DIY Network

Room Layout Convert your basement into a unique home theater. From "Home Theater" episode DHTW-102

Host Corey Greenberg and guest engineer Mark Midyett get started on converting a bare basement into a home theater that you and your family can enjoy for years. An unfinished basement is the perfect place to show you step-by-step instructions on how to design and build your own home theater from the raw studs to the silver screen.

Meet the Home Theater Owner

Homeowner Peter Moore has always enjoyed the magic of movies, but he prefers to watch them from the comfort of his own home. "Well, I think the thing that intrigues us most about having a home theater is just that -- it's in your home," he said. "So you're not in a big multiplex with lots of talking and popcorn munching."

When Moore built his new home, he set aside a room in his unfinished basement to create a home theater. He's already bought his electronics and has a good idea of how he wants the room to look. "It's a feel. It's a vibe. Let's face it, these kinds of rooms, they're a guy's cave," Moore admits. "And it's going to be more of a feel and knowing when I'm there. I'm in my comfort zone."

One of Moore's top priorities is making the room look like a real movie theater. He wants dim lighting, a big screen and hidden speakers. "It's really going to be a matter of wanting to really attain some nice clean lines and make it very uncluttered," he said. An appealing part of the room is going to be the ability to conceal things such as speakers and cabinets.

Host Corey Greenberg (left) and engineer Mark Midyett show you how to convert a basement into a dazzling home theater!

Midyett is going to help homeowner Peter Moore (left) create the home theater of his dreams!

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Figure A

Designing Your Home Theater

Mark and Peter create a step-by-step guide on how to build a home theater from the ground up, but before construction on the walls begins Mark has to address something that's built into the space--two walls and the floor are concrete (figure A), which are not acoustically friendly.

"All of the concrete is really going to be tough for us in the low-bass frequencies," Mark said. "So what we have to do is get some base absorption, maybe raise the floor, do some acoustic treatments to the floor, and then on the block walls we like to do some drywall construction techniques -- and maybe some insulation techniques to help soften those up so we can get some good absorption."

Note: The solution to taming the concrete is to create bass absorption, acoustically treatments to the floor and special wall treatments, which includes hanging two layers of drywall using a different thickness for each layer. And "floating floors" are a great way to absorb the bass as well.

With the plan for the concrete under control, a layout for the home theater must be created, and one of the first decisions to make is where to place the big screen. One thing you must consider is the entrance to the room. Mark suggests that you have rear entrance to the home theater because there will be less interference with the projected images, and it creates a "grand entrance" to the room.

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