How to integrate a drop-down screen in floating wall ..

[crdorey]

Hi all,

I have read a LOT of threads trying to find someone else that has dealt with this issue, and had no luck, so I hope someone can help !

I have an ongoing house renovation, and the next room to tackle is the combined living / cinema room. It's from scratch, currently stone walls and concrete floors and ceilings, so I can do pretty much what I like - within my budget restrictions ! One exterior wall needs to be insulated and plaster-boarded. My thought then, mostly from an asthetic point of view, is to add "second" floating wall on this newly boarded wall, in which I want to flush mount my LCD TV. I would then want to add a drop-down screen, and this is the crux of my little dilemna .. how do I include /embed a drop-down screen on the floating wall without it looking like a nasty afterthought ?

If I forget the asthetics of the floating wall idea, the other option is to flush-mount the TV in the new plasterboard wall, and then suspend the screen from the ceiling. A couple of issues with this; one is that I still need to insulate the stone wall behind the TV, meaning that the entire plasterboarded wall (7.5m) will have to be brought out by the depth of the TV just to keep the flush-mounted look. And additionally, it seems that the in-ceiling drop-down screens are very expensive compared to a regular electric job.

I hope this all makes sense. If anyone is kind and knowledgeable enough to help, I'd be very grateful !

Thanks a lot. Charles

[Fieldling86]

Why not box in the drop down screen and have that box attached to the floating wall?

Per

[crdorey]

Hi Per,

That'd be the most obvious solution I guess, but I think it would kind of spoil the effect of what should be a fairly elegant feature, if a boxed in screen sits at the top.

After a lot of thought on this, I am starting to think that there may not be a way to get my idea to float ('scuse the pun!).

[MarkP80]

Not sure I understand the problem here. I would have thought you could box in the screen at the top of the wall, where it meets the ceiling, neatly done with coving across the front and a small letterbox slot for the screen to drop through.. The floating wall is on the wall underneath this, completely independant. Munt the screen such that it falls in front of the flaoting wall.

additionally, it seems that the in-ceiling drop-down screens are very expensive compared to a regular electric job.

- Er, just box in a regular electric screen.
Have a look at the screen in my thread (see my signature below) to see what I mean about boxing in the screen. I don't have a floating wall, but you can get what I mean about simply making the screen far enough forward.

Cheers,
MarkP

[crdorey]

Hi Mark,

Yours (cinema and bar) were two of the threads I read in great detail .. a very nice job !! I think that your idea re the screen is probably the best. As much as I try to figure it out, I think a floating wall with a built-in screen could just look a little bit odd.

My point about the screens designed for flush ceiling installation is that there is no boxing needed .. just a lot more €€€ !

I'll get the tape measure out (again) this weekend, and try to come up with a plan. I can't afford to lose too much width in the room, as although it's quite long, it's only about 3.5m wide, and it's in the narrow direction that the projector has point. That'll limit my image size to around 1.7m unfortunately.

I've attached a few pics of my last effort, where I had the luxury of almost unlimited space for the "toy room". Ah, if only that were the case now ..

This time round, apart from the space issues, I will try to iron out a few beginners mistakes that I made last time, mostly to do with not provisioning enough AV cables, and the screen position being a little high. It was great fun to do though.

Thanks a lot .. Charles

[MarkP80]

Hi Charles,

Very nice pictures, that was one very stylish room!

My point about the screens designed for flush ceiling installation is that there is no boxing needed .. just a lot more €€€ !

- I'm not familiar with these type of screens, so not sure how they look/work. If your joists run the right way, you can put your regular electric screen in the ceiling cavity. You then just need to cut a letterbox for the screen to drop through for viewing. You do need to have access from the floor above to install it though. Alternatively, cut the hole in the ceiling to install it, then cover the hole with a piece of say 9mm MDF (again with a letterbox cut in it). The MDF will obviously be proud of the ceiling, but painted the same colour can still be very unobtrusive. Probably look better than boxing the screen in, if your joist do suit.

it's only about 3.5m wide, and it's in the narrow direction that the projector has point. That'll limit my image size to around 1.7m unfortunately.

- I presume that's a limit based on your existing projector. Ideally you'd want something around 2.3m wide. I won't for a moment suggest you consider trading in your projector for one with a bigger zoom capability!........

If you go for the boxing option, I would ony do it big enough to fit the screen - not the full 7m - you can still make it look good if it's finished properly (and that won't be a problem looking at your last effort!)

I will try to iron out a few beginners mistakes that I made last time, mostly to do with not provisioning enough AV cables

- Oh yes, that's a favourite. Can I suggest you think about cat 5e cables near your equipment too? - you're bound to want to put something there at some point that will benefit a network connection (PS3, Squeezebox, HTPC etc). Guess who didn't, and now wishes he had...

It was great fun to do though.

- Indeed, and very satisfying when you've finished.

Regards,
MarkP

ps

Yours were two of the threads I read .. a very nice job !!

- thanks very much, glad you like them, and hopefully they'll be useful.

[crdorey]

Hi Mark,

Sorry for the late reply .. been up to my eyeballs at work and trying to finish off fitting the kitchen installation at home .. muilt-tasking has not left a lot of time to get any further on this.

Tomorrow is D-Day for the cabling planning though. I have an electrician friend coming over and we'll lay all the "tubes" for running the cables before the new concrete floor goes down. One way or the other the layout at least will be decided ..

Budget is the big restriction this time round. As I am renovating a whole house, I am also trying to re-use all my hardware (although with updated cabling!).

The screen size is indeed based on the projector limitations (Infocus 4805), but that won't be replaced any time soon unfortunately :-(

I don't have joists in the ceiling, it's a (small) old barn connected to the house in which I've had a new reinforced concrete poured. So no chance of access from above, but good advice from you re cutting a letterbox for the screen. As I need to put in a suspended plasterboard ceiling anyway, that'll probably be the neatest idea. I've got enough headroom to drop the ceiling by 15-20 cm without a problem.

Cat5 is definitely in the plan. I've got 100's of metres of the stuff ready to be laid everywhere ! I've got a configured HTPC (Shuttle) that I will try to integrate properly this time. In the last place it was added as an afterthought really.

I'll take a few pics as I go along, and post a new thread when I've made a little more solid progress.

Thanks again for your time and advice given, and for compliments on the last effort:-)

All the best.

Charles

[rupees_al]

had a think about this and a neat way to do it (if i can explain it right) tho not entirely what i think you are looking for
but might get you thinking would be to build a setup like this...

Spennny's home cinema

but make the opening around the tv much bigger with the tv hanging in the middle (ie still a feature wall)
your screen could then also be housed in the part that is set back and be built in to the set back part
(ie like markp80's screen is house cept that box is the top part of the set back bit).

and when it drops down it can be the full size of the set back part... hope that makes sense its just trying to combine the screen box setup that mark has but also into a false wall like Spennys (the link).

not seen it done anywhere.

hope that helps and that you understand.. if not shout and i'll try harder or have a go at sketchup