One Wall, Two Rooms - My Project Begins Tomorrow

Mark#1

Hi,

I’m posting this in the Home Cinema DIY / Home Entertainment DIY forums of both AVForums and boards.ie. I’m sure there are some folk who frequent both forums, so sorry if posting in both bothers anyone.

This'll probably be a long-ish post, so please bear with me.

I'm about to start some work this weekend to open out our kitchen & dining rooms (3-bed semi) to make one big 7m x 6m open plan room. It'll all have to be completed before crimbo (why do we put ourselves under this pressure? :rolleyes: ). Some entry level AV gear will be going in here.

In the new year I’ll be starting work on the sitting room side – that’ll be a little more exciting and involved because it’s going to be the main AV room, with slightly better gear.

I’ll be taking pics as I go and I’ll post how I get on – I know I love reading about and seeing pics of other guy’s projects: maybe someone will get something out of reading mine.

But for now I have to focus on the kitchen work.

It'll involve moving two radiators (and re-routing the relevant pipes), blanking off a wall (stud & plasterboard) that currently has double doors into the sitting room, routing electrical wiring (lights, power and AV), new plaster work in places, and a new floating laminate floor.

We’re not replacing any kitchen units or appliances at this time, though we probably will in time.

The wall that's being blanked off backs onto the sitting room. This wall will have most of the AV wiring in it for both the kitchen AV stuff on one side and the sitting room AV stuff on the other side.

Kitchen side of the wall will accommodate a 50" plasma TV, the front L/R/C speakers of an all-in-one DVD 5.1 system, the cables between the TV and a satellite receiver, DVD player and DTT receiver (when that becomes necessary), and a pair of wall lamps.

Sitting room side will accommodate another 50" plasma, 3 speakers (2 x QAcoustics 1020i fronts and a 1000Ci centre), the cables between the TV and AV components, and two wall lamps.

The cables from the satellite dish and DTT aerial will also be in this wall.

All work in the kitchen has to be completed before Xmas, even if the TV and AV gear are not in place by then.

I'd like to do all, or as much as possible, of the wiring that will ultimately be in this wall at this time, though finances will probably dictate that that won’t happen. Anything I can’t get done on this pass will be done when I do the work on the sitting room side of the wall around March / April next year.

So I’d be grateful for general comments, advice, opinions and info from anyone who has done this type of job.

End result room plan:




End result TV wall:




There are some specific things I’d like to know:

I plan to buy the following from the vendors listed – I’d be grateful if anyone could advise me of better / cheaper alternatives to these from a seller in Ireland (or UK), or comment on any experience they may have had with any of the vendors.

SPEAKER CABLE: 100m reel of 79-strand cable @ £55
Speaker Cable 79 Strand (per Metre)*::*Speaker Cable*::*Audio Leads & Accessories*::*Cable Universe

SUBWOOFER CABLE: 1 x 10m phono cable @ £7.57
Premium 1 RCA to 1 RCA Phono Cable*::*RCA (Phono) to RCA (Phono)*::*Audio Cables*::*Audio Leads & Accessories*::*Cable Universe

HDMI CABLE: 1 x 1.5m @ £11.74
Premium HDMI to HDMI Cable Gold*::*HDMI to HDMI Cables*::*HDMI Cables*::*Cable Universe

EDIT: I got a mail from cableuniverse saying they can't ship to Ireland. This is despite the following quote from the shipping info page of their website:

"All orders to Ireland will be quoted on an order by order basis, we will contact you with the cost before proceeding with your order
Any orders outside mainland UK will be quoted , please contact our office to confirm . . ."

Can anyone advise me of any alternatives?

I found http://www.tvcables.co.uk/ who do ship to ROI, and their prices seem quite good.

5.1 WALLPLATE: 1 x Nexxia NX-WP-024B @ £36
Dolby Speaker Wall Plates

SPEAKER WALL PLATES: 5 x Nexxia NX-WP-005
Binding Post Speaker Wall Plates

I’ll get the back-boxes for these wall plates from an electrician friend.

I’m sure shipping costs from the UK won’t be too nasty, and I expect that whatever they are, I doubt I’ll be able to find comparable equivalents cheaper in ROI, though I’d like to be proven wrong.

I’m not sure where I’m going to get two 1-gang brush plates – anyone got any info on these?

The best way I can currently think of for routing the speaker cable from the amp position on the TV wall to the rear surround speakers at the other end of the room is under the laminate flooring. The ceiling isn’t an option because of some block-work and two RSJs interrupting a clean route. Walls aren’t an option for the same reason, and also because I’m removing one wall that would be there, and the other wall is skimmed block.

Underlay for the laminate flooring is about 4mm thick, uncompressed, and I can’t imagine it compressing even close to 50% once the floor is laid. So I’m thinking that routing the speaker cable (1.9mm thick) between two lengths of underlay (NOT under it) would be perfect, and then fishing it up though the walls to the amp and rear speakers.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any responses,

Mark

Mark#1

Progress so far:

Partition wall removed.

Timber & tile flooring removed.

Double doors to sitting room (and framework) removed.

Radiators relocated and re-connected (new pipes & fittings) - some chasing performed for this.

New studwork in partition wall fitted.

Ply fitted to new studwork.

New studwork & ply drilled / channelled for AV & power wiring.

Walls chased for speaker cables.

Speaker cables and blank wall plates acquired.

Source confirmed for AV cables (www.tvcables.co.uk) - ordering tomorrow.

Just starting:




No going back now:




OPEN!




New studwork going in, drilled for cables:




Studwork done:




View from the other side:




Dust, dust and more dust. Dust everywhere...

Things that have gone well:

Partition wall came down quite easily.

Timber floors came up quite easily.

Latest layer of floor tiles came up quite easily.

My routing and connection of the new plumbing pipework is sound and tidy.

I got 60m of 2-core flat flex wire from an electrical wholesaler for €15. This aparrently contains the same multi-strand OFC wire as his mid-range speaker cable, but just doesn't have the typical "figure 8" appearance of speaker cable. I also got 6 blank one-gang wall plates, drillable for the speaker cable to feed through.


Things that haven't gone well:

There was so much dust that it inflamed my sinuses and gave me a sinus infection, setting me back 4 days.

Original layer of floor tiles was quite hard work to take up.

Column in centre of room can't be trimmed down to 30cm x 30cm, like we'd hoped. It'll be 60cm x 40cm or so.

Looks like I've broken the central heating boiler pump, possibly by turning on the boiler too soon after I connected the rads in their new positions - may not have bled system properly, resulting in pump running dry and melting innards? Plumber coming to look at it tomorrow.

Discovered quite significant discrepancies in levelness of the floor. Got quote of €1600 to have levelling compound delivered, pumped-in, and levelled - not remotely within our budget. I'll be borrowing a mate's mixer and getting some bags of shtuff to do it myself.

Next steps:

Order AV cables - tomorrow.

Get heating system sorted - tomorrow.

Fit plasterboard slabs & patches where necessary - Wednesday.

Level the floor - possibly this weekend.

Book plasterer to work his magic (once all plasterboard is in place) - hopefully next week.

Re-decorate walls & ceiling - once plaster skim is good to go.

Fit new flooring - once decorating is done.

Fit new skirting boards - once flooring is down.


Can't wait for the mess to be gone.

Mark

DanGerMus

Nice log. Keep up the good work. 1600 for a leveling seems like a load of balls. Even for that space it's a days work maybe two.

Maybe your a handy DIYer or have tiled before but if i were you and i wasn't absolutely sure i'd treat it like you treated the plastering and get it done by a professional i've sat in one mates house that done it themselves and the place is Chair wobble city. Three legged stools FTW .

Good luck anyway it's looking like a nice space.

slavetothegrind

Like it! Thanks for posting.

How do you get away with hanging the axe's in the sitting room?
I had to grovel somewhat for my canvas rory gallagher in ours!

No building work goes completely to plan so worry not, and don't take shortcuts or just live with something not right as you will be staring at it with regret for years!

Looks good though! Well done so far.

Mark#1

Can't find anywhere to level the floor for me. I'd consider spending €400 for it. Surely it's just a matter of pouring a runny and smooth concrete-derived mix and using a long flat edge to make sure it all levels out?

My technical knowledge of concrete is miniscule, but I'm pretty sure I'm not naiive in thinking paying €1600 to cover 40msq with a thin levelling mix is a lot more than the value of the materials and labour. Or maybe I am. Can anyone recommend any ideas?

My current plan is to borrow a mate's mixer, buy loads of bags of a latex-based compound (recommended by a local builder's provider/DIY place - he reckons 8-10 bags should be plenty for 5mm or so over my 40msq, but I can buy more and return what I don't use), mix up as much as the mixer can do at a time (thin as allowable), then pour that load and work it around with a long straight edge while a mate/wife/dad/whoever gets the mixer going again with the next load, and so on. If I mix it as thin as the mfg specs will allow, I'm hoping it'll be so runny it really will "find its own level", specially with the straight edge helping it along.

I DON'T want to fart around on my knees with a float and a mix like mortar for two days, doing a bucket-full at a time.

Handy enough at most DIY, or put another way - I'll ask a million questions till I understand what I'm looking at. If it's beyond me, I'll call in the pros.

I'm happy with how well moving the radiators went - just a couple of very slow drip-leaks when the system is cold (heat seals them up). Plumber mate who advised me is going to give everything a once-over, including sorting the drips, before I close everything up.

I've tiled our kitchen floor & walls, bathroom & en-suite floors & walls, and the 100sqm tile-display area of a homewares/DIY shop that was a customer when I worked for a tile distribution company, but it's laminate going down in this room :eek:. It's actually very nice, and we have oak and pine in the other areas downstairs, so the wood-fix is still satisfied.

Guitars go on the wall for two reasons: 1. Not enough floor space. 2. They'd cost money to replace when the kids inevitably would break them, and we don't have enough money to be buying replacement guitars, but I would anyway, so my wife is happier with them on the walls. I've been in bands before and during our time together, so it's just part of it all anyway.

Just trickling along now, doing what I can when I get home in the evenings. Waiting on cables & brushplates to arrive so I can close up the walls and call in the plasterer.


Thanks for the replies,

Mark

eddiem74

Mark#1 wrote: »

Can't find anywhere to level the floor for me. I'd consider spending €400 for it. Surely it's just a matter of pouring a runny and smooth concrete-derived mix and using a long flat edge to make sure it all levels out?

When we built our house via direct labour it was a 'groundsman' that done all the foundations, floors, and paths. I am not sure now that you are in the house if such a tradesman would required or whether any builder could do it (I'm sure they could).

With regard to price I would say you could be talking the guts of 1-2days labour at least, I do recall when we were getting our floors done, the guy was there for the best part of 24hrs, as he had to keep going over it, and over it to make it perfect and smooth.

You could ask for some advice over on the DIY forum, and might get some pointers or recommendations.

Good luck !

The Ritz

Cool thread, watching with interest..............


Ritz.

Mark#1

Progress since last update:

All AV cables acquired, fitted in place and pulled through holes made in ply/plasterboard:

• 2 x satellite feeds to kitchen.
• 2 x satellite feeds to sitting room.
• 1 x TV feed to kitchen.
• 1 x TV feed to sitting room.
• 1 x HDMI cable from component location to TV location.
• 1 x SCART cable from component location to TV location.
• 5 x speaker cables from component location to speaker locations.
• 1 x subwoofer cable from component location to subwoofer location.
• Power point on wall in TV location.
• Power point on wall in components location.

Awaiting arrival of brush plates, but no real hurry on them till after painting has been done.
All electrical cables routed and connections made.
Plasterboard fitted on walls - small ceiling patch jobs remain.
Areas of floor that required levelling have been levelled.

Borrowed a mate's mixer:


You can see the floor in the extension part is slightly higher than the rest of the floor:


Done:
.

Things that have gone well:

Floor levelling was less difficult and stressful than I'd anticipated.
My measurements for cable lengths were all good, with little waste.
The TV aerial & satellite feed cables from the attic to the room wall points are neat and well concealed.
The boiler pump wasn't broken - there was just a big air-lock in the system. Bled the pump & all the rads and all's well.
My dad has started to bake his own bread and he brought some over last night. It's fantastic.

Things that haven't gone well:

There are two small drip leaks on one radiator. Not enough to flood, or even hamper the drying of the floor-levelling compound, but they still have to be sorted.
I fitted the last section of plasterboard on the wall only to realise I'd forgotten to fit the subwoofer cable. Had to rip off the plasterboard, route the cable, and fit a new plasterboard piece.
I poured the floor-levelling compound before I realised I hadn't kept out some cooking utensils. I had to cook my lunch (super noodles) with a screwdriver, and eat them with a spoon.




Next steps:

Order one more sheet of plasterboard to be delivered today and finish all plasterboard jobs tonight.
Get unused floor-levelling compound collected & returned to store by plasterboard delivery guy.
Get rad leaks sorted asap.
Book plasterer for later this week if he's free.


Mark

eddiem74

Looking good !

I am assuming you won't need any phone points at the TV locations for a Sky Multi-room set-up for example, where Sky requires you to have all boxes connected to the same phoneline all the time ?

Also, I assume you will not want PC or networked device at any TV location as it could be an idea to stick in at least one network cable per location to avoid relying on wireless seen as you are going to all this trouble now.

Mark#1

Cheers Eddie.

I won't pay for Sky - just FTA DTT & Freesat in my house!

This will be a social room - TV for soaps/dramas, occasional movies, party and backround music. I don't envisage any more tech in this room than that.

The room that backs onto it (and uses the back of the same TV wall) will be more of an entertainment room - better TV, AV receiver & speakers, PS3 & X360, Freesat HD PVR, DTT receiver & HDD DVD recorder.

The PS3 and X360 will both have wireless connectivity - the main phone point is in the hall and would be difficult to cleanly route into this room. We'll surf wirelessly with the PS3 (gonna get a wireless integrated keyboard/trackpad ).

Mark

Carpenter

This is cool to watch keep up the good work and dont forget to update pics

Mark#1

Carpenter, eh? I hope your username doesn't reflect your trade - I'd be all shy with a pro observing my efforts . . .

By lucky chance, the plasterer was free today.

Here's a couple of pics of the TV & sat cable routing, and general pics to date . . .

Satellite cables exiting from the facia/soffit to where I'll be locating the dish (current dish - Lidl - is either too big or badly placed and the wind has moved it since I put it up):


Satellite cables routed through attic (slack is for pulling out to LNB location):




4 satellite & 2 TV feeds comind down to hot press ceiling:


All 6 cables entering hot press ceiling:


Sitting room side of the wall, showing separation of speaker, component signal (pic taken before sat & TV cables were placed) and power cable routing:


Same wall closed up and joints filled (I haven't pulled any cables through this wall yet - this room won't be tackled till March, and I'll be opening up that side of the wall again to fit 12mm ply and plasterboard and all the new cables that'll be required for my plans for that room):


Kitchen side of the wall closed up and plastered (today):


Wall plates drilled and ready to go (tip: top left and bottom right plates were drilled with a bit for steel. They were a little messy (though still useable), so I tried flat wood bits for the other 4. These were much better - the sharp cusps on the outer edges of the bit blades scored the plastic, so there was far less splintering and shards):


Wiring cluster at components location (2 x satellite feeds, 1 x TV feed, 1 x SCART to TV, 1 x HDMI to TV, 5 x speakers + 1 x subwoofer - all will exit via the 2-gang brush plate):


SCART & HDMI cables exiting at TV location (1-gang brush plate here), TV power point upside down so cable won't hang visibly below the TV:


Just have to wait now (5 days or so) for the plaster to dry before we can redecorate. Then it's the floor (ordered and paid for - delivery before this weekend) and then the central pillar (materials in shed waiting to go). Then it's just sit back with a Fink Brau and wait for Santa . . . :rolleyes:


Mark

big_moe

i've been watching this thread with interest. Great job so far Mark, i wish i was handy like that!!

Adam

Mark#1

Progress so far . . .

All plastering & decorating done (except the utility room - I'll do that over the wekend). We chose an almost white colour to emphasise the openness of the room now. Just the new skirtings & architraves to be painted, but I'll do those after I've laid the floor.

All sockets, switches, speaker wall plates & brush plates fitted. I put cable ties on the speaker cables on both sides of the wall plates - it's probably completely unnecessary, but my thinking was to reduce whatever minute chance there might be of the cables pulling through the walls.

TIPS:

Use low-tack tape (like masking tape, for example) on exposed parts of any cables that enter / exit walls - plasterers & decorators don't care about them. I thought it'd be enough to put plastic bags over mine, but paint still got onto them. Wiped off easy enough, but if I'd taped them, I'd just have had to peel off the tape to reveal as-new cables.

Don't be too shy to check on anyone you hire to do work you can't / won't - they might not like it, but yours is probably a slightly different job to most others they do - you need to ensure your cables don't get damaged, and that all the cables you need to fit are in place. Again, no-one cares about the HE part of the job but you - not your wife, not your kids, and not your contractors.

Floor goes down this weekend, as well as the new skirtings and architraves. Hopefully shouldn't pose too many problems for me - the supplier said the particular laminate we chose is among the better laminates ("V" on all 4 edges, very realistic wood appearance (I know - still "only" laminate ), and really hard-wearing), and can be a b1tch to lay. Fingers crossed . . .











Mark

DesG

Looking good so far! Any update as it is getting close to Xmas?

Did you mention where you got the brush plates from?

Cheers, Des.

Mark#1

Progress so far...

Floor finished.
Skirtings finished.
All decorating finished.
Stonepanel cladding on centre pillar 75% finished.

All that's left now is to finish the stonepanel cladding, get the new couch for Mrs Mark#1 (not before crimbo, unfortunately), and wait till March till I can get the AV gear.

"Dad, can I help you with the floor?" Hmmmm...




I was going to route the backs of the skirtings to allow space for the speaker cables and plumbing pipes to the rads, but I used a circular saw instead. I don't have a lot of experience with my router yet.




The back of the pillar isn't done yet, but will be by Monday, as will everything else.




I got the brush plates from www.homecinemauser.co.uk. Double plate was £12.50, single was £9.99. Shipping was £3.50

http://www.homecinemauser.co.uk/products.aspx?s=3102128116_0

http://www.homecinemauser.co.uk/products.aspx?s=3102128118_0


So basically by Monday, I'll hopefully be all done. :cool:


Mark

MrJoeSoap

Looks top notch, fair play. Will come in handy as a reference tool if and when I get around to doing something similar.

Nice one!

Mark#1

Got my TH-50PZ80. It's the sitting room TV, but I've put it up in the kitchen for now, till I get the kitchen TV an the rest of my sitting room AV stuff.

Well happy with the PZ80. I've only played a Star Wars SD DVD on my cheapo upscaling Goodmans player: TV says 720p and pic is great. Sound isn't good, IMO, but I was always going to have a separate amp/speakers set-up for sound.

Pics taken with phone - forgive quality.





Haven't played with the settings yet, and haven't connected TV or satellite yet, so can't comment on performace with those.

I made the corner shelf for the amp & DVD player over the weekend. Still needs to be planed, sanded, shaped & stained, but at least it's constructed and the supports are in place.



Finishing up in work this Friday, so I'll be getting stuck into the sitting room in the next few weeks.


Mark

briman1983

love the work you've done, what program did you use to draw up the floor plan?

Mark#1

Took the plasterboard on the sitting room side back off and fitted the new AV, speaker & power cables:




Routed all the cables as carefully as I could, constantly referring to my nerd lists on the laptop to ensure I was covering everything and that I wasn't getting anything wrong - it's a sick feeling when you discover you have to open up a wall you've just closed up. At 11pm . . .

I've routed two speaker cables to each of the front left & right speaker locations: The QAcoustics 1020is that I've bought can aparrently be bi-wired or bi-amped, so I'm going to experiment to see (hear) if I can tell the difference when I connect the fronts in three different ways:

1. Normally (single cable per speaker - using one amp channel per speaker).

2. Bi-wired (two cables from the amp's left speaker output & two from the right - still using just one of the amp's 7 amp channels per speaker, but one connects to the speaker's LF input, the other connects to the speaker's HF input).

3. Bi-amped (two cables from two separate amp speaker outputs - effectively using two of the amp's 7 amp channels for each of the speakers: one amp channel drives the LF speaker, the other drives the HF unit).





I called the same plasterer on Thursday morning that I used for the kitchen to do this wall, hoping he'd be free next week. He asked if Friday (next day) was okay. That put some pressure on, but I said okay and got stuck in.

I finished up at about 11pm on Thursday, only to find on a final check of the new power sockets that none were working, where they had been before I nailed up the plasterboard slabs. I was so tired, I didn't even get angry - all I could do was sit down and try not to cry. Turns out that connections in one socket were loose, and had caused the sockets switch to trip. Flipped that back up and all was well again. Maybe those 5 years I lost from my life will somehow be added back on . . .

I've fitted 12mm ply under the plasterboard to give secure fixing for the TV & speaker wall brackets - it worked a treat in the kitchen.

I'd been told that it might be difficult if not impossible to get the same coving again to patch up, but I kept a chunk of it and lo-and-behold, the first shop I tried (suggested by the plasterer) had the exact same coving - same manufacturer, same barcode. Magic.


Ready for the plasterer:




All done:




While that's drying out (5 days or so again), I'll get to work on the AV unit. It should turn out something like this:




I can't wait to set this all up - all my AV stuff is sitting in boxes ready to get going. It's tormenting me. Every time I walk past it all, I'm sure I can hear that beating-drum sound from Jumanji when the game wanted to be played . . .


Briman, I use Microsoft Visio to do these mock-ups - I get the measurements of everything involved and create the images to scale, copy/pasting pics from the www.


Mark

eddiem74

Lookin great Mark, getting close to the end now !! :pac:

So your going to make your AV unit or ? Love the pic !

Mark#1

Making it myself. 3" x 9" timber for the top & uprights, 18mm pine boards for the shelves. Gonna rough it all up with a rasp, after planing & sanding it.

Mark

eddiem74

Mark#1 wrote: »

Making it myself. 3" x 9" timber for the top & uprights, 18mm pine boards for the shelves. Gonna rough it all up with a rasp, after planing & sanding it.

Mark

Cool, plenty of pics please then Mark, really interested to see how it turns out !

Mark#1

Still trying to source a place to get 9" x 3" PAO or planed on the 3" edge. Looks like Brooks in da Brig might be a candidate - I'll be calling them tomorrow. If nowhere can do it, or if it's too expensive, I'll have to come up with something myself or call on some mates who might be able to advise.

9" x 3" rough is cheap, but I don't have the tools to plane the 3" edges perfectly flat, and I want the bond between the two edges of the top piece to be pretty perfect - if I cut corners or comprimise, I know I'll hate looking at it. The base pieces & uprights aren't so critical - they'll be out of sight.

If money was no option, I'd give the exact measurements to a provider who could do it all for me - plane all 4 sides, bond the pieces, and cut them all to length.

I've asked on a couple of other threads for advice or help on this, but if anyone reading this thread can offer advice or links, that'd be great.


Mark

Mark#1

Got three nice 4.8m pieces of 3" x 9" "rough" white deal from Brooks. I put parentheses around the word rough because these pieces are actually pretty clean - I was able to do a bit of sifting for nice pieces. I think a bit of effort with my electric sander could be good enought to negate the need for planing.

I also got two 2400mm x 600mm sheets of 18mm "lamwood" - bonded red deal - for the shelves.

The biggest bonus is that it turns out a mate has a sash clamp to loan me for the bonding.

Good omens so far. I'll collect the sash clamp tonight and get stuck in tomorrow morning. Can't wait.


Mark

eddiem74

Cool, looking forward to seeing the progress. :pac:

Mark#1

I've planed & sanded all the pieces, and cut them to workable lengths.



I've used PVA wood glue and applied the sash clamps I've borrowed on a couple of pieces. After I've bonded all the pieces (the glue takes 24 hours to dry fully), I'll sand them again and cut them to the proper lengths.





I've ordered an 18mm router cutter - when that arrives, I'll cut out the gooves for the shelves to slot into.

Then I'll fix all the pieces together and start shaping it all with the rasps, then sand it all again, before staining it.

I've painted the newly plastered areas in the sitting room, so with the glued pieces curing tomorrow, I'll fit the TV wall bracket, refit the skirtings and give the room a good clean up for the arrival of its new AV unit.

Could I be watching DVDs by the weekend? Don't think so, but I'll be close. I'm annoyed I don't have my centre speaker or the wall brackets for the fronts & rears. RS assure me it's QAcoustics' delay. It's all coming together now, so they're the only loose end.


Mark

Mark#1

Can't seem to edit post #18, but this pic belongs in there (or between post 18 & 19) - it's the sitting room TV in situ in the kitchen, with the kitchen AVR & DVD to the left.




Mark

eddiem74

Looking good Mark..........watching on with interest !

Victor_M

Wow just found this thread today, well done mark, you are a talented guy. Fantastic finish. Looking forward to the photos of the finished AV cabinet.

Mark#1

Progress update:

I'm lucky it was my hand saw, rather than my hand, that was in the way of my circular saw. It's the first time I've ever let something so stupid happen - I was rushing to get what I could done between showers today, and just wasn't as careful and organised as I usually am. Like I said - lucky:



The two main sections are assembled and shaped/sanded. I'll be sanding again before the first application of wood dye:




I was advised on another thread that the 18mm boards I got for the shelves would expand at the slightest chance, so I kept them in their shrinkwrap till I was actually working on them. Even then, one shelf in particular was an absolute bugger to get in. I ended up having to sand the edges down slightly so they'd slide into the routed grooves a little easier.

I made plenty of small mistakes, but none that ruined my plans or caused me to start again. I'll need to find a well-matched filler - it was hard to put it all together with no gaps. My measurements were all good and I'm quite happy so far. I placed the XBox, DVD player & Freesat PVR in position and all fit nicely.

I hope to continue working on this again tomorrow if I can get some time in the garden with no rain. I've yet to shape & sand the top and the centre shelf.

RS say QAcoustics won't have my speaker backets till after Easter, which is quite annoying, though I know it's not RS's fault. I'm trying different sellers to see if I can get some sooner than that.


Mark

eddiem74

Looking good Mark...........lucky escape with the fingers/hand :eek:

Keep th pics coming. :pac:

ronaneire

Fair play Mark, well done so far... I can't wait to see the finished project. I must take some pics of my own set up and post them.

Mark#1

More or less finished my unit now. Just some small touches to finish.

I'm tired making it, but I'm really happy with it. Can't wait to start loading my equipment into it tomorrow.




Mark

eddiem74

WOW :eek:

Great Job Mark !

junior_apollo

Great job - congrats on the work so far and looks really well.. will keep on eye on it as it goes... fair play to ya..

Mark#1

Hope to get things completely set-up & calibrated this weekend. I'm finding the connecting & set-up of the equipment daunting, though like anything else, once you get started, you make progress and you ask questions when you get stuck - I know it'll all come good.



I have to say a very special thanks to John McDonald from Richersounds in Belfast. Their supplier was out of stock of my speaker brackets for ages and when RS got them in they sent them immediately with next-day post. They hadn't shown up on the day they were supposed to, so I called the shop and e-mailed John. It wasn't my intent to make what happened happen - I'd have just liked the brackets by the weekend (last weekend) so I could set everything up.

The girl from John's office rang me to say he was driving to Belfast to get more brackets for me. Driving from Dublin. On his Friday night. I felt really bad, but the girl said John was sure he wanted to do it. He personally called to my house at 10pm last Friday night with my brackets.

I still feel bad and have never in many years as a consumer witnessed such selfless dedication to customer satisfaction.

John McDonald - you have every right in the world to call people like me complaining @ssholes, but I want to say - you are a truly outstanding customer-focussed professional. Many, many sincere thanks - the chocolates don't come near saying enough.

When I win the Lotto, RS will definitely be supplying all my AV gear . . .


Mark

eddiem74

Looking great Mark !! Job well done !

Idleater

Great work! Looks very good. I'm very impressed also by the lengths gone to by RS to get you the brackets. Mounting the speakers like that has made the whole project look very professional, and neat and tidy.

Do you do commissions?