New media room, garage, and house entrance... What gadgets should I install?

[notposting]

As for the low voltage stuff, what you can also do is just stub down into your crawlspace, or for the even cheaper but still appreciated later effect, cut in some holes and use the low voltage cut out boxes, tie a string to them and let them dangle below with a washer tied to them. Then later it will be a lot quicker when you get to those points to run in a quick line and pop in some keystones.

You could also go full on bat-shit low volt crazy which I think any refugees from the Networking forum will suggest (myself included) but you probably don't need to.

 

[Humpy]

Yeah the big advantage of rockwool is simply that it's heavy and contains a lot of mass for deadening the vibrations. When I redo the drywall in my livingroom, my plan is to use rockwool along with staggered studs to de-couple the sound from my entertainment system.

In testing it is found that, to a point, a lighter, lower density cavity fill results in better attenuation of the lower frequencies through a typical wall. See USG's report: Research evaluates role of density in acoustical insulation performance. Since low frequency is more difficult to control and usually targeted for sound isolation, regular inexpensive fiberglass insulation is often the better choice for cavity fill.

Rockwool and denser materials have better sound absorptive qualities outside of a wall cavity though and other properties which may be of more value.

 

[fstime]

Makes me sad how many people build the cheaper way and go OSB instead of plywood or cinderblock foundation instead of poured concrete, its a night and day difference.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Make sure you put an outlet on every other stud in your garage. Can't ever have enough of those.

Absolutely. My garage has 1 dual outlet. It's awful.

For a media room, figure out TV/projector, speaker, and component placement now. Run flexible tubing to each speaker/component before you drywall and pull the cables through the tubing, with an extra pull string left in the tubing. I ran hard tubing to my projector, since HDMI cables are much bigger than speaker wire and who knows how big the connector on next gen stuff will be. After drywall, use nice banana plug wallplates to terminate your speaker wire runs and HDMI wallplates for video.

Pretty much all of the sound insulation techniques are pretty expensive. I just used regular fiberglass insulation between my basement and 1st floor - I don't get much sound traveling between floors. The defacto standard is stagger studded 2x6 walls, filled with rockwool, with resilient channel connected to quietrock and then a 2nd layer of quietrock using green glue. This is going to cost A LOT. You will probably not find it to be a good value.

 

[skyking]

As for the low voltage stuff, what you can also do is just stub down into your crawlspace, or for the even cheaper but still appreciated later effect, cut in some holes and use the low voltage cut out boxes, tie a string to them and let them dangle below with a washer tied to them. Then later it will be a lot quicker when you get to those points to run in a quick line and pop in some keystones.

You could also go full on bat-shit low volt crazy which I think any refugees from the Networking forum will suggest (myself included) but you probably don't need to.

Yeah, he won't want to go there
I'd be happy to look at any plans you already have and mark up some suggestions.
As others have suggested, put in low voltage conduit stubs to the crawl. Notposting already went with the pull string suggestion.
I would really not make a shotgun suggestion without seeing a floorplan and layout.
One of my favorite tricks in a two story situation involves low voltage flexible conduit (smurf) and open back boxes. I'll go to the crawl and feed up a tube to the first level and secure. Then I'll go with a couple of runs from there to the upper level. I can use the first hole to pull whatever I want to there and those other locations.
If I have to work an attic, bend the smurf in away from the low clearance at the eaves, and bring toward a central location. Make bends gentle.
If you need to add wire to a tube, be prepared to pull out what is there and pull in the new bundle as a unit.
It is tempting to leave a pull string in and just drag in the new wire, but you can 'burn' a hole in one of the other cables in there and not know it until things get flaky.
These can be that intermittent network problem that drives you crazy.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Wow particleboard home.

 

[natto fire]

OK, maybe I am crazy, but what is the point of stubbing to the crawlspace if the whole wall is open? Not sure what he is going to use the added upstairs bedroom for, but why wouldn't you wire in low voltage right away while it is open. PVC conduit is a bit more than a dime a foot, so you truly have to be a cheap ass or are worried about putting zip its or some other hack hardware into stud cavities.

Might be my innate electrician talking, but I would take what I think what I need for wiring and double it. I really don't care what you do with it, and the more I post the more I realize I am wasting my time. My guarantee will come to fruition and I apologize when it does, but you just cannot foresee how much wiring will need to be done in a proper theater room.

 

[IronWing]

Wow particleboard home.

That's a step up from common modern practice around here: Exterior paint=>stucco=>chicken wire=>styrofoam=>tyvex=>studs(curvilinear)=>dry wall=>interior paint. You can tell where the electrical panel will be mounted as that is where the builder throws in a token square of particle board.

 

[skyking]

OK, maybe I am crazy, but what is the point of stubbing to the crawlspace if the whole wall is open? Not sure what he is going to use the added upstairs bedroom for, but why wouldn't you wire in low voltage right away while it is open. PVC conduit is a bit more than a dime a foot, so you truly have to be a cheap ass or are worried about putting zip its or some other hack hardware into stud cavities.

Might be my innate electrician talking, but I would take what I think what I need for wiring and double it. I really don't care what you do with it, and the more I post the more I realize I am wasting my time. My guarantee will come to fruition and I apologize when it does, but you just cannot foresee how much wiring will need to be done in a proper theater room.

That's why you stub; you think you have the answer as to why and what to put in, and then the tech changes.
Now you are stuck with obsolete cable in the wall.
If you put in smurf tube, you can change with the technology.

 

[Eos]

Wow particleboard home.

That's not particleboard. It's OSB.

 

[mikeford]

Conduit for what you can't think of, but a lot of stuff you need to give thought to now like speakers and lighting.

 

[luv2liv]

what are those red lines???

 

[Juddog]

what are those red lines???

If I was to guess, I'd say it looked like radiant heating.

 

[Juddog]

That's not particleboard. It's OSB.

From what I've read, OSB is stronger than particleboard, but it's also susceptible to moisture if a whole is cut in it and the exposed area isn't resealed?

Are there any downsides I'm missing?

 

[Juddog]

When I said conduit, I did mean in the walls, but I wasn't sure what was going where. It was just a caveat that you WILL come to a point after this is finished saying "why didn't I..." and was trying to help cover your bases on the low voltage end.

Not that fishing wires is the end of the world (unless you go spray foam insulation) it is just much easier to tie to a string and pull it right through. Ditto on new work boxes versus old work, but again I don't know what your final vision is and what kind of wiring that will take. I mainly do commercial electrical work, but the residential I have done was usually a result of poor planning, or a disconnect between builder and end user.

^^ This is what I had meant as well; conduit pipes for the walls make installing something later on so much easier. You never know what kind of new cable will come out in the future, so it's good to have the space reserved for future use. One guy I knew wired up his house with VGA, for example, but I'd imaging he's now using those conduit tubes to put in HDMI instead (haven't spoken to him in years so I don't know).

 

[Scarpozzi]

From what I've read, OSB is stronger than particleboard, but it's also susceptible to moisture if a whole is cut in it and the exposed area isn't resealed?

Are there any downsides I'm missing?

OSB is far better than it used to be. Yeah....moisture is bad. That's why you seal it from the outside with housewrap/siding and don't leave it exposed.

 

[skyking]

OSB s strong in shear, uniform, inexpensive. Particleboard is not even a cousin to OSB.

 

[Scarpozzi]

OSB s strong in shear, uniform, inexpensive. Particleboard is not even a cousin to OSB.

The 30' I-Joists are pretty amazing considering the cost and the load they'll support over that span with only 2.5" of support on each end.