3rd coat of mud

Last night I started the third coat of mud. I'm guessing it'll take about 6-8 hours to finish this stage. I have a few spots that need some serious cleanup! After that it's the spray texture.

Taping and 1st coat done

I've finally finished the taping and external corner bead. The first coat of mud is done! Here's some pictures before the corner bead was installed.

Sheetrock

Yesterday I finished the last of the sheetrock! Time to start mudding!

Drywall Part 2

Thanks to Keith and Brian for helping me sheetrock the ceiling. The drywall lift made easy work out of it, but it's still a pain the butt. I have a few small pieces to fit but that shouldn't be a problem doing that myself. Next step is the walls! I also emailed Chad to get a quote on spraying the drywall and doing a skip trowel finish. This should hide all the mistakes, I hope!

Here's some pictures of the finished ceiling.

Drywall Part 1

Saturday my brother and I carried 34 sheets of 5/8" drywall down to the basement. That was a pain in the butt! At least the tough part is done.

HVAC troubles

I tried cutting into the HVAC last night and it simply won't work. The space is too tight and I can't get tools in there to make the connection. One of our first floor vents comes off the end of the ducting behind the false wall, using round ducting. Home Depot has a T connector that slips on or "saddles" an existing 6" round duct. So, all I'll need to do is cut a hole, slip that on and put some 6" clamps on it then run the rest with flex down to the vent. sweet!

Electrical is done and tested

Yesterday I spent most of the day connecting and testing the electrical. I found a few bad wire nut connections but everything else worked as it should. As a final test I hung the 3" lights and connected them to the Lutron Grafik Eye. Awesome! I can't wait to have it all done. I'll be dimming the lights all day.

Wiring and Plumbing

Today my friend Steve Koehler connected all my circuits to the main panel and moved some plumbing that ran under a floor joist. Thanks Steve!

Switches...

Last night I wired up all the electrical switches and moved the screen lights. It's moving forward...

Port 3

Yesterday I did some research regarding port 3 on the Barco Graphics 808. Many have better luck using that port and VGA sources because of the issue with negative sync on port 5. I found a hand made VGA cable, popped one end off and crimped on some pins, then added a DB9 end. It worked great! Time to measure up and get the pj out of the way.
I think I might need to move some lights. More on that later.

Conduit and Port 3

I bought another 4" 10ft pvc today to run from the EQ rack to the projector. This will hold the cables and allow for future runs to the projector if needed. Pipe + Hangers + Elbow joint = $16.
I also found out that my barco 808 has an optional RGB card that will allow RGB or RGBHV over port 3 too. So, I can have two different sources! That means I can run the 360 on one port and the Video scaler on another. Excellent!

Another wednesday of work!

Yesterday I had my electrical inspection. Everything was great except for a few n00bie mistakes, like leaving too much cover on the wires inside the box. Easy fix. I also broke out the tabs on the 2 and 4 gang boxes, so he's making me caulk the holes. Oh well. Brian was really great and even drew me a picture to help me wire up my 3-way switches. I don't know why it's so difficult to do, but I'm looking forward to learning more about it.
My brother gave me enough insulation to cover 3/4's of the ceiling of the entire space. He even helped me put it all up! We finished putting up the last of the light boxes, then did the insulation in a few hours time. Awesome!

PJ update

Jesse delivered the projector last night. I few neighbor guys came to help move it. It's over 150lbs, so it took at least two of us to get it down in the basement. Thanks everyone!

I opened it up this morning and checked the ceiling/table mount switches, closed it back up and it fired up nicely. I also opened the video scaler and tightened the screws and that appears to be working fine as well.

The SVS sub shipped yesterday too! Time to get wiring!

Projector, Scaler, Amp, Sub, oh my!

I picked up a Samson s1000 amplifier a few days ago. Total shipped was $150. I also found a great guy through ebay selling a Barco Graphics 808 in Minnesota. My friend Jesse was nice enough to pick it up for me and it arrives in Appleton tomorrow night. $350 for the projector (2500 hours on the tubes!), crystal 2.0 scaler, cables, IR remote, extra set of lenses, manuals, additional convergence tray. Wow, what a deal! Bryan was super to work with and truly has a passion for CRT. I hope I can take good care of this pj and get some great use out of it.

Yesterday

Started running speaker wires. Ordered a used samson s1000 last night. THat should power the sub well and give me some room to grow! sweet.

Used SVS subwoofer

I found someone in wisconsin selling a one year old SVS 25-31 CS subwoofer. The cost is $250 shipped, which is about half of what it costs new. I emailed SVS and the nice technicians there verified that this should fill my space just fine.
Here's a link to the sub specs:
http://www.svsound.com/products-sub-cyl-cspas3.cfm
Here's some pictures of the beautiful sub!

Light Boxes

Yesterday I cut all the wood and the kids helped me to glue together the 9 boxes to keep insulation away from the recessed lights. That saved us about $200!
A friend gave me some movie posters which reminded me that I should wire up a few outlets for wall mounted light boxes. Added two of those with a wall switch. sweet!

Wednesday off

Yesterday I picked up another roll of nmb wire, one of the 3" lights so the inspector can see the manufacturers wiring specs and the 6" IC cans for the rec room. $110. The only wiring left to do is for the 6" cans and light switch.

Today

I finished the outlet circuit today and ran the conduit for the false wall. I also purchased the HVAC materials I need to add the additional air vent and return.
While I was at Home Depot I checked the manufacturers info on the 3" recessed lights and found out you can run NMB cable right into the light box. So, I'll be able to build my own IC boxes from OSB board. That'll save me a few hundred dollars.

It's here!

The Lutron Grafik Eye arrived yesterday! It looks beautiful! I can't wait to get it installed and test it out. I decided to make my own IC boxes for the recessed lights in the theater area. They want $20 per light for a metal box! I can make all of them for $20 by glueing MDF board together! Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to continue with more wiring and possibly run the cable conduit.

Boxes and Circuits

Well, I forgot to hang the boxes 5'8" in front of the studs to make them flush with the drywall. That was an easy fix. This morning I wired up all the outlets, then completed the home run for the outlets, equipment rack and projector. Next I'll run the circuit for the subs. I'll have to wait for the lutron to arrive to run the wire for the lights.

Electrical Permit

I stopped and got my electrical permit thursday. The guy was really helpful and answered some questions about wiring the lutron to code. $25
I also won a hdtv tuner last night. It's a hisense db2010 and the price was right at $40. If it's junk I'll sell it back on ebay! Here's the info from AVSforums

Outlets and Switches

I bought the rest of the outlets, switches and covers I needed. $25
I still need to buy the conduit and find a 4 gang box to use for the Lutron Grafik Eye.

Framing inspection

Today is the framing inspection. Everything went well. Thanks CR Structures!

Lutron Grafik Eye!

Someone on AVSforums was selling a used Lutron Grafik Eye, model grx-2404. Seeing as the seperate dimmers alone would've run over $100 I jumped on it. $185 shipped.
This also adds 1 more zone than I anticipated. Time to rethink the light situation. Perhaps I should put some running lights along the floor, or maybe I'll control the light over the equipment rack. hmm.
I emailed Lutron and they're snail mailing me a copy of the manual. Cool!

Electrical Boxes

Last night me and the boys nailed up all the electrical and switch boxes. I'll need to get a larger box for the dimmer wiring. We're all set to run wire!

I also found out that the Utilitech lights I wanted aren't IC, which won't work for the insulated ceiling. I'll have to do some more light shopping. Argh!

Electrical Stuff

Bought 250ft of 14-2 wire and some outlet boxes today at Lowes for $55. Can't wait to start tacking them up! They had the 3" halogen Utilitech lights I wanted but they're $10 each. I've seen them for $5 each online. I was hoping they'd have some larger packs. Oh well, I'll have to try a different store.

Framing Complete

CR Structures finished the framing yesterday. Chad was great and worked with me to create a false wall and hide my equipment rack. Here's some pictures.

Before the framing

CR Structures arrived this morning to start the framing portion of the project. Here are some pictures I took before they got started.

Got my building permit today. $25

I finished sealing the HVAC tonight. My brother stopped by and in a few hours we completely surrounded the HVAC ducting with 2" Rockwool. We couldn't get the adhesive glue to work, so we ended up just wrapping it with duct tape. Once it's framed in and packed with insulation I don't think it'll be going anywhere! We're all set for the framers to come on friday. I can't wait!

The start!

I was up this morning applying duct mastic to try and seal up all the air leakages in our hvac. I've been told this will help make our hvac system more energy efficient and will help stop sound leakages from the basement.

Tonight we'll be boxing in the duct work. I was able to get 2" Rockwool from Bartelt Insulation on Ballard Rd. They were super to work with and took the time to check absorption coefficients to find what matched my situation. The price was right and I think these small details will help make the basement that much better.

12 pack of 50 yr caulk = $35 (Menards)
144sq feet of Rockwool = $105 (Bartelt Insulation)
Duct sealer, dust masks = $12 (Home Depot)