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Construction details

"Home Theater" means different things to different people. Some think of it as a 36" direct view t.v with a $300 "Theater in a box" speaker set. Others don't consider it a home theater unles it's got a front projection system (CRT of course), 2.35:1 aspect ratio screen, a mega buck soundsystem and constructed using multiple layers of drywall, isolated walls and ceilings, sound deadening panels etc etc etc. My attempt falls somewhere inbetween. It's got the projection system, it's got raised seating areas, a front stage, an equipment closet and a certain degree of sound control. I didn't have the funds or room size to allow me to go with a full out "room within a room" theater. My theater is finished the same way any other normal room would be finished except I used insulation in the interior walls and ceiling to help cut down on some of the noise.  I consider it a "home theater" because it has most of the features found in a real theater and the room is soley used for movie screening.
  Before we even bought the house I had planned to do some form of dedicated theater room in the basement of whatever house we decided to buy. I had the opportunity to go through a house that was the exact same design as the one we wanted to have built. I soon picked out the section that would become the theater. We signed the papers and construction of the new house began. The only difference to the basic design from the house we had gone through was that ours required a walk out basement. This meant there was a 4 foot square window right in the wall where I would have put the screen. Windows aren't good things in a theater, especially those that use CRT projectors or projection T.V's. I was all set for making the screen block the window up permanently but the wife had other ideas. Part of the Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF) was that the screen either had to be a pulldown or removable so that the window can be used if needed. Since I was planning on making a DIY screen this meant it would likely have to be removable vs pulldown. I don't think the screen will be removed that often ;-)
Anyway onto the construction.....

I started construction early in January of 2002 and had a budget in mind of "about" $4000 dollars Canadian just for the materials. I had all of the audio equipment and got the projector for nothing so the only expense I needed to get an operational set up was the cost of the HTPC and some misc cables etc (about $1500 total). I don't think I'm going to come in within budget as some of the materials were more expensive than I thought they would be, plus, I've had to make numerous trips to pick up sundry items like  nails, screws, more dry wall compound and yet more drywall compound. Those things soon add up! I've kept the majority of the receipts but I don't want to add them up until the end of the construction. I've decided to do some work outside of the theater to finish the basement of  a little more and create a lobby kind of area. I thought it would be better to do it now rather than later and then get dust etc in the finished theater. This will add maybe another $2000 to the total. I'm doing all the work myself because I like to do that kind of thing and it will cut down on the costs by quite a bit..
 I decided to use a combination of metal  and wooden studs for the construction. The interior wall that contains the two doors and equipment closet was constructed using wooden studs as they are sturdier for the doors and there was already a partial wooden wall at the bottom of the stairs. The perimeter was constructed using 1 5/8 " metal studs to save space and because I heard they were easy to use. They are very easy to use but I found that the walls were still quite flexible, even with drywall on them. The metal track is great and can be used with the wooden studs. It makes it a snap to put up a wall. Just anchor the steel track to the floor with nails or tap-con bolts and then use a plumb bob to put up a track on the rafters. The studs then twist into place and you use a few wafer head screws to secure them. No more toe nailing 2x4's! I'll probably use the track and wooden studs for the other walls in the basement. Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures that show the construction....

Click to go to the studding and insulation phase.

Click to go to the drywall phase

Click to go to the construction of the stage, seating platform and cabinets

Finishing details....