# Trying to decide on what to do for flooring and a paint scheme



## jedispork (Jan 21, 2010)

I'm trying to decide on what to do for the flooring and paint scheme in my basement theater. I don't have much of a plan and the theater is going to be very very simple. Just 4 walls and a ceiling with nothing fancy except for a shelf on one side of the room since I have a partially exposed basement. 

Most people seem to be going with carpet and suggest something like dricore. I don't think that I will have any future problems with moisture or water in the room but then again it is a basement. Carpet seems to be a magnet for anything gross that you don't want in your basement and I'm real hesitant to go with it. 

So I was wondering do you think just painting the floor with some paint designed for basement floors would be a bad idea? If I decide I don't like it when winter comes around I could always lay carpet. I am open minded about adding rugs or carpet remnants as they will be easier to clean and let them hang over my deck in the sun to air them out. 

As for the walls and ceiling. I don't know what to do yet. I see some people hanging fabric and swear that its vastly better than any black paint you can buy. Most fabric is a fire hazard though and I wouldn't want the stuff on my walls. So any suggestions on what to do for colors? I could paint the room all flat black but maybe some other darker colors would work good too?

thanks


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## mdrake (Jan 31, 2008)

Some folks are going with dark greys and dark reds to compliment a dark black floor or ceiling. I think the paint on the floor would work fine and you could even throw down a large area rug that is washable. MrLoofer did a very nice color scheme. http://www.hometheatershack.com/for...uction/27543-mrloofers-garage-ht-build-3.html 

For the walls you could hang sound board panels covered in fabric in strategic places on the wall. This would still add a warm touch with the fabric and would be less of a fire hazard. 

Matt


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Concrete will be cold, and sound very harsh - not to mention not giving any 'feel' at all. The feel is kind of a secondary reason to use the Dri-Cor. 

As for the carpet collecting stuff, why would that be any worse than it is in the rest of the house? Will the theater area be used as a pass-through to bring things into other areas of the house?

Bryan


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## jedispork (Jan 21, 2010)

If I had the money I would replace the flooring in the rest of my house with something other than carpet. When my house was being built I went with carpet as the cheap way out and wish I had paid more for something else up front. 

The theater should be a low traffic area. I understand the want for the comfy feeling under the feet but still not convinced carpet would be worth it for this reason. Most of the time feet will be propped up in chairs. One could also just have some cozy house shoes along with a area rug where you would be sitting. I see so many posts where water finds a way into the basement and all the carpet has to be pulled up.
I could also get by several thousand cheaper with a painted floor. 

I did have some concerns about acoustics. As I said I do plan on putting down some area rugs or carpet remnants to cover a large area. I'm looking to get by as cheaply as possible.


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## MatrixDweller (Jul 24, 2007)

Dricore is very expensive (about $6 ft½ where I live). You can achieve the same result by using Delta FL and screwing or nailing OSB or plywood on top of it. You can also use poly + sleepers + OSB and optionally insulation. It can still get pricey however. It is the most comfortable and allows for pretty much any flooring to be put down including hardwood.

You can just put carpet down without a subfloor, but you would want a heavy underpad. The underpad would most likely cost more then the carpet. If you go that route you just need to put down 6 mil poly on the floor first so the carpet doesn't wick up water.

You sound like you are on extreme budget though so concrete paint will be the cheapest. You can also stain concrete to look like stone or something else exotic.


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## jedispork (Jan 21, 2010)

thanks for the help. I'm thinking I might go with a combination of dark midnight blue and paint the screen wall black. Possibly a dark blue for the floor paint if I can find it. I'm guessing this would help seal the floor while still giving me options of doing something else down the road. 

This is my first major home project. Looking at some of the theater pics featured on these forums can be discouraging because they look so perfect. They all have stages, fancy trim, star ceilings, and other complicated design themes. Maybe I will be brave enough to post some pics when I'm done.

Edit: I'm aware a bare floor can have terrible acoustics. Whenever we wash the rugs from the bathroom it turns into a echo chamber. So the question is how big of a rug will I need to fix the problem.


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