Basement cinema room - worth it?

[SBMS]

We are in the middle of our self build and up to first lift. We are planning a side extension (always planned but had to come later due to planning restrictions). We are designing this to include a gym and indoor pool (a sunken swim spa actually, discussed on another post).

 

My ambition is probably running away.. our builder suggested that as we are digging an 8x3m hole (at depth of 1.6m) for the pool, why not make the whole building a basement level and go 18mx4.5m (at depth of 2.5m)? This would give me space for a 6x4.5m basement cinema room… I’ve always wanted one but not sure if it’s the geek in me kitting it out rather than actually using it. 
 

Q1 - for those with a cinema room, was it worth it? Is it used sufficiently that you’d do it again?

 

Q2 - I can predict the answer on here, would anyone recommend the additional cost and headache to dig out and down just to stick a cinema room down there?

[LA3222]

Can only answer Q1, we use our cinema room all the time - it's the main screen, we hardly ever use the lounge.

[SBMS]

12 minutes ago, LA3222 said:

Can only answer Q1, we use our cinema room all the time - it's the main screen, we hardly ever use the lounge.

Is it in a basement?

[nod]

If you have the funds Go for it You will only have one chance to do it 
You can always use it for something else if you are not using it much 

To be fare I can’t think of a better place to put a Cinema roof Or a home gym 

 

[G and J]

Our current house has a projector in the kitchen, screen above the woodburner. All totally hidden when not in use. 
 

A lot of the winter we live in the kitchen (easy chairs round the fire, warmest place in the house, little tv for normal stuff).  So deciding to watch a big screen film involves powering up the sound bar and projector, and turning down the lights but not moving room. If we had to move room it would hardly ever happen. 

This has informed our design for the new pad, as we are replicating the hidden cinema function in the lounge/kitchen area. 
 

I’m with @nod in saying go for the basement if it works from a build point of view. But a cinema room? Wouldn’t work for me. 

 

[LA3222]

10 hours ago, SBMS said:

Is it in a basement?

No, it's a seperate room at the far end of the house. It gets used all the time, even just for normal TV shows - sure I saw the missus watching the apprentice in there the other day!

[Nickfromwales]

If you can afford it, then ask yourself the question, not us lot!!!

 

If you want a cinema / TV room and you will use it, then I’d defo go for it without a second thought. 
 

Has the builder discussed tanking / waterproofing / any need for a sump pump+ pumped discharge? 
 

Ask all the questions before proceeding, so costs don’t spiral and you don’t end up with regrets.   

[Mr Punter]

It is sometimes simpler to have the basement the same footprint as the floor above.  Make sure it is deep enough.  Low headroom could be a bit oppressive.  Get it priced up before you get too carried away.  Even if it is not a cinema, it could be used as a bar, games room, disco, sex dungeon etc.

[saveasteading]

Def keep it within the footprint of the rest.

Will cost 3 x as much as an above ground build. It is a skilled design followed by skilled construction.

So a basement is justifiable if land is expensive. 

[SBMS]

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

If you can afford it, then ask yourself the question, not us lot!!!

 

If you want a cinema / TV room and you will use it, then I’d defo go for it without a second thought. 
 

Has the builder discussed tanking / waterproofing / any need for a sump pump+ pumped discharge? 
 

Ask all the questions before proceeding, so costs don’t spiral and you don’t end up with regrets.   

Thanks @Nickfromwales. I was looking to see if anyone came back with "never use a cinema room, waste of money" - having never had one I worry about not using it, but it costing ££s to build it into a basement.  I think I need to price up the difference tbh and then understand if its worth doing or not.  This is the rough structural difference:

 

[Conor]

We did exactly the same. Went from partial basement to full, with the new 8x4.2m earmarked as home gym / cinema. First fixes done for AV, network points etc. never gonna any further. Currently full of my tools, brewing equipment, bikes and general junk. We'll likely never put the cinema in, as the storage space is proving to be too valuable. Go ahead and build up, don't need to commit to a specific use if you don't want to.

[Thorfun]

we have a basement......planned rooms are music room (which i'm currently boarding out), gym/golf studio, cinema and games room. plus our comms room and plant room and a loo which probably won't ever get plumbed in if i'm being honest. total area is approx 120m2

 

for us it cost us £200k to build the basement but i reckon foundations without a basement would've cost us about £50k - £60k as we would've had to dig down 2m to get to bedrock so the basement, using really good man-maths, only cost us about £150k. 😉 

 

i can't wait to kit out the cinema but it'll be a while due to other priorities.

 

2 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

Make sure it is deep enough.  Low headroom could be a bit oppressive.

as @Mr Punter says, we have 3m high ceilings in the basement. gives a really good sense of space. also gives leeway to reduce ceiling height to cover utilities or to add extra sound insulation.

[Pocster]

A cinema room it depends .

I wouldn’t want one because our basement lounge area has 120” screen with projector and surround sound . So without being a purist we get that ‘cinema’ feeling ( no back seat naughtiness ) .

A basement could be a gym / games room also .

Is it worth it ? . I always think a pool occupying internal space would make a resale more difficult. Whilst a ‘room’ which could be anything appeals to more people .

Sex dungeons don’t have too look intimidating.

[Nick Laslett]

16 minutes ago, SBMS said:

Thanks @Nickfromwales. I was looking to see if anyone came back with "never use a cinema room, waste of money"

 

In the past there were more challenges. A modern laser projector is instant on and off, no need to replace the bulb every 1000hrs, no need to keep recalibrating as the bulb ages. With an ALR screen even ambient light is not such a big issue. 
 

Home cinema is such a large topic, so many different ways to approach it. There are very good 120” short throw laser projectors that are easy to install. Or you can get 97” OLED TV screen. Of go down the long throw route and have the largest screen the room can take. Ultimately the room height will dictate how large a screen you can have, if you basically fill a whole wall you need an acoustical transparent screen with the speakers in a false wall behind the screen. After 140” inches you need serious projector power to light that size of a screen. 
 

 

[saveasteading]

24 minutes ago, SBMS said:

need to price up the difference tbh

Top of head..... £60,000 extra, as 'self-build', more if by a main contractor.

For the structure, not any other works.

Add for risk if the ground is a challenge, liable to flood, or near other buildings.

 

Don't forget the area that a stair takes up when working out the usefulness of the smaller size.

[Nick Laslett]

I like this Projector Screen calculator. 
 

http://www.reviewtranslations.com/projection_calculator_en.html

 

There are lots of other ones. I feel that 1650mm room height will not give you that big of a screen. 
 

[Pocster]

2 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

sex dungeon etc.

😉

[SBMS]

28 minutes ago, Nick Laslett said:

I like this Projector Screen calculator. 
 

http://www.reviewtranslations.com/projection_calculator_en.html

 

There are lots of other ones. I feel that 1650mm room height will not give you that big of a screen. 
 

Thanks Nick - the 1650mm would be the height just for the sunken area for the pool! I would have to crawl into a room if it only had 1650mm ceilings.  Option 2 would have ceiling heights of 2300mm for a cinema room.

[SBMS]

For anyone interested, I can now answer my own question and the answer is no, in my instance it’s not worth it! Had costs from

our contractor to incorporate a basement (we are doing a swim spa pool so much of this space would be taken up by that anyway.). Difference between just sinking the indoor swim spa and making the full extension a basement is circa £50k. Considering only 7m x 4m of that is useable space we are

going to go back to plan A to sink

the pool and keep the rest at ground level.