Dan's man cave project

After years of "ideas" my wife has finally given the go ahead on my man cave (only after a springtime upstairs laundry/kitchen remodel). I had tried to put the man cave before the laundry room project but it wouldn't fly. It won't be a full blown theater but more along the lines of a bar/party room. When planning my project I had these requirements:

1. At least two or three tv's. We host a lot of football parties and nothing better than having tv's everywhere you look.

2. A bar area..not sure if this should of been number 1. Always nice to not have to drive home after sitting at the bar all night.


I hope to be worthy of posting on this forum. I have stolen many ideas from everyone's work on here and hope mine will turn out as good as those.

pictures are coming soon. I have some ''in progress" pictures but looking for some original pictures of the room to start.

My first attempt at posting pictures. Hope this goes well. This is the room before remodel. Notice the nice color combinations on the walls. I started painting the room and then got to the tv and didn't want to get paint on it so was going to do it another day and another day never got here. Can't wait to get rid of the carpet. You don't realize what looked good 20 years ago doesn't look good today until you see it in pictures. And those globe lights. Room will look better just after getting rid of those. The room measures about 18 feet wide in this area and behind the chair is about 11 feet. The total length runs the width of the house which is about 24 feet. Years ago we used this room quite a bit because we had a downstairs bedroom. About 8 years ago the wife broke a leg and couldn't do stairs for awhile so our oldest son took over the basement bedroom and this family room turned into a kids/junk room.



Main tv area


other half of room


whoever did the basement years ago did a bang up job on the ductwork. The head clearance is only about 6'2" there. I am hoping to rework that and raise it about 3 inches.



This corner wall will be removed to make the other half of the room about 20 feet wide and make room for the bar.

This shows the low headroom under the ductwork and beam. It was about 6 feet across so that half of the room was almost non funtional.


The first thing was trying to decide if I wanted to do a half wall or open it up completely. My oldest son came over to help when I was having reservations about starting this project. He said "Dad if you throw a hammer through the wall mom will have to let you fix it" so this is post hammer throw.


once we had torn into the drywall I was glad to have started the project. Years ago the previous owners had termites and although they had it treated and there are none active you can see the wood was pretty well shot so the support we thought we were getting at that corner really wasn't there.

The fireplace is a vent free and it seemed like the thing to do at the time because there wasn't a place to vent a regular one. We did find over time though that the black soot would get on everything including ceilings and walls. We haven't used it much in the last few years and during this project we are disconnecting the gas and thinking of adding an electric insert. I had considered taking it out but the brother in law built it and put it in for us about 15 years ago when we first moved in so my wife is kind of attached to it.

we decided on removing the entire wall. The main beam was sagging about 3/4" in the center so we bought lvl beams and changed that out too. Made me a little nervous taking out the old beam but after alot of consultation with a couple of construction guys I know and putting up temporary support walls made me feel better about it. At least I got the new ones in without the house falling on top of me. (wife was impressed)


Before


and after. This will be the bar area of the room


old beam out


new beam in

Framed up stud walls and bar. Had a slight issue with electrical when I plugged the tv and satelite receiver into another outlet that was wired incorrectly. Needless to say they were both toast. Receiver was covered under protection plan but unfortunately the tv wasn't. Estimate was over 500 to fix a 42" lcd so looks like I'll be shopping for a new one. Told the wife I was wanting a bigger one anyway and wasn't it good how I made it look like an accident? She didn't find the humor.

Finishing up the rest of the stud walls this weekend and boxing in the ductwork, which has to be one of the biggest pains in the a$$ of this project. Hoping to get cables pulled and insulation finished so drywall can start next week. Put 1/2 inch OSB on the bar, I'm planning on using 1/4" oak on the sides and thought osb under and 1/4" would be easier to work with than 3/4" oak. Last weekend I cut a bar top out of 3/4" OSB to show the wife what the bar would look like. She is one of those people that can't visualize something unless it's right in front of her plus it was cheaper to screw up the osb than trying it with oak. Still trying to decide which type of top I will put on the bar but have a lot of other things to do before I need to worry about that. I priced high resolution laminate that about scared me to death. Thought about oak but was worried about making it look good so I think it may just be laminate for now. We actually had a football party last Saturday and put up a temporary TV and all the guys hung out at the bar to watch the game.




This picture is taken from across the room and is the same general area of the corner wall that was removed in the first few posts.


Not sure about the blue bar stools. With a Husker theme blue isn't going to go very good but they were priced right for 6 of them . (FREE!!!) They will work for temporary until all the other projects are completed and paid for.

This is a little off topic but this was my springtime honey do that allowed me to start the mancave project. I've found out the best wife is a happy wife.

Big 10 will be tough but I think we will be ok. Hopefully the rest of the Big 12 won't be left out in the cold when Texas goes independent in a few years. Nothing I liked better than them not going to a bowl game although for the life of me can't believe that we lost to them. I'm heading to my wife's friends house for the game. She is a huge Sooner fan that grew up in Oklahoma and we had some killer parties back in the 80's. We've done it all in good fun and done everything from hanging a husker flag 20 feet up the phone pole in front of her house to decorating her vehicle while she was at work with huskers stuff. Only fitting that it ends this way.

As long as we're at the top they can call them whatever they want. But I do agree that with all the knowledge in that conference that's the best they could come up with?

ok it's been awhile since an update. I've found that December isn't the best time to do a remodeling project. In December alone I have a wedding anniversary, one of my sons birthdays, a school concert and Christmas. On top of that I had an appointment with the cardiologist . ( with good results) and my wife had two surgeries. (also good results) . Now that the holidays are past and she is back at work I'm hoping to get things back on track. Hopefully be done in time to be able to watch the Super Bowl or Daytona 500. Had my tile guy come by to have a couple beers and see what I had to do to the concrete to get it ready for tile. I have a few low spots which are minor but found a crown at the end of the bar with no other options than to grind down about a half inch. Luckily I have a cousin that does garage floor refinishing in Lincoln and have talked him into helping me out for some cash, lunch, and a few drinks. I have most of the drywall hung and starting to finish it. Still have to build a corner wall that will hold the a/v equipment and hopefully be able to mount the 50'' plasma above that. From the point I'm at now this is my gameplan:

1. grinding the floor this week to get it prepared for tile.

2. building corner wall, building setback in wall for fridge, finishing drywall.

3. texture walls.. I went back and forth on this and finally decided if I did a
light texture it would blend with the rest of the house instead of looking
like a remodel job. My brother in law has a gun and has said he would do
it for me once I had everything taped off.

4. texture ceilings. I am going to use a stomp texture in the entire room. The
TV area of the room has the old ceiling with texture but we are going to
put new texture over it.

5. paint walls

6. tile bar area. We are going to slide the bar out when we grind the
concrete and leave it out until the tiles are layed then mount it to the
floor on top of the tile.

Hopefully this will all be completed by the end of January. I hope to do some of the finishing of the bar while it is moved so that once we move it back it is somewhat useable. If I can get this all done by that deadline I should be within a couple weeks of the carpet and furniture.(If the budget doesn't run out)

Got my grandson to help, he works cheap. (cookies and candy)


This is the crown in the concrete. with a 4' level on the crown I could put a 1/2" piece of drywall on each side.


window will be trimmed with 1x6 oak inside the window and oak trim on the outside. Found a table and chairs to go in the corner at Nebraska Furniture Mart but waiting to buy them until everything is done.



My wife said I would probably get more done if I didn't have the temporary tv hooked up.

Has been awhile since an update.. well... there's a reason for that.


^^^^an EXTREME understatement.


Got the floor ground down to where we can work with it. Sounds simple doesn't it? NOT. Started with the big machine with the vacuum system on it. Other than the exhaust fumes from the motor it was a fairly clean process with one slight problem... worked for an hour with it and had barely gained anything since we had to take so much off the crown. We decided that we could (A) be there for 2 days grinding to try to get it down to where we needed or (B) use the hand grinder with a much more agressive blade and get it done in a couple hours with some mess... (did I say SOME mess?) We chose (B) Finished the grind at around 3:30 in the afternoon, which coincidentally happens to be the time my wife gets off work and returns home. Unfortunately for us we had zero time to clean by the time she walked in. The downstairs was a total disaster that looked like a building implosion. I could live with that but the kicker was that in the last half hour of our work we had created a dust cloud in the upstairs. As my wife walked in and saw the dust cloud and the dust on the table all s*%t hit the fan. Had the worse fight in 28 years of marriage, I probably used more cuss words in 10 minutes than I had in 6 months. Ended up being a 2 day fight with my tearing down the bar and putting it in a pile. What else could happen that would suck that bad you ask? Well the second day of me sleeping on the couch also was the night of the Holiday Bowl.. need I say more? So after 2 days of hell I lost all incentive to finish the basement. This went on for about a week before I ever sat foot back in there. I think I am back on course now and things are starting to come together. Don't think I will make the end of January self impossed deadline but am hoping to be able to watch the Daytona 500 there. Funny how stressed things are when projects drag on but I can actually see the light at the end now. Not that I will ever be completely done tinkering with the room.

Everyone enjoying the bar the night before the concrete grind I call it the calm before the storm


The start of the grinding process


We though we'd be funny and take this picture for my wife. Needless to say I never showed it to her


This was as far as we got after an hour of working


Post fight bar picture

A few more pictures of the room showing it take shape.







I had to cut out a piece of drywall the dimensions of my tv so I could make sure it would fit in the corner before I finished the wall. The underneath will have 20 inch wide shelving which is still in the planning stages

I'm about 40 miles south of you.. right where the 8 inches of snow is going to hit tonight. lol

Progress is being made.. although at a snails pace it seems. My ''when did you hit the wall'' post really helped get me going again. Even though you're sure you aren't the only one with issues it is nice to hear it from someone else. Hopefully by this weekend all drywall will be hung and sanded and ready for texture. Next week ceiling texture and wall paint and then ready for carpet guys first week in February.

The footing for the support post.. this thing was staring at me for over a month and stressing me out so glad to have this done.




The corner wall that will support the 50 inch plasma with the a/v equipment underneath.


Me testing out to make sure it could hold 180 pounds


and a couple pictures of the finished wall.

I can officially say that all drywall is hung, taped and mudded. Have a few places left to put some finish coats on but most walls are sanded and ready for texture. It's amazing how finished a room starts looking when all the 2x4's
corner bead and tape are covered with drywall and mud. What's also amazing is how many screws and how much mud you go through doing a room. I emptied my second or third box of screws last night and read the box and it said quantity 370... no wonder my hands hurt. I also think I'm on about my
4th bucket of mud. I have got the hang of it during this project and think it will go better next time I do drywall. (Did I just say next time? somebody slap me back to my senses). I'm at the cutoff for moving my tile and carpet guys back a week so trying to decide if I can finish the rest of the sanding, texture and paint in about 10 days.
I've went back and forth on doing the trim before or after the carpet. Any suggestions are welcome. I think I am going to do it after with the reason being that my floor is not perfectly level and think that I can ''cheat'' it some to avoid putting it up before and having gaps when the carpet goes down. Also I was thinking that once the tile was down I would be able to put it down against the tile which my tile guy assured me would be level once he was done with it. I can almost sense the bar being built back up and beer in the fridge. Ordered my last tv mount for the bar area and some hdmi cables from monoprice so they should be here next week. Monoprice= awesome.... My mount and 2 10' hdmi cables are costing me less than 30 bucks including shipping. I love that place. More pictures coming soon.