# Basement remodel HT..........thoughts???



## joonbug99 (Feb 24, 2011)

Hello all. Here is what I am working with and my plans.

The basement is 19 x 22 with 7 foot to the bottom of the first floor joists. The room is basically two rectangles of 19 x 11 with a support beam running the middle of the room which splits the 22 foot wall into 11. 

I want to put a 100" screen on the 19 foot wall. The top of the screen will be very close to the ceiling due to the low clearance of the room. The screen is about 50" in width This will leave about 30" or so from the bottom of the screen to the floor. Thoughts??

I would love to have two rows of seating with the second row on a riser. Does the second row riser have to be 12". That would really eat into my head space in the second row if someone stood up. 

The remodel would include spraying the entire ceiling flat black. and leaving it "undone" like a warehouse. Thoughts??? 

The mechanics of the house ( furnace and water heater) are located on one of the 22 foot walls about three quarters of the way down the wall from the screen. I would love to be able to make the area as quiet as possible without breaking the bank,!!! Thoughts????

I would love to give you the diagram that I have but am not sure how to incorporate it. 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.


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## kadijk (Jan 23, 2011)

Your room seems plenty big except for the ceiling height maybe, and the beam could pose a challenge with projection from the ceiling. I have no experience with risers for seating, but you sure don't want to hit your head every time you stand up. I would try something temporary at six inches or so, and make it semi permanent later. The screen height off the floor is fine, but unless you use an AT screen, you'll have to tilt the center channel up slightly at the seating area so the voices aren't lost. As for the ceiling, uninsulated and uncovered sounds like alot of noise upstairs and potentially alot of reverb in the HT room. Maybe spraying foam insulation at the least to deaden the sound is an option if you don't want to sheet the whole thing. As for the furnace, I would frame it in to hide it and insulate the walls to keep the noise out of the theater and sounds out of the ducting as much as possible to keep the rest of the house half sane when the world blows up... hope this helps


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

In a 22' room and 'only' a 100" screen, you can do the screen high enough and minimize the height issues provided you do the seating at say 3/8 and 5/8 of the room length. That would give you excellent field of view and avoid the high riser while giving excellent surround field performance.

Bryan


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## BoredSysAdmin (Mar 6, 2011)

joonbug99 said:


> I would love to give you the diagram that I have but am not sure how to incorporate it.


Use http://www.floorplanner.com/
upload end result as jpg to photobucket
share the picture here
enjoy :T


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## koyaan (Mar 2, 2010)

I wouldn't go with 12" risers . You just need enough height to allow a clear view from the 2nd row over the 1st. 8" should be plenty. 6" might even work. It depends on the seats. The beams could be a problem for visability from the 2nd row.


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## joonbug99 (Feb 24, 2011)

Kadijd,

Thanks for the response. I am going with an AT screen. The insulation in the ceiling is an idea that I am still looking at. I might use some foam boards. I am going to be starting the work in April or May. I wish I could afford to jack my house up and add to the foundation. Lol.


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## joonbug99 (Feb 24, 2011)

Bpape

I struggled with scene size a lot. It's not set in stone with the 100". My original plan was to make the room for two purposes. At theater and a small gathering area in the back. But as I look at all the cool specs people are gonna have to " gather" elsewhere. Lol. We shall see.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

The foam board will do nothing acoustically. Just use standard fluffy insulation in the ceiling.

Bryan


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## kadijk (Jan 23, 2011)

Bryan,
Wouldn't roxul batting made for sound insulation work better for the ceiling at a small increase in cost? Regular batts are designed to allow air movement and roxul stops the air...I would look into sprayed foam but it's quite a bit more costly.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

It actually will work a little better for a relatively large increase in cost. You'd be better off spending the money on another layer of drywall and using fluffy.

Both allow air movement. That's how they absorb via allowing gas penetration and then slowing that down. In the ceiling, you're really just trying to damp the cavity. The mass of the drywall is what will stop the sound.

Bryan


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## joonbug99 (Feb 24, 2011)

My plan right now is not to put drywall on the ceiling. I have all of the water lines and HVAC ducts that run perpendicular across the floor joists so in order to get a clean flat drywalled ceiling I would have to either move all that stuff up or lower the drywall to cover the pipes. The first scenario is not in the budget and the second will eat to much into my height. 

I am gonna but a lot of recessed lights in and spray the entire ceiling black I think I may go the regular insulation route and spray after that is in place. It will dampen the sound a bit and keep my first floor floors a little warmer........thoughts????

You guys are awesome with the quick responses. Thanks a bunch. I love this forum.


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

That's fine. Just use paper or scrim faced as you don't want the whole ceiling to be 100% absorptive all the way up in the high frequencies.

Bryan


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