New House build - Help needed

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208 posts

Master Geek
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#2476272 4-May-2020 13:35

I'd personally not worry about projectors or ATMOS either. My lounge is 4.5m x 4.5m and there is no way it's big enough IMO for a projector. I have a 75" TV in there now and it feels like being at the movies. Due to room size, 5.1 is also more than enough to fill the room with sound. 2.7m stud is also a luxury that doesn't match the build IMO. Put that money into adding some more area to the house. Add draw wires to behind the hifi gear though, so that if you want to go ATMOS you can. Given you don't have the budget for many of the basics, don't spend it on things you may never use.

33coupe

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#2477373 5-May-2020 22:29

Thanks for the replies, really appreciated.
The 4th bedroom will be used as a study /office, so that leaves 1 spare bedroom.

There's not too many options due to the section being narrow, other than the bedrooms being at the front of property and I really don't want that.
I'm at work during the day, so any sunshine left would be good to have when I get home, kitchen, lounge, deck etc.

Didn't think I would read a post on geekzone about discouraging a projector purchase! Lol
I have seen a few examples of smaller rooms, and I've read the optimum viewing distance for watching 100in screen is the same distance as my setup. I only have 50 inch tv, and always wanted a projector so will keep it on the cards.

Paul1977

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#2477429 5-May-2020 23:55

My hopes of a projector are getting smaller and smaller with my build. Variations here and there have really added up.

I think it’s a good idea to provision draw wires for the possibility of a projector and leave a loop for a power point in the roof space. That’s all I’m doing. It leaves the option open without it really costing anything.

But for me I think it will be a while before it happens. I think I’ll just need to move the chairs a little closer to the 65” TV instead.

As far as the sun goes, if the only option is flipping the house I think that would make it worse? At the moment your living areas should get some afternoon and evening sun. If it was flipped they would get just the morning sun and be fully in shade in the afternoon when you get home. When do you envision yourself using the deck most, mornings or afternoons?

I’m in the minority, but I think houses can get too much sun and believe people put too much emphasis on it. So take my options on building for the sun with a grain of salt.

Have a look at how other houses on your side of the street have been oriented, that should give you a good idea, as the are probably similarly shaped and sized sections.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that after looking at you latest upload that while decks are nice (we are hoping to be able to afford one at our place) they are considerably more expensive than a concrete patio - especially if you go for a decent hardwood or composite. If spending the money on a deck I wouldn’t go with something cheap like pine, and I’d personally never go timber again at all. I have an oiled Kwila deck at my current house and the maintenance sucks (scrubbing twice with one product, then scrubbing with another product to restore the ph level, then oil, then repeat again next year). We are currently looking at composite decking options to avoid the maintenance, but they are unfortunately quite pricey.

sm1ff

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#2477507 6-May-2020 09:17

Froglotion:
I'd personally not worry about projectors or ATMOS either. My lounge is 4.5m x 4.5m and there is no way it's big enough IMO for a projector. I have a 75" TV in there now and it feels like being at the movies. Due to room size, 5.1 is also more than enough to fill the room with sound. 2.7m stud is also a luxury that doesn't match the build IMO. Put that money into adding some more area to the house. Add draw wires to behind the hifi gear though, so that if you want to go ATMOS you can. Given you don't have the budget for many of the basics, don't spend it on things you may never use.

I have dolby atmos in my single bedroom which is much smaller than your room. Its absolutely wonderful and adds immersion, must watch John wick movies and mad max fury road. Regular 5.1 is good but atmos is a dome of sound vs circle of sound.
Highly recommended!!!!

Paul1977

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#2477615 6-May-2020 10:02

sm1ff:
Froglotion:
I'd personally not worry about projectors or ATMOS either. My lounge is 4.5m x 4.5m and there is no way it's big enough IMO for a projector. I have a 75" TV in there now and it feels like being at the movies. Due to room size, 5.1 is also more than enough to fill the room with sound. 2.7m stud is also a luxury that doesn't match the build IMO. Put that money into adding some more area to the house. Add draw wires to behind the hifi gear though, so that if you want to go ATMOS you can. Given you don't have the budget for many of the basics, don't spend it on things you may never use.

I have dolby atmos in my single bedroom which is much smaller than your room. Its absolutely wonderful and adds immersion, must watch John wick movies and mad max fury road. Regular 5.1 is good but atmos is a dome of sound vs circle of sound.
Highly recommended!!!!

As mentioned this can be future proofed as easily as having a draw cable to get speaker cable into the roof later. Will cost virtually nothing. I personally wouldn’t go to the expense purchasing and running the actual speaker cabling for ATMOS during the build - but that’s me.

I’m all for future proofing, but do it as affordably as possibly if you are on a tight budget.

Another thing I’m learning is that when building through a large building company, anything non-standard can become a bit more difficult simply due to the fact that it’s not something they are used to doing and things can get lost in translation by the time it gets to the tradie doing the job (no matter how well you think you’ve explained it during the planning stages), it’s nobodies fault, but be aware it can happen. For things like that request an onsite meeting with the sub trade who will be doing that portion of the job.

sm1ff

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#2477640 6-May-2020 10:23

Running the cables during building construction is the way to go in order to hide the cables. I got my atmos cables on the walls and celing in white cable trunking. Go for it if you wish for atmos in future!!

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Paul1977

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#2477806 6-May-2020 13:24

sm1ff: Running the cables during building construction is the way to go in order to hide the cables. I got my atmos cables on the walls and celing in white cable trunking. Go for it if you wish for atmos in future!!

I agree you want to avoid any visible trunking.

But if you run a draw wire the cables will still be hidden when you put them in later. That’s assuming a straight line up the wall into the roof of course. If there are bends and corners, then certainly better to run the cable during construction (or if you have insufficient roof space to get in there later).

Many ways to skin a cat. My sparky is recommending draw wires rather than cabling a bunch of stuff I may never end up using. And I’m sure many others would suggest best to do it fully now.

For the OP, your sparky should give you the best advice for your specific build.

Froglotion

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Master Geek
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#2478331 6-May-2020 23:28

sm1ff:

I have dolby atmos in my single bedroom which is much smaller than your room. Its absolutely wonderful and adds immersion, must watch John wick movies and mad max fury road. Regular 5.1 is good but atmos is a dome of sound vs circle of sound.
Highly recommended!!!!

Yeah i'm not saying it's not a good thing, just to no focus on wiring for it now, sure run a draw wire. Sparkies don't run speaker wire for cheap, so if you're paying someone to do it, draw wire is cheap. I can tell you now however, that high quality 5.1 can sound amazing too. I run Q Acoustic gear and it sounds fantastic. I decided it was enough of a sound stage that ATMOS wasn't needed. So running that speaker wiring will have been a waste.

Don't get me wrong, projectors and ATMOS are cool. I'm not a sparky by trade but when I built 4 years ago I wired my whole house with CAT6, TV, alarm, cameras and did the speaker wiring in media room etc. So i'm not against tech, far from it. I have a 32mm pipe running from my roofspace to behind both main TV's. Just in case I want to run ATMOS. I also ran a 15m HDMI cable from one TV back to a cabinet, have never connected it up, plans changed. So that was a waste of money. CAT6 everywhere is the way to go. Can always get adaptors to run HDMI etc.

But when I see someone with a maxed out budget before the build has started, i'm just saying be realistic. It's not likely to be your forever house, so getting everything in your first build isn't necessary.

I don't recall where you landed on separate toilet, but I don't recall the last house I worked on (new builds most days) that didn't have one. Toilet in main bathroom I don't recall seeing in new houses at all actually.

There isn't space between the dining area and family room for a couch. Not unless you plan to make it impossible to walk around that area, including the entry area.

Not trying to be a negative nancy, I just think the plan needs a lot of work, to get the most out of it. If you're happy with it, then that's all that actually matters.

Dingbatt

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#2478449 7-May-2020 09:29

I apologise if this has been mentioned in pages 3-11 of the thread, but I skipped a bit (or if you’ve already started building).

It was mentioned earlier about space in your garage. We originally had a 6x6m garage which was extended to 7.2m long via a plan variation after the extension had begun, so added to the cost. But it was a worthwhile change. There is a lot of accumulated crap that doesn’t need to be in the house that can be stored in the garage (plus a workbench).

So with a view to this, you could gain a little space at the back of your garage by pulling the front wall (ie the garage door one) forward to align it with your family room wall. The bonus is that would simplify your roof line by removing a couple of ridges and valleys. Roof framing, flashing and cladding is not cheap and complicated roofs take a lot of time and material ($$$$). The downside is the roof won’t be as ‘interesting’ from the street. But the money saved by doing this should allow some other stuff to be achieved on a fixed budget.

As others have commented, get the bones of the house right and make provision for tech in the future. But as an example, we did our extensions 20 years ago when a 42” SD Plasma cost $30000. So all our wiring, jack points, etc were put in the corners of the rooms for a CRT TV. Luckily I did put some conduit in and lots of drop wires. Hopefully this advice doesn’t differ too much from what I said in your home theatre thread.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

akmodi

26 posts

Geek
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#2478800 7-May-2020 16:39

Hi,

We did complete a build in Jan 19.

The structure of the house is something you will not be able to change.

We did go for SIPS construction and UPVC windows.

We have very little bills, and remain toastily warm.

The insulation in the house is something that can not be changed.

driller2000

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#2478880 7-May-2020 19:37

Froglotion:

I'd personally not worry about projectors or ATMOS either. My lounge is 4.5m x 4.5m and there is no way it's big enough IMO for a projector. I have a 75" TV in there now and it feels like being at the movies. Due to room size, 5.1 is also more than enough to fill the room with sound. 2.7m stud is also a luxury that doesn't match the build IMO. Put that money into adding some more area to the house. Add draw wires to behind the hifi gear though, so that if you want to go ATMOS you can. Given you don't have the budget for many of the basics, don't spend it on things you may never use.

Don't listen to this guy, he is clearly CRAZY :)

I installed a projector in our lounge when we built 10 years ago and our lounge is 5m x 4.7m.

The projector is approx 3.7m from a 106 inch diagonal 16x9 screen - as is the main seating position i.e. 3.7m away.

And even though its old, only 720p (!!!) and the bulb is now fading - it still rocks imho.

I am currently looking at 4k projector options and an even bigger/better screen.

So yeah....Just do it! :)

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blackjack17

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#2478888 7-May-2020 19:49

driller2000:

Froglotion:

I'd personally not worry about projectors or ATMOS either. My lounge is 4.5m x 4.5m and there is no way it's big enough IMO for a projector. I have a 75" TV in there now and it feels like being at the movies. Due to room size, 5.1 is also more than enough to fill the room with sound. 2.7m stud is also a luxury that doesn't match the build IMO. Put that money into adding some more area to the house. Add draw wires to behind the hifi gear though, so that if you want to go ATMOS you can. Given you don't have the budget for many of the basics, don't spend it on things you may never use.

Don't listen to this guy, he is clearly CRAZY :)

I installed a projector in our lounge when we built 10 years ago and our lounge is 5m x 4.7m.

The projector is approx 3.7m from a 106 inch diagonal 16x9 screen - as is the main seating position i.e. 3.7m away.

And even though its old, only 720p (!!!) and the bulb is now fading - it still rocks imho.

I am currently looking at 4k projector options and an even bigger/better screen.

So yeah....Just do it! :)

My media room is only 1.8m by 4m with the screen on the 1.8m wall (taking up the entire width of the wall). Projector is nearly 10 years old and still prefer watching movies on it rather than a TV screen. just has a movie feel (quality is way worse than a cheap 4K Veon TV but atmosphere is way better)

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Froglotion

208 posts

Master Geek
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#2479069 8-May-2020 10:03

Your projector image is 120mm wider than my 4k 75" TV, pretty sure the atmosphere is no different. Picture quality however will be much much worse, each to their own.

Not sure the family room in this house will accommodate a 100" projector screen without covering windows. Just doesn't seem practical for this house, but OP can obviously do as they wish. I'd just focus my time on improving other house features.

33coupe

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#2479486 8-May-2020 20:15

Thanks for the replies all, love reading every single one.

Draw wire sounds like it may be the thing to do. I will speak with the sparky and work out costs etc.
From some basic research it seems a decent projector will cost a bit. Plus a new receiver. It would be good to have it all done by move in, because it might not ever happen. Finance would be an option hmm.

Unfortunately extending the house or garage isn't an option. When we asked about it before it would cost $10-20k as would require new plans/blueprints etc.

I've just signed the agreement, will be going ahead with the plan.

Will need lots more help. And stuff lol
Thanks

Paul1977

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#2479511 8-May-2020 22:04

33coupe: Thanks for the replies all, love reading every single one.

Draw wire sounds like it may be the thing to do. I will speak with the sparky and work out costs etc.
From some basic research it seems a decent projector will cost a bit. Plus a new receiver. It would be good to have it all done by move in, because it might not ever happen. Finance would be an option hmm.

Unfortunately extending the house or garage isn't an option. When we asked about it before it would cost $10-20k as would require new plans/blueprints etc.

I've just signed the agreement, will be going ahead with the plan.

Will need lots more help. And stuff lol
Thanks

Yeah, good projectors are very pricey. I wouldn’t bother with one that wasn’t true 4K with HDR. And even the screens are pretty bloody expensive.

And there is zero chance I could ever afford a laser protector.

I’m actually beginning to think saving up for a 77” OLED might be a smarter move for my media room. Better black levels, no audible projector fan noise, and don’t have to be as strict with keeping the room pitch black.

Unfortunately I don’t think either option will be happening in time for moving in!

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