Hi Guys and Gals

after much reading on here ive made the plunge and am converting my second garage into a Home Cinema

here goes the room is a pretty standard 18'6" x 9'

I wanted to do in a way that if we wanted to sell the house we could with this room, so went down the building regs route, bit tiresome and feels over the top with the ampoiunt of insulation you need but hey ho its sorted now

basically a room with in a room stud construction, using 4" x 2"'s and 100 rockwool flexi slabs for the sound, 1 layer of 12.5mm vapour check p board and 1 layer of DB check board at 15mm.

Been doing it a week now and have the studs done and am about to get wiring tomorrow, using my electrician mate.

Ive purchased me kit and gone for

Yamaha DPX-830 projector
Pioneer AX4ASi-S Amp
Pioneer 989AVi-s DVD
B&W 603's fronts
B&W ASW 675 Sub
B&W LCR600 centre
B&W DS6 Diapole Surrounds x 2 pairs
Sky HD


ive taken a few pics, The picture of the garage door is before it was sheethed in with ply, I insulated it to stop condensation in the winter. It will be then insulated inside the sheeting with the 100mm rockwool flexi before the 2 layers of pboard.

I want to end up with a painted type fixed screen on this wall and seek your advise on this , should I go for a 16.9 and paint it with a proper paint, and what paint should I do it in.

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by thomo99

I want to end up with a painted type fixed screen on this wall and seek your advise on this , should I go for a 16.9 and paint it with a proper paint, and what paint should I do it in.

You can do that, when i did this i used icestorm 6 by Dulux; it is of white or v light greyish and works well in a dedicated light controlled room.


Looking good so far, keep the pics coming

has anybody used the goo system paint?

and is this any good compared to normal paint??

[Neil Davidson]

Sounds like a nice setup if done correctly

I would always recomend a screen chosen to suit the room but if you decide to go down the paint route don't bother with "screen paint." Some smoothly applied Dulux works as least as well if not better. Note the importance of good roller technique if you go with paint!

HTH

Neil

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by thomo99

has anybody used the goo system paint?

see here for my screen goo project

You have to be very careful applying this as you can get streaking, i would recommend spraying it if you are thinking of this.

I personally preferred it over the Icestorm 5/6 mix that i used and only got rid of the screen last year due to wanting a slightly smaller screen.

As above though i think that you should be okay with a very well applied paint, if you have a light controlled environment, at least it is cheaper than Goo so you can try a few different shades etc.

[Max Payne]

Inzaman

Can you actually just paint the goo onto an ordinary wall. I have seen that you have used it on a made screen. I actually don't want to go the screen route as the size I want it out of the budget for a while, but at the moment I am projecting my image onto a simple white wall and that is working wonders for me. I love it (even though I don't have a trained eye).

If my wall is say 20 foot in circ - can I do the whole wall in the goo and how many coats are required?

thanks for the tips inzaman

think ill go for the goo

I was going to try and paint this directly onto the plaster, but reading into that thread a sheet of MDF is the way to go, would you agree ??

also I need to get some power in for the PJ, would you say about 4m form the screen was about right for this type of projector DPX-830 yammy.

On the construction side, had a good day today, finished off the "noggin'in", got all my speaker positions noggined too, had the sky HD man in and he prewired all the sky hD stuff incl my RF2 out for another Tv in the house, and my electrician mate came around in the afternoon and we mananged to get the supplies in for

power

speaker wiring

HDMI cable

stair nozing lights

fibre optic ceiling lights

6 downlighters

spots on stage for screen lighting


what I also need a bit of help on is remote control 2 gang dimmer switches, anybody know of a good source???

ill post some pictures when ive cleaned up out there, too knackered now after todays events


cheers for your help

[Neil Davidson]

Page 10 of the manual has a handy table to give you an idea of the correct length from the screen. For 9 feet you are looking at around the 4m mark.

Please make sure that you take great car to position the projector correctly and whatever you do avoid keystone as this ruins your resolution - not good when you have just spent a chunk of change to get a good image!

HTH

Neil

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by Max Payne

Can you actually just paint the goo onto an ordinary wall

I am sure you can but it will need to be flat, if i can remember correctly it is pretty unforgiving of bumps etc as it has a kind of reflective surface.

thomo99, if you use mdf be sure to either fix it to the wall at the top and bottom of the mdf or paint both sides of the mdf (not with goo but normal paint) as mdf has a tendancy to curl at the bottom once painted.
If you do decide to go with the goo you need to be very careful upon application and i would definitely recommend spraying as you can get streaks with a roller. These streaks do disappear over time but if they are too prominent they may not.

Sounds like the rest of it is coming on okay

cheers guys

ive got the pros in from "moss of bath" to do the install, so up to them to get the pj in correctly. Got the power for them and the HDMI cable in the loft.

im going to do a larger area than needed to start with in the goo, then once the pj is up, ill do the border from the actual image rather than guessing, and giving the enginner an impossible job to get it without the need for keystone correction. Once done ill paint over the remaining goo not needed in the room colour, well thats the plan .

Ive gone for the low level ceing bracket as my ceilings 2.50m high at screen end, and hopefully ill get a 90 or 100 inch diagonal, maybe a little restricted as I have my 603s on the left and the right, between my proposed purpose built carpeted stage housing my av gear.

a few new pics for you chaps

its now wired with loads of ligting feeds, for the fibre optics, the stage lighting etc, plus al the speaker cabling and HDMI cable, cant put it through the ceiling until PJ in position as dont want to go through in the wrong place

been insulating today with rockwool acoustic flexi bats

shower straight away, itchy stuff

heres a few progress pics

a few more pics of todays progress

managed to double board a fair amount of it, will finish rest tommorrow

1 -12.5mm vapour check board
1 - 15mm DB check board

take some more snapos tomoorow, got to get finished then as plastering starts on friday at 7.30am

well managed to get all the tacking done, 2 layers everywhere, its been scrimmed and the thincoat angle beads are on. Its blue due to it being DB board

plasterers starting tomorrow at 7.30am


some new pics 4 ya

well the plasterers been, and a mighty fine job he did

asked him to pay great attention to the wall im projecting on, and he duly did

a few pics for ya

[inzaman]

Its coming along now, looking good now its been plastered and looks like a good job too

cheers inzaman, I went down the building regs route so I can sell this house if I wish with an HT room, and also with nearly 7K worth of gear in there I dont want any problems with insurers saying, your only covered for 1K in the garage, which is what it would be if I didnt go down the habitable room route.

havent done much this weekend though , as waiting for plaster to dry out, just cleaned up all the dust, as im trapsing it through the house, much to the displeasure of my wife

start on the raised floor section tomorrow, and then look to get all the chipboard and insulation down on the floor on tuesday, probally 2nd fix electrically later in the week.

ill stick some photos on as it happens.

need a supplier for curved curtain track, going to have screen curtians, 1 for asthetics and 2 for some softness of sound in there.

when i say curved I mean go along side wall say 500mm then along main screen wall, probally a drawstring type?

cheers

[Miniholic]

Looking good so far Thomo. I love these work in progress threads.

Keep up the good work.

miniholic

how do you find the asw675 as ive opted for this, my rooms fairly long ish at 18foot which is where the rear seating will be, other seats at 12 foot.
ie 2 rows of 2 seater recliners

[Miniholic]

The 675 is one of the best upgrades I've made to my system, I went without a sub to begin with, but adding the sub made such a difference. It wasn't just the low end either, it seemed to lift the whole sound (if that makes sense?).

When I got mine I also listend to the Rel Q150e, MJ Acoustics (Pro 50 I think) and a few M&K's. I also demoed the B&W 600 & 650, but they didn't come close to the 675.

I was tempted by one of the M&K's, but it was more expensive than the 675, and to me wasn't worth the premium.

The only problem I have with the 675 is that I can't use it to its full potential at present, as I have fitted wardrobes along one side of my room, and the doors resonate/rattle if things get serious. This will be sorted shortly though as I'll have a dedicated room (thread coming soon) in the new year.

well today was a good un


managed to get the raised flooring area built, so now the same floor level as the rest of the house, and the lower area has also been floored, so it looks like 2nd fix tomorrow,

need to get me mate back soon on the electrics, ive ordered some 4 way 2 gang rmote contolled dimmers, which should be fun.

here some more pics for ya

well guys and gals

over the last few days a few things have turned up

1 was my goo systems paint, however the order didnt contain the topcoat in the box, so a swift email has been sent to nexnix, hopefully they'll send straight away.

also my purpose made av unit is in, needs painting black soon and then eventually itll be carpeted on the top with the carpet nosing onn the 3 sides which lights up, ie has the little bulbs in it. The middle hole is for the amp and the 2 holes eack side are for sky hd, my new dvd and maybe ps3 when it comes out, thinking about putting a wireless pc through the amp and using the amp as a 1k soundcard and putting the picture dvi to hdmi.

if it works i may build a pc for this room , instead of using my old one before I upgraded to what i use now

Painted the ceiling a medium grey in preperation of the 2nd fix electrics, need to think of the pattern im going to put the fibre optic lighting in, thats the fibre optic unit on top of the av unit in the picture, maybe ill try and download the star constellation in my area and try and replicate that onto the ceiling


ive stuck a couple of pics on, one of the ceiling in the grey and 1 of the new av unit.

Going on holiday soon so progress will slow, but my projector and speakers are now moss and amp expected at the end of the moth, so install will hopefully be mid sept, so peant to do until then, like paint the walls burgandy


cheers

colin

well gus and gals the heats really on now, ive got my av install date of the 15th sept , carpets going down the day before

ordered my velvet curtains and pelmet and start painting the walls tomorrow.

the av unit has had 1 coat of paint and after another will be ready to be carpetted.

my lights are 90% wired now and the new submains in from the board to my new distrubution board.

got the star lighting working, it looks great

paint colour is picked and its a rich burgandy colour,

today the movie posters framed, arrived from germany, they look superb.

ill photo these once its a finished project to give them the justice they deserve

sofas come weds , so its all go.

pretty knackered but itll be worth it when im watching star wars 1 in hd on the 16th

[Jazz Monkey Jr]

Looking good. I am hoping to so the same with my garage, just a few questions:

Why didn't you block up the garage door and put a window in?
What do you need to do to follow the building regs, do you need someone to come and see your progress?
Can you explain what needs to go on the roof/walls/floor to meet up with the regs?

I probably won't be doing the conversion for 12 months but want to start research early.

Thanks.

hi

the reason i didnt block up the garage door was that I wanted a fully darkrned room as this si to be nothing but a cinema room.

Also from the outside my house still looks the same with the 2 garage doors etc and I wanted a fixed screen with velvet curtains each side, an old type of cinema .

With regards to building regs, not that hard really but im a building surveyor so easier for me than most.

Basically you need to produce the drawings and submit to your local authority for there approval. You have to meet the new insualatioon requirements of the building regs, for me it meant using rockwool flexi bats at 100mm thick, 250mm of insualtion in the loft and 75mm in the floating floor I used a company called lafarge for the boarding, and rockwooll for most of the insulation.

But id advise anybody thats going to spend a large chunk of cash to go down this route, if you do not and you say have a fire or get burgled then youll only be insured as a garage with the standardish £1000 worth of cover, which wouldnt pay for 1/2 me projector let alone the rest of the av gear.

Also if you sell you have a habitable room to sell with the house, cricky who parks there car in the garage anyhows.


On the progress front painted the walls tonight a deep red colour and put on the first coat of screen goo, starting to look really good now

8 days until AV install so need to keep the pressure on, having the ballanced inline fan scheme installed next week, ballances intake and exhaust and its acoustic ducts as well should be nice as it'll be well stuffy otherwise without a window

[waf-tastic]

Looks to be coming along really well - It's a great feeling to sit in the comfy chairs and fire up the film when it's all finished. Having gone through a similar thing with my cellar conversion, I know what it's like to have all of the bits arriving and opening boxes like a child at Christmas

[scharf_10]

Originally Posted by thomo99

well gus and gals the heats really on now, ive got my av install date of the 15th sept , carpets going down the day before

ordered my velvet curtains and pelmet and start painting the walls tomorrow.

the av unit has had 1 coat of paint and after another will be ready to be carpetted.

my lights are 90% wired now and the new submains in from the board to my new distrubution board.

got the star lighting working, it looks great

paint colour is picked and its a rich burgandy colour,

today the movie posters framed, arrived from germany, they look superb.

ill photo these once its a finished project to give them the justice they deserve

sofas come weds , so its all go.

pretty knackered but itll be worth it when im watching star wars 1 in hd on the 16th

Right, i know this may sound stupid, and ive been reading these forums for ages... but what actually is that on the 4th picture? I see these all the time, although still have no idea :S
Thanks.

[Miniholic]

Originally Posted by scharf_10

Right, i know this may sound stupid, and ive been reading these forums for ages... but what actually is that on the 4th picture? I see these all the time, although still have no idea :S
Thanks.

They are dimmer switches with remote control.

Dimmers

well another good day on the garage today


got the painting finished, walls and woodwork also the screens had 2 base and 2 top of goo, picture of screen is out of size as until they put my projector in unsure of exact screen size/position so have over done the height, will fill in with colour once the av install is done.

the curtain tracks are up and the pelmet tracking done

fixed up the 4 DS6 S3 diapoles in the surround positions, got all the screws in, and then put the speakers away, fixed up the 4 movie posters and put away, got the remote control lighting working put the led lighting around my av cabinet and gave it another coat of black satin

busy week next week

monday - vent axia designed fan install, intake and extract
tuesday - insulate the loft
weds - carpet being fitted
thursday - cutains, sofas , furnishings
friday - av install


not doing nothing tommorrow as am to knackered with working and doing this

[Miniholic]

Coming along nicely Thomo.

How have you got the lights working? Universal remote? Just wondering if having two switches caused problems at all, as I'm looking to get IR dimmers for my room?

I'm hoping to have 4 pairs of lights sunk into the ceiling, and then a pair or wall lights on each sidewall, all running off four circuits. Idealy I'd love something like a GraffikEye for sheer control, but can't really afford/justify that much just for a light switch.