Q: Platform for Home Theater (1 Viewer)

[San.S]

Hi,

My home theater room is 40 feet X 25 feet with a 12 foot high cieling. I have Dwin projector and 152 inch screen. So far I had thrown in 2 sofas. Now I have brought in another couple of sofas. My idea is to have 2 rows of sofas. If need be then in future I can add another row. My floor is carpeted and the room has concrete walls on all the four sides.

Here are the questions:
(1) How to make the platform on which to put a row of sofas? I was planning to get a person who does framing to make a platform.
(2) I was planning to have platform of size 16 feet X 5 feet. The idea behind was that each sofa will be maximum 90 inches long. Is that OK?
(3) What kind of ply wood do I need to throw on that. 3/4 inch thick or 1 inch thick? Will it be one sheet or more?
(4) How high should the platform be? I was thinking about 1 foot high but then I want to make sure that the persons in the 2 row can watch the movie as my screen is couple of feet above the ground.
(5) Do I need to carpet it or can I just paint it? I was thinking about spray painting it flat black.

Any ideas/pointers are highly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Darren Mortensen]

San,

1.) If your handy with powertools and lumber, you can probably do this yourself.

2.) 16 foot wide is going to be 192"...that's more than plenty for a 90" couch...or two side by side even. If these couches have recliners in them you will want to go deeper, more like 8 feet or 9 feet deep. I would go atleast 6 feet deep for a standard couch, to allow for a walk way in frount of the seating area.

3.) Myself, I used 3/4 plywood screwed onto the top of 2 x 12's placed on 16" centers. My screen is 159" and is only about 4" off the floor. I added a 5" riser platform to fit under my rear seating to gain the additional height to see over the front row. By doing searches at www.avscience.com you can find plenty of plans to rider building. Many recommend filling the risers with sand for acoustic reasons. I did not.

4.) A 12" riser in your case should be fine. You may want to experiment with would blocks under the couch, to be sure the clearance is enough.

5.) I would pad and carpet the riser. Walking on a hollow riser will be loud. The carpet will give it a clean, finished look...and act as a sound absorber.

5.)

 

[San.S]

Darren,

Thanks a lot. Your advice has been very useful.

Regards,

San

 

[Gordon Parr]

Please, please and please...DO NOT forget to fill in the voided space between the joists or your will have a huge resonating chamber. Just stuff it with the cheap stuff prior to placing the sheathing on top. Carpet and padding will not take care of the empty void.

 

[Kevin Magee]

There is an article in Hometheater Builder right now that covers how to build one. Check it out. It gives some good instructions.

 

[Andres Munoz]

I just built my platform yesterday following the instructions found in Home Theater Builder magazine. Wasn't anywhere near as hard as I thought it was going to be.
Definately check it out.