[drummermitchell]

Here's a tip if you don't like to much sanding after the primer has dried before painting and you like smooth walls.
After you are satisfied with sanding all the joints and screw hole patches(DUST OFF THE WALLS).
If you don't and you prime them,they will be super rough,dusting them off before prime makes it at least three times easier.
Seem a lot of home painters just prime over the dust and then complain their walls are still rough after pole sanding the primer.
That dust mixes in with the primer and the walls are like an 80 grit sand paper feel to them.
Major sanding then and even still it's not quite right,just a thought before you prime.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yea, what he said ^^^
Or....you can do the final "sand" with a damn sponge.
This has a few benefits:
- That can be your final quality control check for pockmarks and sanding scratches.
- It's dust free. By now, you should appreciate that comment.
- It's helping to remove the dust from the wall as Mr. Mitchell spoke of.
- It's dust free. You can now begin the decontamination of joint compound dust from everywhere.
- It's your last chance to give the wall a final loving touch before it's painted (see first line).
- While using a damn sponge, the moisture begins to return to the pores of your skin, as well as the room.

Rock on Mark. Thanks for the photos.

[mcgsxr]

Dust free is a nirvana I am longing for.  Feels like someone got hammered and flung a 10lb bag of flour around the basement!

Monday is a milestone day, the finish sanding of the walls and ceiling, the installation of the subfloor (Delta FL and T&G plywood) and the entire place will be primed.

[Guy 13]

Dust free is a nirvana I am longing for.  Feels like someone got hammered and flung a 10lb bag of flour around the basement!

Monday is a milestone day, the finish sanding of the walls and ceiling, the installation of the subfloor (Delta FL and T&G plywood) and the entire place will be primed.

Hi mcgsxr and all Audio Circle members.
When he got our old house renovated, dust went everywhere.
I've put all my audio stuff in their original boxes, but forgot to sealed them with duct tape, dust manage to crawl in the boxes.
The speakers were only covered with blanket, therefore, they we fill with plaster sanding dust.
You always learn something with each event.
By the way, your basemen when finish, will be like heaven...

Guy 13

[ctviggen]

I don't mind painting but I once re did the color in a room 3 times until both I and the spouse  liked it.  I now buy a liter (quart?) of color to try it out.

That's what we did.  We primed a section of wall, then put on small swatches of paint.  A lot of good paint stores now have sample-size paint "bottles" for this purpose (which is good, because some of this paint is around $50/gallon).  We ended with a flat "blue". 

[mcgsxr]

100% of the audio gear to be used in the space has been in the garage for the past month, in the original boxes taped up.  Or it has not been purchased yet.

I have had pretty good luck with paint colours in my house, not a single room ever repainted in 10 years.

For the basement walls, we went with predictable and boring beige.  Most of my house is, so easy to go for it down there.

The paint is a Sherwin Williams Sand Dollar. 

It will be hell on the PJ in the future, but this is about getting this room done with no conflict about paint colour!

Taking the pool table apart tonight.  Sniff sniff!

[mcgsxr]

Whole room primed, ceiling finished with 2 coats of flat.  Walls getting done today.

Delta MS (same as FL, a little cheaper) and T&G plywood also going in today.

The end of the dust is near!

Picking up a set of used Paradigm Cinema 330 V3's to use as the LCR.  Going to use a set of small bookshelf Energy's I have as surrounds to get going.  Have a Pioneer VSX-1018AH-K too.

Going to be more weeks before the end, but tons of progress and getting cleaner everyday down there.

[mcgsxr]

Subfloor completed.  Painting completed.  Finish electrical tomorrow.

The pics below show how the subfloor was installed, and some of the outcome of the beigeness of the room.  Hard to capture with a cellphone camera and no lights down there!

The last pic tries to capture how I had the entire bulkhead painted out in wall colour, and just the true ceiling done in white.

Room sure feels odd with no pool table in it.  That 4.5 x 9 foot table has been down there for 5 years!  Getting new cloth put on it for when I can reinstall it.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I used to have a 4.5x9.
I miss that table. 

Looking good Mark.
The progress sure happens much faster when you have a company doing it, instead of all by yourself. 

Bob

[mcgsxr]

Nothing like playing 9 ball on a regulation size table, the 9 footers are the only way to fly.

No way I would tackle a build of this magnitude on my own, I am finding just being a Dad, working, and being the GC on this project exhausting!

One of my close friends did his whole basement himself.  They had their 2nd child right in the middle of the project.  It took him 3 years!   

All in, this build should take me around 8 weeks.  I figure I have saved 6-20K by being the GC myself, comparing my actual spend to those of all in quotes I received.

I am only owning the design, sound insulation, and AV portions.

Excited to pick up the on wall Paradigms Friday AM. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

My basement took me more than five years to build. But that wasn't just the man cave, that was the entire basement, including the HT room. The only thing I didn't do myself was lay the carpet.
  I can't even fathom being finished as fast as you'll be.

Bob

[mcgsxr]

Lights!  So much better down there.

[Pez]

Having just finished my audio room myself I know first hand that feeling! Working electrical starts to make the space feel 'real' where before its just a work in progress. 

Looking good!

[mcgsxr]

The front 3 that will hang on the wall of the basement.

NOW it is getting more fun!

[mcgsxr]

Bit the bullet and sourced some Paradigm ADP-190 bipole rears too. 

I am spending the weekend pre painting the trim.  It will be installed by those with the tools and know how, but I figured I could save some $ by doing the paint work.

[Bob in St. Louis]

If you're painting, then it's too late....but the 5" trim looks "richer" than the 2.5" trim, and doesn't cost much more.

[mcgsxr]

You are right that the larger trim would look nicer, but we made the decision to just match the basement to the rest of the house.  We don't have high falutin' trim elsewhere, and thought it would look strange to have it down there where the ceilings are a little lower.

Good catch though Bob!

[ctviggen]

Nothing like playing 9 ball on a regulation size table, the 9 footers are the only way to fly.

No way I would tackle a build of this magnitude on my own, I am finding just being a Dad, working, and being the GC on this project exhausting!

One of my close friends did his whole basement himself.  They had their 2nd child right in the middle of the project.  It took him 3 years!   

All in, this build should take me around 8 weeks.  I figure I have saved 6-20K by being the GC myself, comparing my actual spend to those of all in quotes I received.

I am only owning the design, sound insulation, and AV portions.

Excited to pick up the on wall Paradigms Friday AM.

I redid my family room and it took me around two years, and I had some of the stuff done.  However, the family room has the breaker box in it, so I added a ton of extra circuits (for central AC, microwave/convection oven, etc.), and that meant going from the breaker box, across the room, up two stories, in to the attic, and then to the final location.  It took me four solid days of intense work just to install the wiring for the microwave/convection oven and the oven (and that doesn't include cutting a hole in the roof for the vent).  If I was just doing the room, it'd be much faster.

We had our second daughter a week or two after the family room was "finished" (no projector or other connections, but the construction was done and room painted).  Needless to say, it took months until the system was operational, and I still have things to do 2.5 years later!

The room is looking good. I wouldn't worry too much about things not matching from one area to another.  Our family room looks completely different from the rest of our house. 

[mcgsxr]

Spent some time last night and today painting.  The trim and doors are all done (at least on the 1 side of the doors you can see from the finished space!).

I invested the afternoon in going through the utility area, starting to get that organized too.  It is much better now, getting rid of the dust, and madness that took over that space for the past 10 weeks.

I picked up a Harmony 900 remote too, looking forward to programming that, but waiting for now.  I will mount the IR blaster on the inside of the closet door, facing the gear.

My electrician will have to come back to fix one thing.  One of my dedicated lines is mixed up, and actually powers 2 of my outlets (and leaving a spare breaker in the box powering nothing).

Carpet to go in late next week, made the decision to go with it vs laminate flooring.

[Bob in St. Louis]

(......... a spare breaker in the box ..........).

I wish I had one of those.