Home Theater Design e-Guide:
My "Mini" Home Theater Project
The home theater basement project continues...
Unfortunately, this process took me a couple of weeks to do. I've learned throughout my building experiences (I had a small home built before moving into my current home) that project and time management isn't something that they teach in building trades courses. Expect that you will have to follow-up your contractor often and that you'll be managing your own expectations, not them managing yours. In the big building boom that we've been going through, these guys simply over commit themselves and things slip through the cracks.
I ultimately settled on a contractor that was referred to me by a friend. He was the most responsive out of the group of people bidding on the project (overall, I've been very pleased with his work) and was highly recommended by a local interior designer. His price was also in alignment with all of the others, so I felt pretty good about the value I was getting for my money. He exhibited the most professionalism, as well. He came to my house with a portfolio of the things that he had done, made some good recommendations and ideas about my particular building project, and capped it off when he submitted a nicely detailed bid outlining all of the costs involved in the bid.
 |
And they're off -- from concept to fruition....
It took a little while after that before he started as he had other projects in the pipeline that he needed to complete first. We started on the project around the first or second week of June. He and a couple of his employees came to the house to begin marking off the interior of the basement where the framing would go. They made sure that they knew where I wanted to place walls and what I wanted to have done around various "immovable" obstacles (i.e., duct works, support beams, etc.). At the end of day one, I had a bunch of chalks lines all over the floor, ready for the framers to come in and install the walls. They did put some covering on my wood floors on my main level and some tacky plastic type material down the stairwell to keep the existing flooring from becoming damaged and/or dirty.I did choose to insulate my basement with R10 rigid styrofoam. From what I've read and the experts in the field, this is a much better alternative to conventional fiberglass batting. It's supposed to serve as a better vapor barrier and resists molding much better should you have a water or condensation problem. Plus, it's much easier to apply.
Most people that I had talked to told me that the framing would be done in a day. Well, in my case it took a few days to complete. It wasn't a big deal to me anyways; I never sacrifice quality for speed, meaning I'd rather someone do the job right than to do it quickly and otherwise not as good. I was excited nonetheless as the basement was finally starting to take some shape (click on the thumbnails to view pics below).
What the heck this has to do with home theater design?
Once the framing was done, I decided to go ahead and run the wiring for my "mini" theater. My plans ultimately include a 6.1 surround sound system and a big (46" or larger) LCD TV on the wall near the entry way into the basement. While I wouldn't do this in my real theater, I planned on installing in-ceiling speakers merely for convenience. I purchased three Klipsch Synergy speakers on Ebay through Best Buy's Outlet Store, saving myself a lot of money. These speakers are really high quality, as well.First, I mounted a multi-tap (the type that you can connect your received up to) speaker outlet to one of the framing studs and started feeding my wiring through it. I used some wiring clips that I bought at my neighborhood Lowe's and began to tack away. I made sure as I went that the wiring was safely mounted so that it didn't get severed or damaged later on in my project. I left myself plenty of slack and simply let the wire hang down where I wanted the drywallers to bring it out of the drywall. If you're wondering, I used some high grade, 16 gauge Monster brand wire (it's my personal favorite). I'm planning on mounting some slim speakers on the wall surrounding the TV and my sub will be located next to the shelving unit housing my components. Oh, the pain of having to wait to crank up my Hardon Kardon 247 and watch some hi def movies....
I chose the area for my "mini" theater mainly because of the fact that if I wanted to change something down the road, I would have an easier time of doing so where I'm having the home theater placed. The area underneath my stairs isn't finished on the other side, so I can get to any of the wiring behind the wall. This is important to me because you never know what you might want to do as technology changes.
My "Mini" Home Theater: Part 2 → My "Mini" Home Theater: Part 3
Your Home Theater Design homepage
