# Basement Finishing - Movie Theater



## Sir MixAlot

SnowUtopia said:


> Hey everyone - I have framed out the entire basement and I am waiting for the electrical to be done. Father in law owns an electrical contracting company in Long Island, so it's all free.


I'm sure you will pay one way or another!:yes:............LOL...........:laughing:


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## njchan

SnowUtopia said:


> Hey everyone - First all let me say thank you to everyone here who has been helping this project move along with their answers to questions. I have framed out the entire basement and I am waiting for the electrical to be done. Father in law owns an electrical contracting company in Long Island, so it's all free. I will be posting some photos of the project so far and throughout the project. Thanks.




looking forward to seeing some pictures! ... post them!


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## JohnDIY

Any pics yet? I want to see the movie theatre so that I can complain about how I don't have enough space for one!


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## SnowUtopia

*Basement Project Done!!!*

Hey Everyone - sorry for the delay in the photos. I wanted to get the basement done and then upload all the photos. 

So it's finally done - It took only 3 months. I worked on this usually over the weekend and at nights. Even took some "sick" days at work to wrap it up. 

I'm going to try and upload the photos in the order of the project. The first ones were taken before the project started. 

If you have any questions please ask away - I'm more than willing to tell you everything I know about it.


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## SnowUtopia

*Framing*

Next are some photos of the framing. Used pressure treated 2x4's for the sill plates (code) and white board for the studs. I used tapcons to secure the walls into the poured concrete floors as well as nailing them to the ceiling. There are two storage areas and a place for a future bathroom as well. The bathroom will be the next project. When we built the house 2 years ago we had them rough the plumbing in so it would be easier in the future.


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## SnowUtopia

*Insulation*

Here is the insulation in the walls.


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## SnowUtopia

*Drywall*

Here are some photos of the drywall and finishing. Looking back I wish I would have hired a professional to finish the drywall. I have hung and finished drywall many times before but it really is an art. If you are nervous about finishing the drywall and care about it looking good - HIRE A PRO! The money will be worth it.


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## SnowUtopia

*Priming*

Here are the photos from the priming. I actually recruited my wife to help with this part. In these pics you can see the soffits that I built around the HVAC ductwork. I choose to put the soffits in as I didn't want to drywall the ceiling and lose all that headspace. The soffits were brutal to build and install by myself but look great in the end. Definitely have someone help you with holding the soffits in place while building them.


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## SnowUtopia

*Painting/Installing window seats*

Here are the photos of the painting, installing baseboard and installing the window seats. When doing a home theater with a projector you want the paint to have the least amount of sheen as possible due to the light reflecting. The paint on the walls is a Behr paint from Home Depot. The paint on the wall where the projector shines is a Behr Brilliant white Flat Enamel. I researched the paint kits for projector walls that cost $400.00 and in my opinion this Behr looks just as good as the $400.00 kits. Save some money. 

The windows were an issue - They were approx. 18 " deep due to the poured walls and keeping the studs off the wall approx 6". So I had to buy some stair tread boards for the lip of the window seats and then piece them together with some pine to create the depth I needed.


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## SnowUtopia

*Finished Result*

Here is the result of 3 months of work. Carpet was installed by Home Depot. Very nice carpet and installation. I choose a black drop ceiling as they are made for theater type applications. The ceiling is made by Armstrong and the tiles are thicker than traditional white panels for better acoustics. The projector is a brand new Optoma HD65. The size of the hi-def image is about 10 feet diagonal on the wall. 

The sound system and DVD player is the Samsung Upconvert 1000 watt system. This thing puts out. I ran all the wires in the ceiling and walls before they were installed to make it easier so there are no wires visible. 

I ordered the cables for the Xbox last week and they should be coming this week. Life size Halo! 

I work for home so I put my office in the basement as well.


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## SnowUtopia

*Projector Shots*

Here are some of the projector shots. Ironman on the screen. 

Bought some black out curtains for the basement so the image wouldn't wash out during the day. 

Like I said if you have any questions please let me know. If you love movies I definitely recommend this project - it is well worth it.


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## Nathan

Awesome! Great job.


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## AtlanticWBConst.

Thanks for documenting the project and posting the pics. Looks like a very nice Home Theater.


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## Jeeper1970

Looks good. If you paint the lower section of the white wall with the blue, where the speakers are, it would help to define screen area, and look even better.


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## SnowUtopia

Thanks everyone - Jeeper I was planning on doing that this weekend. Just wanted to make sure to get the picture as big as I could before I did that.


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## Jeeper1970

Great minds think alike! :laughing:


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## Winchester

Very Nice indeed! The black acoustical tiles really set the room off.

Let me be the first one to ask a question.... Is it necessary to insulate the ceiling if you insulate the basement walls? Or does fiberglass help with the sound deadening?

Thanks.

I'd love to do this some day. That or have a pool table but it will be years from now. I'd love to be able to have the theatre seating too. :yes:


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## SnowUtopia

thanks. I love the black ceiling tiles. The ceiling was already insulated but it really helps to deaden the sound throughout the house. I would recommend it.


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## iMisspell

Looks great.

How high are your ceilings ?
A year or so ago i was looking at projectors but have a low ceiling (6' 8") and ran into problems.

Is this guy working in bare feet or just posing for a photo shoot :1eye: ?


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## SnowUtopia

My ceilings are at 7'4" and the soffits are around 6'10". The projector is at 6'3" and about 14'5" back from the wall. I havn't had any problems with the picture. There are so many adjustments on the projector and the mount that you can turn twist it anyway you want.

I have it mounted to the side of the soffit in a stud.


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## SnowUtopia

Yeah that's me - I must have been doing to much of this that day :drink: and forgot to put shoes on.


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## mrsub

*nice job!*

great job!

one question: how long did it take for you to finish the project? do you have any helping hands?


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## iMisspell

SnowUtopia said:


> My ceilings are at 7'4" and the soffits are around 6'10". The projector is at 6'3" ....


Thanks.
So math says the mounting post is a little over a foot long ?
Is that adjustable, the height of the mounting post ?

Just thinking down the road for myself... might be able to box out a joist bay and stuff the projector in the bay and rig it off the subfloor planking or something. House has 2x6 floor joist, finding (or making) an adjustable mounting post would be nice to keep the porjector as high as possible for good picture throw and head clearance.


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## SnowUtopia

Thanks mrsub. The project took about 3 months doing it during weekends and nights. I only had help on hanging the drywall as it is a pain to hold the sheet and screw it in.


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## SnowUtopia

imisspell the mounting post was around 1 foot. It is made by Vantage Point. It is completely adjustable. It was the nicest one I found out there. 

Yeah you could box it out. I was even thinking about installing the projector mount to the ceiling beams and then cutting a hole in the drop ceiling for the projector mount to go through to save on the headroom.


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## raam

Looks very nice. Maybe this will get me motivated to get going on mine. 

Question: I'll be doing soffits as well, what's the best way to frame them up. All on the ground or piece by piece ?

thanks


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## SnowUtopia

raam it's well worth the money and time. I'm playing halo right now on a ten foot screen.

I did the soffits in 8 foot sections only because I didn't have anyone helping me. I framed them on the ground and then lifted them into place and nailed and screwed them into place. I was worried they would fall. LOL.


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## raam

Gotcha. I'll be doing mine alone as well. Actually already have begun but stopped awhile back. Got as far as framing some walls and hung drywall in the gym area. I have lots of soffits too !

Thanks for the reply.


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## C_J_GO

Looks Great!

What made you choose a painted wall instead of a projector screen (either mounted on the wall or a pull down)? Also, is the wall textured where the image is projected?


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## SnowUtopia

Cj,

I choose to do the painted wall instead of the screen because I didn't want to be "locked" into a screen size due to the screen. With the the hd65 projector you can turn on superwide mode and didn't want any restrictions on size. 

The projector wall is not textured. It is a flat enamel paint. Thanks


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## ossrocks

SnowUtopia,

Can you tell me what your room dimensions are? How far back from the screen wall did you put your couch?

When you enclosed the furnace and water heater what kind of clearances did you allow for and how is combustion air getting into that room?

I'm at the very beginning of my attempt to do this and struggling to figure out how I'm going to lay everything out. I didn't catch the plumbers putting my water line 2' 3" into the room I wanted to use for this until the floor was poured. (It comes out of the floor)

I have my basic dimensions here... if anyone is getting started floorplanner.com is a really neat (free) system for doing 2d/3d layout.

http://www.floorplanner.com/projects/18251114

I'm trying to build an office and media room on the right third of the basement, and some kind of play room in the middle for my toddler. Your dimensions would be helpful.

Anything you wish you did differently today?

Thanks!


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## AllanJ

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