self contracting that out.

[VinnAY]

Envious that youre doing (most of it) yourself.

[typ44q]

that room looks great!, one of the main reasons I want to eventually own my own home instead of rent is to do something like that.

[swilliams]

Just take your time .It took me 3 years i finally finished in april 2009 . I had a limited budget, a wife that did not under stand ,now she love's it . two small children that i had to build around and make multi purpose family room and theater(child proof) just dont go cheap on your equipment. Ibought one piece at a time .now i love the room .I dont now if you plan to add a pc but think about it. i have my connected to many home theater . so if im lazy and dont feel like putting in a disc. from my couch i log in to netflix with my wireless mouse and watch a downloaded movie.

[swilliams]

For wiring check out parts express .com Cable and other items your going to need are at a reasonable price you will save a lot of money. just make sure your cables are cl2 rated for inwall installations.Oh go Hdmi if you can it will make your life easier down the line