new members diy home cinema

[aneave]

Hello all.
Firstly let me say thanks to all who post on this forum as for without you i wouldn't have been inspired or have the inspirations (thank god for spell checker) to get off my arse and build my dream room for both watching films and watching without complaints the football.
I was planning to do this step buy step and posting as i went but due to getting carried away with it all and not stopping for anything till it was done it never happened that way, in fact i didn't even take any pics the first month or so (gutted).
Quick rundown:-
my plan was to change our unused box room into a staircase leading into our again unused but for junk loft area 30ftx30ft.
build a suspended soundproof floor.
provide area with its own power supply (away from existing ring main).
wanted areas own heating/cooling system.
also wanted av kit to control ceiling speakers throughout home.
note this was my first project of anywhere near this nature!

My room was to be built around existing roof framework due to cost of removal, and to contain 7ft fixed screen with all av kit including speakers to be built behind walls where possible the system was to be of course 7.1

I started my project in feb with views of having it ready for the world cup, a tall order as only myself was going to be involved in this project.

My first job was to change the access from a silly 3ftx3ft hole into a access for my to be made staircase, I'm no builder so you can imagine the thoughts of my friends and family watching me destroy the ceiling of my home (a stressful time for my girlfriend). And building a staircase into the loft to current building regs specs (all info sourced from Internet).
this was over engineered to help soundproofing. This helped no end as climbing the loft ladder 300 times a day was getting tiring. next up was to remove old water tanks and pipework and plan out what was going wear and when (this is a fun part of the job!.
With all my plans in place the first major job was to lay the floor joists this turned out to be the longest and hardiest part of the job that seemed to go on forever the building inspector insisted on 8x4inch joists that was to span areas covering 5 meters in places resting on supporting walls, this required a lot of skill and manpower to get in the loft and in place! (more girlfriend worrying holes to be made).
This floor was built approx 1ft above existing ceiling allowing plenty sound board and isowool to be installed before flooring layed.
Sorry but this is the earliest pic i took to give a idea of the scale of the job in hand:-
pic 3.JPG(this pic shows site Foreman)

After 5 hard weekends a workable staircase/walkable floor(trust me this makes the job so much easier hereafter) was in place, note that without a floor having to balance on beams and nowhere to put your tools down gets very old very fast.

with the floor in place the tools/workmates ext can come upstairs and begin building the stud walls to make a more (room) like shape then a loft and to house all av equipment speakers ext, i decided to make the room 5 meters wide as most good carpets are only that wide and i hate joins.
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At this stage i was able to start running in all cabling and ducting to the necessary areas ready for when i started plasterboarding, this included its own consumer unit running two separate ring mains one for the av the other for air con/inbuilt fridge/ventilation ext. A new lighting ring was added for uplighters/downlighters/L.E.D mood lighting/and the coffee table in the middle of the room is to be custom built with its own under lighting.All seven speakers where bi wired and all down stairs inbuilt speakers where wired to where the kit was to be housed about 200 meters of speaker cable alone. my two 6 month old kittens assisted with this.
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Next job was to finish building the staircase, hand rails ext (before i fall down the hole)
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Note i used existing beams as part of the staircase to make it look built in.

Then i decided to build the wall in which the screen was to be fitted this had to house the center speaker and provide a ton of soundproofing for next door! 2ft thick!

Next up the ceiling this was two be stepped down halfway along as two house the projector as two not be seen from seating area, also a hinged panel for access to the projector. Air con ducts was installed as was cooling ducts for the projector. All downlighters installed.
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This was a fun part of the project as it required to projector to be turned on for the first time to find the correct distance from the screen. Yes i resisted the temptation to put anything on other then a blue screen!!!

Then it was time for the walls to be installed at this point people started to see i wasn't mad and i was on to something here (even the girlfriend).
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As before plenty soundproofing!
Now I'm getting proud of myself I'm even in the photos!

Now i build the front walls to house to front speakers the sub box and the fridge!

The rear wall i built to contain my rear channel left and right and also in-built DVD racking behind tinted glass to contain 1000 DVDs! all numbered and listed in file order to be stored on SD card to be show on screen! clever eh!
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(this pic was taken after painting).

Now it was built! time for a good clear up and decorating before the carpets where due

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Now with carpets
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Now as i write this thread I'm waiting for my sofas that are having a logo with my initials embroidered in just like the coffee table (sorry warner bros). and I'm there its been a hard few months but i did it! the day came when i got to connect it all up and enjoy what i was waiting for the setting up stage! now its all over time to put the feet back up and enjoy the world cup. GOOD LUCK ENGLAND!

please let me know what you think?
any questions please I'll be happy to answer.
after all its you that made me do it in the first place!

[shahedz]

wow , what a brilliant thread, i can't believe you learnt about building regs and building your loft from the net, love the coffee table and the lights , and the way everything is built, fantastic colour scheme, and it has turned out really nice,

whats the home cinema equipment you are using?

you must be well proud!

cool site foreman by the way

[aneave]

Originally Posted by shahedz

wow , what a brilliant thread, i can't believe you learnt about building regs and building your loft from the net, love the coffee table and the lights , and the way everything is built, fantastic colour scheme, and it has turned out really nice,

whats the home cinema equipment you are using?

you must be well proud!

cool site foreman by the way

Thanks shahedz, this is my first time on any forum so sorry to be vague in places I'm not much of a writer.

It's amazing what you can find on the net just takes a bit of time to find.

I'm a diagnostic technician by trade for jaguar cars so home electronics are no problem, its the building part that required new skills to be learned like plastering and so on, plus about 1 million trips to b&q.

As for the kit its mostly items i already owned just just some new additions
pj panasonic pt-ae900
screen from betamax
front speakers- mordaunt short ms914 (new)
center- kef iq
surround rear- kef cresta 3
rear channel- mission m(cant remember modal number)
amp- yamaha dspax757se (new) (and highly recomended for the money)
dvd- yamaha s540 (old now!)
sub box from paragim (old but excellent sound)
sky+ box
playstation 2
van der hul cabling though-out

[ash]

WOW that is amazing, love the colour scheme!

[NGD Boy]

nice one.... wish I could persuade the mrs to let me build my room like yours.... looks really, really cool .....how much did building work cost ? pm me if you don't want to post costs publicly...... my loft is identical to yours as it's an old mid terraced house....... well done, looks fab!!

[shahedz]

at any point did you have to get builders in or external work men? really am impressed big time

[aneave]

Originally Posted by fortywinks

nice one.... wish I could persuade the mrs to let me build my room like yours.... looks really, really cool .....how much did building work cost ? pm me if you don't want to post costs publicly...... my loft is identical to yours as it's an old mid terraced house....... well done, looks fab!!

The first thing is to make sure you have the room in the first place, remember the floor will be raised about a foot and then theres the space for the ceiling to be installed.
if thats OK next problem is wheres the staircase going to go, currant regs require 6ft 8inchs between top tread of stair and ceiling this unless you have a huge loft is normally slap bang in the middle to achieve this clearance so what part of downstairs is to be sacrificed? (thats the woman problem!).
and if all thats ok dont forget the cost of air con, it gets too hot up there without!
One advantage you'll have is the mid terraced part, that means you'll probably only have two sloping walls to contend with, i have three being a semi, gives it more character i feel but a design nightmare!

As for price i didn't really count the cost but av equipment aside i would say around 10/12k, note this was parts and materials only as it was a diy project, no doubt labor would double it! but bear in mind this all goes on top of the value of your home (that statement to be shown to Mrs!).

Good luck

[aneave]

Originally Posted by shahedz

at any point did you have to get builders in or external work men? really am impressed big time

I'll use this as an excuse to thank:-
steve/gary/luke/dean/andrew for
help with the labouring moving matireals from garage to loft (8x4 plasterboard sheets/wooden joists ext).
ben and brother for
the superb job with the carpets!!!
steve for my custom logo (warner bros rip off).
jane for
the embroidery of said logo.
girlfriend nic for her just letting me get on with it attitude (see lives here too).
And of coarse to my site foremen simba and stanford (the cats).

All design and planning though to building/wiring/decorating was carred out buy myself (i still have all my fingers just a bit less hair!)

I must confess, i was going to get a plasterer in but he let me down, so i cheated a bit and artexed the entire room myself (arms ached for weeks) but this turned out to work out well as i could only (due to skill level) make a rough design in the finish but when painted looked good and in keeping with exposed woodwork!
On top of that it helped with sound quality no end as very thick and help deaden sound with its design

[shahedz]

have you conisdered putting the pictures of the finsihed article , also with some screen shots in the Home Cinema Gallery section?

[Dai B]

Fantastic.

Our loft is a similar size, and that's where (finally!) my own install will go - so great to see yours.

May well tap you up for advice when the time comes.