The power of this home theater comes from above—not from your god of choice, but from the attic space directly over the master bedroom. 

“Generally, attics are not built or constructed to be converted into living space,” says Dennis W. Erskine, president of Design Cinema Privee. “Roof lines are not insulated, the flooring and foundation structures will generally not support the weight of finished living spaces, and mechanical and electrical systems are not laid out to accommodate the build-out of living spaces.”

Instead of griping about the challenge, Design Cinema Privee decided to raise the roof—literally. The home’s old roof gable ran from right to left; it also limited the amount of space in the finished interior. “By removing the roof, and running the gable from front to back, we were able to retain architectural compliance with the neighborhood, plus provide the width and depth for the size of room desired by the homeowner,” Erskine says. Taking off the roof also allowed them to tweak the configuration, relocate mechanical equipment and add in extra foundation supports.

Having the theater right above the master bedroom might keep some up all night. However, this owner was very serious about savoring beauty sleep. Instead, they had a written requirement that the noise floor in the master bedroom would not go higher than 6dB when the theater was playing at reference volume. Sound isolation measures were taken, which included the aforementioned foundation. 

This solution was twofold: Aside from helping to keep sound contained, it actually helped to keep the floor from caving in. “We were provided the ‘opportunity’ to support the majority of the weight of the new flooring system with new foundation pilings,” says Erskine. “Yup, new foundation pilings sunk over six feet into the ground.” Acoustik Mat over the sub-floor and installing a floating sub-floor over that mat also added to the sound solution. 

Absorption and diffusion were used, and a dedicated two-ton system was installed with multiple supplies in the front and returns in the rear. All low-noise diffusers are concealed. Sure there was a lot put into the audio isolation, but the sound certainly doesn’t suffer. LCR speakers crank out plenty of sound from behind a 2.35:1 Stewart Microperf screen. “Movies are not 16:9,” Erskine says. “We created a space optimized for its intended purpose.”

About the Author:
Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.