Home Theater News

Home Theater Construction: Walls

When building your walls, this guide will help you choose the best design for your application. Please view the STC cha

rt linked for each wall type to get a general understanding of the ratings on the major wall types and construction methods. The hig

her the STC rating, the lesser the noise pollution coming in or coming out of your controlled environment. In my theater I chose the

alternating stud with double drywall for the walls and resilient channel and double drywall for the ceiling. I live in a condo envi

ronment so for me the purpose was to keep me happy with the reference (or near) level movie theater audio performance and my neighbo

rs happy with no noisy distractions.

The basic “Drywall” guide is linked at the bottom as well. While not a replacement for experience and more in

depth how-to guides you can find at the DIY store or book store it does give you an idea of how to attack this messy part of constr

uction (you will especially love the sanding. ahhhhhh!)

Single stud & Single Drywall

Sound Qualities: Very minimal

sound proofing characteristics. Least expensive and most common design.

Single stud on 16″

center with 1 sheet of drywall on each side

STC

Chart: STC Rating chart for wall types

Staggered Stud & Single Drywall

Sound Qualities: Good proofing

characteristics. More expensive and time consuming to build but good

sound proofing qualities. The staggered stud helps eliminate sound

vibration/transfer through the stud walls.

Single alternating stud

on alternating 8″ center with 1 sheet of drywall on each side

STC

Chart: STC Rating chart for wall types

Staggered Stud & Double Drywall

Sound Qualities: Excellent

sound proofing characteristics. The staggered stud helps eliminate

sound vibration/transfer through the stud walls.

Single alternating stud

on alternating 8″ center with 2 sheets of drywall on each side

STC

Chart: STC Rating chart for wall types

Dry walling Walls

This simple guide will help

you understand the process of hanging drywall. We plan on updating

this guide with images and further depth as we build our theater.

If you have any dry walling pictures you wish to share, please contact

us

Home Theater Construction: Floors

There are many choices of floors and some depend on the environment and room design. When cho

osing your floor type keep into consideration the acoustic properties of the floor as well as the placement of your room. If your bu

ilding a home theater in your attic consider a sub-floor construction that offers increased acoustic control (such as mass loaded vi

nyl barrier and or “booted” floor joists) or in your basement something that can be warm, heated and offers moisture resis

tance.

Tile Floors

Tiles are great for basements and easy to clean
floors. Fairly quick and easy to install and very good stain/moisture
r esistance. A good way to ad some warmth to the room when
using tiles is to have throw rugs or even a carpet padding
where you sit.

Acoustic Properties: Tiles offer a highly reflective
surface. If you have a solid (drywall) flat ceiling you may
want t o consider a throw-rug or carpeting on tile floors
to help control reflection and possible sound echo.

Vinyl Floors

Vinyl floors are very durable floors good for busy multipurpose recreation rooms or basement rooms. No concerns about w

ater damage and fairly easy to clean. Vinyl floors can come in small squares or large sheets that are simply glued to your sub floor

with a special adhesive.

Acoustic Properties: Hard to match acoustic properties -Some vinyl floors are highly reflective while others are dense

and highly absorptive.

Wood floors

Wood floors are visually attractive, easy to clean and esthetically pleasing to a rooms appearance. We recommend that y

ou do not use standard wood floors in sub floors/basements due to potential moisture/mold/mildew risks.

Acoustic Properties: Highly reflective. Wood floors can echo sound or compensate for an absorptive ceiling.

Manufactured Floors(fake wood)

Today’s manufactured flooring can look and feel exactly like real wood and the great part is there are many brands that

are certified and even recommended for basement/sub-floor applications.

Carpet

Carpet is the standard for most commercial movie theaters and it works great in home theater applications. For high tra

ffic or theater at home look many vendors offer a variety of low-pile carpet with interesting patterns and textures for home theater

use. The low-pile carpet offers good acoustic properties and is stubborn to abuse that can come from popcorn, sodas, candies and al

l the goodies you potentially may spill.

Carpet Tiles

Easy to install, often moisture resistant and great for high traffic areas carpet tiles are increasingly popular for th

e DIY home theater builder. Usually sold in one square foot or 16 inch squares these tiles can be self adhesive backing or glued to

the floors. Some designs even use these squares along the walls because of ease of installation and affordability.

Home Theater Construction: Doors

Doors are a very important part of your
home theater, you need them to get in and out of the room and
you need a good q uality door to keep the STC ratings that you
put so much effort into achieving with your wall construction
& design.

Solid Core Home Theater Doors:

Solid Core doors are your best value for economical sound control and dec

ent STC ratings. When used in conjunction with a solid frame and threshold these doors provide the best sound protection for the pri

ce. Home Depot & Lowes cary lower end solid core doors, however you will probably have much better luck calling a specialized lo

cal vendor who can provide matching seals, threshold and installation help for the same price.

Professional Home Theater Doors:

Several manufactures specialize in quiet room and home theater doors. These are generally found at your local cinemas,

hospitals, lawyer offices, executive offices and conference rooms. These are very expensive, very heavy and usually require professi

onal installation from manufacture or supported contractors to achieve ratings that they guarantee. Highly regarded doors for those

with the cash to spend, but usually out of budget for most home theater room designs. If you can afford these types of doors, by all

means don’t fret at the expense, they are worth it!

DIY Home Theater Doors:

Well, you would like to do it yourself and save money? Our number one recommendation is to go to your local hardware sh

op and buy a solid core exterior door that includes the seals, threshold and frame. This way you can mount it, caulk the seems, inst

all the threshold and have a fairly air-tight / quiet door. Beware though that some places sell cheap hollow steel doors that don’t

to much other then keep the weather outside – you still want to look for SOLID CORE or highly rated STC doors when building your hom

e theater room.

Remember: Don’t skimp on your door especially if you are building a room for high stc ratings. Your

door is one of the most difficult areas of the room to control regarding sound control. Don’t let your door leak all of your effort

of expensive walls and ceilings!

Tip: Go with a 32-36″ door! It is hard to move equipment and furniture in and out of anything smaller. Remember so

me day you may want to upgrade to those cooshy movie chairs or put in some nice couches!