Converting garage into HT....very long. (1 Viewer)

[Bernie_A]

Okay, I've got the bug....Home Theater Fever....I have an attached 1 car garage (and a separate attached 2 car garage for wifey) that is 11x16 w/ 10 ceilings. Some basic starter ideas:

Remove exising drywall, add soundproof insulation, do cabling and then what? Replace drywall? Use paneling?

The garage door will be filled in with HOA compliant window and matching stucco, etc. The way the room is layed out, the 55" Hitachi RPTV has to go up against the newly window'd wall. Reason: door into room is on opposite wall.

Right now there is the step down from the house to garage. Would you fill it in and if so, how? Wood floor? Vapor barrier with carpet.

What about the ceiling? Right now, with conc floors and nothing it's an echo camber.

My other existing equipment:

Swan 5.2 fronts
Swan C3 center
SWan 2.1 rear
Velodyne CHT100

All the media equipment will be purchased new. I have $5000 to spend on media and cabling, equipment rack, etc. and $5000 for the conversion and seating. We live in a pretty nice neighborhood (even though I am the black sheep of the area..hehe) so it's got to be done right. No ghetto HT's here.

I would love eveyone's ideas about room construction and equipment.


So far, I've got a complete Rotel stack spec'd out but what would you do? How about a little less expensive equipment and add it a projector?

Ideas people....thanks in advance!!!

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Are you soundproofing to keep the noise from getting outside, or to keep it out of the rest of the house?

 

[Bernie_A]

Hmmm...my first thought is from the rest of the house. Why? Other than that, are you thinking it would be a waste of money to rip out the old and put in new?? I have had the same thought but I want this to be right....no half..you-know-what job. I would have no problem with having a company come in, cut a few holes, and blow in some insulation and then double drywalling the place up. That is actually my second thought and then running the bulk of the cabling under a "raised floor" in conduit to the back of the room.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

No, I had a different recommendation depending on what you wanted to do.

If you’re intending to insulate from the rest of the house, you might want to look at the information at this link.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Bernie_A]

Great reading and those guys are about 30 min from my house. I have also discovered that I may be overdoing this a little. There is only one common wall (back wall of garage) that is common with the house. There is a door but that already is solid core with smoke seal and self closing hinges.....perfect....I will leave it alone.

The back wall of the garage is the only one then I am a little concerned with. It's already insulated so how about a little sound board and that's it. For the most part, this new HT room is away from the main part of the house so sound transmission shouldn't be too big of a concern. Beside, we will usually be watching movies as a family.

The existing side walls then maybe I just have insulation sprayed into the walls and then add another layer of 5/8" drywall.

What about the ceiling? SHould I texture it or leave it alone. I can access that part of the attic from the house so insulating and cabling should be a snap.

 

[Robt_Moore]

Any photos? Or dimensioned drawings? How far down is the floor from the door? What part of the country?

You probably need to tear off the drywall. Is there insulation in the exterior wall? Enough electrical outlets installed? How is this room going to be heated and/or cooled? Would you want to install an exterior door while your at it?

You may want to keep in the back of your mind about how the next person who owns the house could use this space. Could it be later converted to a bedroom? Turned back into a garage? Another family room? A den? I don't think dedicated home theaters recoup alot of their investments, but a flexible space could.

Are you going to do the work yourself? Reader's Digest has a very good book called "Reader's Digest Home Improvement Manual", and gives you step by step information on how to do everything in your home. Lots of pictures, and even shows you an addition project from start to finish.

Good luck, have fun! I wish I had a big empty room that I could do anything I want in it.

Bob

 

[Bernie_A]

Well Robt, my house is sort of like an upside down U with a 2 car garage on the left and single car on the right w/ an entry courtyard in the middle. The single car garage was an optional den when the houses were built new but the original owner opted to keep the garage as is.

The space is basically an 11x16 shell, uninsulated, w/ drywall and power in the ceiling for garage door opener and light. So it's more or less a clean slate.

I have a friend who's a contractor so he would be doing the work. I have been doing architectural design and drafting for 20 years so this is going to be a learning experience for me as well. Home theaters are, obviously, becoming more popular so I will be gaining "some" working knowledge of what goes into a HT.

I am also going to intergrate some 3-D studio with AutoCAD and have some fun with that as well.

Back to the room.....I can see where you would have to rip out the drywall....of coarse, you need electrical, wall sconce lighting, etc. That's why I'm bouncing this idea off everyone here on the board. I am new to HT so I just have not thought of a lot of these things.

More ideas? What about equipment.....??

 

[Bernie_A]

I am going to try to insert a bmp of the acad drawing.