I am in the process of building a new house and I've set aside a 15' X 20' room to be set up as a home theater in my basement. The two walls ("L" shape) are made of 4" Clay Brick backed by 5" reinforced concrete, one wall (intended projection wall) is 4" clay brick and the fourth wall is 9" clay brick. All 4 walls are to be covered with portland cement plaster (approx. 1" thick). The ceiling and floor are 5" thick reinforced concrete.

The entrance door is 3' wide and in a corner on the projection wall. It only takes about 1.5' from the 15' as the rest of the door is in a slight recess in the wall.

I've been searching the web and all I've done is gotten myself confused.

Unfortunately, here in Pakistan there is not a whole lot of technical expertise available at hand so I will have to do a lot of hand holding and supervise the contractors myself.

I have questions about everything:

1. How big should the screen be? (I intend on using a projector)
2. How many rows of seating can I easily accommodate?
3. How high should each successive row be?
4. How wide should each row of seating be?
5. How do I treat the walls?
6. How do I treat the roof and floors?
7. How much space should I leave behind the last row of seating?

I'm ready to pull my hair out just writing this post... Heeeeeellllllppppp Pleeeeaaseeee

1. How big should the screen be? (I intend on using a projector)
This is up to interpretation but a nice 9' screen at least would be good. This could change depending on if you want anamorphic wide screen, for example.

2. How many rows of seating can I easily accommodate?
I think two rows would be best, but you could do a bar at the top of the second row with stools/bar seating to get a nice third row without taking up the space of another full row of lazyboys.

3. How high should each successive row be?
Go here for a calculator on seating height http://www.avsforum.com/t/505237/riser-height-calculator

4. How wide should each row of seating be?
Just depends on if you want egress on both sides (i would) and if you want cupholders in between chairs, etc.

5. How do I treat the walls?
There are many different ways to cut down on sound leaving a HT room, you need to do some reading on acoustic treatments, drywall/stud techniques, etc.

6. How do I treat the roof and floors?
Some people throw insulation in the ceiling for better response and hushing, there's product out there called green glue. For the floors you just want to pick something that won't reflect the sound (bare concrete = bad), (carpet = good)
7. How much space should I leave behind the last row of seating?
You'll just want to ensure ease of flow commensurate to the number of seats you have in there; i'd recommend 3ft on each side and 4ft in the rear.

We have the same dilemma in a smaller way, and a basement is dark and perfect! We need to find a way to close view windows for perfect Sports Bar viewing. Working on it, and Good luck to you!

Suzi