Dave's 16:9 home cinema build...

[Davek0974]

Ok, after much reading and asking questions on this excellent forum, I think it's about time to get my build thread going.

It's early days yet, only started on 15/02/2013 but already have the 2.9m x 3.8m former bedroom cleared, stripped, filled, sanded and prepped for work.

Tonight I levelled and mounted the support battens for the screen, this will be a 2.1m wide 16:9 format fixed screen from MDF sheet. This was then primed on the back and mounted, the front will be coated with grey primer then two coats of "Pourascreen" paint, a grey finish with a gain of 0.85.

Wallpaper will be a black leather effect from B&Q, ceiling is going dark matt grey and I'm fitting a halo with led lighting and led downlighting around the perimeter.

Pictures to follow.

 

[Davek0974]

I was hoping for lots of curtains but having just got the first quote back, I might need to redraw my design, shop wanted upwards of £3500 to make three pairs of black velvet curtains! That's almost double the budget for the whole room.

I'm going to price up a cut-down version of my design and see what that does to the price.

 

[KelvinS1965]

Rather than go to a shop, see if you can find someone who works from home making curtains: We found someone local through a friend and she is much more reasonable than places like John Lewis, etc. I can't remember the prices now, but the roman blinds she made for our kitchen worked out about half what JL wanted. My OH made the curtains for our living room, but it took her ages hence the search for someone local.

I'm going to get her to make some black velvet roman/roller blinds as part of my pelmet project and might look at an electric option if it isn't too expensive.

 

[Davek0974]

I think they didn't want the job personally. Second quote came today, labour only for £350, much better, fabric from Whaleys or cinema velvet from ebay and the total is looking much better.

 

[Davek0974]

A few pics....

The room mid-strip...

Halo going up...

Screen mounted, halo up, boxing for curtain track made...

The holes for the house lights are now drilled, wiring run in and the top half of the room prepped for paint.

What would be a good treatment for the door?

With red carpet and grey walls, would the skirting be white or something else?

 

[Linx08]

Looking good fella, purely on a looks front I wouldn't go for white skirting, etc. Maybe a darker or lighter shade of grey? But, the door done in this maybe a bit much. Personally think it would look better than white.

 

[Linx08]

Maybe do your door, skirting and door trim in the same grey as the ceiling?

 

[Davek0974]

Yes I think they do a satin finish in oil-base of the same colour, sounds good to me.

 

[Linx08]

Ahh, winner yes satin finish I couldn't remember the term for the sort half matt half gloss finish. How did you get on with the halo and what did you use to make it?

Kind regards

Linx

 

[Linx08]

Doh, just looked at your pics, MDF and pine

 

[Davek0974]

Yes, the back is 100x20mm pine, screwed to the wall, the ledge is 12x125mm strips of MDF, I had the wood yard cut it at the same time as cutting the screen, they have great saws for this sort of cut.

Having the halo makes curtain hanging a doddle too, I made sure it was strong enough to hang them to it. I am hoping to hide the wires for the led lights in it too, maybe even the projector power and hdmi cable.

 

[Linx08]

Cool, sounds like its all coming together nicely, if you haven't painted MDF before its best to try and seal it first, as its like a rudy sponge. Just sucks paint up like there's no tomorrow, also sealthe edges, I seem to remember hearing or reading a pva mix is good for that, but I could be rambling been up since 4am. Lol

Linx

 

[Davek0974]

Yes it's a bugger to paint if not sealed. Luckily though it's only a small area so I can bung on two or three coats, should do it.

The screen has its own primer-two coats of rustins grey all purpose followed by two coats of Pourascreen paint as recommended by the makers.

 

[Davek0974]

Got the ceiling finished today along with the black on the screen wall, I can honestly say that B&Q "colours" range of matt black and grey emulsion is the mattest flat black emulsion I have ever seen, totally flat

Fitted the blue LEDs as well and prepped for skirting paint and more wiring tomorrow.

Not too keen on the dimmable gu10 LEDs though, they tend to strobe and make moving things like your hands appear to jump, nowhere near as good as halogen but as they're for general lighting it's not important, the white perimeter LEDs under the halo should be better as they run off DC.

 

[Linx08]

I don't really like ceiling mounted LED's, we have the worlds supply of gu10 and gu16 halogen bulbs here. Lol
Did a job recently where they'd used JCC dimmableled fittings, which come with their own power/dimming pack on the back only around £40 a fitting which for a decent led fitting is pretty good. They dimmed really well without any issues.

 

[benjani]

I don't really like ceiling mounted LED's, we have the worlds supply of gu10 and gu16 halogen bulbs here. Lol
Did a job recently where they'd used JCC dimmableled fittings, which come with their own power/dimming pack on the back only around £40 a fitting which for a decent led fitting is pretty good. They dimmed really well without any issues.

Have you a link for these Linx08...

 

[Linx08]

Here you go, http://www.theinternetelectricalsto...white-dimmable-downlight-jc94172-100832-p.asp you can probably get them cheaper if you hunt about on the net. They come as white, stainless and I think chrome.

Kind regards

Linx

 

[Davek0974]

Got the decorating finished today, wallpapering is not my favourite thing but I was impressed with end appearance, worth the hassle

Started running speaker wires in, got the electric curtain track up for the screen, probably put the undercoat on the screen tomorrow night.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I get my card reader back

 

[Davek0974]

Here we go,

LEDs going in, these are warm-white down lighters...

Halo finished off and painted to match...

Coming along nicely

 

[Davek0974]

Curtain woman came to measure up last night, loved the room

Going to be up to four weeks to get curtains made and fitted though

Not ready yet though, got to find a suitable way of concealing the electrickery for the LED's, get a stand for the amp, shampoo the carpet, mount the projector, run some more cabling and paint the screen.

 

[Kaos_vauxhall]

Hey buddy,

I'm building one too just bought a house and finally got the better half to agree with my crazy plans to remod a room of the house out for Cinema with projector + 7.2 surround

Just out of curiosity where is this room you are modding located in your house?

Also what type of Sound proofing will you be using? I love my Movies and LOVE loud effective bass, mids and tops

I'm going to be looking at Acoustic Foam | Pro Acoustic Panels Tiles and Bass Traps for the sound proofing but not sure if it will be affective enough. I don't really want to start putting up/replacing walls with different types of sound proofing "plasterboards" etc.

I've budged about a cost of £500 for all sound proofing.

Please let me know your choices if any as I'm sure it will help me and a few others out too.

Ps. Your build looks amaaaaazing so far, I haven't started mine yet I like to build it in my head and then implement my design with a few drawing ofcourse

 

[Davek0974]

Hi
our cinema is using the second double bedroom, upstairs. I am not using any soundproofing or sound treatment as we have no children at home now and its a detached house so i can watch films at full ASBO level without upsetting anyone (apart from the wife)

We still have a small spare room if anyone wants to stay over, so its just making usage of wasted room space.

I have a fair amount of velvet curtain going in which should tame any echo etc.

Dave

 

[Kaos_vauxhall]

Thats lucky

The Room I have in mind is on the other side of the house and a "seperate " attatched build to the main house with 2 connecting walls.

Will only need to sound proof 2 walls

Will keep an eye on this build of yours I'm sure to learn something

Good luck mate.

 

[Davek0974]

Put two coats of undercoat on the screen this morning, give it a rub down tonight ready for top coats tomorrow morning.

Tested the LED controllers, will work fine I reckon, I'm using a psu from a computer, it had a 12A 12v output so will be plenty man enough for the job and it's fan cooled too.

Got the projector mounted - note to self, next time remember that the lens is off-set from the body so don't mount the bracket centrally! I managed to get it on the adjustable mount but might have to remount the bracket if it's not enough.

 

[Davek0974]

Put the top coats on the screen today, the pourascreen stuff goes on very well, I used a short-pile 4" roller and was a bit concerned when I noticed it was leaving a stippled finish but after a few hours it had smoothed very nicely and was a uniform finish from corner to corner. You can see the reflective flecks in it and the colour is a pale grey.

Can't fire up the projector as still some wiring to do but won't be long now.