The "One to many pucks to the head" basement build

I have finally decided to create my own build log.

I live in a 2 family home, owned by my family. We recently kicked my mother out to a nice nursing home (she actually is getting remarried and moved 2 blocks from her work). So I moved from the second floor with my wife and 2 kids to the first floor. My brother moved upstairs with his new wife and baby.

The basement was 90% finished when we bought the house. All we did was paint the walls and throw in some indoor / outdoor carpet. The owner told us they never got water. Well, we got water. Ripped the carpet up and some walls and never refinished. I always wanted to finish it again and this is my chance.

I have learned a ton already from this site and hope to learn more from you all. I will be doing 95% of this build by myself and 5% with the help of some licensed family members for the important stuff like hooking up electrical and plumbing help.

PLEASE FEEL 110% CONFIDENT TO SHARE ANY COMMENT YOU MAY HAVE!!

Thanks in advance
Robbie

The Plan
Well, if only it was as easy as this. We want a room were my kids can go to and just have fun. My daughter (9) loves to have her friends over to play Wii dance and Sing it. They also just like to dance and make stuff up. My son (12) and I are big gamers. The entire family loves anything sports team that starts with "Boston". Especially the Bruins. Thats why I figure a projector with a 100"+ screen should do well at one end. We had a little bar when we bought the place but it was crappy. I want to build something nice. That will be at the other end.



Looking towards the back of the house
Currently in the cabinet sits a 32" RCA tube tv, Playstation 2, Wii and Directv box. Eventually a false wall will be built in front of the stairs to house the screen and components.



Front of the house
Where the computer is now, the old bar was. That is my latest project. Onthe other side of that wall lies my main drain pipe and then a small bathroon. More on that later



Door to Laundry / Workshop / storage / locker room
you dont want to look behind this door. (atleast until I finish my work bench)


My sons Bedroom
My sons room is tucked in the corner. Not going to keep him awake, he's 12 and I think he hasnt slept in 2 years. I always find him reading or listening to music at night.

Just to give you a little insight into the way I work. Here is the old bar that was there when we bought the house.

I said to myself that maybe I will just reface the bar.



This is what I ended up doing. Ripped the entire corner wall out and replaced it with new 2x4, sheetrock.





Here is also my first project. My baby. A 46" Samsung Ln46A650. I researched the hell out of these for months before pulling the trigger. We are 110% happy with it and everyone who watches anything on it, loves it.



I have a Dell 531 Inspiron in the basement, running Vista. I installed Mediaportal and have about 90 or so movies on there now. The XFX 9800gt installed has 2 outs so one goes upstairs to the tv. There is a 33' Monoprice USB extender that runs up to the TV area also where I have a wireless keyboard and mouse. I have full function PC on my TV.

Dont mind the PC speakers on the table and for that matter the table either. I have to order a better AV cabinet and picking up some Polk Monitor 70's and a used reciever to use for sound. I had a Tvee two soundbar that sounded ok but it started shutting off on me so I dumped it.

And when I say dumped it I mean its in the basement, been pulled apart and have looked at it like I have any idea what I am doing.

Not from Canuckistan but god I love hockey just as much. It's tough here for the B's with the Pats and Sox.

I'm doing an epoxy top on my bar with hockey cards. Maybe I'll throw in a canadiens card. (not)

Yes, great room you have there.

I was planning on making a couple test tables. Figure if they come out ok I can use them around the basement, if not trashing them wont hurt as much as trashing an entire bar top.

What would you suggest I use to seal the cards first?

The ceiling was never finished with mud and all that (just painted over the screws) so I can take down the sheetrock. I plan on insulating the ceiling as much as possible and adding recessed lights.

I would love to do a full rip out but the budget says other wise. My plan is to create a functional family room in the basement from the existing structure. The owner before us finished it and it looks like he did really on the cheap. It is in fairly good shape though as far as the walls go. I have been inspecting as I go and ripping out any rotten stuff that I just couldnt leave.

Thats why I ended up ripping the wall out by the bar. When we did get water it all ran to that corner so all the wood there was terrible. So I have been replacing wood and sheetrock where necessary. And as usual its been more than I expected.

My wife and I are seriously considering buying this home from my mother down the road. We love the schools here and it is just a good spot. And who knows down the road, Tufts University is 2 blocks from us.

Water issues were last years problems. I spent a LOT of time replacing drainpipes and rerouting them away from the house. I have 2 drainpipes in the back corner of the house that just dumped water in this one spot. That is were all the water came from. I think the 100 year old house leans that way.

The sump pump and french drains have kept away any major water problems. The major water problem we had was before we installed them.

I Routed both pipes into a "Y" and then ran the length of the house and out towards the sidewalk. This made a world of difference. Havent seen any water since. The last thing I need to do this spring is to reseal the crease between the foundtion and the asphalt ground. Yes, the guy before us paved EVERYTHING!!!

Any wall or section I have replaced, its been with a PT bottom plate.

The ceiling I have a sneaking suspicion will come out totally. That way I can install cans for lighting, insulate what I need too and have it done. To replace the entire ceiling (only 7' high) would not be that much work for my brothers and I. Furring strips are already there perpendicular to the joists.

I believe 5/8" or it may be 1/2" already up there. It is amazing having the open ceiling in that end because I can pretty much hear every word my kids say in the basement on that end.

And since I cant post an Avatar. I should have been wearing this all along.

Ok. I'll give you some credit for those. My father in law has that Bobby Orr poster size and he had Mr Orr sign it himself. I'm trying to get my hands on it for the basement. Lol.

I would throw a Patrick Roy card on the bar just cause he was awesome.

I have a bunch of news paper articles from the bruins sox etc. I'm going to frame them and have them around the basement.

Yes. Please do. I found more newspapers the other day. Of course the sox winning the world series. I have the bruins articles from that magic 1988 run to the cup. pats super bowls and celtics championships. We are so spoiled here.

Sounds good. I miss the old Thursday night B's VS Hab's games. We use to pack my house for the game as a kid.

Heading to Florida on Friday morning. Disney World here we come!!!!! All set with this New England winter.

When I get back I am tackling the bathroom or as we used to call it "The Dungeon of Doom." Basically the owners before us put a toilet in a 3x5 closet. Want to replace floor, walls and add a little sink by moving the wall out a bit. Its more for the kids anyways so I'm keeping it simple.

Ok, now THAT was a Bruins Canadiens game. Wow. 8-5 and 3 full lines brawls. Even the goalies wrestling around. Awesome.

Disney was fun but time to get back to work.

Bathroom downstairs was squeezed into a tiny spot long time ago. Cant really make it any bigger so here is my solution to add a sink. The kids and their friends mostly use this so I'm not putting a ton Of work into it.

I'll box it in with Sheetrock. With the pipes on the other side it's a tight fit but I can't think of anything else. The other wall has the water and gas meters right there so can't go that way.




Any body see anything I'm missing?? Any other ideas??

Finished up the framing today and threw on some scrap Sheetrock just to check fit and finish. Have to get 3/8" blue board because the 1/2" I had is to big and not blueboard. That's why no pic with the sink on.

All the rest of the sheetrock is also coming out. Throwing down a 1/4" plywood then some sticky tiles. Should really update it and make it look like less of a mess.

While working on the "boring" stuff I keep looking ahead to the "fun" stuff. Thoughts today are on my screen wall. The wall will be 9' wide by 7' high. The problem lies with the speaker by the opening. I dont know how to handle this. I would have to cheat the screen to the left to give me some space for on walls. I dont think floor standing speakers will fit with the low screen height.

Thinking of using AT screen (DIY) and inwalls. That would give me a bigger screen size.

But if I use BOC screen (DIY) and regular speakers, I think there will be better sound imaging.

Any opinions?

Got the bathroom door in. Ended upjust replacing the entire wall that came off the other entire wall I replaced. I came with in a heart beat of just ripping out the entire back end of the basement but cooler heads prevailed.

Now that crappy brown door looks terrible. Found my next project. probably going to just do accordian doors. It is small area that has the water and gas mains.





and just for fun. My brother, his son and I at his neighbors 70' by 40' outdoor rink. Great night.

Had to bring home a laptop and projector (old 480p set) for work for a meeting I had the next day. Wasnt going to let that go to waste. Had a chance to really see a projector in my basement and what it would be like. Event though I couldnt flash it on the wall I intend to use, i used the side wall. The kids loved it.



My wife came home from work and went down to see it.

HER: "Can we watch tv with that?"

ME: "Yup"

HER: "How much do one of those cost?"

ME: "About $500 cheaper than the TV upstairs (46" lcd)"

I have rehearsed this a bunch of times. I then went on to explain the enitre set up with the bar and tv at the other end. I think she finally got it and immediately posted a picture of it on facebook saying "parties at our house soon!"

I think I just got official approval...lol

That is something that I will handle. She understands there will be some cost to the set up but is fine with it. Its not like I am buying $1000 speakers. Its going to be a very simple set up with probably used equipment at first.

Im doing all the work myself so I am saving a ton of money there.

Definitely. This weekend I hope to button up the bathroom and then I have a ton of mudding to do. I may actually start the framing of the bar next week.
My bar is going to sit on a half wall that will be sheetrocked and painted the same color as the walls. So I need to get that done before I can finally slap a coat of paint on the entire basement.

I have seen the false walls and definitely have that in my head. I have 36' of length so losing a couple feet won't hurt.

I'm not there yet but my plan at the moment is in walls behind an acoustically transparent screen. Probably One of the DIY from the screen section on this forum. I think that will be a good start and could always do the false wall if I wasn't satisfied with the set up.

I want to try out that spandex stuff I have seem here. Maybe white with black backing. Compare that too a sample of black out cloth I have. Bu I'm sure when I get to the actual screen set up my mind will be able to focus on it more.