jmk14

Are my ceilings too low?

Hello everyone, I am planning to build a theater room in my basement. The only problem is my floor joists are only 7'-2" above the concrete floor. Do I have enough room to put a ceiling and floor that is sound proof enough or am I just waisting my time? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Jim Mcc

Re: Are my ceilings too low?

It depends on what you plan to do with the floor and ceiling. What will your ceiling height be when you're finished? My "finished" ceiling height is 6'8" tall in our HT/projector room and we love it. Ours is in our basement also. We had carpet and pad installed over the slab. We used a suspended ceiling system called "Ceiling Max" that mounts right to the bottom of joist, saving a lot of head room.

predgw

Re: Are my ceilings too low?

Well Jim, I hope not because my dimension is only 1" higher than yours and I am moving full steam ahead. There is the rule of thumb for not having any one dimension of the room divisible by another but beyond that it depends on how tall you are. That may sound silly but most people think of accepted trade dimensions and apply them to there own space. However you are not building for the masses, this is your space. I will end up with roughly 7' clear space when I am done. I can't even think of one person I know personally over 6'-3" , so I am moving forward. My room will be dedicated to movie watching so the bulk of the time people will be sitting. I have started to purchse dri-core subflooring which is only 7/8" thick. That will get your carpet pad off the concrete and offer you some thermal protection with minimal loss of vertical space. I say go for it. Good luck

jmk14

Re: Are my ceilings too low?

Thank you Greg and Jim, I plan to get started as soon as possible with the theater room. First I must do soom research because this is my first home theater room.