[turbo-northener]

Well it seemed like a good idea, build a glazed extension to enjoy the garden and escape the kids, fill it with some AV gear and relax.
Well I may get there one day - I started the build approximately 2 months ago, only on weekends and the occasional hour on an evening after the terrible twins are in bed.



I am trying to plan in advance for some of the issues which hopefully i will deal with as i go along:

• Acoustics - an almost all glass structure will be terrible i suspect.
• Where can all the cable go?
• How can i make it anything like dark without ruining all the lovely light flooding in?
• I have no walls left for mounting anything.

Well here we go...
these pics are of the dwarf wall up to the glazed units going in and a bit of column building. The units are triple glazed and extremely heavy, i had to support them around the top with a make shift wall plate to hold them all square.
They are imported from Sweden and so hopefully i won't damage anything...8 weeks lead time is a little excessive.
The bay windows are supported with an additional timber anchored into the ground.

Not going too bad so far, these are about a month ago, so about 4 weekends work for me and the old man.
I will update with new pics soon.

Edited with correct attachments

[turbo-northener]

finally updated the images properly - will now add a load more...

[turbo-northener]

So this was a little later on, the gable wall has been built and the roof is mostly on.
The ridge beam took 6 of us to lift into place and thankfully my calculations seem to be correct as nothing has bent..yet.
started to lay a few speaker cables in the ceiling void - in all i some how managed to use 50m !!
The AV equipment goes on the wall with the existing patio door so there will be a stud wall to allow the cables to run behind.
The projector will be ceiling mounted - note to self "build a ceiling", the screen will be fitted over the bay windows so when not in use I can see the kids wrecking the garden...

look forward to any comments

[albriscoe]

I`ll tell you what mate thats a nice room

shame its no good for a projector though

seriously you will have next to no image at all unless you virtually and I mean completely black out all the roof and side walls.

Sorry to have to be the bearer of this but its the truth

I have built a conservatory onto my new build house finished last year and my LCD in their is virtually useless during the day so a pj image will be non existent.

Their are blind manufacturers as I`m sure you`ll know who will make you some blackout blinds, but they are an arm an a leg to buy and will they be total blackout, I`m not sure tbh.

Anyway good luck with it all and keep up with the pics as they are excellent

cheers Al

[turbo-northener]

I thought it was just not the done thing on here to use either a floating wall or floating shelf and so i have fitted the brackets into the wall and the main support bit on the wall will be plastered over.
The shelves are stupidly heavy, approximately 70Kg of finest french oak 100mm x 200mm hence 3 brackets each...hope those sums are right.

Also started to lay more cables, I have put all electrical leads into the trunking to try and isolate it.
Some of the signal leads are also in trunking - the ones to the projector may need to be changed at some point, currently run a HDMI and Composite up there.

The speaker cable is not massive and so i have decided to run two runs of it to the front speakers, this can then be biwired or one pair used for negative, the other positive, thus providing a larger size of speaker cable without the cost.

starting to take shape, about 10 weekends so far....

[turbo-northener]

Originally Posted by albriscoe

I`ll tell you what mate thats a nice room

shame its no good for a projector though

seriously you will have next to no image at all unless you virtually and I mean completely black out all the roof and side walls.

Sorry to have to be the bearer of this but its the truth

aware of that slight floor in my plan....
to be honest we only ever get the chance to watch films late on, say after 8 or 9pm when the kids are tucked up, so for most of the year it should be ok.
The room is also shaded by the house by tea time.

However, I have ordered some very heavy curtains for acoustic absorbtion (hopefully) and some blackout (possibly). I will see how this goes and get ready to buy blackout blinds / linings to go behind them.

As for the roof, I am looking at tinting it for more heat rejection and also blinds. I'm fairly sure you need a different specifcation of glass to my type of triple glazed to be able to tint it though - don't fancy stress fractures...

[albriscoe]

Sounds like you have it all planned well

I put my front 3 speakers flushed into my wall as well as the plasma, quite a nice feature and it gets them out of the way and off the floor.

My 2 rears are on stands and are quite unobtrusive but I did run white self adhesive conduits very small ones in the corners which against the white frames you can`t see them, infact I`d forgotten about them until I typed this

thick curtains will of course play 2 parts, light control and sound reflection but its the roof that I think could cause you a problem. Thinking about the roof, can you not get some tinting film such as found on car windows. I`ve seen it done to great effect on a sunroom glazed wall and it looked the dogs doodahs.

Anyway good luck and keep us posted

Al

[turbo-northener]

Originally Posted by albriscoe

I`ll tell you what mate thats a nice room




cheers Al

just realised i got praised from none other than big al....that's praise indeed....where in Yorkshire are you from.
I'm from East yorkshire so not sure i should talk to you

[turbo-northener]

So this is the plasterboard on, I hope the speaker cables are right and i haven't screwed through anything...

ignore the washing in the background please...

Now my mate has to come along as I can't plaster very well - done everything else so far with my old man.

I boarded completely over the brackets in the wall so hopefully the metal detector will still work - they were steel weren't they...???

The ridge is now a bit darker as i blacked out the top glass sections and this bit will be boarded over to provide a metre wide strip of ceiling, that in turn will be covered with rockwool / material to help with the amazing echo, echo, echo effect i currently get.
I can also mount the projector to it.

Also a shot of some of the indian sandstone as the outside needs a bit of a makeover too.

[albriscoe]

Originally Posted by turbo-northener

just realised i got praised from none other than big al....that's praise indeed....where in Yorkshire are you from.
I'm from East yorkshire so not sure i should talk to you

thanks matey, theres no borders here mate just roads into and out of and I`ll talk to anybody

We`re at Normanton junc 31 on M62, and you are ??

Always in your parts over at the coast infact was their yesterday

[turbo-northener]

Originally Posted by albriscoe

thanks matey, theres no borders here mate just roads into and out of and I`ll talk to anybody

We`re at Normanton junc 31 on M62, and you are ??

Always in your parts over at the coast infact was their yesterday

the infamous town of driffield, on the way to bridlington...
strangely a lot of people know of it despite there being very little here...
can i also take the opportunity to say what an amazing build you have, i have read your threads front to back - very impressed indeed.

here's were we got plastered, unfortunately not literally, just on the walls.
trial fitted the lumps of oak to be known as shelves and nothing collapsed !!!

Boarded out the ceiling section except for the bit where the projector goes.

the sleepers need drilling out on the back to slide over the brackets - that could be fun...

[turbo-northener]

So the plasters on and now the travertine goes down and it looks like a room !

what's left before the AV -

• sealing everything with silicone inside and out
• checking the sealing
• finishing the electrics
• fitting all the external aluminium trims that i have ordered and need to fit to make it watertight
• more painting
• cills
• i'm sure there's more.

these pics take us up to last weekend so it will be a bit slower posting from now on as stuff gets done.

child labour, you can't beat it...

[turbo-northener]

trial fitting the corner settee to make sure it all fits..
true realisation just how much acoustic and blackout work will be required on a sunny day, looks like evening use only for the old projector....

[deefadog]

Fair one, that looks amazing! That's one huge glazed extension!

Look forward to the final results! Now paint all that glass black and get a projector in their

[turbo-northener]

Originally Posted by deefadog

Fair one, that looks amazing! That's one huge glazed extension!

Look forward to the final results! Now paint all that glass black and get a projector in their

cheers,
i was thinking more charcoal or anthracite then black but interior decor was never a strong point...

[deefadog]

What blinds are you fitting, i have heard that the close fit ones or edge to edge ones are rubbish, but not sure if different manufactures do them.

[turbo-northener]

Originally Posted by deefadog

What blinds are you fitting, i have heard that the close fit ones or edge to edge ones are rubbish, but not sure if different manufactures do them.

i am starting with heavyweight curtains to the side glazing as these will provide greater acoustic performance to blinds. If the blackout isn't sufficient to the walls i will add blackout material to the rear of the curtains.
On the roof I am still investigating which way to go, the room will only be used on evenings when the late evening sun is shaded from the room by the house and so it isn't too bright.
I hate pleated blinds and roller blinds are expensive for a roof.
At the moment i am thinkgof having 'drapes' to the ceiling using a darker material at the gable end where the screen will be and gradually lighter materials working back into the room.

[pthomas]

It's looking Great!!

Mind if I ask where you got the doors etc from, I believe you mentioned sweden? Is it a kit or just seperately ordered items? and costs...

Love the look of it, very modern.

[turbo-northener]

Originally Posted by pthomas

It's looking Great!!

Mind if I ask where you got the doors etc from, I believe you mentioned sweden? Is it a kit or just seperately ordered items? and costs...

Love the look of it, very modern.

the glazing system is manufactured by SP Fonster of Sweden - I work for Swedish Timber Products :

Swedish Timber Products Ltd

we import them from Sweden and have been doing so for a number of years for commercial and private builds.
not sure if i can say too much without blatant advertising but they are very good quality products in terms of thermal and acoustic properties.
The windows i used are from a cancelled order and so i got them very cheap indeed - i then designed the whole extension around them.

thanks for the positive comments

[turbo-northener]

well finally got to the AV bit - not actually finished the main building but couldn't wait any longer.

Fitted the screen to the gable wall, Brightvision 92" which i though was going to be stupidly big but seems ok when i tried it.

chased into the wall to run a cable for the control box as it's motorised. started to flush the controller into the wall by cutting a hole and double-sided taped the control box into the hole.

I will use a double blanking plate to cover over the hole.
The grey wire above the box is for the trigger relay - i read on the forums a while back about a DIY relay device so will have to have a look for that - the other end of the cable is where the projector will be mounted.

Also, bought a solar powered fan to give a little air flow, air movement - need to mount this in the ridge trim before it goes in. The idea being that as soon as the sun comes up and around until about 5pm the fan will automatically be on, i will add an in line switch to switch it off for the winter.

[turbo-northener]

managed to get some more done:

filled and painted around the cable for the screen and got the first ceiling mounted bass trap in. Wickes RW 30mm thick in timber frame with 20mm air gap behind. Suprisingly heavy !
These will run along the whole central ceiling area and do hit the first reflection points from the front speakers.

They measure a metre wide and will run the full 5.7metres along the ceiling so should be pretty effective.

May also continue with the panels onto the front wall above the screen, triangular bass mounts it's the future !:

trial fitting for the large superthick rug to see if i can get first reflections on the floor: it seems to be about right for the right speaker but the sette is in the way for the left side - no idea what that means ????
The centre speaker first reflection will be covered by the rug.
The coffee table will be an issue if i decide to plonk it on the rug:

projector mounted in the ceiling - Optoma HD65 on an extendable mount as i'm still working on the best height for the screen. It is too high at the moment so some serious adjustment / trials needs to be done. The other holes are for an extract fan mounted in the ceiling void so there is no additional noise, linked to the solar panel; and the sockets for switching off the vent and the optoma.
HDMI linked to a booster and composites plugged in at this end - after seperating power and signal leads for the 5metre run they end up going through the same hole !!! :

floating shelves took an age to fit - used three sizes of auger bit and about 8 hours to drill out holes on the rear of the shelves. They then simply slot over the pre-fitted brackets and are very sturdy, may use a lighter timber than oak next time. Tempted to bond / resin them in place for additinoal stability as they could be pulled forward - not ideal when you stick the av gear on top and see my twins looking longingly at the lovely flashing lights.....

tempted to pull the shelves out a bit as they look even more-floaty-like. Also thinking of continuing the shelves up the wall in decreasing sizes to provide some deflection.

view from the front looking back, very pleased with it all so far and still haven't got to the really good bit of installing all the av....

[albriscoe]

I hope the pj pic is as good as the work you`ve done as it all looks great

Fingers crossed you won`t have to spend a fortune on blackout blinds but it`ll be worth it anyway.

good stuff Al

[turbo-northener]

i did have a sneaky peak a couple of nights back with a DVD linked up to check everything worked.
It was late evening and the sun was still up but not particularly bright - i was suprised at the picture, not briliant but perfectly watchable. That was on cinema setting rather than full bright setting, so hopefully when we watch it, which will almost always be dark it shouldn't be too bad.

I've got the big thick heavy curtains to go up yet, they basically wrap around the whole room and should be almost blackout - if not i will line them with blackout material. Only issue is that i do not like the white plastic rails and they will look out of place in the room - would rather have wooden poles but the curtains would then hang too low - not sure what to do

think i have settled on drapes for the roof - got some muslin that 'softens' the light. I will use this in one layer about half way back, the next will be double layered, the next two will then have blackout material behind them - that way i get to see the sky and get plenty of light at the back of the room, but hopefully it will be dark enough at the front.

I'm never going to achieve a brilliant picture in here without compromising on its main use - unless i develop the velvet fetish that so many on here seem to have.....

[DannyB2007]

That will be fantastic to sit in and watch a movie, hope the glass is double glazed, are there any blinds for the side windows or are you letting the neighbours watch your movies too...if so you should charge atleast £2

[turbo-northener]

Originally Posted by DannyB2007

That will be fantastic to sit in and watch a movie, hope the glass is double glazed, are there any blinds for the side windows or are you letting the neighbours watch your movies too...if so you should charge atleast £2

genious idea ! - will have to be careful what i watch

the glass is triple glazed argon filled, laminated outside and toughened inside with low-e coatings (sorry, i work in the industry) great for acoustic reduction to outiside and thermal performance.
- i do hope the big ones don't get broken as replacements cost a fortune, take an age to make and need 4 men to put them in !!

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by turbo-northener

genious idea ! - will have to be careful what i watch

Too right, the first time i showed my mates my PJ you can guess the genre of movie they wanted to see first

Looks great so far though

[turbo-northener]

Originally Posted by inzaman

Too right, the first time i showed my mates my PJ you can guess the genre of movie they wanted to see first

Looks great so far though

and thinking about it, the spare bedroom window looks directly through the glass roof towards the screen -

[cookiemonsta500]

Originally Posted by turbo-northener

managed to get some more done:

tempted to pull the shelves out a bit as they look even more-floaty-like. Also thinking of continuing the shelves up the wall in decreasing sizes to provide some deflection.

If you do pull the shelves maybe you could put some lights behind them (Dioder from IKEA would be perfect) then they would look even more floaty-like

[albriscoe]

Originally Posted by turbo-northener

I'm never going to achieve a brilliant picture - unless i develop the velvet fetish that so many on here seem to have.....

When I`m wrapped in the velvet it really does add to the "experience", its so soft on my skin I drift away..............

It makes the room dark as well

[turbo-northener]

Originally Posted by cookiemonsta500

If you do pull the shelves maybe you could put some lights behind them (Dioder from IKEA would be perfect) then they would look even more floaty-like

good idea - was avoiding additinal lighting at the other end as the sun does a good job, but would be ideal here as its behind the seating area with my back towards them.