CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[loribates]

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wkosman and draganm How far away from the screens are your pjs and what size screen. wkosman... yours look pretty close to the screen.

[Nashou66]

How far is the second post from the 22' wall you have one very close and the the next one, I was thinking you move that post closer towards the AC, but first run another 2x6 beam from the 22'wall side to the post right by the AC this will allow you to move the one post out of the way and give you more support across the span. I don't think it will be an issue since your one span is 102" on the other side of the house (under the Kitchen). This will open up that space for unobtrusive view of the screen on the area you marked 116" a nice 100 inch screen or 110 if you want.

EDIT: Is the center beam wood?

Then the PJ would most likely mount right under the beam , if you go in front of the beam you'll have a smaller screen maybe 92 inches. But i think you will have enough
head room even if you mount it under the beam.

Athanasios

[loribates]

Yes. The center beam is wood (I'd have to go look again to know how many) but I think 4 sistered 2 x 6. Starting with 7 ft ceiling, take away the 6 inch beam and 7 inches for just the pj base. That's down to 5 ft 11 inches not counting the rest of the pj. I'd say that leaves the pj hanging down around the 5 ft off the floor level...

I will have someone come look at that one post. If I could just get it out of the way it would solve a lot


Thank you so much for the help. I appreciate it!

[Nashou66]

I did the same thing in my home, I got lucky and just removed one post. It was loose any how and not supporting anyhting. but since your one beam spread is 102 inches you should be able to move that one as well or add another 2x6 next to the existing ones, on the side and nail; it to the other beams all ready there. If your paranoid and reallt want to be safe a steel I beam next to the wood one would work too if you can get it in there. Then you just put two new posts and then remove the one in the middle.

Athanasios

[huggy]

[huggy]

[wkosmann]

Lori;

[drice1234]

[draganm]

Lori my screen is 92" wide (120" diag?) and tip of lenses are approximately 9 feet back from screen.

[loribates]

I called a structural engineer today to see if they could come out and take a look and tell me what's structural support and what can go away. The guy I needed to talk to was out and I've yet to get a call back.

In the meantime, I will bore you all with some photos.


This is the back wall (if you look at the previous image of the house layout, the porch is north, the back of the house is south. This photo is the center beam on the south end

http://www.lovemyoldhome.com/supports/_DSC0001.JPG



This is a 4 x 4 halfway between south wall and the central chimney

http://www.lovemyoldhome.com/supports/_DSC0003.JPG

This is another (split out) 4x4 right at the chimney on the south side of it. (chimney intersects the beam

http://www.lovemyoldhome.com/supports/_DSC0002.JPG

Another just north of the chimney

http://www.lovemyoldhome.com/supports/_DSC0004.JPG

Another right at where the AC sits (yeah, excuse the DIY makeshift plenum..... things get done as I get time....it's been that way for 5 years and still not ducted either)

http://www.lovemyoldhome.com/supports/_DSC0005.JPG

This is roughly a 2 x 8 it's the one that's 102" off the north wall and one I want gone

http://www.lovemyoldhome.com/supports/_DSC0006.JPG

This is the other one nearly on the north wall and the other end of the beam

http://www.lovemyoldhome.com/supports/_DSC0007.JPG





All of the 4 x 4s were in place when the floor was poured. I assume they have footings under them. The two 2 x 8's just sit on top of the concrete floor and obvious came later, I just don't know if possibly they chopped off a 4 x 4 somewhere in that span and put these two in place of it. There are 4 x 4s at other places on the east side. These two under the main staircase (one of which has been making me nervous for some time now......)


http://www.lovemyoldhome.com/supports/_DSC0008.JPG

This is the one that makes me nervous.

http://www.lovemyoldhome.com/supports/_DSC0009.JPG

and a couple more on the south-east side.

There are absolutely NO 4 x 4 columns west of that central beam save over by the south staircase that leads to the basement.

So, was there anything enlightening in all of that? I know the electrical is a mess. The basement is the only part of the house I haven't completely rewired. The whole house was running on 5 circuits, mostly knob and tube with screw in fuses and no grounds when I moved in.

[loribates]

YAY!!!! There is currently a jack post installed over by the AC and tomorrow I'm ripping out that support that was throwing a monkey wrench in everything! First order of business is to clean out the cedar closet down there and move all the servers into it. I cannot move or remove any of the supports under the staircase. They are carrying the staircase and some of the second floor. I can live with that though and face the theater west. I'm so excited. Thanks to all of you for the suggestions!

[draganm]

Lori before you start ripping things out I would get some professional advice first. I really don't think you need an Engineer but a good seasoned Carpenter would know what to do in 20 minutes. If you were in AZ I'd send my borther over there with 20 years experience.
As you have already noted It's very obvious that some stuff is original and other things have been Kluged in by either previous home owners or Joe Handy man posing as a professional Carpenter. The Chimney is the worst, It looks like someone cut the main beam to put in the chimney and then put in a couple of 4 x 4's on either side as a crutch.
The 4 x 8's that are sitting on the floor are also a sign that someone was trying to remedy a sagging floor condition above. At this point I would say that Caution is called for and I would certainly not start removing things without a full understanding of why they're there and how things could be made better without compromising the integrity of the floor above.
Usually in these older home what you find is beams spanning lengths that are beyond their rated load limits. There are charts you could google that will tell you how far a joist of a given size can span between supports. To remove supports, what I've seen done is a heavier beam is sistered adjacent to an existing older joist. The floor and older joist are then usually jacked up to level the floor above and the 2 joists are then lagged and glued to each other creating a heavier joist capable of spanning a greater distance. Some or all of the supoorting columns can them be removed safely. This is a lot of work and it's expensive but for an older home it's still an economical way of creating additional usable living space in the basement.

[loribates]

I already had it checked. There was really no weight on that one I'm ripping out.

[loribates]

[loribates]

Well, guys here's my plan. First of all, clean out the basement. There is a cedar closet in that 2' bump out from the corner over to the laundry area. I plan to empty it out and house the servers and the AV equipment in there. I'll run a couple of new circuits in there and get a remote extender system so everything can be hidden away in that closet.

I think the easiest treatment for the walls is to carry on with the way I made the screen. I'll buy the 4 x 8 sheets of Owens Corning 3/4" styrofoam sheathing which is tongue in groove and use liquid nails to attach it to the walls starting at the 116" wall on the west side starting at the chimney and going all the way around the other exterior wall (the 22 ft wall). I can either cover these with black fabric or paint them black and cover the seams with some nice cording. (I'm leaning toward the paint..... fabric gets dusty and is hard to clean when it's stuck to a wall) I mudded and sanded the seams on the ones I used on the screen and that job is still holding up so far. I can make this look like a solid wall easy enough and add baseboard, I just don't want to jack with framing those exterior walls and sheetrocking them. If anything ever leaks or I have seepage on the exterior walls, the styrofoam would be undamaged, sheetrock would be destroyed.

The screen end will be on the 116 inch side between the chimney and the corner. I'll paint that whole end with my white screen formula and finish those seams. Once I get the pj mounted and the image sized and the rasters optimized, that will dictate my screen size then I can build an empty frame for the exact dimensions of the screen area, paint the frame black and hang it on the wall and paint everything outside of it black, leaving only my screen area inside the frame white.

I'll build a real wall from the 22ft wall just in front of those two supports for the staircase leaving the area behind it as storage for stuff (mostly my stack of lumber I keep in the basement) My existing riser should sit nicely against that new wall for the back row. I think I can get two more rows of seating in front of it. Probably need to build another riser half the height of the one I've already got for the second row, then the first row on floor level.

I'd like to bring that new wall over to just past the AC to make that a cozy little alcove back there. Trying to figure out if I should bring a wall all the way across the rest of the way and put in a doorway or just stop it at the edge of the AC....... My preference would at least be a half wall with a doorway all the way across to keep unwanted visitors (golden retriever and his hair) out of my theater area.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Curt Palme]

[Curt Palme]

[loribates]

Well, it's no small task around here either, but I've had several "partial" basement purge sessions the last year or so. My truck knows the way to the landfill. So..... I can probably get the basement done in a weekend if I have cooperation and not somebody standing around saying "Are you SURE you want to get rid of this" or rescuing things from the trash.......

[draganm]

[loribates]

[joatmon]