ShockValue's New Home Build Log

Here's a shot of where the "entertainment" center will be. It's basically an indentation for a flatscreen with a cubby down below where I can stash the HTPC frontend. The same will be mirrored on the other side of the wall for the master bedroom. Down below you see the boxes for power and audio stream for the external subwoofer. Four Cat6 and two RG6 (+1 for subwoofer) to each location.
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This is neat as hell.

Planning on doing any of that x10 stuff to control lighting?

Tell me more about that music thing, you had mentioned a lot of speakers, whats controlling all of that and powering it?

Doing any type of sound deadening in the walls where you know you might get loud with the music?
 
X10 is old school these days. Now it's Insteon and ZWave. I've got a few Insteon devices, pretty nice actually, but not sure they're worth the price. Then again, maybe all I need is a signal bridge.
 
ShockValue said:
Here's a shot of where the "entertainment" center will be. It's basically an indentation for a flatscreen with a cubby down below where I can stash the HTPC frontend. The same will be mirrored on the other side of the wall for the master bedroom. Down below you see the boxes for power and audio stream for the external subwoofer. Four Cat6 and two RG6 (+1 for subwoofer) to each location.
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That's awesome Shock, I am glad to see that its coming along very nicely. Aren't you glad it's finally starting to warm up here in Seattle? ;)
 
Happy about the weather? No, not really.

A) If it's 75 outside, it's like four thousand degrees in the attic.
B) No rain = no mushrooms :)

Otherwise, yeah, the weather is spectacular! :)
 
Spent the weekend and some evenings cutting holes in the drywall and making "Insulation Boxes" around the holes so the spray-in insulation stays off the speakers and doesn't fall down :)
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Speakers in the kitchen flanking the skylight.
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Here's the entertainment center thus-far

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coming along nicely! I just want you to know I officially hate you in the face for having this awesome setup and it's not even finished yet. :p
 
What can I say.. I suck at drywall :)

Oh, and about the boxes, its because the drywallers have mud smeared in them and haven't gotten back to clean them up yet.

"Paint and caulk, make a carpenter what he's not."
 
ShockValue said:
What can I say.. I suck at drywall :)

Oh, and about the boxes, its because the drywallers have mud smeared in them and haven't gotten back to clean them up yet.

"Paint and caulk, make a carpenter what he's not."
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You should have seen my first attempt with a rotary cut out tool! 4" hole turned into a 6" footbal pretty quickly!
 
The house is being painted as we speak. I can't get in there to do anythign for a few days unfortunatly. Soon the locks will be on the outside doors so I can start installing equipment! :)
 
ShockValue said:
The house is being painted as we speak. I can't get in there to do anythign for a few days unfortunatly. Soon the locks will be on the outside doors so I can start installing equipment! :)
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awesome, cant wait to see some equipment put up.

I cant wait to build my home, but Im some years off from that. :cool:
 
I'm moving into my first home within the next month and I want to do something just like this!

AWESOME thread! Thanks!
 
Things are progressing slowly. Lots of finish workers doing their thing and I'm having to stay out of the way to let them work. I'm hoping this weekend I'll be able to get in there and at least do the Cat6 and F connector jacks for the rooms. And maybe install the speakers too.

Anyway, just a ping to let ya'll know I'm not dead.
 
ShockValue said:
Things are progressing slowly. Lots of finish workers doing their thing and I'm having to stay out of the way to let them work. I'm hoping this weekend I'll be able to get in there and at least do the Cat6 and F connector jacks for the rooms. And maybe install the speakers too.

Anyway, just a ping to let ya'll know I'm not dead.
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Cool, thanks for the update:)
 
Well interesting turn of events. The poor guy who was tiling my bathrooms had a heart attack and died in my shower last night as he was finishing the walls. I feel really aweful because I know his family was hurting for money and it was one of the reasons we chose him (along with him doing good work.) Instead of spending the evening crimping rj45's I got to chat with the coroner and sheriff's office.

Man, just when you think things are going smooth something broadsides you. I still feel really creepy and bad :(
 
I would never be able to use that shower... That is just creepy.
 
ShockValue said:
Well interesting turn of events. The poor guy who was tiling my bathrooms had a heart attack and died in my shower last night as he was finishing the walls. I feel really aweful because I know his family was hurting for money and it was one of the reasons we chose him (along with him doing good work.) Instead of spending the evening crimping rj45's I got to chat with the coroner and sheriff's office.

Man, just when you think things are going smooth something broadsides you. I still feel really creepy and bad :(
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Wow, what is it with tilers and untimely deaths, the main tiler on This Old House died in the middle of a project back a few years ago (albeit, not on the job, that I am aware)

Was anyone else there, or was it just him?
 
Unfortunatly he was alone when it happened. I can't help but wonder if he'd be alive if someone else had been in the house to do CPR or call 911. By the time he was found the coronor was guesstimating it had been at least a couple of hours.
 
I got a little time to do wiring this weekend. Unfortunately 95% of it was electrical, so nothing too interesting. I DID get a few of the speakers in place though:

Kitchen:
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Great room 5.x system (speakers still need paint to match wall color)
Got the power done and the Cat6 and RG6 hanging waiting for connectors.
Lot's of empty Mt.Dew bottles ;)
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Whilst really from a jealous perspective but how will the sound bounce work in your setup with that asymmetric ceiling slant? Surely the one speaker will reflect down off the ceiling quicker than the other? Or have you one of those fancy amps that tests and balances all the speaker settings individually?
 
I have a fancy amp, although the adjustments are manual. So I'll have to figure out how to do that.

As you know, when working out a setup like this, asthetics are also a big part of the equation (especially since I'm married ;))
 
fancy receivers are pretty cool. My onkyo AVR came with a little microphone that you affix to a tripod, and it auto calibrates each channel, so even stupid tone deaf people like me can have a decently tunes setup :D
 
My receiver is a Marantz sr8000. It's older, but still does the job just dandy. Wish it had that automatic speaker adjustment though :)

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I'm starting to understand why General Contractors get paid. Fricking subs need to be baby-sat almost constantly so A) they do what they say they're going to do, and B) They do it the right way instead of the easy way.
<sigh>
 
haha, my parents got screwed on a kitchen install in the UK ... subs are lazy/greedy people (most of the time) - looks amazing by the way.
 
ShockValue said:
I'm starting to understand why General Contractors get paid. Fricking subs need to be baby-sat almost constantly so A) they do what they say they're going to do, and B) They do it the right way instead of the easy way.
<sigh>
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I can attest to this. I used to do high voltage, networking, and home theater in new installs and renovations and I lost count on how many times I watched someone do something simple the wrong way. The NEC code book pretty much tells the installer how to run high voltage wires anywhere in a building given the application. Reading is just too hard I guess.

Meh :rolleyes:

Nice progress on the house. Very nice home run pulls :)
 
Pic including the network and F connector plate. (Yeah, still need to pain the speaker grilles ;))
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Here's a pic from the dining room including the Nuvo control pad. I have one of these for each 'zone' in the house.
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All of the wiring is done upstairs in the house.. Still have to tackle the huge mess dangling downstairs in the basement though!
 
End of August is our target. Today they templated the countertops, and then there is some outside work left to be done (heat-pump, concrete steps, etc) but it's getting really damn close.
Just a million little things on the checklist :)
 
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