finally building ht

sirata

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After many years of reading these forums and feeling jealous, i am taking the plunge and (don`t laugh) building a HT in an outdoor wooden building (read shed ).
SEE PHOTOS.
We have a nice garage, but wife won`t let me convert,but as it is linked to next door ,may cause neighbour issues.

Any way,the shed is 12ft x10ft, i am going to use the window end for the screen, as you can see it is lined with plywood.The shed is about 30ft from the neighbours house.

The idea is to build a frame inside , put insulation between existing interior and a layer of plasterboard.

My questions are as follows

1/ what to cover the plasterboard with, i was thinking of carpet tiles halfway up,but as i don`t want to plaster,am unsure what to do with the top half/ceiling.

2/ Colour of screen wall,should it be black.

3/ i am thinking of something along the lines of a z2,at a seating distance of 10ft,what screen size would be comfortable.

4/ cabling, i mostly want to watch dvds,play games on xbox(yet to purchase,am looking at hi def,so component) and pc
where is a good place to get cables,as there will be two component sending devices and only 1 set of inputs,are there
such things as component switchers ?

lastly in the summer the shed is hot, i think i need some form of air-con,but presume this would require venting outside (somewhere for sound to escape ) has any one any advice re air con in my set up..

Any feed back welcome,as long as it`s not to say don`t do it,this is the only way i will get my big screen fix

Thanks

David
 
I tried to post photos,but they did not appear, not sure what i am
doung wrong. i went down to attach file and browsed to my jpegs
but they did not appear
 
try again
 

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    small shed 11.jpg
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inside,showing plywood interior,and end where screen will go
 

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    inside shed 11apr.jpg
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sorry i cant help with the diy side of things but personally id be reluctant to house all my stuff in a building which is little more than a couple of fence panels nailed together :/

especially considering the most basic of hc is going to be in the region of 1.5-2k with the cheapest projectors.. i have a feeling any insurance company might be equally reluctant :E

certainly something to check out anyway
 
It looks like you have a nice big garden, why don't you build a proper breezeblock theatre in the place of your shed ? - If you're into diy it shouldn't be too hard/ expensive.. You could make it a bit bigger too..


Cheers

Rob
 
I have to agree with the others - I think you'll have some trouble getting the stuff insured. Try the search for insurance and see what crops up. There was a thread about this. It'll be a good idea to alarm it if you decide to go ahead with the project..

I'll have a go at answering your questions though..

1/ Don't forget to make sure you have a vapour barrier between the plasterboard and the insulation underneath. Use two layers of plasterboard and no more nails betwen them. Use silicon rubber or similar to seal all edges. I used carpet from floor to ear height to absorb some sound and deaden it. You can test the room when it's done just by clapping. It will echo terribly with no carpets. Some recommend deadening from floor to ceiling, so the choice is yours.

2/ Yes, it should also be dead accoustically, so use cheap black carpet from Carpet Right (£2.49 sqr mtr).

3/ Probably 6ft 6ins wide, though 7ft may be Ok depending on screendoor and if the pj can make that size from its position. Better check before you get the screen (fit it and see how big you can go with a bed sheet).

4/CPC does good cables at good prices. You'll have to spend a lot of money on cables to see a diffeence (if any) IMHO, so try their 10m set for £33 which work well. See what other people reccommend and how much.

5/Air con - idealy a split unit with seperate condensor/compressor mounted outside and a quiteish evaporator fan. If you have a ducted system, make sure the ducts run in an 's' pattern to minimise noise travelling outside.

You'll have to make sure you do the ceiling to some degree as well to limit sound travel, and seall all holes/gaps with silicon. Where air can go so can sound, so if you don't want the whole world knowing what you've got in there, do a gos job sealing gaps. Make the door similar to the walls and have a threshold for it to shut againmst with weatherstrippmh at a minimum. If you have a lock hole, find a way to plug it. A 25mm square hole will allow 15dbs of noise oout of it, so it won't take much.

Double 'glaze' the windows and seal the edges. Glass is better for this, though plastic will be cheaper.

Gary.
 

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