[dupontin]

I've just started converting my detached garage into a home cinema.
Lets face it modern cars dont fit in these small garages anyway !

(See photo 1)
I'm a project man so here's the plan....
To do this I must build a new brick shed, so am laying the foundations and drainage at the moment. (to store the junk from the garage!!!)
(See second photo for the foundations of the shed)
I kept a lot of junk, it was time for it to all go - got rid of it, cost £100 for a skip and away It went, cleared the garage.

(FIG JAM) I even impressed myself ! (please dont ask for a public definition)
lets just say it's "I'm Good, Just Ask Me")

Then I've booked a builder who will do the majority of the hard work, such as Install cabling, additional power, sound, wiring conduits
Put up studwork
Insulate the walls & ceilings
Plasterboard the walls,
Insulate the floor,
Lay more concrete on the floor.
Install heating
Because I'm in a conservation area, I cannot brick up the main doors, so it'll be an insulated stud wall behind, stopping the main doors from being used again ! that wall will become the screen
BTW the cost of the builder is probably about 1500 for a whole month,
so he'll be doing more than just the new Cinema !
The ex hates the idea want's me to not do it, but hey I want it, so tufff.....

The new shed will be 10ft x 10ft. the existing garage is 17 ft x 8 1/2ft wide. which means an ok sized cinema !. allowing for 2-3 feet in at either end.
More to follow....

[SilverPenguin7]

Good luck! I would love to have a proper project like this, I got excited just doing my new living room. Look forward to the updates

[martian1]

Hi Dupontin looks like we both have the same idea [and bosses to obey ] my garage is in a similar junk filled state. I will try and get some photos together as i hopefully get project moving, wish i had the help of a builder,plumber etc sounds expensive. Good luck m8

[thfccambs]

dupontin,
good luck and keep the pics coming.

[dupontin]

Ok guys
I've been pretty busy lately with work and.....
my new cinema, well where do I start, it hasn't cost me 10K
I've had a builder in who firstly built an extension on the back of the garage (to house the tools and junk !) it took him about 4 weeks in total from laying the foundation.

He installed 2 new doors also with frames, to make them nice and secure, he moved the old door to the new shed as I wanted a solid door on the cinema.
The whole extension is made from brick with timber roof, I bought a brickys mate tool, cost about £20 brilliant device, sped up the brick laying 10 fold.

My builder doesn't speak english but we have had no problem communicating,
I listen to his suggestions, and he gets on and does it, no problems.

Now this week we started on the inside of the garage, he did the studwork whilst Saturday I did all the wiring including fitting a new fuse box. it all works a treat, I have 6 double sockets, (2 where the kit goes) all running off 27A cable, so it can handle the load. My speaker cable is CAT5E platted and it's wired for either 5.1/6.1 or 7.1 if I want to.
lighting will be 4 wall uplighters and 4 hallogen lights in the ceiling.
I was going to put fibre optic but knowing me it'll take me a week !

My garage is so old, it had major leaks, the builder fixed them and replaced lots of studwork in the old garage too


I tried out an azure blue for the walls yesterday evening, it looks a bit light in the photos, what do you think ?
Well I know the next question and I hope it inspires you all, how much ?

Builder 1500 (this does include 4 weeks to build the shed extension)
Materials 800 (insulation, studwork, timber, screws, plasterboard and MDF)
Concrete 80 (bought by the bag from wickes)
Cat5e Speaker cable 50
Electrical fittings 70
Sub Total 2500

Projector 1299 (Panasonic PT-AE 700)
Speakers 650 (Monitor Audio)
HTPC 500
DVI Cable 90 (5m)
Sub total 2539

Costs still to come.
Carpeting 500 (maybe I'll use floorboards with a rug - not sure yet)
Wall Paint 50
Screen paint 50
Builder 600 (he's going to be doing some work on the roof of the main house)
replacing tiles, replacing guttering, painting etc.
Sub total 1200

Guys if you want to pay 10K go for it, I didn't have a spare 10K, if your garage is already empty, or you have alternative storage for your junk (try a skip) then you can avoid building an extension.
Photo's to follow

[dupontin]

second group of photos...

[dupontin]

third group...

[dupontin]

lucky last one... for this morning

[gaz]

looking good m8 are you keepin that high ceiling ?

[dupontin]

Originally Posted by gaz

looking good m8 are you keepin that high ceiling ?

Hey Gaz - Looking even better today, I'm plasterboarding up the walls then on an angle then to base of the rafters (horizontal) - does that make sense
no right angle corners between the ceiling and walls.
the big triangular area in the ceiling space will become a storage space for boxes !, man this builder is switched on.

I've double plasterboarded the screen end for strength, and also used expanding foam to seal the metal garage door to the floor. It also keeps it waterproof as I have a steep driveway feeding water to the main door !

Does anyone know what height to put the screen ?

The insulation is working a treat, this morning with the door open we froze our nuts off, but once the door was closed and a simple heater turned on it was like toast in 20 minutes.
Rule 1 - insulate
Rule 2 - insulate some more
Rule 3 - follow rule 1 and 2

[gaz]

i'm glad about that it would have affected your sound big style if you had kept the apex ceiling would have looked good though.
as for screen distance check this out it may be of some help
http://www.cinemasource.com/articles/seating_guide.pdf

Really nice to see someone else in a sea of plasterboard!, brings back memories of my build, I wish I had a Polish builder on hand to do the donkey work!!!

[dupontin]

Ok now some sizes

After plasterboarding the room is 16 1/2 ft long, 8' 8" wide and as you can see by the pics the screen will end up being approx 7ft wide

It's a great buzz doing this, should've done it years ago, why waste a perfectly good garage !

My only worry is getting hold of the 5m DVI/HDMI cable and will it be long enough !

I have my equipment cabinet sited in the middle on the right so it may be a tight cable !

until tomorrow....

[Kenny Glasgow]

Keep the pictures coming! Great to see something from the very start

Originally Posted by dupontin

I've double plasterboarded the screen end for strength, and also used expanding foam to seal the metal garage door to the floor. It also keeps it waterproof as I have a steep driveway feeding water to the main door !

Does anyone know what height to put the screen ?

Hi dupontin,
Good idea to use a double skin of plasterboard here. In my opinion you can never have enough soundproofing. I had to leave the garage doors too but put up a brick wall inside them and then an insulated studwork wall to keep the 'noise' in - it just about does it.
I also have a similar sloping drive problem too but I hadn't thought of that foam trick, excellent idea.
Great thread. Keep the pics coming.
Hatcher

[dupontin]

Well today the last of the main walls were covered with plasterboard, and the only section to fill in is the equipment cupboard (standard IKEA cupboard with an extension built on the back to make it deeper, and also to allow speaker cables etc to go in.

one final cable is the HDMI/DVI (which hasn't arrived yet).
Better make sure I tell the builder to hold off for a bit doing the roof !

And finally I couldn't resist after the builder left I put up the batton that the screen sits on and.... up went the screen (well MDF with 1st coat on it)

Enough of my prattle... you wanna see the pictures dontcha ???

Bear in mind this is running off my laptop with a crappy VGA cable, focus not set right... blah blah blah.
Even so the picture was damn good, even the blacks from Spiderman.

Excuse my hand held photography...

Guys one thing I haven't mentioned yet...
how does it feel..... I'll describe it this way

When I was a kid my grandfather owned a corner shop, now every time we visited, I got into the window display, where all the boxes of loose sweets were, and I was the proverbial kid in a sweet shop, I was so excited.
my bag was soo full. and (I'm sure it pleased my grandfather too - bless him)

Now 30 years on, and I have a similar feeling, building my own cinema just for me, of course I'll share with friends and family, but I did something selfish just for me and just because !

it feels fine

[martian1]

Congratulations ! I know exactly how you feel, converting my garage now...not sure how it will turn out [worrying ]
Anyway good luck and enjoy...post more pics when finished.

[gaz]

have you decided on a colour for those walls yet ?

[dupontin]

Originally Posted by gaz

have you decided on a colour for those walls yet ?

Hey Martian1 - thanks for your kind comments, it does feel good !

Gaz, the blue looks pretty good, I want something to soak up the reflected light from the screen - although i've got some dark blue velvet curtains in mind. but the wall uplighters (which I installed 3 out of the 4 this evening - 4th one broken, back to the shop) I was thinking of spraying them gold !
the cupboard/cabinet doors are silver, with glass, so I would spray the back of them to make the existing opaque glass not show the contents !

The photos show the blue as quite light, in reality it's a shade or two darker, what do you think ?

I've got a couple of wall hangings including flim strips from Kill Bill and my autographed photos of Marina Sirtis, and another of both of us sidling up !

We worked until 9pm tonight got 1/2 the roof insulation in place, tomorrow the other half of the roof insulation, then he'll start on the ceiling plasterboarding.

I ordered a few different speaker brackets today from www.cpc.co.uk for 8-10 quid each it's worth it to see what is good.

no photo's tonight ladies and gents, i'm too tired to go do it, tomorrow you'll have em.
blow by blow - day by day
it's a shame I'm going to warsaw this weekend, man I coulda finished it but....
next week is my birthday so it will be done by then !

[gaz]

blue............ with the gold.............. positively luxurious my friend.............
yeh i think it'll look great!!!
i know where youre coming from with the cream m8 thats what my missus suggested so i put charcoal grey carpet on the walls he heh e.....

[dupontin]

Quick add of yesterdays photos.... showing the proposed wall colour and now the uplighters, gotta buy the right bulbs tonite !, and the horrrrrrible flourescent tubes get ripped out today. The dimmer enabled hallogen downlighters will replace them ! (gold trim also)

Gaz thanks for agreeing with the gold, so far your the only one, everyone else says NO..... Everyone told Walt Disney NO dont do it, only one person said yes..... wierd analogy but I'm going with it.
Oh and Charcoal grey carpet it is then !!!!!

Martian1 I forgot to say, dont worry too much about how it'll turn out, go for a rectangular room, seal every corner, nook and cranny, go overboard with the tubes of mastic. And... remember the following:
- use uplights for soft lighting on the walls,
- downlighters for direct lighting.
- dark colours on the walls,
- curtains on the walls to absorb sound,
- pre-cable all your speakers way before hand, and lay in lighting cables now
- other than that the world's your oyster.

Hey guys if you want to see something scary, (wish I had the kahunas to do it - maybe my next house build)
try
http://theatre.stevejenkins.com

[martian1]

Thanks for the heads up Dupontin, Will heed your advice. I have a thread going with my "project" but its moving pretty damn slow [with xmass and all]
So far i have Heating plumbed
Roof repaired
a price for materials inc acoustic boards [Over £20 for 6 ]
Rough idea on lighting
Electrician on standby
I have all equipment except pj This on hold till end of january
Either the new Sony or old hs20 possibly Sanyo z3 or new Panny
Anyway nice to see your cinema taking shape, keep them photos rolling in!

[gaz]

Gaz thanks for agreeing with the gold, so far your the only one, everyone else says NO..... Everyone told Walt Disney NO dont do it, only one person said yes..... wierd analogy but I'm going with it.

ive just checked out that steve jenkins link ........................... and i only agree with the gold idea as long as you promise not to over do it .........lol..........
seriously he and many have got some awsome theatres and some serious amouts of cash as well

[dupontin]

Originally Posted by martian1

Thanks for the heads up Dupontin, Will heed your advice. I have a thread going with my "project" but its moving pretty damn slow [with xmass and all]
So far i have Heating plumbed
Roof repaired
a price for materials inc acoustic boards [Over £20 for 6 ]
Rough idea on lighting
Electrician on standby
I have all equipment except pj This on hold till end of january
Either the new Sony or old hs20 possibly Sanyo z3 or new Panny
Anyway nice to see your cinema taking shape, keep them photos rolling in!

Martian1 - What are the Acoustic boards, some form of sound insulation ?
I used some glass wool stuff from Wickes 170mm thick, and i already notice a difference even without the ceiling plasterboard in place.
I did the electrics myself, even fitted a full on fuze box, it was so easy. I've never done it before but just followed my nose. only electrocuted myself twice
it's really easy, red goes to live, blue goes to Neutral and the funny green and yellow goes somewhere else, - no wait or is that brown goes to green goes to red.... hey what the hell you only die once !!!!

I love my new panny 700 it's a top unit, I found wearing glasses I really noticed the rainbow effect on the DLP's

I'm sure I've cut lots of corners, but I was as safe as could be with the elec. running cables across then down, all the usual stuff.

I'm going out to paint the uplighters now and electrocute myself one more time to fit the last uplighter heh

If i'm not online tomorrow please send me flowers
more photos later tonight

[martian1]

The boards are from wickes, high density 30mm thick. Similar to the green ones used under wooden flooring only 3 times thicker, a guy in B&Q reccomended them. A 60% noise reduction with them i hope!. I need this and rockwool+ possibly dual layered plasterboards [twice as thick half plaster, half compacted rockwool] seen them B&Q
My garage is linked luckily there is a good 6" cavity along its lenghth just bricks joining front and back. Anyway still needs good sound proofing although our washer thumps away in there without complaint. Trying to look on the bright side atleast heating garage isn't a problem and i am straight in there from dining room...Oh flowers on the way. Take care m8t

[dupontin]

Originally Posted by martian1

The boards are from wickes, high density 30mm thick. Similar to the green ones used under wooden flooring only 3 times thicker, a guy in B&Q reccomended them. A 60% noise reduction with them i hope!. I need this and rockwool+ possibly dual layered plasterboards [twice as thick half plaster, half compacted rockwool] seen them B&Q
My garage is linked luckily there is a good 6" cavity along its lenghth just bricks joining front and back. Anyway still needs good sound proofing although our washer thumps away in there without complaint. Trying to look on the bright side atleast heating garage isn't a problem and i am straight in there from dining room...Oh flowers on the way. Take care m8t

Martian1 - I bought a pack of those hight density boards, didn't seem as good to me as the 170mm rockwool, Probably only my perception tho, also quite expensive for the area they covered and difficult to fit.

It's excellent that your garage is linked, mine is detached from the house so it's a wet walk down there ! - hey it's only a 30 second walk.

Did I warn you guys that i'm a bit crazy ??? well read on....

I got impatient last night and shocked the builder this morning.... (see the photo's and you'll know what I mean)
I did the electrics for the 4th uplighter, then I had a vodka and orange to celebrate !... ok I had more than one... then I broke open the blue paint

Talk about impatient, we haven't even covered the plasterboard joints yet nor plastered over the screws, so the painting looks a bit bad.
come on guys stop laughing !!!!! I wanted to see if the colours were going to be ok.

I'll use dimmers on the uplighters too, they should look quite effective especially once the bounce off the angle between the walls and ceiling.
not sure on the colour for the ceiling, does anyone have any ideas for that?

I think the builder is enjoying himself with this project too. he's already chosen the movie he wants to see, (Black Hawk Down) his wife is coming to watch Titanic... I got my DVI-HDMI cable last night, and also the speaker brackets, I'll use one for the projector

Anyway enough of my hungover ramblings here's the photos, time for Starbucks
the circles on some of the photos' are from dust on the lense !

[xxalxx]

looking v good already

[gaz]

See, I told you the blue and the gold would look great keep it up mate, if its alright with you, when your builders watched his, i'd like to come round and watch Total recall
Garry

[dupontin]

Originally Posted by gaz

See, I told you the blue and the gold would look great keep it up mate, if its alright with you, when your builders watched his, i'd like to come round and watch Total recall
Garry

Your on... the week before christmas, remind me !

ok here's tonights photos including one of the grass ski slope caused by tonights torrential rain here ! and my muddy jeans after skiing to the door.

I tried to cut across the lawn, not using the path... hang on you guys dont care about that
you wanna see the photos doncha ???

I had to help the builder tonight to put up the larger pieces of ceiling plasterboard, and install the first 5 out of 10 hallogen lights.

and of course the projector mounting £11 from CPC. it's plenty strong enough, and once it's mounted who cares if it used to be a speaker bracket !

The next posts will be sunday night !!!

This is going FAST now

[gaz]

that pic of your jeans .......................... is that what happend when you KICKED THAT FRESH TURD ON THE HOT DAY lol lol