Finishing a Basement? - Blu-ray Forum

crackinhedz · 08-09-2009, 01:35 AM

Ok guys, my offer on a house was accepted today! Probably won't close until next month...and probably wont finish the basement for a very long time...

But can anyone give me some pointers??

I would love to finish the basement myself to save a lot of money, but I will most likely end up paying someone since I don't have the free time, supplies, or even the knowledge to do it myself.

So I was wondering, what would be the best way to go about it?? The basement is HUGE. Square foot wise I would put it around 1000 sq. ft. (probably more). Obviously I would like a Theater room, and most definitely a play room for my son.

Anyways, who does this kind of work? What would their title be called?? in other words, how would I look them up in a phone book?

Also, I think there is electrical wiring already in place, but im sure for a theater I will need more and in certain spots. So would the guy who does the finish work also do electrical, or would I need to hire an electrician?? also what about AC and Heat?

Honestly, my dream is pretty far down the road but I want to make sure I have it planned out right.

Also, if anyone knows someone who does this kind of work in the Lynchburg, VA area at a decent price please let me know!

Thanks guys.

Edit:

fletchlives · 08-09-2009, 01:46 AM

Word of mouth like this is your first and best way to get it done at a good price, especially with a lot of builders needing work these days. There are also companies around that specialize in basement refinishing so just look them up for VA and see who's close as well. They do it all as far as plumbing, electrical, and general construction, but will be pricier. I'm in the middle of doing mine right now, but am doing it slowly and on my own. I have a friend who is a contractor so he helped me do the framing for the walls and the electrical work back in the spring, but have been going solo since then. None of it is as hard as you may think. It's been rewarding to do, and I know I'll be really proud and enjoy my HT even more having done it myself. Good luck!

crackinhedz · 08-09-2009, 01:53 AM

Thanks for the response fletch.

I would love to do myself, and may end up doing just that. Im just afraid I don't have the time. But, ya never know.

Im fairly handy with tools and can learn to do just about anything...but I also don't want a half assed basement.

Ive been trying to read websites about how to "do it yourself" and even though they say its not that hard and give decent explanations, I still fnd it very difficult to understand simply because reading and doing are two different animals.

dukeBLUdevil · 08-09-2009, 02:03 AM

There are a couple of places in Roanoke, VA about 20 miles from Lynchburg, that specializes in home theatre. Can't remember names. Sorry

Hammie · 08-09-2009, 02:14 AM

Go to your local mom and pop HT shop and ask them who they recommend in your area for an HT build.

I think the first thing you want to do is think of a budget.

Also, Google search "sound proofing a home theater." You should get some good suggestions on what you need to do.

In regards to doing it yourself. I guess it depends on how quickly you want it done. I refinished mine over a two year time frame. It took a few months to finish it to a point where it has habitable and then the remainder was spend slowly finishing trim work, painting/re-painting, new carpeting, etc.

Make sure you keep us updated with pics on the status if you do get it finished, both as a DIY or Pro job.

crackinhedz · 08-09-2009, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by louhamilton

Also, Google search "sound proofing a home theater." You should get some good suggestions on what you need to do.

good idea!

Quote:

Make sure you keep us updated with pics on the status if you do get it finished, both as a DIY or Pro job.

Of course. Once I move in, I hope to take pictures and sketch up a drawing of the room dimensions...maybe you guys could advise on possible layouts?

solarrdadd · 08-09-2009, 02:15 AM

you should have a licensed electrician give you an evaluation as to what you have available in your basement that exist. Verify good grounding and properly sized conductors for those circuits too. i would recommend you have, if possible at least 2 dedicated 20a, 120v circuits TVSS type for your home theater gear. have him check the panel to make sure your wiring is in good shape. also, an investment in whole house TVSS system at the panelboard is a good investment. that's the kikd of stuff i did for my own gear.

crackinhedz · 08-09-2009, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

you should have a licensed electrician give you an evaluation as to what you have available in your basement that exist. Verify good grounding and properly sized conductors for those circuits too. i would recommend you have, if possible at least 2 dedicated 20a, 120v circuits TVSS type for your home theater gear. have him check the panel to make sure your wiring is in good shape. also, an investment in whole house TVSS system at the panelboard is a good investment. that's the kikd of stuff i did for my own gear.

Thanks, I was hoping youd chime in on the electrical issues.

So what would an estimated cost to wire the whole house with a TVSS system? (and what exactly is TVSS?)

And if I have the whole house with TVSS, would I still also need to add 2 dedicated 20a, 120v circuits for the home theater? (im thinking yes, because it would still need a dedicated circuit for HT equipment correct?)

... I see you are in VA, make any house calls??

solarrdadd · 08-09-2009, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

Thanks, I was hoping youd chime in on the electrical issues.

So what would an estimated cost to wire the whole house with a TVSS system? (and what exactly is TVSS?)

And if I have the whole house with TVSS, would I still also need to add 2 dedicated 20a, 120v circuits for the home theater? (im thinking yes, because it would still need a dedicated circuit for HT equipment correct?)

... I see you are in VA, make any house calls??

TVSS stands for Transient Voltage Surge Suppression, it's a device that clamps down on the amount of surge voltage that invades your system either by the utility or lightning strike. this type installs in the main electrical service panel of your house to give the entire distribution system protection. the price can range from under 100 to hundreds to suit your level of comfort; that was the unit cost.

I would recommend the dedicated circuits for a couple of reasons:

these circuits will not be shared by any other devices in your house.

interupptions caused by overload or fault by another device will not affect the dedicated circuits.

you know exactly what is on that circuit and it's properly labeled in the panel.
you want #12awg wire (or #10 depending on distance from the source) to be used as required for 20a circuit.

even with the whole house protection, i still recommend at the point of connection for your equipment, have a 20a, 120v TVSS type receptacle (one for each circuit) this provides redundant protection from utility surges and doubles your chances of a positive outcome from a lightning strike. I have both, but that's just me.

as for the house calls, only for special things or for friends and since your a member I'd like to consider you both! hit me with a PM and let's see what happens. I will answer all questions to the best of my ability.

Deadset · 08-09-2009, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

Ok guys, my offer on a house was accepted today! Probably won't close until next month...and probably wont finish the basement for a very long time...

But can anyone give me some pointers??

This is the book I read before I even started.

There is a revised version coming out too. Not sure when it's due.

I read that book before I started finishing mine. Check out my threads in my sig, I need to update the construction one...

If you have any specific questions, I'll try to answer them to the best of my knowledge. I spent about a year doing mine on weekends.

Disky76 · 08-09-2009, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

Ok guys, my offer on a house was accepted today! Probably won't close until next month...and probably wont finish the basement for a very long time...

But can anyone give me some pointers??

I would love to finish the basement myself to save a lot of money, but I will most likely end up paying someone since I don't have the free time, supplies, or even the knowledge to do it myself.

So I was wondering, what would be the best way to go about it?? The basement is HUGE. Square foot wise I would put it around 1000 sq. ft. (probably more). Obviously I would like a Theater room, and most definitely a play room for my son.

Anyways, who does this kind of work? What would their title be called?? in other words, how would I look them up in a phone book?

Also, I think there is electrical wiring already in place, but im sure for a theater I will need more and in certain spots. So would the guy who does the finish work also do electrical, or would I need to hire an electrician?? also what about AC and Heat?

Honestly, my dream is pretty far down the road but I want to make sure I have it planned out right.

Also, if anyone knows someone who does this kind of work in the Lynchburg, VA area at a decent price please let me know!

Thanks guys.

I would think that a basic contractor would be a good place to start. Try Angie's List for recommendations.

Dase · 08-19-2009, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

Ok guys, my offer on a house was accepted today! Probably won't close until next month...and probably wont finish the basement for a very long time...

But can anyone give me some pointers??

I would love to finish the basement myself to save a lot of money, but I will most likely end up paying someone since I don't have the free time, supplies, or even the knowledge to do it myself.

So I was wondering, what would be the best way to go about it?? The basement is HUGE. Square foot wise I would put it around 1000 sq. ft. (probably more). Obviously I would like a Theater room, and most definitely a play room for my son.

Anyways, who does this kind of work? What would their title be called?? in other words, how would I look them up in a phone book?

Also, I think there is electrical wiring already in place, but im sure for a theater I will need more and in certain spots. So would the guy who does the finish work also do electrical, or would I need to hire an electrician?? also what about AC and Heat?

Honestly, my dream is pretty far down the road but I want to make sure I have it planned out right.

Also, if anyone knows someone who does this kind of work in the Lynchburg, VA area at a decent price please let me know!

Thanks guys.

Hey there! First of all... Congrats on your house!!!!!

I haven't read the rest of this thread and I just stumbled upon it tonight, but I have some advice for you that you may want to consider. I bought my house about 2.5 years ago and my basement was also unfinished, although a bit smaller than yours (800 sq. ft).

The main thing is that if you don't need the whole thing finished at once, then DON'T think about it like that

. You can always do a room or a space at a time. If you do end up paying someone, ask if you can observe and/or work with them so you can learn at the same time. I saved a ton of money just learning and doing some of the easier tasks myself (drywall, paint, finish, some framing, basic electrica, windowsl) and having some of the more difficult ones done for me (plumbling, electrical, shower).

The best thing about it is that it is YOUR house

. So you can try things and change things as much as you want. Obviously there are budget constraints and you don't want to take on anything crazy by yourself, but there are many things that you can do that you may think you can't. I had no experience in alot of these things when I bought my house and now I am fairly handy and competent, I'm sure this is true for most homeowners. I have gone back and fixed or improved some of the things I did at the start as I have got better at them over time

.

I finally finished mine off in the spring, the bathroom was the final part. I'm just saying that if you are open to learn and work on some of it yourself it is very rewarding. Have fun with it!

This thread will be great to see your progress and how it turns out. Congrats again!

crackinhedz · 08-19-2009, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -dase-

Hey there! First of all... Congrats on your house!!!!!

Thanks for the kind words and inspiration!

Quote:

if you are open to learn and work on some of it yourself it is very rewarding. Have fun with it!

I love learning new things, and I have built a couple of things before and definitely know what you mean about it being rewarding. Which is why I have decided to give this project a go myself.

Quote:

This thread will be great to see your progress and how it turns out. Congrats again!

It will be a LONG time in the making as I don't have the extra cash for the materials yet nor the free time with work and new baby...but Im thinking I will just do one room at a time like you mentioned.

Once I get a better idea of the basement size and layout, I would love everyones advice/info on what steps I will need to take to accomplish each task.

Im off to bed now, but thanks for the reply's

Rustmonkey · 08-19-2009, 06:22 PM

Plumbing and electrical aren't all that difficult - if you're daunted by it, hardware stores generally have a pretty good selection of books that walk you through all the basics... I finished my mother's basement on her new house and did pretty much everything except installing the plumbing in the concrete for toilets and cutting the concrete for the egress windows... you'll probabley want to hire that out

Everything else, you should be able to accomplish with a little reading and the right tools

If you're looking to contract out, a great place to start would be to speak with your realtor, banker, and closing agents as they generally do alot of worker with contractors.

Good luck!

DougMac · 08-19-2009, 07:26 PM

I can't see your photos right now, I may add comments later.

Here's some thoughts and suggestions.

I built a kitchen, a large storage room and a HT in the unfinished portion of our basement. I did almost all the work myself, starting with concreted floor and poured concrete walls, so I did all the framing, electrical, plumbing, etc. It cost me roughly $5500 altogether for my finished spaces, I'm thinking turnkey would have been triple or more.

I had the carpet and acoustic tiled ceiling installed, plus help with the sheetrock. Shop around. I got a sheetrock estimate of $4500. Through word of mouth we found the husband of one of my wife's co-workers who had just finished as part of a crew of a major commercial job. He was waiting word on another big job. A worked as his sheetrock crew. He did all the finish work. For the sheetrock and to hang the acoustic tile ceiling, he charged me $1,000 plus materials. Sheetrock plus mud was ~$350 and the black ceiling tiles and suspension was around $450.

Things I did right
All in wall speaker wire is run through conduit. If I ever want to add more or change gauge, it will be easy. I used 12 AWG in wall rated speaker wire for my 7.1 system, with the L/C/R wired for bi-amping. I've got 300' of speaker wire in the system. I also ran a conduit for the subwoofer line in cable.

I built a large (10'x12') storage room adjacent to the HT. I built a table in the storage room and mounted an equipment rack on it. The equipment rack is in the wall of the HT. It has a smoked glass door, which I can close to block equipment noise and dim the panel lights. The IR remotes work fine. I can walk up to the back of the equipment rack and easily make any wiring changes.

I didn't buy a screen. We very carefully finished the screen wall. I primed it with Killz, then painted a screen with Sherwin William's "Grey Screen" color (a very light grey). I used the mounted projector to mark the screen area. I went with a 120" diagonal screen, based on room size, viewing distance, projector resolution, etc. BTW, the HT is totally light controlled. We run cinema mode, which is dimmer. In addition to a more film like look, it saves bulb life. The image looks great!

I used black acoustic tile and dark wall colors. This really helps with IQ.

I have 9' ceilings. This really helped with mounting the projector high and with getting the projector offset correct and allowing me to mount the projector level with no need for keystone correction.

The adjacent kitchen is great. We can prepare snacks, wash dinner dishes, and have cold beverages handy. I came across some barely used Kraft Maid cabinets. With counter tops, I paid $400 for all!

Things I would have done differently
The HT is 16x20, plus there's an area to the left. We can comfortably seat six adults and have had as many as 10 watching at once. If I had a big family or more than four adults viewing at once, I would prefer the room to be longer, say 16x24. 18x28 would be even better!

It took me 7 months of a few nights a week plus most weekends to finish. My wife and I are now spoiled. We have better picture quality and much better sound than the local cineplexes. We also have 25 cent popcorn and much better wine!

bhampton · 08-20-2009, 01:18 PM

Hello,

My basement has no drian and no sump pump.

Concrete is rough. I would not skip the sub-floor. It's not very expensive or hard to install. I also wouldn't put hard wood in a HT but that's just because it seems like it would cause audio problems.

Of course... You gotta do it your way and that's fine. I can't imagine skipping the subfloor though. It's like it goes from being a swimming pool without water (only rougher) to being a normal living space.

EDIT- I can't see your pics. I think my web-filter in installed for the kidz is scared. I'll have to see if I can find some way to force it to trust ya.

=Brian

crackinhedz · 08-20-2009, 02:57 PM

Yeah, Im still contemplating the sub floor. As much as I want to save money, I like the idea of not having to worry about water damage...even if its highly unlikely.

With the subfloor, when you walk across it does it creek like wood floors??

crackinhedz · 10-07-2009, 02:26 AM

well, its been a few weeks now...and I have not even come close to starting the finish to my basement, might be a loooong time.

But, I did set up my living room. This is a preliminary pic as I have since added a couple lamps that are not shown in the photo. Also my camera does not do any justice. The color is off. My walls are really a light brown, I think the lighting is not very good in the room. Which is why I am gonna wait and take some better pics before I add it to my gallery.

Anyways, after checking out others setup of wall mounted Plasmas/LCD's, I decided to grow some balls and wall mount my 50" Plasma.

One word: Beautiful.

I used -

1. Monoprice PREMIUM Adjustable Tilting 2.5mm Wall Mount
2. Monoprice Recessed Pro Power Kit (to run power and A/V cables behind the wall)

I did this all myself at like 1 AM after a long day/night of work...so needless to say, I was dead tired

and made some silly mistakes (but corrected) and lifted the 80 lb tv onto the wall myself.

Anyways, here it is:

...again, my walls are a light moca brown, not the green you see!

I will take better pictures hopefully this weekend to add to my gallery.

Big Daddy · 10-07-2009, 02:53 AM

Crackinhedz,

It looks nice and professional. My only suggestion is to take that center speaker out of the cabinet and put it on top of it. It may sound a lot better. I know it looks better in there and more pleasing to the WAF, but for crazies like us, sound quality is more important than appearance.

P.S. Is the dog's speakers set to large or small.

crackinhedz · 10-07-2009, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

My only suggestion is to take that center speaker out of the cabinet and put it on top of it.

yeah, Ive been thinking about doing that. The wife really has no say on the matter.

I might give it a go this weekend.

08-19-2009, 07:26 PM	#15
DougMac Active Member Member since:Apr 2009 Location:Juliette, GA Blu-ray reviews: 15	Some thoughts I can't see your photos right now, I may add comments later. Here's some thoughts and suggestions. I built a kitchen, a large storage room and a HT in the unfinished portion of our basement. I did almost all the work myself, starting with concreted floor and poured concrete walls, so I did all the framing, electrical, plumbing, etc. It cost me roughly $5500 altogether for my finished spaces, I'm thinking turnkey would have been triple or more. I had the carpet and acoustic tiled ceiling installed, plus help with the sheetrock. Shop around. I got a sheetrock estimate of $4500. Through word of mouth we found the husband of one of my wife's co-workers who had just finished as part of a crew of a major commercial job. He was waiting word on another big job. A worked as his sheetrock crew. He did all the finish work. For the sheetrock and to hang the acoustic tile ceiling, he charged me $1,000 plus materials. Sheetrock plus mud was ~$350 and the black ceiling tiles and suspension was around $450. Things I did right All in wall speaker wire is run through conduit. If I ever want to add more or change gauge, it will be easy. I used 12 AWG in wall rated speaker wire for my 7.1 system, with the L/C/R wired for bi-amping. I've got 300' of speaker wire in the system. I also ran a conduit for the subwoofer line in cable. I built a large (10'x12') storage room adjacent to the HT. I built a table in the storage room and mounted an equipment rack on it. The equipment rack is in the wall of the HT. It has a smoked glass door, which I can close to block equipment noise and dim the panel lights. The IR remotes work fine. I can walk up to the back of the equipment rack and easily make any wiring changes. I didn't buy a screen. We very carefully finished the screen wall. I primed it with Killz, then painted a screen with Sherwin William's "Grey Screen" color (a very light grey). I used the mounted projector to mark the screen area. I went with a 120" diagonal screen, based on room size, viewing distance, projector resolution, etc. BTW, the HT is totally light controlled. We run cinema mode, which is dimmer. In addition to a more film like look, it saves bulb life. The image looks great! I used black acoustic tile and dark wall colors. This really helps with IQ. I have 9' ceilings. This really helped with mounting the projector high and with getting the projector offset correct and allowing me to mount the projector level with no need for keystone correction. The adjacent kitchen is great. We can prepare snacks, wash dinner dishes, and have cold beverages handy. I came across some barely used Kraft Maid cabinets. With counter tops, I paid $400 for all! Things I would have done differently The HT is 16x20, plus there's an area to the left. We can comfortably seat six adults and have had as many as 10 watching at once. If I had a big family or more than four adults viewing at once, I would prefer the room to be longer, say 16x24. 18x28 would be even better! It took me 7 months of a few nights a week plus most weekends to finish. My wife and I are now spoiled. We have better picture quality and much better sound than the local cineplexes. We also have 25 cent popcorn and much better wine!

08-20-2009, 01:18 PM	#16
bhampton Blu-ray Count Member since:Aug 2007 4K collection:981 Blu-ray collection:2537 DVD collection:67 Blu-ray reviews: 6 Trading Score:18	Hello, My basement has no drian and no sump pump. Concrete is rough. I would not skip the sub-floor. It's not very expensive or hard to install. I also wouldn't put hard wood in a HT but that's just because it seems like it would cause audio problems. Of course... You gotta do it your way and that's fine. I can't imagine skipping the subfloor though. It's like it goes from being a swimming pool without water (only rougher) to being a normal living space. EDIT- I can't see your pics. I think my web-filter in installed for the kidz is scared. I'll have to see if I can find some way to force it to trust ya. =Brian Last edited by bhampton; 08-20-2009 at 01:22 PM.

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08-09-2009, 01:35 AM	#1
crackinhedz Super Moderator Member since:Feb 2007 Home Theater Gallery:10 Blu-ray reviews:8 Trading Score:19	Finishing a Basement? Ok guys, my offer on a house was accepted today! Probably won't close until next month...and probably wont finish the basement for a very long time... But can anyone give me some pointers?? I would love to finish the basement myself to save a lot of money, but I will most likely end up paying someone since I don't have the free time, supplies, or even the knowledge to do it myself. So I was wondering, what would be the best way to go about it?? The basement is HUGE. Square foot wise I would put it around 1000 sq. ft. (probably more). Obviously I would like a Theater room, and most definitely a play room for my son. Anyways, who does this kind of work? What would their title be called?? in other words, how would I look them up in a phone book? Also, I think there is electrical wiring already in place, but im sure for a theater I will need more and in certain spots. So would the guy who does the finish work also do electrical, or would I need to hire an electrician?? also what about AC and Heat? Honestly, my dream is pretty far down the road but I want to make sure I have it planned out right. Also, if anyone knows someone who does this kind of work in the Lynchburg, VA area at a decent price please let me know! Thanks guys. Edit: Last edited by crackinhedz; 08-19-2009 at 03:59 AM.

08-09-2009, 01:46 AM	#2
fletchlives Active Member Member since:Apr 2008 Location:Detroit, Michigan 4K collection:231 Blu-ray collection:789 DVD collection:531 Blu-ray reviews:4	Word of mouth like this is your first and best way to get it done at a good price, especially with a lot of builders needing work these days. There are also companies around that specialize in basement refinishing so just look them up for VA and see who's close as well. They do it all as far as plumbing, electrical, and general construction, but will be pricier. I'm in the middle of doing mine right now, but am doing it slowly and on my own. I have a friend who is a contractor so he helped me do the framing for the walls and the electrical work back in the spring, but have been going solo since then. None of it is as hard as you may think. It's been rewarding to do, and I know I'll be really proud and enjoy my HT even more having done it myself. Good luck!

08-09-2009, 01:53 AM	#3
crackinhedz Super Moderator Member since:Feb 2007 Home Theater Gallery:10 Blu-ray reviews:8 Trading Score:19	Thanks for the response fletch. I would love to do myself, and may end up doing just that. Im just afraid I don't have the time. But, ya never know. Im fairly handy with tools and can learn to do just about anything...but I also don't want a half assed basement. Ive been trying to read websites about how to "do it yourself" and even though they say its not that hard and give decent explanations, I still fnd it very difficult to understand simply because reading and doing are two different animals.

08-09-2009, 02:03 AM	#4
dukeBLUdevil Junior Member Member since:Mar 2008 Location:va Blu-ray collection:114	There are a couple of places in Roanoke, VA about 20 miles from Lynchburg, that specializes in home theatre. Can't remember names. Sorry

08-09-2009, 02:14 AM	#5
Hammie Blu-ray Champion Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:May 2008 Location:Washington, DC Metro Home Theater Gallery:53 Blu-ray collection:545 DVD collection:12 Trading Score:12	Go to your local mom and pop HT shop and ask them who they recommend in your area for an HT build. I think the first thing you want to do is think of a budget. Also, Google search "sound proofing a home theater." You should get some good suggestions on what you need to do. In regards to doing it yourself. I guess it depends on how quickly you want it done. I refinished mine over a two year time frame. It took a few months to finish it to a point where it has habitable and then the remainder was spend slowly finishing trim work, painting/re-painting, new carpeting, etc. Make sure you keep us updated with pics on the status if you do get it finished, both as a DIY or Pro job.

08-09-2009, 02:15 AM	#7
solarrdadd Blu-ray Prince Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Virginia Home Theater Gallery:255 4K collection:209 Blu-ray collection:1344 DVD collection:4 Blu-ray reviews: 42 Trading Score:316	you should have a licensed electrician give you an evaluation as to what you have available in your basement that exist. Verify good grounding and properly sized conductors for those circuits too. i would recommend you have, if possible at least 2 dedicated 20a, 120v circuits TVSS type for your home theater gear. have him check the panel to make sure your wiring is in good shape. also, an investment in whole house TVSS system at the panelboard is a good investment. that's the kikd of stuff i did for my own gear.

08-19-2009, 06:22 PM	#14
Rustmonkey Active Member Member since:Jul 2008 Blu-ray collection:51 Trading Score:1	Plumbing and electrical aren't all that difficult - if you're daunted by it, hardware stores generally have a pretty good selection of books that walk you through all the basics... I finished my mother's basement on her new house and did pretty much everything except installing the plumbing in the concrete for toilets and cutting the concrete for the egress windows... you'll probabley want to hire that out Everything else, you should be able to accomplish with a little reading and the right tools If you're looking to contract out, a great place to start would be to speak with your realtor, banker, and closing agents as they generally do alot of worker with contractors. Good luck!

08-20-2009, 02:57 PM	#17
crackinhedz Super Moderator Member since:Feb 2007 Home Theater Gallery:10 Blu-ray reviews:8 Trading Score:19	Yeah, Im still contemplating the sub floor. As much as I want to save money, I like the idea of not having to worry about water damage...even if its highly unlikely. With the subfloor, when you walk across it does it creek like wood floors??

10-07-2009, 02:26 AM	#18
crackinhedz Super Moderator Member since:Feb 2007 Home Theater Gallery:10 Blu-ray reviews:8 Trading Score:19	well, its been a few weeks now...and I have not even come close to starting the finish to my basement, might be a loooong time. But, I did set up my living room. This is a preliminary pic as I have since added a couple lamps that are not shown in the photo. Also my camera does not do any justice. The color is off. My walls are really a light brown, I think the lighting is not very good in the room. Which is why I am gonna wait and take some better pics before I add it to my gallery. Anyways, after checking out others setup of wall mounted Plasmas/LCD's, I decided to grow some balls and wall mount my 50" Plasma. One word: Beautiful. I used - 1. Monoprice PREMIUM Adjustable Tilting 2.5mm Wall Mount 2. Monoprice Recessed Pro Power Kit (to run power and A/V cables behind the wall) I did this all myself at like 1 AM after a long day/night of work...so needless to say, I was dead tired and made some silly mistakes (but corrected) and lifted the 80 lb tv onto the wall myself. Anyways, here it is: ...again, my walls are a light moca brown, not the green you see! I will take better pictures hopefully this weekend to add to my gallery.

10-07-2009, 02:53 AM	#19
Big Daddy Blu-ray Champion Top ranked HT gallery Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Southern California Home Theater Gallery:79 Blu-ray collection:122 Trading Score:1	Crackinhedz, It looks nice and professional. My only suggestion is to take that center speaker out of the cabinet and put it on top of it. It may sound a lot better. I know it looks better in there and more pleasing to the WAF, but for crazies like us, sound quality is more important than appearance. P.S. Is the dog's speakers set to large or small.

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