jaydoc's Basement build thread

[jaydoc24]

It has been a long time coming as my wife and I bought our house 6 months ago. I have been a member for longer than that and vowed to make a thread to chronicle my progress. Well, I have been at it as time permits but you all know how one thing lead to another and end up doing more than what I initially intended. Here are pictures showing what we started with...

Okay, yeah...I'm not sure how to post pics inside a forum. I'll see what I need to do.

[Mr. Joshua]

I know you are excited. Keep us posted on the progress.

[HAMP]

Nice work....
We are in the process of getting a new home and hope to close in about a month.

I hope I can get started in about 6 months on my theater I would like to have in my basement.

I gotta make sure she is totally happy with the rest of the house before I can enjoy my own build.

[jaydoc24]

Now to elaborate a little in regards to the process...

When my wife and I were looking at houses that was obviously my "deal breaker" requirement was to have enough space for a dedicated HT. She was fine with that and we purchased this house after looking at 15 others or so. When we moved in the previous owners had already framed and sheetrocked the exterior walls and part of the ceiling. He apparently was confused on how to frame in duct work and the steel I-beam and opted to leave those as is. The walls were also already mudded, sanded, and primed. Initially I was pretty excited about that for obvious reasons. The the fun truly began.

We brought in a plumber (my wife's cousin) and found out the sump pump was shot so we had to buy a new one and we went ahead and put a battery back-up system on it...not really a big deal, just $400 out of pocket. Then we brought in an electrician (a family friend) to install some can lights and switches and while he was working he noticed there were three spots on the walls with hairline cracks floor-to-ceiling in the sheetrock. The culprit, as it turned out, was just inexperience in working with sheetrock as the previous owner just hung it however it went up so there were sheetrock joints without and studs supporting them. They were essentially floating because he did not cut the sheetrock halfway through a stud. The joint was then held together with mud and the expected expansion and contraction had caused the small cracks.

I was not about to have that so I figured I would repair that by cutting out the bad sections, stud-to-stud and floor-to-ceiling, installing additional studs to the older ones and putting up a new section of drywall. After I cut the first hole in the wall we realized there was no insulation at all--just the stud wall and although he used treated 2x4's for the bottom plate (which is pretty standard), he used 2x3's for the actual studs rather than 2x4's (which is odd). Not necessarily wrong, mind you, but unconventional to say the least and I can work with that. After we started adding all these little things up in our head--sump pump not working, the sheetrock job, suspect mudding in some areas, no insulation, etc.--we decided to go ahead and take off all the existing sheetrock to make sure there were no other surprises and to do things correctly rather than putting a Band-Aid on it.

Now I have framed in the ductwork and the I-Beams (and even built a nice little cubby in the framework for a projector, eventually). I have added new framing to some exterior walls and if I knew anything about Photoshop, I'd show you all more of what I mean as far as the new exterior walls. Also, due to a timely episode of Holmes on Homes, I have framed a finished are for under the stairs for the eventual kiddies. I have put up the green mold-resistant sheetrock in the sump pump room and am ready to begin insulating the exterior walls. Once those are insulated with R-13 unfaced batts of insulation, I will install a 4-mil vapor barrier and than will be ready to sheetrock the walls. I will obviously finished sheetrocking the ceiling first as is standard order of operations. I plan to update with pics as progress happens. Thanks for following and I hope you enjoy this process with me.

[NorCo_1806]

Here's photo one:
***edit*** removed picture, it was huge and is now elsewhere


and of course, you're running wires (electric & audio/video) before you drywall everything, right??

[jaydoc24]

Originally Posted by NorCo_1806

Here's photo one:

Okay, so once I post the pic where it has to be clicked to be seen, then I can imbed them with this code? Thanks for the help, I'll try the others.

[kareface]

You also might consider rotating your images to the correct perspective prior to uploading them.

[jaydoc24]

Originally Posted by kareface

You also might consider rotating your images to the correct perspective prior to uploading them.

Yeah, I messed that up too, sorry about that. I have now fixed them. You can see them in my gallery.

[P@t_Mtl]

It's always great to see a HT being built. Look's like you will have a nice place, can't wait to see the end results

[jaydoc24]

Originally Posted by kareface

You also might consider rotating your images to the correct perspective prior to uploading them.

I love your theater by the way. Those speakers are B-E-A-Utiful!

[kareface]

Originally Posted by jaydoc24

Yeah, I messed that up too, sorry about that. I have now fixed them. You can see them in my gallery.

Much better, lol.

[jaydoc24]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

It's always great to see a HT being built. Look's like you will have a nice place, can't wait to see the end results

Thanks, I really like it but it is a lot of work. Me either!

[kurtis21]

I remember those days Jdoc24....i also was a DIY'er. My theater has been done now for 3 1/2 years. Wow how the time flys From what I can see it's looking good! All that I can recommend is like NorCo_1806 said...make sure you run ALL of your wires beforehand!! I also ran TWO HDMI cables from my projector to my component area...just in case one went bad! You don't want to have to rip down walls to replace a cable!! I also ran extra speaker wire for a 7.1 setup (I only had a 5.1 at the time) and i'm VERY happy that I did!! But it looks great so far...keep us posted!

[jaydoc24]

Originally Posted by kurtis21

I remember those days Jdoc24....i also was a DIY'er. My theater has been done now for 3 1/2 years. Wow how the time flys From what I can see it's looking good! All that I can recommend is like NorCo_1806 said...make sure you run ALL of your wires beforehand!! I also ran TWO HDMI cables from my projector to my component area...just in case one went bad! You don't want to have to rip down walls to replace a cable!! I also ran extra speaker wire for a 7.1 setup (I only had a 5.1 at the time) and i'm VERY happy that I did!! But it looks great so far...keep us posted!

I have ran all the wires I can think of, but the two HDMI cables idea is genius...I never thought of that and man would that suck. Nice to have fellow DIY'ers...feel free to offer and input or advice (or critique) to help me in my quest.

[kareface]

Originally Posted by jaydoc24

I have ran all the wires I can think of, but the two HDMI cables idea is genius...I never thought of that and man would that suck. Nice to have fellow DIY'ers...feel free to offer and input or advice (or critique) to help me in my quest.

Try and keep speaker wire away from in wall power. Having a dedicated breaker for your amps and a second one for everything else isn't a bad idea. I'd run the wire to all 4 corners for the subs, you won't know what the idea placement is till you get the room setup. Are you looking to do any STC dampening?

[jaydoc24]

Originally Posted by kareface

Try and keep speaker wire away from in wall power. Having a dedicated breaker for your amps and a second one for everything else isn't a bad idea. I'd run the wire to all 4 corners for the subs, you won't know what the idea placement is till you get the room setup. Are you looking to do any STC dampening?

I had not really thought about running cable for the subs in the wall at all, but I suppose I can consider that. I have blue jeans cable for my Dynamo and eventually I'd like to get another but running it all over would get very costly very quickly although I see your point. Are you using a different type of cable for your sub?

Forgive my ignorance. I do not know what STC dampening is. Care to explain?

[kareface]

Originally Posted by jaydoc24

I had not really thought about running cable for the subs in the wall at all, but I suppose I can consider that. I have blue jeans cable for my Dynamo and eventually I'd like to get another but running it all over would get very costly very quickly although I see your point. Are you using a different type of cable for your sub?

This has been covered enough times to kill a horse, but you shouldn't ever spend lots of money on any cables.

Read this:
http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#house

Written by:

Roger Russell: Author, Artist, Engineer, Inventor, Photographer, Collector, and formerly, Director of Acoustic Research at McIntosh Laboratory, Inc. and the originator of McIntosh Loudspeakers

Originally Posted by jaydoc24

Forgive my ignorance. I do not know what STC dampening is. Care to explain?

Sorry, I just mean sound proofing.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by jaydoc24

Thanks, I really like it but it is a lot of work. Me either!

Lot's of work but just keep in mind all the fun you will have once it's over

[jaydoc24]

Originally Posted by kareface

I just mean sound proofing.

Well, other than the insulation in the walls and carpet I had not really planned on much. I hate to tear down the entire ceiling too to stick insulation up there, but if it were open, I probably would.

[kareface]

Originally Posted by jaydoc24

Well, other than the insulation in the walls and carpet I had not really planned on much. I hate to tear down the entire ceiling too to stick insulation up there, but if it were open, I probably would.

I was just wondering because I could offer some suggestions if you planned to.