Overlooked Cost of a Loft Cinema Room
Loft cinema rooms are becoming more popular as homeowners seek to transform under-utilised spaces into luxury entertainment hubs. Not only do they provide the ultimate night in, these additions to your property can also add long-term value.
Budgeting effectively is essential for any home improvement, but with a cinema room it’s integral to the overall experience. While it’s easy to get carried away with researching the best projectors, screens and sound systems, there are some less obvious expenses that are easily overlooked – but which will make all the difference to your finished space. Before beginning your home cinema installation in Kent or Surrey, make sure you’re aware of these five hidden costs.
- Structural and insulation work
Before you even pick up a brochure for audio-visual equipment or search online for ‘home cinema designs in Kent’ to get inspiration, you’ll need to confirm that your loft conversion is structurally sound and can support the extra weight of the equipment, seating and additional furnishings required for a home cinema room. This often entails working with a structural engineer, who can inspect the load-bearing capacity of the walls and make any necessary reinforcements. Existing joists may need to be upgraded or reinforced, for example, and the floor may need to be reinforced to prevent sagging or structural failure.
In addition to this, you will need to ensure your finished space will be comfortable. If your loft has already been converted to a living space, its ceiling height would ideally be 2.2 metres. This means that once soundproofing, insulation and flooring reinforcements have been added, you will still have plenty of headroom.
While checking the structural integrity of the space, it’s a good idea to assess the insulation. This serves a dual purpose in a home cinema setup, firstly helping to regulate the temperature and secondly providing an extra layer of soundproofing.
- Safety precautions
Loft conversions must comply with building regulations, so your space needs to have the right fire safety and ventilation precautions. A functioning smoke detector is essential and all electrics should be installed by qualified electricians to reduce fire risks. Lofts are typically less accessible than other rooms in your property, so a fire door should be installed and where possible a secondary exit route is recommended. This could be a larger window in an existing loft conversion, or a fire-rated skylight if you are in the process of completing the conversion.
Other considerations include the use of fire-rated plasterboard for walls, ceilings or any artificial walls that may be required, and intumescent paint or flame-resistant coatings for any exposed beams or woodwork that you plan to incorporate into your design.
- Ventilation and climate control
Proper ventilation is central to your loft conversion home cinema. The audio-visual equipment required for a home theatre produces a lot of heat, and in order to operate efficiently and safely it requires the necessary ventilation. For smaller setups, cabinets with openings or vent grills can be incorporated, and manually opening windows in the room will provide an escape for the heat. However, for higher powered equipment this may not be enough. An active cooling system, such as a specialised fan or HVAC solution provides more reliable ventilation, ensuring your equipment works optimally while reducing the buildup of hot spots.
Equally, you need to ensure you’re comfortable throughout your viewing experience. Managing airflow and the overall climate of the room is therefore crucial. By incorporating a smart thermostat, you can ensure your home cinema set up in Kent remains at a comfortable temperature without having to make manual adjustments. You can also integrate temperature sensors within or near your equipment racks, which trigger the cooling system when required. All this can be automated, meaning you can simply sit down and enjoy the movie.
- Soundproofing and acoustic treatments
Loft spaces often share walls with bedrooms or neighbour adjacent areas. In order to prevent sound travelling to other areas of the house or to neighbouring properties, it’s a good idea to install dense soundproof panels and flooring, as well as acoustic underlay.
You’ll also need to consider acoustic treatments. These are specially designed panels and fabrics that control how sound behaves in your loft conversion home cinema. While we recommend investing in the best possible sound system, even the highest quality systems will be undermined without the proper acoustic treatments. Your space will need absorption panels, diffusers and/or bass traps in order to minimise echoes and distortion, improve sound clarity and deliver a truly immersive experience. Depending on the size of your home cinema room and its acoustic requirements, you may also choose to invest in seating, flooring or furnishings that will help to absorb sound.
- Lighting and automation
Investing in a home cinema installation in Tonbridge and beyond means creating the perfect atmosphere for your viewing experience. Even with the best projector, screen and sound system, your project can fall flat without the right lighting and window treatments. If your loft conversion has large windows, choose suitable blackout blinds and/or curtains to minimise the natural light entering the room. Acoustic window shading is available too if you want to optimise sound absorption.
Lighting should, at the very least, be dimmable, enabling you to set the mood for the movie. However, many homeowners prefer to add different types of lighting to create their ideal ambience. These might include LED strips, dimmable spotlights and a starscape ceiling. Multiple options enable you to adjust the feel of the space depending on your needs and provide complementary lighting for watching films, gaming or viewing sports matches.
Finally, many homeowners find that automation completes their experience. Controlling numerous functions with the touch of a button brings added convenience and comfort, delivering the finishing touch to your luxurious space. Systems such as Control4 and Lutron make this simple.
Home cinema installations in Kent and Surrey
When planning a loft conversion home cinema, it’s crucial to budget for the hidden costs of your project as these will make all the difference to your finished space. Before starting, chat to the home cinema experts at New Wave AV for professional advice. We provide a full service, handling everything from the conversion of your loft into a habitable space that complies with building control to the design and installation of your dream home cinema.
Book a personalised consultation and demonstration at our showrooms in Tonbridge, Kent, or Windlesham, Surrey, to discover the possibilities.
