If you could (1 Viewer)

[MichaelGomez]

. . . would you have your home theater as an add on to the side of your house (still attatched with a door). Or, would you rather your HT be in the finished basement. Which would you rather have and why?

Mike

 

[RAF]

Interesting question. Obviously, adding an addition to the house is usually a much bigger project (the way I did it) but it does have the advantage of usually allowing you to customize your measurements and other requirements better than with a remodeled basement. I would say that a lot of this depends on what you are trying to achieve and the present state of your basement, as well as your ability to expand your dwelling outward.

In my case, the addition was going to be built anyway to blend in with the current state of the original house. (You can see the entire construction process on my web site - including the construction of the non-HT components if you dig deep enough). Because I was, literally, able to get in on the ground floor (pun intended) I had the best of both worlds. If I had a choice of redoing the basement or building something new (all other factors equal) I'd probably go for something new since I would be able to adjust more of the construction to fit my needs.

My 2 cents on this.

 

[MichaelGomez]

Let me rephrase or add to the question. . .

I am really talking about building a house from the ground up.

Now where would you put the HT, the basement or the add on room. Sorry if that was confusing.

Mike

p.s. without adding the cost of the equipment that you installed, how much did your room addition cost? Of course you don't have to answer that.

 

[Kerry Hackney]

From a cost point if view, freestanding room additions will be more expensive for the same sq/ft. When you finish a basement you don't have to worry about the roof because it's already there. If I were building from scratch I would have the contractor make the basement walls one or two blocks higher than normal. This makes drop ceiling much easier in the long run. I used a drop ceiling in my room because of the mechanical systems. Sooner or later you'll need to get at something and it's much easier with the tiles. All together we spent between 10 and 15K to fininsh a 1500 s/ft basement. That is doing it myself. To hire a contractor, say double to triple that amount.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I would stick it in the basement, personally. Less chance to disturb the neighbors.. easier to keep dark... and it feels more like you are escaping the real-world and descending into some sort of "bunker-of-entertainment".

"bunker-of-entertainment".. hmm... I like that. Let me write that down.

 

[Kurt B]

I agree with a lot of what has been mentioned in regards to building a new home with the HT in mind. I recently built a new home, and the HT will go in the basement. Sound reduction to the outside world with the concrete walls and ground around it is good. Of course the inner walls and ceiling are the weak points to take care of.

Costs were an issue too. I didn't need to expand the footings/basement and square footage costs to include the room.

As far as costs go, I'm doing my own from top to bottom. I've finished the rough in work, now on to the electrical wiring.

Good Luck,

Kurt

 

[RAF]

Based on your clarification, I'd say put the HT in the basement. Since you are building the house from the ground up you can incorporate all the features you want (like the higher ceiling, etc.) while still in the planning stages. Much, much less expensive than if you tried to do this once the building is complete.

Good luck.

 

[Paul_Saul]

If you put it in the basement consider using fold form

concrete forms - they are styrofoam insulated forms

that you put concrete into - they deaden sound

enormously! You can make some of the inside walls

with these forms also - I did.

One thing about basement HT is that the base (low freq.)

does not couple as well to house, which can be a plus

in that it does not disturb others in the house

but it is harder to get the couch to shake. Some

people put in a false wood floor over the concrete

slab.

 

[gregstaten]

Another thing to consider: putting it above the garage. That's where mine is going. I considered the basement, but I also have an enormous space above a deep and wide two car garage.

BTW - we're getting closer to start! The lighting just arrived today (a few weeks ahead of schedule). Construction start was delayed a week, but we should hopefully be done by early April!

-greg