Home Theater #26 - Installing Cabinets and Prep for Stone

We were able to get the cabinets built and installed this weekend. It's amazing what a couple of "vacation" days can do...

Here is a photo of the foam board installed between the wall battens. There is a concrete wall, a framed stud wall and sheetrock behind this. As I noted in earl er posts, I did not want to tear this wall out, but mount the screen, cabinets and stone to it. To provide some level of insulation, I applied the foam board (there is none behind the sheetrock.


This foam board is R-Tech EPS. It provides about R4 and allows moisture migration (breathes). There is no evidence that there has been any moisture in the wall cavity, but I don't want to take any chances. At $8 for a 4x8 sheet, it's a very inexpensive improvement. Our practice has been to improve the energy efficiency of the house where ever we can - but not necessarily fully gut the area.

Here are the cabinet bases I built. They are open backed, since there will only be drawers installed - also this makes it easier to have the cables come in.


Both sets on cabinets went in fairly easily. These were built to fit the area, so only minor shimming was needed. We needed to pull the Christmas tree out of the way!



We added another layer of 3/4" foam behind the cabinets. You just need to use longer screws to install the cabinets.


I pulled the outlet out of the wall, so it could be mounted on top of the concrete board. I also wired in the box for the center and base speakers. The location of the existing outlet worked out well, since I will need it to power the base speaker (still need to buy one).


I installed the 1/2" concrete board over the battens. I used poly glue and sheetrock screws. This is the base for the stone I will lay (hopefully this week). I need to trim out the screen and do the crown molding first, then lay the stone to it.


The theater components sit in the bottom shelves of the right-side cabinets. Right now the cabling is a mess, but it's functional. I made the smaller top drawers less deep, there is about 4" in space for cables. I am going to install a small shelf in the back to set the bundles on.


Here is the whole wall so far...


I will spend the next few days getting all the trim details done (and going skiing). Once I start the stone, I just want to focus on that, since it makes the most mess.