My Basement Lounge Project is Officially Underway

[CRQuarto]

Little by little! Curiously, what is the little side room there with the stereo set in it going to be?

Looking good so far! Carpet or hardwood floor?

 

[sboyajian]

There actually computers (My webserver, fileserver and Tunes machine). That room will be for storage.

The exercise room will have rubber flooring and the lounge will be tile.

 

[bigluelok]

wwow dude the room is gonna be nice. i wish i could do that. gotta save to buy a house first though.

 

[El Toro]

AWESOME MAN!! great project keep the good work and hopefully you will have a herf. keep posting photos to see the final project

 

[PSU OpusX]

Awesome! Keep us updated with photos as this looks like it's going to be a great man cave.

 

[4cbln3]

That is gonna be a very cool project! I like the idea of the french doors.

Keep us posted with more pics, this is getting my juices going.

I'm trying to see how I can build out a small corner in my garage and put an air conditioner in it w/out the constant noise while I smoke.

Lucky you have a basement.

 

[sboyajian]

Did some more work on the Lounge this morning. Got all of the wall framing done. Have not done the soffit around the duct work since the HVAC guy may need additional room there and anything I build may get in the way. I'll do that after he runs his stuff.

I also cut out the door for the exercise room. When my son came down the stairs and saw this I was promptly put in "Time Out" for making a mess.

Just finishing up lunch and then I'll head down and run my electrical and place my boxes.

 

[The Black Cloud]

Your son put you in time out? Too funny! :laugh:

 

[w00ts!te]

Not sure if you are needing any ceiling fans but these are the ones we are using upstairs.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=136803-1811-E%20LEA52IR5C&lpage=none

We like the blades because they look like tobacco leaves.

 

[sboyajian]

Not sure if you are needing any ceiling fans but these are the ones we are using upstairs.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=136803-1811-E%20LEA52IR5C&lpage=none

We like the blades because they look like tobacco leaves.

Those are pretty sharp.. won't be using any though. In the lounge it would disrupt the air pattern up to the vent and in the exercise room I'd be concerned for my wife's life (She is 6'2", so once she get's on the eliptical, it might serve as more of a guillotine than a ceiling fan!)

Will take some pictures tonight, however wanted to post an update.

First task of last night was to try and salvage the door frame that leads into the lounge area. I was able to save it all without damaging anything and this saved me about $60 in a prehung door.

Due to the bad job the builder did framing the original wall, I need to build some 2x2 framing to face their wall. This will prevent the steel columns from getting in the way and warping my drywall. It will also help me to run my electrical in the front wall (1 switch box and 3 outlets).

Last night since it was to late to be tearing my leftover 2x4's in half to finish the framing, I decided to put in the rest of the gang boxes. I then ran 14/2 from the circuit panel (not connected yet) through each box and to the switch. I have installed all of the outlets and connected all wires.

I have also added a second switch that will control one outlet in the exercise room.

After this was done, I put the 4 can lights in the exercise room in place.

The picture below shows a drawing of the rooms, location of the boxes and which circuit they will be on. Some (most) likely have no use for that, but I know some people are redoing rooms, or curious about it, or are thinking about it. So hopefully this will provide some purpose.

I'm trying to keep the loads to about 10 per circuit. I ended up with 11 on circuit 1 and 9 on circuit 2. Merely from the point that it was easier to put the outlets in the lounge on the same circuit as the ones on the same wall from the exercise room.

C - Can Light
Small box - outlet
Big Box - Switch Box
Oval - Sconces
# - Which circuit

 

[mu mike]

What colors are you going to paint the room with? Are you going to get any decorations? I am needing ideas for mine.

I used a textured finish on my walls and it turned out awesome. The finish, ironically enough, is called a "tobacco glaze". I posted pictures in this thread: My mancave

Here is a close-up of the wall, although it looks much better in person:

sboyajin, it's looking good!

 

[souldog]

What colors are you going to paint the room with? Are you going to get any decorations? I am needing ideas for mine.

I used a textured finish on my walls and it turned out awesome. The finish, ironically enough, is called a "tobacco glaze". I posted pictures in this thread: My mancave

Here is a close-up of the wall, although it looks much better in person:

sboyajin, it's looking good!

mu mike, your mancave is BEAUTIFUL!!!

 

[Gorkbird]

Wow - this looks great. This might be what I needed to inspire me to embark on my man-cave project.

 

[ChiTown_Huck]

Very cool! Keep the updates coming.

 

[sboyajian]

What colors are you going to paint the room with? Are you going to get any decorations? I am needing ideas for mine.

I used a textured finish on my walls and it turned out awesome. The finish, ironically enough, is called a "tobacco glaze". I posted pictures in this thread: My mancave

Here is a close-up of the wall, although it looks much better in person:

sboyajin, it's looking good!

Mike, your room is beautiful (as are your kids!). Great job!

I think you've inspired me to need an arcade machine.

 

[DirtyDave]

Your mancave looks to be coming along very well. I'm loving watching the progression. Thanks for the updates.

 

[rashire]

Looks awsome. Can't wait to see pics of the finished room.

 

[scthornton]

Very nice setup, great progress, keep the updates coming.

 

[sboyajian]

Haven't had to many updates the last couple days. Some nights I haven't been able to get down to work on it because of real life work.

The first picture below shows 2 (well.. now 1) vents that fed air into the unfinished area. These are being located to the wall next to the HVAC equipment and outside of the Lounge. Both are now removed from the walls.

The biggest change that had to take place was additional 2x2 framing on the front wall (see picture one for a completed 2x2s -- more description and explanation below). This is the wall that was pre-existing from the builder. While I have little complaint about the builder who built the home (then again the house is only 3 months old), they didn't do the quality job any of us would want in our home.

Everything on the top two levels is "modular".. modular in the sense that the rafters, floor joists, wall panels, etc all arrive pre-assembled and then put together like a big puzzle. The basement (since it's an option and not in all homes) is stick built per order.

The finished side of the back wall is not exactly plum... nor are any of the boards really level. That being said, both items combined introduced a big problem as you will see in the picture below:

If you look VERY VERY closely (at picture 1) you will notice that the metal beam in the second picture comes out beyond the 2x4 studs. Due to the fact that most of the boards they used are very twisted (again, see bad boards and bowing in second picture), it also meant the drywall was right up against the front side. I wouldn't be able to put drywall on this side, nor could I run wire.

The solution was to frame the front wall with 2x2 boards (I cheated and cut down my extra 2x4s down on the table saw since I didn't feel like going to the store). I was able to also straighten up the walls since I built mine square.

I am expecting my HVAC guy on Tuesday. At this point the new circuit in the exercise room is run, all outlets and can lights are operational.

I have also run all of the wire in the Lounge. The outlets are all hooked up. Since the wire is 12/2 and a bit thicker I need to pick up some larger wire nuts so I can hook up the switches safely. Will pick those up tomorrow. Once the switches are connected I will install the 20A breaker. All of the wire is run for the Wall Sconces, however I capped off the lead wires in the first sconce so I can turn on the breaker once installed and use the outlets while working.

Until next time.

 

[cabinets]

Bran new here, but wanted to add my appreciation of your updates. I look forward to them. I currently have a sunroom for my mancave. Works fine for the summer/spring/fall. We'll see about the winter as it has screened windows. Don't wanna add an hvac to close it off. Probably a good space heater. Keep the updates and photos coming!