Mr. Opinionated

Although I got quite a bit done over the weekend, I don’t really have a lot of pictures to show off this update. Most of my time was consumed with the columns – building them from MDF and then cutting speaker openings, that when covered in GOM, will hide the speakers. The side wall fabric was delivered this past week as well and I hope to start working on that on Wednesday. Pictures will be in a later post.

One of the biggest accomplishments of the theater happened when I managed to get my first piece of fabric installed on the screen wall. I used some thin cardboard strips to make a straight seam along the ceiling and approximately 200 staples, and it looks great! I’m using a material called Expocloth for my front wall and GOM (Guilford of Maine) for my side and rear walls. One piece down, many more to go.

After returning from a trip to Toledo this past weekend, I was able to get a couple more sections done of the screen wall fabric. Each section went faster than expected and came out great. Since I’ll need a way to get behind the wall if I ever need to adjust or change the speakers, I used velcro along the right-hand section. I’m also going to leave the bottom section until the very end so I can make any final adjustments, if needed. I’m waiting on the colored fabric for the walls.

Between waiting for contractors and telecommuting into work, I managed to get quite a few more things done yesterday. After shifting each component around at least 3 times, I finally settled on an equipment rack configuration I liked. I had to keep in mind things like air circulation and heights of things like the VCR for little people. (nieces and nephews, not the other type of little people) Rope light behind the first row seating location went pretty smooth, and some jigsaw work was needed to fit the final mounting pieces into the ceiling. I also managed to assemble one set of shelves, but when I went to install them, it took some work due to some warped 2x4s. I also learned that I mismeasured one of the groves in the side panels, but it should be an easy fix. I’m going to reroute the second set of shelves so as to make those correct before installation.

Was able to work most of the weekend and got quite a bit accomplished. Friday night I unpacked my receiver and CD changer so that I would have some listening material while working on the rest of the room. I also managed to get all the polyester batting up on the walls. It went much faster than I anticipated. On Saturday I put the first coat of paint on my shelves, but somehow forgot to take a picture. Since I am using Antique White to match our trim, you wouldn’t see much of a difference in the pictures anyway. I also painted the trim surrounding the equipment rack. (moving the receiver and changer first, of course) While those were drying, I worked on the rope lighting, low voltage wiring and the projector mount. The mount is cut from 1/4″ plexiglass and will use a floor flange and pipe system to mount to the ceiling. The springs under the plexiglass are used for any minor adjustments to the skew and height at each location. I would’ve had it mounted on Saturday, but I can’t seem to find the final piece that mates up to the floor flange. Off to Lowes I go. Sunday was more of a cleaning day around the house, but I did manage to get the second coat of paint on the shelves and moved them to their final location once they were dry. I also made my trip to Lowes and picked up the rest of what I need to hang the pj. To help hide the large cavity in the ceiling, I mounted magnets to the bottom of a piece of plexiglass, painted to match the ceiling. Turns out 2 magnets aren’t enough to hold it, so I’ve got to mount a third one.

I hope to have the materials for the columns all set to go and be ready for fabric very soon.

Trying to take advantage of the nice weather, I worked outside most of the night priming the shelves for the media storage area. I had previously routed groves in the side panels and put one coat of primer on each of the panels. One more side to prime for the actual shelves and then I can paint them to match the trim. Once the sun went down and it started to get chilly, I moved back indoors and worked on installing the rest of the front speakers and subwoofer. Some easy wire stripping in the equipment room and I’ll have sound in no time. I also played around with rope lighting ideas, as that’s the last thing I need to finalize before I start putting the black fabric on the proscenium.

As some of you may know, when you shop for lumber, a 1×3 is really not 1″ x 3″, but smaller. So when I needed to find 1″ thick furring strips to match the 1″ thick insulation, I looked all over to no avail. Finally I convinced a nice young man at Lowes to rip down a bunch of 2x6s for me to get my furring strips. Unfortunately, a manager looking type came over and claimed that the cuts were “too small and would burn up his saw,” so he ended my strip count at 30. So, for the past couple days, I’ve been pre-drilling, countersinking, gluing and screwing nearly 30 furring strips onto the walls. These furring strips are what the fabric covering gets stapled to, and they provide a place to attach chair rail and base trim.

With most of the furring strips in place, I’ve been able to complete the OC 703 insulation around the room. Per recommendation, the OC 703 is to extend from the floor to just above ear level. Since ear level is approximately 44-48″, each 4′ sheet of insulation is the perfect height. Regular polyester quilt batting will fill in the areas above the OC 703 to fill out the 1″ space. I had some left over pieces, so I added it to the ceiling behind the proscenium as well as underneath the center channel shelf. I’ve also started to prepare the wiring and install some of the equipment behind the proscenium in preparation for black fabric.

Installed shelf standards and brackets for the center speaker and equipment rack. I plan on re-using the MDF shelves from my old Flexi rack, but need to cut them down and repaint them first. I hope to start painting the shelves for the media storage this weekend, so I hope to paint them all at once.

I also continued working on the equipment rack. With the shelf standards and support brackets in place, I cut one of my old Flexi-rack shelves to fit, and it worked out perfectly. After cutting down all the shelves, I like them in black, so no need to repaint those. I do need to paint the surrounding trim before I install the shelves permanently.

After a couple days of searching, I managed to find a local supplier of the duct insulation recommended for the wall treatments. The supplier actually had two of the many products that can be used. One product is called Owens Corning 703 Rigid fiberglass, the other, Johns Manville Linacoustic RC. Both provide similar acoustical qualities, but the OC 703 came in 2’x4′ sheets vs. a 100′ roll, making installation a breeze. I was able to quickly treat the walls behind the screen wall and installed standards for shelving to hold the center channel. Once I find (or rip my own) 1″ firing strips, I’ll be able to continue with the OC 703 around the rest of the room. I’ve also started on the shelving for the equipment rack and media storage, so look for pictures of that soon too.

The framing for the stage and riser was completed last Thursday, but I didn’t get to the sand until Sunday. With the help of my friend Amish (and a good friend at that), we lugged 72 bags (3600lbs) of play sand off a truck, through the house, down the basement stairs and around a corner. Unfortunately, I only ended up using 58 bags (2900lbs) of sand so I will end up lugging 14 bags (700lbs) back upstairs to be returned. Oh, and all this was done in a big snowstorm that hit right as we unloaded the truck.

For the riser, I only needed to fill with R-13 insulation. By total luck, the riser cavities were the exact length of each piece of insulation so I just pulled a strip out of the bag and into the cavity.

On Tuesday, the carpenters came by to complete the tops for both the riser and stage, and the carpeting began on Wednesday. Before the carpeting was finished, I was able to build the proscenium (screen wall) out of 2x2s. The opening at the top is where my center speaker will be. The goal was to eliminate any 2x2s from blocking the sound.

With painting moving forward in the rest of the house, the theater room has been completed as well. The color is called federal blue, and will be very dark with all the lights turned off. The stage and riser are scheduled to be built next week, so I’m on my way to Lowes to pick up some play sand and insulation. Once those are filled, the platforms and proscenium can be completed and then carpet installed.