Home Theater.. Build-out

So around May 2009, the machines started digging, and before too long, we had a foundation, and the framing went up. Here are the early photos of the space on the foundation level:

The light you see in the room is coming from the sky, they still hadn't put the floor on the 1st level yet. The good news was, it looked like our ceilings in the basement were going to be 9 feet high, after the drop-ceiling was installed to cover any pipes, mechanical equipment, etc.!  Below you can see the rack closet under the stairs. The gear will face flush with the room, and the side access door is in the hallway behind the stacked sheetrock.

I knew there was going to be a lot of details as far as wiring, hooking up the screen etc., and timing was going to be critical, so I made a lot of notes on photographs and sent them to the builder to try to keep communication flowing betwen us. Here are a couple examples of some drawings I sent during the heat of summer. The humidity was leaving puddles everywhere.

Unfortunately, Jim wasn't all that savvy with e-mails, so I wound up having to visit the house almost every morning before work to make sure that we were clear on what needed to happen, and when as far as the wiring, and other support details for things like the screen, etc.

So here is a view inside the AV closet. I came to the house myself and did all of the pre-wiring for the speakers, the screen, and I attempted to 'future proof' the house, by having the builder installing two large pipes that went from the basement all the way up to the attic, so I could drop wires into any room at a later date.  The orange stuff below is ENT tubing that I installed after work one night to make it easy to get wires in and out of the closet.

Here is what it looked like after the sheetrock.  (I think I gave the sheetrock guy a heart attack when he saw this room!... Well, I looked at it this way, he was getting paid well in a rough economy. How many new houses are going up in 2009?!)
 

A few more shots of the sheetrock, and it starts looking like a room.

The shot above shows the view from the front of the theater back towards the office area, with the fireplace, and french door to the back yard.


Next up:  The completed room (or so we thought...)