‘R’ Project – Highlands Ranch Home Theater

The ‘R’ Project – 3D Home Theater/Basement Finish in Highlands Ranch, CO

The ‘R’ Project was a full basement finish in Highlands Ranch, CO. The project was designed by the homeowner and the theater room (which actually turned into theater area), electrical wiring and lighting were designed by EDI/Rush! This project was a residential construction project, but used metal studs for the framing. This required us to install a bit of reinforcement for the HDTV mount (sometimes, we’re framers too!). The cabinet area was not 100% designed during the rough in phase of the project, so flexible conduit was installed to guarantee we could have multiple wires pulled into the HDTV location. The surround sound system utilized performance in-wall enclosures from Polk Audio. When installing in-wall/in-ceiling speakers, we often install these enclosures to bring a dynamic level of audio quality from the speakers.

The lighting in the basement was controlled by URC Dimmers by Lutron so the entire lighting in the theater area was able to be set to custom scenes and control from the URC universal remote. The lighting included low voltage mini-can halogens as well as LED step lighting accent lighting.

The main wall of the theater room, including in-wall Polk Performance Enclosures and a Peerless in-wall HDTV mounting box with conduit

After drywall which we needed to cutout the center speaker which ended buried (sometimes, we’re drywallers too!)

Taken during the programming of the Universal Remote MX-880 and waiting for the special order slide out rack system from Middle Atlantic

A few looks at the pool table HDTV which was wired to the theater rack

LED Steplights and Mini-Can Lights

The cabinets and custom woodworking was completed by one of our builders local to the area. If you are interested in having a basement finished, please let us know.

Project Includes:

Samsung 63″ 3D HDTV Plasma

Samsung 3D Blu-Ray Player

Samsung 3D Starter Kit and 2 Additional Glasses

Polk In-Wall Performance Enclosures

Polk In-Wall Speakers

Velodyne Subwoofer

Peerless In-Wall Mounting Box with Articulating Mount

Middle Atlantic Slide Out Rack

Onkyo Receiver

Power Conditioning by Panamax

Universal Remote Control MX-880 and MRF-260

Universal Remote Control Dimmers by Lutron

HDMI Cables from Tributaries

Terminations from Planet Waves

Wall Plates and Connectors from Mid-Lite and On-Q

Conduit System from Carlon

Recess Can Retrofit Installation

Sparky’s is experiencing a new popular trend in home lighting – recess lighting retrofits. Some people were asking about how they can change the look of recessed can lighting but didn’t know how. Options for altering can lighting include new trims and lamps (light bulbs) or removing the can altogether for a new light fixtures and repairing or covering the hole. The 90′s and 2000′s had an explosion in the lighting industry of recessed lighting.  All types of recess lighting were used and continue to be used today. The most common of those recessed lights is the 6″ recessed can light which when replaced, the standard 6″ recess can light is a much larger diameter than the standard 4″ canopy for light fixtures. However, with clients having access to more light fixture options, they are wanting to express themselves (and style) in a way that is only offered in a limited range for recessed lighting.  Recently, recess can lighting retrofit kits were created due to a large demand of customers not wanting recessed lighting in one particular area or another. For some time, those wanting to replace recessed lighting had to deal with ceiling medallions or drywall repairs. Recessed lighting retrofit kits offer a cost effective solution to updating your home’s lighting without needing time consuming repairs.

Some of the most popular areas for retrofit kits include kitchen islands where cans were used instead of pendant lights, bathrooms with tall ceilings, such as in custom homes, are a popular area (see pictures below and click for full size), bars and game room areas are also a great area for switching to light fixtures. The main thing to keep in mind when deciding whether or not a retrofit kit is right for your lighting is the fixture size and weight. Recessed lighting retrofit kits are often limited to a 50lbs. weight limit. That will generally leave most people in the range of standard ceiling lights, pendant lighting or small chandeliers (as pictured below). Now don’t let the weight and size rating deter you, recessed can lighting can always be changed to ceiling fans, large chandeliers and more using traditional methods as mentioned above. Those methods are more time consuming and slightly more costly due to the need for a proper support for the weight and size of the larger fixture.

Sparky’s has worked with several different brands of these kits and they are definitely not created equal. Some are very simple and quick to install and some are a bit tedious. We offer the custom brand kit we find to be the best for installations including time and support. Give us a call if you are wanting to update the recess lighting in your home or office. There are a wide variety of trims that can drastically change the look of the light, as well as new lamps. Sparky’s can also save you money on light fixtures from numerous brands of lighting manufactures. We buy light fixtures in large amounts for custom homes and home communities and can offer a good discount on lighting upgrades.

Park Meadows Black Friday Blackout

Emergency Service on a Day Off

The Friday after Thanksgiving is affectionately called Black Friday. It is the busiest shopping day of the entire year, where even the slowest of economies pick up the pace and cater to every shopper’s desire. Many stores open early on Black Friday, as early as Midnight and some just open an hour or two earlier than usual.

Here at Electric Doctor, we were looking forward to a much needed 3 day weekend after a great Thanksgiving. We received a call around 8:45am. This particular Park Meadow’s store had set to open at 8:00am that morning, ready for a rush of shoppers and when they went to turn on the lights and open the doors to swarms of shoppers, they had a Black Friday Blackout.

The store’s mechanical and lighting systems are controlled remotely via an automation system to help lights from being left on and the store being over heated/cooled. There are two manual override buttons for the lighting system which allow several hours of on time before resuming normal operation. When the manger went to override the lighting… nothing… just emergency lights stayed on. We received the call around 8:45am after the on-call mall electrician was unable to determine the problem. Electric Doctor arrived on scene within an hour of the call at about 9:30am and began to diagnose the issue. Craig and Jim determined that the main lighting contactor for the entire store had failed.

The failure of the lighting contactor had then caused several other issues with the automation system. Being a holiday Friday, most electrical supply stores were closed and even those who would open did not have this particular contactor. This situation may have put an end to the store’s largest major shopping day but the docs swung into action. Craig and Jim found a way to bypass the contactor and have it used manually to control the lighting. After resetting the system and even taking the time to show the employees how to use the lighting over the weekend as a temporary solution, the store had the lights on, the blackout over and the doors were ready to open for eager shoppers by 10:30, within 2 hours of being called.

A few days later, the contactor was in and Electric Doctor installed the part during non-business hours and everything was back to normal. While the store did lose 2.5hours of shopping time, they know that it could have been quite a bit longer without the prompt response and creative solution. Prompt response and expert diagnosing helped to save thousands of dollars when they needed it most.

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303.973.2551