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Project "C8" - building Norways smallest(?) home cinema

179K views 129 replies 13 participants last post by  roffe 
#1 · (Edited)
Status so far - Finished!:

 
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#34 ·
Floor heating and floor laid

The electrician has laid down the floor heating mats. Unfortunately, the thermostat has not been installed yet, so it is not active in this picture.



Since I couldn't do anything else in the room before the floor, I got the floor done. It actually went pretty fast.



Another picture of the floor, showing the surface a bit better. For those remembering the room palette, the basic floor color is not too far off.

 

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#36 · (Edited)
I have to admit that this is not real timber, it is a laminate floor. But I like the looks. :T Acoustically, I may be forced to hide it under a thin carpet, but I have not decided on that yet.

Nice to know that there are people out there following the thread. I will keep the pics coming, and even try to write about the building process in my somewhat limited building vocabulary. :bigsmile:
 
#37 · (Edited)
About the norwegian word "spikerslag", it seems that you're right about "stud" being the proper translation. Consulted www.merriam-webster.com on this, and it says:

stud (noun) - one of the smaller uprights in the framing of the walls of a building to which sheathing, paneling, or laths are fastened
But I am still not quite sure, since my "spikerslag" is not actually carrying the wall itself, only the paneling...
 
#40 ·
Boring - agreed if it's too dead. However, floor reflections can be particularly distracting and harsh. If it came to that and potentially reducing the wall damping, I'd do that.

Just my 2 cents.

Bryan
 
#42 ·
Some work on the wooden wall

When the floor is done, I can work on the wooden wall again. Here all the studs are ready with a CC60 spacing as far as it is possible.



Most of the cutting and painting of materials happens in the garage. By painting before I fasten the materials I don't have to do all that boring masking before painting.

 

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#43 ·
The christmas holiday is coming up and to preserve sanity I have to put the building process on hold for some days. We have more than enough to prepare, since we're arranging the christmas eve dinner. In Norway, christmas eve is THE big evening, both with good, traditional food and the opening of the gifts.

I hope to continue between christmas and new years eve.
 
#45 ·
Well, I guess the womens liberation movement has put several bullets into that effort. It is definitely expected that I contribute.
But I still try to fit in a late work hour in the basement now and then. Nothing worth taking pictures of so far, though.
 
#46 ·
Frames for platform/riser

Happy new year, folks! :) I have had a comfortable christmas holiday and posted no new pictures. But here I go again.

In the rear of the room I'll have a riser/platform for the second seating row. The wood parts for this could be seen in my previous picture post, and after some work, mainly with a battery drill, five well dimensioned frames are ready.



Above you may observe that I have painted the studs of the wooden wall the same way as on the other walls. Below is a picture from a slightly different angle. I have now painted the ventilation covers. You may also observe the beginning of what will become a cable channel at floor level on the front wall.

 

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#51 ·
Channels under the ceiling for cables, downlight etc.

Some progress since the last update. Along the sides of the ceiling I have started to build channels for all cables, downlights and in-ceiling speakers.
To still be able to access the basement window, the channel is more shallow in this area, and will only allow cabling, no downlights nor speakers.



These rectangular channels will be finished with sides at the end of the project, but only after downlights and cabling has been done. The sides will be fastened with screws, so they can be easily removed if the need for cable rearrangement do occur (and it will).
 

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#53 ·
Little by little, bit by bit, you are making this into a nice looking room.

Keep up the good work and good luck in the New Year,
Brien
Thank you, Brien, for the thumbs up.

I have been planning this for quite some time, and even if the planning process has been slow going, I guess it will pay off in the end. I am confident of a positive result, at least according to my own preferences.

Work have been down during christmas, but I have already startet it up again. No reason to wait now, is it? :bigsmile:
 
#54 ·
Platform (riser), skirtings and channel for cables in front

Since the last status update, the platform is now a reality, complete with flooring. I have added skirtings (is that the correct word?) along all walls, andin front of the room a "cable channel" for all sorts of cabling. By the way, the door is on its hinges, too. I guess this has been painted in between everything else. :whistling:



In the picture below the platform/riser has been built. As you can see, there are skirtings along the floor for this too, but they lack some paint at the end. The platform feels solid to walk on. The height between floor and ceiling here is at a bare minimum of 187cm, which means I can stand upright, feeling my hair slightly touch the ceiling.

I had to to the skirtings twice, since I noticed audible creaking noises when I walked on the platform. There are now rubber strips under each skirting board to avoid that noise. Even if the platform/riser has a solid base, it is not completely stiff, making the floor move slightly against the skirtings. With the rubber strips in place, this is completely silent.

You can also see the holes for the surround speakers (an in-wall solution) in the channel along the ceiling.



In this picture, the cable channel in front of the room is more detailed. It is slightly taller than the other skirtings. I guess this will not matter when the walls are completed. The front wall will differ from the other walls anyway, being black while the other walls will be grey.



So here everything is ready for another visit from the electricians and start to finish the walls.
 

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#57 ·
Re: Platform (riser), skirtings and channel for cables in front

Since the last status update, the platform is now a reality, complete with flooring. I have added skirtings (is that the correct word?)
Yes, they're called skirting boards in my Country, but I believe they call them base boards in the US..
If you can't fill the riser with insulation, would you be able to just line underneath the riser floor and around the sides of each compartment?
Otherwise when you put the front panel on, it's going to become an empty box..and even though it sounds solid now, it will be a resonating chamber without any insulation..
 
#55 ·
That is a nice looking floor!

What you are calling skirtings, in English, I would call either a joist or truss(because of the design). But, yea, wood rubbing against wood will squeak :) So good idea to place something inbetween the two members.

What does that platform sound like when you step on it? Kind of hollow? I do not know if you have considered it or no, but some damping material might help here. Like filling it with insulation?

But theater construction is different then typical building so this may be an area that you want to be live.

No matter, it's a good looking place, no doubt.


Brien
 
#56 ·
Filling the space underneath the platform completely with damping material is not an option. The reason is that the heat from the floor needs somewhere to go. But I may build damping "boxes" with legs allowing air to flow underneath, while damping most of the space. This is one of the possibilities for tweaking room acoustics if I am not satisfied when the room is "done" (will it ever be?).

But actually, there are not much hollowness to the sound when you walk on the platform. It feels and sounds pretty solid. :)
 
#58 · (Edited)
Base board, right, ok!

I was in the wrong part of the room when he mentioned squeaking and just naturally thought it was the floor joists.

I'll try to read more and type less :)

The op did mention a heated floor. This presents a unique situation. I wouldn't want to cover the front of the platform with anything solid that would make the platform a heat trap.


OK, now I'm going to read more and type less :)
 
#62 ·
Electrician has been around for the 3rd time

Antother status post after the electricians have been around for the third time. Still no lights, but a lot of new cables, tubes, light switches, power sockets etc.



A closer look at the switches by the door. It's a good thing that the floor heating has got thermostat control. Now it can be on all the time. It is also a dimmer for the downlights, two switches for the two planned downlight zones that are planned.



Since I now have power sockets, I have set up a small shelf fom IKEA, an old CD player (Denon DCD-1500mkII) and a couple of speakers (Audioengine 2) to get music while I work.



Here you can see the power sockets better. There are also two double sockets behind the Ikea shelf.



A bit closer view of the socket. Observe that the cable channel is a bit higher than the skirting/base boards to allow room for the boxes behind the sockets.



The pictures in this posting has been taken with a work lamp as the light source. This has meant strange shadows and a rather yellow color to it. I'll try to improve on this in later posts.
 

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#66 ·
Re: Electrician has been around for the 3rd time

A closer look at the switches by the door. It's a good thing that the floor heating has got thermostat control. Now it can be on all the time. It is also a dimmer for the downlights, two switches for the two planned downlight zones that are planned.
It's all coming together nicely..and the downlights look good..:T

Is that dimmer control a manual device?..From the pic. it looks like it has a knob..
I used to have a manual dimmer for the lights, but it was not very professional to have to turn the lights down by hand..so I put in a simple automated system...Best thing I ever did!!:bigsmile:
 
#63 ·
After fourth (and last?) visit from the electrician

At last the downlights are in place. This picture shows one of the two lighting zones. I actually think this can be pretty nice when it's done. :T



The switches are now framed. You may also notice the rough style of the wood I have used. With my carpentry skills and given the general roughness of the basement, this is OK by me.



A new fuse box has been placed elsewhere in the basement, directly below the main fuse box. Two 16A/230V fuses is for the home cinema, for floor heating and electronics separately.

 

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#65 · (Edited)
Thanx. It takes some effort, but if you don't need to install extra power circuits and heating, redecoration to a home cinema doesn't have to be very expensive. The biggest problem with such å small room is that it is difficult to isolate sound from the HT to the rest of the building. Here I have just tried to do what I can, but even with the tiny setup above, sound leakage is evident, mostly in the bass area.
 
#68 · (Edited)
Covering of the wall begins

[This time I have tried to use the Google Translator to write this. The text is mostly unchanged, except where it is almost impossible to understand the original meaning or where the translator found no english word. Enjoy. ;-) NB: If anything is still unclear, don't hesitate to ask about the true meaning. :whistling: ]

After the electician was done for this time it was ready to begin to dress the walls.

Here you can see the first three acoustics plates, which consists of a wooden frame around Rockwool acoustics plates faced with gray scenemolton. It is not so nice with the album in front of the window, maybe, but I would like to have easy opportunity to get to the window, and then it is good to get away with removing one of the discs. Otherwise, this is with these discs extremely time-consuming work.



I thought each disc would take about an hour, but it turns out that each disc takes over two (!) Hours for my part. For each plate I measure up to find the dimensions, sheathing materials, turning them into frames, routers rounding the edges, cut to the acoustics discs common in the frame and dress them with scenemolton before they hung on the wall. When the room has about 20 discs, so this will take a while ...

Moreover, sees two of the four downlighters constitutes a separate light zone behind in space. Nice if you want a little light on while watching the film, too.
 

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#69 ·
Re: Covering of the wall begins

[
I thought each disc would take about an hour, but it turns out that each disc takes over two (!) Hours for my part. For each plate I measure up to find the dimensions, sheathing materials, turning them into frames, routers rounding the edges, cut to the acoustics discs common in the frame and dress them with scenemolton before they hung on the wall. When the room has about 20 discs, so this will take a while ...

That seems an awful lot of work..:sweat:
I've not heard the term or product..scenemolton..Please elaborate..
 
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