Basement Reno & Entertainment Center advice.

[prae]

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Attachment 93755

Agree strongly with all of @88CRX 's feedback;having the TV on that wall might also make it more feasible to wire A/V gear into the storage room / server area. Make sure the hallway entrance to the mech room is wide enough to accommodate a 32" door, which at 45" inches should be no problem.

- - - Updated - - -

I'll also add; having interviewed about 4-5 GCs for a basement finishing job a few years ago, I didn't see the value in their markup and ended up managing trades/contractors myself. It definitely wasn't finished as fast as with a GC but I saved at least 20% and was able to spend more on upgrades like nicer carpet, custom tile shower, etc.

[94CoRd]

I like 88CRX 's layout a bit better as well. I think having the entertainment area on the wall where the stairs come down would create a constant off-center feeling. Staring at half wall, half hall. Being able to add a loveseat or additional chair beside the couch is huge as well.
@88CRX - any chance you do basement mockups, for future reference?

[ExtraSlow]

I used Cobalt Developments, but that was a long time ago. the selling feature for using them was that they said they could do any basement in 8 weeks. They were true to their word even with major design changes part way through. Had a pregnant wife and a toddler, or a newborn, or something, at the time. Didn't need the stress of it draggin on past delivery timeline. Great experience.
see my post from a few years ago about them in this thread:
https://forums.beyond.ca/threads/391...lt#post4444038

[Mitsu3000gt]

I don't have time to look at this in detail right now but the best general advice for your HT room I can give is 1) Get an actual HT installer to do the wiring, DO NOT let the builder/renovation company do it. I suggest BASE Electronics, very fair pricing and they specialize in this sort of thing. 2) Wire for 10+ channel Atmos even if you don't plan on using that many speakers right away, additional cost will be almost nothing but it's a pain to do it later.

If you have any specific HT questions (setup, equipment, etc.) feel free to reach out, I just went through all this myself.

[88CRX]

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I like 88CRX 's layout a bit better as well. I think having the entertainment area on the wall where the stairs come down would create a constant off-center feeling. Staring at half wall, half hall. Being able to add a loveseat or additional chair beside the couch is huge as well.
@88CRX - any chance you do basement mockups, for future reference?

I don't formally but I dont mind helping out.

[88CRX]

Also your closet should be minimum 24" stud to stud.... not whatever wonky dimension you have on there.

[S-FLY]

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I'd change the layout slightly.

- The bathroom is really small. I'd make it 6"-8" longer and shrink the bedroom.
- Bedroom door should shift tight into the hinge corner, wherever it goes.
- The TV wall you have is far too small. I'd flip the TV to the bathroom wall and shift the doors to the bathroom and mechanical room.
- This allows you to put your couch in a much better orientation.
- Don't have the shitter facing the sink. Unless you want to wash your hands while you dump?

Attachment 93755

Agreed, this orientation is much better.

It solved my two thoughts which were:
- the speaker location/distances by the tv weren't equal
- view of the bathroom from the couch

[colsankey]

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I'd change the layout slightly.

- The bathroom is really small. I'd make it 6"-8" longer and shrink the bedroom.
- Bedroom door should shift tight into the hinge corner, wherever it goes.
- The TV wall you have is far too small. I'd flip the TV to the bathroom wall and shift the doors to the bathroom and mechanical room.
- This allows you to put your couch in a much better orientation.
- Don't have the shitter facing the sink. Unless you want to wash your hands while you dump?

Attachment 93755

Really like what you've done in concept.

I think the bathroom will be 6" wider, I wanted the bedroom to be pushed an extra foot larger from the old sketch because tI felt the bathroom and mechanical were already big enough. My poor paint skills started butting heads with the technical sections of the drawing, hence why the the door wasn't flush with the wall. But builder said only 6" made sense for things to line up.

Totally get the idea about the TV wall moving, it made sense for it to be where it was for me, but I think I had a skewered perspective because currently my desk is central to that wall, roughly where the 'B' speakers sit in the drawing. Taking a second look I see we could put chairs or a L sectional against the wall in the plans design, but it's not great.

Unfortunately I can't push the wall as wide under the stairs as it is in your re-do - the post for the planned door in my drawing you've walled past is the little bit of access I have under the stairs, and right on the edge of the furnace. So having an entrance door there for the bathroom, would mean unfinished wall or gaping furnace room on the side for code, when walking into the washroom. If someone smarter than me can sort that puzzle out, I'd love an excuse to shift the bathroom to free up that long wall.

Picture for reference - please no digs at the junk, my storage pods still pending.

[GT.....O?]

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I'd change the layout slightly.

- Don't have the shitter facing the sink. Unless you want to wash your hands while you dump?

Sink/Toilet combo?

[colsankey]

So I was wrestling with the basement last night, and I realized after looking at my junk filled picture again, the initial drafter didn't have my furnace anywhere near where it really was on our sketch. All the major walls and the 7'6" wall for the staircase is correct. But the edge of the humidifier is only 12" from the pole running down the centre beam, and the HW tank is almost halfway between the South wall and the middle beam. Making the basement look more like this:



Needing, I believe, 1m clearance from the furnace and the hot water tank, I don't see any way I can have the door on that edge of the bathroom and have the adjoining hallway look clean and finished. The wall with the HW tank and Furnace is going to have to remain open isn't it? Which means anyone going to the washroom via 88CRZ's drawing, is basically walking into the mechanical room. Unless that's a code allowed way to hide them behind folding doors (like an accordian closet door) that gives free access to the mechanical spaces, but can still be closed off?

Anyone got any bright ideas?

[colsankey]

At it from another angle.. say 'F' it too the mechanical room entirely and try the other side. Bedroom loses 2.5 feet x 2.5 feet in the corner, but then I put the bathroom door on the other side.

The question I have is, is that too small a space for the bedroom? While we live here, it will probably be a play room or bonus room, so we won't care as much.

But would that size of bedroom be a problem down the road? New Square footage is 126, but subtracting 13 feet for the clost and 8 square feet for the doorway, it's 105 Sqr feet.

[88CRX]

I'm pretty sure you can put large closet doors to access the furnace from the hallway (but you'd have to check the code). Something like this:


If you can't do that you're kinda hooped.

Also that new smaller bedroom is really small, will barely fit a queen size bed.

[firebane]

Do you really need a closet that big in that bedroom? Could you not axe it out from that wall and push it into the mechanical room? Opens up the room a bit more.

[arcticcat522]

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Do you really need a closet that big in that bedroom? Could you not axe it out from that wall and push it into the mechanical room? Opens up the room a bit more.

Ya, make the closet in the mechanical room wall

[colsankey]

Totally dont need a closet that big, it just seemed to be a decent size in the old plans with the big bedroom.

Someone earlier said to make sure the closet was 24" deep, is that a standard closet depth? Will look at moving the closet near the electrical. Need some room there for the rack though, so might be tight.

Its 160" (13.3') from east wall to electrical panel. So if I take 2 feet for the rack and 2 feet for the closet, the room ends up being 9×11 minus the door.

[speedog]

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What exactly is the yellow thing and the two rectangles below the yellow thing?

If they're anything that can be moved then why not turn the bathroom 90 degrees and make it longer, then put the bedroom and bathroom doors on a nook off of the place where the bedroom door is now in that drawing and then put another door on the other side of the bathroom leasing into the utility room. This would allow for a longer uninterrupted wall in your main area that could be up to 11 feet long - right where you currently have the utility and bathroom doors. Your bathroom would be a bit larger as well.

[colsankey]

Yellow block is electrical panel. Below is existing washer and dryer units. So "wasted" space in mechanical room is just the 1m clearance required for the panel.

[colsankey]

Basement should be signed over next week, time to shop for electronics.

Ultimately went with prewires for 7 surround speakers, 1 sub and 4 atmos ceiling mounts.

Still looking at the monoprice speakers as decent rated, inexpensive speakers for the setup.

Undecided on a receiver or TV, having a devil of a time finding a receiver to drive all these speakers. Budgeting 2k each for a TV and receiver, then will need a small sub and a few odds and ends like IR repeaters. TV needs to be 4k, but ultimately bigger is better for us, I have a decent amount of 4k content, but I can't tell much difference between the 2ktvs and the 5k TV in the stores.

Open to suggestions, but think ill see what black Friday sales look like before I buy any of the expensive pieces.

[cyra1ax]

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Basement should be signed over next week, time to shop for electronics.

Ultimately went with prewires for 7 surround speakers, 1 sub and 4 atmos ceiling mounts.

Still looking at the monoprice speakers as decent rated, inexpensive speakers for the setup.

Undecided on a receiver or TV, having a devil of a time finding a receiver to drive all these speakers. Budgeting 2k each for a TV and receiver, then will need a small sub and a few odds and ends like IR repeaters. TV needs to be 4k, but ultimately bigger is better for us, I have a decent amount of 4k content, but I can't tell much difference between the 2ktvs and the 5k TV in the stores.

Open to suggestions, but think ill see what black Friday sales look like before I buy any of the expensive pieces.

I'd recommend getting a Harmony Hub, it comes with two additional IR blasters in the case that there's stuff that's outside of LOS of the hub itself.

[rage2]

Receivers are going to get expensive if you want to drive ALL the prewired speakers. Your cheapest bet is to get a 5.1.2 receiver that powers 5 front and rear channels and 2 height (7 channel amp). 5.1.4's aren't that much more expensive with 2 more channels, but prices gets ridiculous as you look for a 7.1.4 (11 channel) amp for your speaker layout.

I have this one (7 channel) that I picked up for $450 on sale.

https://www.visions.ca/product-detai...&sku=AVRX1600H

9 channels I've found them in the $800 range. 11 channels are hard to find and typically over $2k.

Best bet if you want to power all the channels, find a 9 channel receiver that can decode to 11 channels (7.2.4) and buy a separate cheap 2 channel amp to handle the 2 speakers. That's probably WAY cheaper than finding a single unit with 11 amps. I saw this guy a while ago at $850:

https://www.visions.ca/product-detai...&sku=AVRX3600H

And finally, don't forget to refer to the 7.1.4 guide to make sure you have the speakers placed in the right positions. Doesn't have to be exact. Just has to be close (ie pairs of height speaker in front and behind listener).

https://www.dolby.com/about/support/...r-setup-guide/