[waf-tastic]

Well, there's been some progress on our cellar conversion, so I've put some info up on my site at http://www.stanleyroad.net/homecinema/. There are some before and during shots as well as the room plans and equipment list, plus some screen pics.

The bulk of the construction has been done - lifted the stone slabs and dug down a bit to put in a concrete floor, created a room within a room etc. Plasterers are in on Monday and lights and fittings should be done on Tuesday. I put cabling in for 6.1 sound and made my own component cables and couldn't resist a quick test of everything (albeit on the bare plasterboard) and it already looks and sounds great to me

Once the furnishings are in, will be really good.

I'll update the site as and when more work is done.

Rich.

[Jammyb]

nice work, nice site as well. I'd kill for a cellar! There are so few about these days.

[louishm]

looking good waf-tastic, i see your like me, couldn't wait to get the pj up and give it a try, keep us posted.

pretty much the same as my cellar (link below)

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by Jammyb

nice work, nice site as well. I'd kill for a cellar! There are so few about these days.

Thanks, i is nice to have a cellar - the extra rooms down there are handy too - but constantly doing work on the rest of the old house can be annoying

There's nowhere else in the house I could get away with a dedicated room - the wife insists that all of the family needs bedrooms, so the cellar was the only choice

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by louishm

looking good waf-tastic, i see your like me, couldn't wait to get the pj up and give it a try, keep us posted.

pretty much the same as my cellar (link below)

Yep - I got the PJ just after Christmas with the dvd player and it's been 'set up' in the bedroom until now.

I've seen your cinema before - I can't wait until I'm at the stage where I can be putting in the great finishing touches that you have. Hopefully not too long now!

[inzaman]

Excellent stuff just wait until its all done and you watch your first movie'athon down there

[waf-tastic]

Well, there's not been too much work done recently - still need to box in the central heating pipes, level up the floor in the hallway (stone slabs currently) and then paint the room and get a carpet fitted.

We watched our first full films yesterday - I-Robot and Ice age. The family loved the cinema effect big screen and 5.1 speaker set up - beats our tv by a mile! I have King Kong on pre-order so that will be the first 'new' film.

The 20th Century Fox intro went down really well too (see my site for a pic).

One thing I did notice is that after watching the film, the projector (Infocus screenplay 4805) makes the ceiling quite warm (the exhaust for the airflow is at the front of the projector and points at the ceiling which is only 10cm from the top of the projector. I haven't painted the ceiling yet but was wondering if there's likely to be any issues with this, like discolouration or anything?

Also, I hope to be getting a Sony VTX-8000 freeview box soon - need plenty of testing time before the World cup :-)

[shahedz]

not sure about discolouring the paint, how long do you think till its fully complete ?

[Jon Boy]

yay , i knew i'd find someone who used stud and track sooner or later! sooo much easier and cheaper than using timber! nice job mate

Jon

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by Jon Boy

yay , i knew i'd find someone who used stud and track sooner or later! sooo much easier and cheaper than using timber! nice job mate
Jon

I was surprised that more people don't seem to have used it. Went in very quickly and easily (a lot easier to carry down to the cellar too!)

I'm hoping to be finished by the end of the month, although I thought I'd be finished at the end of last month too

Bought some black Malung chairs from Ikea today. Wasn't convinced when I saw them online, but tried them out and they're really comfortable and recline too - great.

[waf-tastic]

I've finally got around to taking some pictures of the 'completed' cinema. Still got a few things to do (speaker stands for centre and rear speakers and tidying up the cables in the rack) but it's pretty much complete.

Comparing the before and after galleries at my website lets you see the change - pretty huge really!

I'm really pleased with how it turned out (it's not as light as the pics make it look with the flash on!) - DVDs look great, but I'm also impressed with the quality of the TV from the Freeview box. When you watch the in-car shots during an F1 grand prix for instance, you could be there! Car is larger than life size.

Many thanks have to go out to the people on the forum who answered questions along the way

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by waf-tastic

I've finally got around to taking some pictures of the 'completed' cinema

At last

Looks smart, i like the Star Wars poster down to the room, and the side room; the sweet counter should look excellent once its in

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by inzaman

At last

Looks smart, i like the Star Wars poster down to the room, and the side room; the sweet counter should look excellent once its in

Well - you know how it is - you get the cinema usable then you start to use it! It's taken an age to get the little bits finished (like having a curtain up instead of cardboard taped over the window )

I bought the posters ages ago and have just got around to framing them. I actually bought six, but when I realised how big they are, I don't have enough room for them all at once - I'll have to rotate them in the frames I have.

Oh, and in the pic of the star wars poster, it's the top of the wall that's at an angle, not the poster hung incorrectly. These old houses don't do straight walls..

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by waf-tastic

I'll have to rotate them in the frames I have

Thats what i do with mine, i just have three and rotate them every now and again; its actually nice to change the pictures now and again imo.

Originally Posted by waf-tastic

These old houses don't do straight walls..

Tell me about it, i thought it would be the wall. My cinema screen looks as though it is on the wall crooked but it is perfectly straight, it is actually the ceiling which is about 2 inch out

[IronGiant]

Sounds like my brother's house, there's something like 4" extra headroom at one side of his living room. The floor drops and the ceiling goes up so they had a great time deciding how to hang the curtains.

Great job on the cellar waf-tastic. Makes me wish I had one to convert, where's me shovel

Dave

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by Regmarch

Great job on the cellar waf-tastic. Makes me wish I had one to convert, where's me shovel
Dave

Thanks Regmarch - having gone through the planning, build, fitting etc., I can appreciate how much effort has gone into other people's rooms on the forum... but that's what makes it fun.

I'm now at the stage where the wife is complaining that I spend too much on DVDs rather than equipment so it's definitely moved to the next level. I'll give it until later next year and start the hi-def planning

[HCK]

Cracking job.....top notch.

Did you get a good feeling when a project you planned all came together ?

[waf-tastic]

Originally Posted by HCK

Cracking job.....top notch.

Did you get a good feeling when a project you planned all came together ?

Thanks - I felt like Hannibal from the A-team!

It turned out exactly as I'd planned - it just took a lot longer than I thought! I still enjoy getting a new dvd and hearing something through the surround speakers (I've set up the final speaker for my 6.1 sound now ) and seeing the look on peoples faces when they walk through the door and see it all working.

I need to get the sweet counter sorted and then it's an HTPC.... always something extra to do

[dobbin]

Excellent conversion.

I like your equipment rack. Was it a kit or did you do it all yourself?

[waf-tastic]

I did it myself - dead simple:

1. Get some lengths of threaded rod (B&Q sell them). I used 12mm
2. Work out how many shelves you want (mine were cut at B&Q from a sheet of MDF)
3. Get 8 washers and 8 nuts for each shelf
4. Drill holes in each corner of the shelves (I did the first one, then used this as a template for the rest)
5. Finish your MDF (I just sanded mine smooth then painted with a few coats of the same chocolate brown paint that I used on the feature wall)
6. start threading (this takes a while!). Put a nut, then a washer, then shelf then washer then nut, so the shelf is sandwiched between the washers, then the nuts.
7. Repeat for each rod and each shelf. Get each shelf level before doing the next one.
8. Once they're all done, tighten the nuts up and start putting your kit on!.

Since the pics were taken, I've tied the cables to the threaded rods so that it's a bit neater.

Apart from the painting and finishing of the shelves, it only took a few hours. It's really steady and cost a fraction of the cost of a 'proper' stand. As it's out of the way, I'm not looking at it all the time anyway.

Others have used nice wood and stained/varnished it to get a good effect, and others have covered the rods with pipes - I think it looks good as it is.

I'd definitely give it a go - really easy to do and you can build it as big as you need with whatever spacing of the shelves you want.

[dobbin]

Excellent description. Sounds relatively easy to construct.

Like you I have all my equipment in a seperate media room so the shelving doesn't have to look great. I just need something that is cheap and easy to build and this seems to meet the criteria perfectly!

BTW do the steel rods come in different sizes or do they have to be cut from a big piece?

How much were the steel rods? and what was the overall cost?

Thanks again

[waf-tastic]

Cost wise, I think the rods were about £1.50 each for 1 metre ones - they may do other sizes, but not at my local store. I used 6 in all - 2 were cut in half then used for the top 2 shelves (see attached pic showing the shelf where they join - you don't even notice when you're just stood in front of it). The nuts and washers were something like £1.30 for 4 or 6 (can't remember which). I think the wood was £12 for an 8x4, but I had to pay to get it cut (I think it was 2 free cuts then 50p or a pound for extra cuts. (Don't quote me on the costs - it was a while ago, but it's that kind of figure!)

You will be able to get the rods, nuts and washers a lot cheaper if you go to a metal workers rather than a B&Q - I was just in the shop one day and thought I'd get it all as I was there.

They do the rods in lots of different diameters - I used 12 although they do smaller and larger. I wouldn't recommend less than 12 if it's going to be tall as it may flex a bit too much (mine is very steady - I re-tightened the nuts after a few weeks once it had settled and it's been fine since.

Let us know how you get on!

I'm making some speaker stands using the same technique - only difference is that I'm using some plastic piping and filling it with sand to give abit of weight - construction is basically the same though (apart from recessing the top and bottom nuts into the wood).

[dobbin]

Ta for the information.

I popped into B&Q warehouse on my way home to get the materials. I was looking for 1.5 metre lengths of 12mm threaded steel rods.

were about £1.50 each for 1 metre ones

.That would explain why I couldn't find any 1.5metre lengths!

Bought 4 and thought about buying another 2 and halving them but wasn't sure how easy they would be to cut in half. What did you use? A hacksaw? I thought that cutting steel would be very difficult.

Currrent Prices (direct off the B&Q receipt)
4 x 12mm Steel threaded rods @ £1.78 each
100 pack of 12mm hex nuts @ £7.04 (seemed cheaper than the right number in smaller packs)
50 pack 12mm washers @ £2.73
4 x 100mm adjustable Furniture Leg @ £0.98p each (I am going to use them under the bottom shelf.

I will go and get another 2 rods from B&Q later.
I think that I have some MDF around somewhere.
I will let you know how I get on.

[waf-tastic]

Yep - just used a hacksaw - only takes a minute (with a newish blade)! They didn't have the big bags of washers/nuts when I went in - that does seem quite a bit cheaper