# Building a log home with dedicated theater



## bevofrancis (May 15, 2009)

I'm going to be building a log home in the future and want to build a theater above the garage. I want to get all the advice I can before I start to decide on anything as far as the room build goes. The entire area above the garage will be dedicated to this. 

The room will be around 34 feet long and 24 feet wide. The walls ceiling and floors will of course be wood flooring and logs. I am willing to cover them with carpet and whatever needs to be done to the walls and ceiling to improve it acoustically, as long as one day if I ever plan to sell I can remove everything and the original walls, floor and ceiling will not be hurt to much.

I would also like to have a bathroom and small kitchen area. So in all I will have 3 rooms and maybe 4 if I put in a small equipment room.

I would like it to seat 6 with a small riser for the back row, and have around a 130-150 inch screen. I like to set kind of close, so ideal seating position should be closer then recommended. I'll be using the room for movies, music and gaming.

That's all I know so far, and really nothing is set in stone. I went to the only custom home theater installer in my area, and what I'm wanting to do was above his ability. He tried to talk me into bose speakers, and told me that room treatments, and speaker calibration with electronics was overrated. Needless to say I just nodded my head and left.

Anyway, any ideas on the build would be great. I'm willing to build inside walls up to help the sound, put up a ceiling that will cover the logs. Really I just want to do this as best I can so that I won't regret how the room was built in the future. 

As far as a budget goes for the room treatments, I really am not sure. I would say around 20,000$. That would include everything to build the rooms inside of the logs, the seating, lighting, and acoustic treatments. I will be personally doing most of the bulding of this room with the help of friends and family, so that will help me save a good bit of money. But really like I said the budget, as well as everything else is not set. I really don't even have any idea how much setting up a room like this would cost. 

I'm not worried about the speakers and electronics yet. Some of what I already have will probably carry over. Here's my current system. If you want to advise some changes I wouldn't mind some advice on that, but I will probably just carry over my current system and upgrade once I move in.

Current system
front Polk RTi a5
center polk CSi a4
Rears and sides polk FXi A6
Receiver denon 1909
sub SVS pb13 ultra
SMS-1

Any advice on this build would be great because there is literally no one in my area to hire to consult on something like this, and I am just really starting to learn about HT.


----------



## SierraMikeBravo (Jul 1, 2007)

Hi Bevofrancis,

Best thing to start with is a layout. That will always help and encourage others to comment on your ideas and get you started. If you still feel uncomfortable with dealing with this, there are several companies that can help you design it, and then you can build it on your own with a detailed set of plans. However, I will comment that a room that large will likely cost you quite a bit more than your stated budget. I would say at a minimum from experience, to at least double or triple it. So, post your ideas and we will be more than happy to help! Best wishes!


----------



## bevofrancis (May 15, 2009)

The thing with me giving a room layout is that I really don't know how big the room should be. I'm not really wanting the room to be 34x24, that's just how big I have to work with. I'm wanting to turn that into 3-4 rooms. Including an HT, bathroom, very small kitchen, and a equipment room. 

I don't even know what type of materials to use, or if I need to cover up the walls and ceiling. Or how big or small of an HT room I should go with for a screen that large. Should I go 7.2, 9.2 etc? 
There just seems like so many options, I'm trying to figure out what my options are, and wich ones have the most benefit per dollar. 

I have plenty of time to figure this out, it's just that I have no idea where to start when planning something like this.


----------



## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

One big consideration that needs to be decided is if you want significant sound isolation. If so, the construction will be different than if sould isolation isn't a priority.


----------



## bevofrancis (May 15, 2009)

Ted White said:


> One big consideration that needs to be decided is if you want significant sound isolation. If so, the construction will be different than if sould isolation isn't a priority.


The house will not be near anyone else, and the room will be above the garage so I'm not worried about soundproofing. I'm really only worried about the acoustics inside the room.


----------



## Ted White (May 4, 2009)

That makes things easier and more straightforward, then.


----------



## RBTO (Jan 27, 2010)

I have a log home that I've put home theater components into and one thing you want to consider when it comes to wiring is the solid log outside walls. I did my install as a retrofit and ended up having to bore upwards through the walls from the crawl space (not a pleasant task) to install power, coax connections, etc.. I was fortunate that I could access the bottom of the logs at certain locations along the foundation or I would have needed a power chisel to cut into the foundation for this.

In your floor plan, decide where all the terminations need to be and drill your walls to accommodate wire runs as they (the logs) go into place. If you use a crawl space make sure it's a high one (semi-basement) so the work will be easier. You'll need to plan a way to leave grooves or tubing in your foundation (assuming concrete) to allow the feeds to exit the walls into the crawl space unless you run your wiring overhead. The interior walls aren't a problem (unless of log construction) but the solid log walls pose a real challenge for wiring, after the fact.


----------



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

There are lots of things to consider in building a theatre room. Do you want two rows of seating, how large a screen do you want, do you want the front speakers to be behind the screen or on the sides and do you want a fixed screen or a drop down screen.


----------



## bevofrancis (May 15, 2009)

tonyvdb said:


> There are lots of things to consider in building a theatre room. Do you want two rows of seating, how large a screen do you want, do you want the front speakers to be behind the screen or on the sides and do you want a fixed screen or a drop down screen.


I really don't know what all to consider.
I'll try and list all of my ideas I have as of right now, but anything can be changed to make the room sound better.

1.2 rows of 3 for seating

2.130-150 inch screen, doesn't matter if it's a drop down, with at least the center channel behind, I actually like seeing the speakers, but it would probably sound better with the center behind the screen

3.Taking the space and making it 3 rooms- theater, half bath, very small room kitchen/equipment room

4.7.2 or more depending on where the tech is at the time

5.Whatever kind of interior walls and ceiling that need to be put up for acoustics(I don't really even know what materials to use

6.It will be for HT, music and gaming

7.I would like it to have the look of a theater, instead of a room that was turned into a theater

8.I really don't have a budget, becasue I have no idea how much this could possibly cost. The cheaper the better, but I don't want to sacrifice sound when it shouldnt' be.

9. The space for the entire room will be around 34-24 to start with before building any interior rooms. I want to decide on the theater size and then build the other 2-3 rooms around that.

Really this thread is just something to run with. I have never done anything like this before, so no matter how big or small your ideas anything will help. I know I don't have many ideas about how I want it setup, but I'm trying to lean on the community for ideas, before I decide on things that are wrong.


----------



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

bevofrancis said:


> I really don't know what all to consider.
> I'll try and list all of my ideas I have as of right now, but anything can be changed to make the room sound better.
> 
> 1.2 rows of 3 for seating


Ok then plan to set up a 7.1 speaker setup.



> 2.130-150 inch screen, doesn't matter if it's a drop down, with at least the center channel behind, I actually like seeing the speakers, but it would probably sound better with the center behind the screen


Your screen size is a bit on the large size. I would recommend using about 120". Because you want the centre channel behind the screen you will need to use an acoustically transparent screen adding to the cost of the screen.



> 3.Taking the space and making it 3 rooms- theater, half bath, very small room kitchen/equipment room


Ok, well see if this could work, the width of the room should be no less than 15' and the length should be about 24' That would give you a front row of seating about 14' from the screen and the back row at about 18'



> 4.7.2 or more depending on where the tech is at the time


Two subs is a good plan, The new receivers have hight channels so they are actually 9.2 channels.



> 5.Whatever kind of interior walls and ceiling that need to be put up for acoustics(I don't really even know what materials to use


Have a look at GIK acoustics.com for some decorative panels that look very nice.



> 8.I really don't have a budget, becasue I have no idea how much this could possibly cost. The cheaper the better, but I don't want to sacrifice sound when it shouldnt' be.


Just for the equipment (cables, projector/screen, speakers/sub and receiver) you should budget for around $10,000 give or take a few. This will give you a great sounding system.

This is just some ideas and are not by any means scientific or must haves.


----------

