Help with Custom House Build

[Irvrobinson]

Where's the other Irv when you need him?

 

[TheWarrior]

Are you going to have a basement, out there in tornado town? Cause if you're building on a slab, you should study some of the basics on Passive Homes, because some of the principles on where and when the sun hits the cement can greatly affect your ambient temps!

 

[TheWarrior]

Don't have battery back up but my solar is generating 130% per so far in the last 3 years.

Purely for when its night time and the power goes out. He does live in Tornado Alley.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

How is your house affected by outside noise? I was thinking of a staggered stud outside wall construction, also saves on heating or cooling with extra insulation, and consider what is called an air tight drywall method to control air infiltration or out, eating up heating/cooling costs.

If nothing else, do this for the theater to cut sound leakage with extra door seals as on an exterior door.

This is what I did with my house that took 3 years to build by myself.
Also, trace your habits of living, coming home from work, retiring at night to set up light switching patterns unless you build smart home and voice activated.

Landscape lighting? if so, think where the low volt transformer goes and how many you may need.
Think about that tub as well. We never used it, waste of $ and space. Make the shower large as possible so your elbows don't hit anything; you should be comfortable, you are custom building here.

Is fiber in the future to the house? Projector? Overhead speakers?

A lot of good thoughts.

I would definitely do some sound-proofing/extra insulation for the HT room.

I'll try to make the bath tub as small as possible and make the Shower size 4' x 10'.

I plan on doing overhead speakers for "non-essential" places: Dining, Study, Beds 1-4, Kitchen, Patio.

The HT room will be all RBH SX-T2/R towers x 5.

The Living room will probably be the red Linkwitz Orion towers.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Are you going to have a basement, out there in tornado town? Cause if you're building on a slab, you should study some of the basics on Passive Homes, because some of the principles on where and when the sun hits the cement can greatly affect your ambient temps!

Oklahoma is Tornado town for sure.

I really want a basement. But the wife is 100% against it. So I will settle for a Safe Room inside the Master Bed Closet.

 

[its phillip]

Why would she be against a basement? I'd love to have a basement :/

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The system will dictate the power needs. As a rough guide, three 20A circuits can handle a total of 7200W. If you don't plan to use that much, don't install three circuits.

Use a central closet for the distributed audio/video, assuming you plan to have that. Place a Wireless Access Point at a high location, in the center of the house. If the house is more than about 8000 sq ft, use two. Make sure the HVAC for the theater is separate from the rest of the house. Completely separate. If the house is insulated well enough, you won't need to heat that room much, if at all. Use the rising warm air to your advantage and recirculate it- that will save you a lot of money.

Rather than accessing the equipment from the theater, I would access it from the garage. That way, you don't need to deal with the doorway in the acoustics, aesthetics or having a noisemaker near the speakers (the door, itself). If you can, avoid parallel surfaces in the theater. A smallish soffit around the room at the ceiling and several columns allows you to break up the energy in the corners (almost always a problem) and the columns make a good place to install speakers.

Soffit sounds like a good idea.

I forget what's the rule for vaulted ceiling.

Would you do vaulted ceiling for the HT room?

A completely SEPARATE HVAC unit for just a 567 SF room? I think the smallest Geothermal HVAC unit is 2-Ton, which would be way too big for 567 SF?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Why would she be against a basement? I'd love to have a basement :/

She is also scared of the dark.

She can't even watch "The Walking Dead" because she is scared.

I guess a basement is scary to her.

But I would totally love a basement.

 

[slipperybidness]

She is also scared of the dark.

She can't even watch "The Walking Dead" because she is scared.

I guess a basement is scary to her.

But I would totally love a basement.

If I lived in OK, I would absolutely have a storm shelter! Non-negotiable.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

If I lived in OK, I would absolutely have a storm shelter! Non-negotiable.

The house plan does have a Safe Room. Is that as "safe" as a storm shelter?

 

[TheWarrior]

Oklahoma isTornado town for sure.

I really want a basement. But the wife is 100% against it. So I will settle for a Safe Room inside the Master Bed Closet.

New suggestion: Make the theater, with several batteries and water supply the safe room. Cinderblock addition on to your master bedroom perhaps?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

New suggestion: Make the theater, with several batteries and water supply the safe room. Cinderblock addition on to your master bedroom perhaps?

How much is that Theater Safe room going to cost me?

 

[KEW]

Your wife should be more afraid of Tornadoes than a basement!
Talk to her about having a light switch upstairs and live camera feeds so she can verify Hannibal Lecter isn't hanging out down there. Make it an open room with no nooks for someone to hide behind and have good lighting and white (or very light) walls. Any basement access to outside should be steel doors with alarm security. Integrate a basement motion detector with the whole house alarm system.
If you make your basement the HT, and you use it daily, it won't become such a scary "unknown" room.
If the HT stays where it is, be sure to invest money in quiet garage doors and opener to make sure your audio nirvana is not interrupted every time the door is activated.
The door to the HT room is in an optimal location for multi-sub placement (never say never)!

 

[highfigh]

My entry hall is 18.5 ft, 9 ft wide and 23 cft long that includes the stairs to the 2nd floor. Only measure a 2 deg F difference at the ceiling.

Radiant floor heating?

 

[highfigh]

How much is that Theater Safe room going to cost me?

How much is in the budget?

I think it just opens/closes the air ducts to the rooms. I guess a cheaper way of doing it would be to just manually open/close the vents in the room, instead of doing it automatically.

So I guess it's fancy automation vs manual.

Look into zone control- it's not as expensive as it would seem.

 

[highfigh]

.

Soffit sounds like a good idea.

I forget what's the rule for vaulted ceiling.

Would you do vaulted ceiling for the HT room?

A completely SEPARATE HVAC unit for just a 567 SF room? I think the smallest Geothermal HVAC unit is 2-Ton, which would be way too big for 567 SF?

I didn't know they had a rule for vaulted ceilings. You mean dimensions?


Just don't do this (the top photo is how it looks from the inside-


The last one shows the soffit in a theater I helped a friend do- The main speaker columns are angle is similar to the wall/ceiling soffit. The floor and riser are carpeted and the response is actually bery smooth. The upper rectangle is the main speakers (TrueAudio) and the lower conceals a pair of subwoofers on each side.

I have mentioned this place WRT the right wall not having been insulated by the homeowner's employees and the difference between before and after. After, it didn't need acoustic treatments unless the SLP was extremely high.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

How much is in the budget?


Look into zone control- it's not as expensive as it would seem.

I will do about 7 zones (house is probably 4800-5000 SF). The question is how many Geothermal Units?

1 separate unit dedicated for just the one 567 SF HT room?

Maybe 3 smaller HVAC units into 7 zones.

My builder says two 5-Ton units (total 10-Ton) into 7 zones.

My brother's house is 3500 SF and he has 3 smaller Units and 5 zones.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Your wife should be more afraid of Tornadoes than a basement!
Talk to her about having a light switch upstairs and live camera feeds so she can verify Hannibal Lecter isn't hanging out down there. Make it an open room with no nooks for someone to hide behind and have good lighting and white (or very light) walls. Any basement access to outside should be steel doors with alarm security. Integrate a basement motion detector with the whole house alarm system.
If you make your basement the HT, and you use it daily, it won't become such a scary "unknown" room.
If the HT stays where it is, be sure to invest money in quiet garage doors and opener to make sure your audio nirvana is not interrupted every time the door is activated.
The door to the HT room is in an optimal location for multi-sub placement (never say never)!

I've tried and failed to convince her of the basement. Some battles just have to be compromised. She is adamant about having a Safe room in the master closet just like on the house plan.

I will try to fight her on this again in the later stages before they begin building.

Stage 1 was buying that 1.33 acre lot. Got that done and paid for.

Now is only Stage 2 which is buying the house plans. It has been paid for and will pick up the house plans next week.

Stage 3 is working with the builder on modifying the house plan and selecting all the specific components. This is where I will try to fight her on the basement.

 

[Speedskater]

Two thoughts:
a] The utility room near the home theater will be problematic.
b] Run one heavy 120V circuit from the main breaker box, then a small breaker box in/near the home theater for individual 20A circuits.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Two thoughts:
a] The utility room near the home theater will be problematic.
b] Run one heavy 120V circuit from the main breaker box, then a small breaker box in/near the home theater for individual 20A circuits.

Great point. Will put that on my list to show my builder.