Man Caves-building one in 2013 (1 Viewer)

[bakes]

You guys aren't "building" anything. Stop.

How do you figure?

You're decorating a previously existing room, you are not "building" it.

Don't know about the original poster, but if I'm framing it out, flooring it, hanging a ceiling, running wires and drywalling it, damn straight I'm "building" it.

 

[mr roboto]

at framing and drywalling = decorating.

Hint: you can't buy drywall at Pier 1. HTH.

 

[Godsbrother]

Here are some pics of my basement which I finished in Fall of 2011.My linkI contracted most of it out except for the design and electrical work, which I did myself.

Very cool. Had a similar sort of bar in my original plans, but loudspeakers took precedence. Love the chairs - looked at some like that but the damn tight U-shaped staircase meant they wouldn't make it down.

If you are talking about the theater seating they are actually three individual seats (one seat has two arm rests and the other two seats just have one arm rest) and each seat comes in two pieces. The bottom (seat) and the back which just slides on. I am prettty sure you could get them down a U-shaped staircase.The seats are Berkline which was bought out by Lane but I believe that most theater seating is sold this way. I love these seats -- leather with power recline that go anywhere from sitting to a horizontal position. They only need 6" clearance from the wall too.

 

[Pick]

Here are some pics of my basement which I finished in Fall of 2011.My linkI contracted most of it out except for the design and electrical work, which I did myself.

Very cool. Had a similar sort of bar in my original plans, but loudspeakers took precedence. Love the chairs - looked at some like that but the damn tight U-shaped staircase meant they wouldn't make it down.

If you are talking about the theater seating they are actually three individual seats (one seat has two arm rests and the other two seats just have one arm rest) and each seat comes in two pieces. The bottom (seat) and the back which just slides on. I am prettty sure you could get them down a U-shaped staircase.The seats are Berkline which was bought out by Lane but I believe that most theater seating is sold this way. I love these seats -- leather with power recline that go anywhere from sitting to a horizontal position. They only need 6" clearance from the wall too.

Seating is big. I've seen the raised theater-type seating and it looks good and seems to work. We went some of those huge bean bags and a sectional and I'm glad we did it that way. But for sure you want to make sure the dimensions are right.

 

[VA703]

Not my thing at all but looks cool

Cigars and scotch are not your thing?!Love that humidor.

I think what he's saying is that the project linked is classy.

looks pretty nice. but furniture like that you'd think they could afford to hide the wires

 

[SofaKings]

Just bought a new house and finishing the basement is definately a project on the horizon.

Congrats! Whereabouts?

Thanks. New construction in Troy. Right around the corner from our old house.

Excellent!

 

[Apple Jack]

Does this mean you are giving up potential excuses to get out of the house?

 

[Ilov80s]

Does this mean you are giving up potential excuses to get out of the house?

Why would he need an excuse to get out of the house?

 

[⚡DEADHEAD⚡]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much.

Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts.

Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

 

[Good Posting Judge]

 

[Ned]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much. Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts. Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

Probably too late for you , but maybe someone else will save. Monoprice has very comparable in wall and in ceiling speakers for half the price.

 

[Hawks64]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much. Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts. Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

Probably too late for you , but maybe someone else will save. Monoprice has very comparable in wall and in ceiling speakers for half the price.

Monoprice has a lot of things are very good, but I wouldn't ever consider their speakers as being comparable to anything other than low end speakers.

 

[JShare87]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much. Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts. Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

Did the same thing with my one car garage. Is 16 the total length of your garage or are u separating it for a laundry room?

 

[⚡DEADHEAD⚡]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much. Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts. Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

Did the same thing with my one car garage. Is 16 the total length of your garage or are u separating it for a laundry room?

Taking the whole thing for a man room. 16 is the total length (laundry is off the kitchen one floor up).The single-car garage is original to the house, built in 1915. Somewhere along the way, maybe around 25 years ago, owners attached a two-car garage to the front of the house (sounds odd but it looks fine), leaving the single in the back of the garage. Has been a work room for a 5 years or so (plus Golden Tee) but with a second kid on the way resulting in a loss of the last "free" room in the house, gotta do something. How did yours turn out? What's your square footage? Do you have a tv? What size? What's your layout like? I haven't decided yet on most of these things.

 

[Ned]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much. Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts. Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

Probably too late for you , but maybe someone else will save. Monoprice has very comparable in wall and in ceiling speakers for half the price.

Monoprice has a lot of things are very good, but I wouldn't ever consider their speakers as being comparable to anything other than low end speakers.

Have you used them?

 

[Hawks64]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much. Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts. Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

Probably too late for you , but maybe someone else will save. Monoprice has very comparable in wall and in ceiling speakers for half the price.

Monoprice has a lot of things are very good, but I wouldn't ever consider their speakers as being comparable to anything other than low end speakers.

Have you used them?

Nope, but looking at their specs and design (not big fan of in-wall to begin with unless you specifically build your walls with acoustics in mind)and they are exactly what they are low end speakers.

 

[Ned]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much. Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts. Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

Probably too late for you , but maybe someone else will save. Monoprice has very comparable in wall and in ceiling speakers for half the price.

Monoprice has a lot of things are very good, but I wouldn't ever consider their speakers as being comparable to anything other than low end speakers.

Have you used them?

Nope, but looking at their specs and design (not big fan of in-wall to begin with unless you specifically build your walls with acoustics in mind)and they are exactly what they are low end speakers.

They're on par with the Polks posted, for half the price. They're of course not audiophile worthy, but neither are the Polks. Tons of discussion about them on AVS.

 

[Godsbrother]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much. Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts. Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

Probably too late for you , but maybe someone else will save. Monoprice has very comparable in wall and in ceiling speakers for half the price.

Monoprice has a lot of things are very good, but I wouldn't ever consider their speakers as being comparable to anything other than low end speakers.

Have you used them?

Nope, but looking at their specs and design (not big fan of in-wall to begin with unless you specifically build your walls with acoustics in mind)and they are exactly what they are low end speakers.

They're on par with the Polks posted, for half the price. They're of course not audiophile worthy, but neither are the Polks. Tons of discussion about them on AVS.

They are very comparable to the Polk speakers that were listed here...

 

[JShare87]

Turning a former single-car garage into a 10x16 dude room. Not much space but don't need much. Just bought some Polk in-wall speakers for the eventual surround. Pretty good sale on Newegg and/or Amazon for those in need. Got the Polk RC80i round for the rears and the Polk RC85i for the fronts. Need a center, a sub and a receiver. I got time. Don't expect to be done for several more months. Want this room to be wired 21st-century style but within a reasonable budget.

Did the same thing with my one car garage. Is 16 the total length of your garage or are u separating it for a laundry room?

Taking the whole thing for a man room. 16 is the total length (laundry is off the kitchen one floor up).The single-car garage is original to the house, built in 1915. Somewhere along the way, maybe around 25 years ago, owners attached a two-car garage to the front of the house (sounds odd but it looks fine), leaving the single in the back of the garage. Has been a work room for a 5 years or so (plus Golden Tee) but with a second kid on the way resulting in a loss of the last "free" room in the house, gotta do something. How did yours turn out? What's your square footage? Do you have a tv? What size? What's your layout like? I haven't decided yet on most of these things.

I turned mine into a theater room. It turned out great. I believe the dimensions are 14x21. I have a Mitsubishi hc4000 1080p projector with a 92 inch fixed frame screen. I have Polk speakers and sub for surround sound with a denon receiver. I framed like 10 movie posters and hung them all around. I bought a nice L shaped leather sectional that seats like 6. I got it carpeted with a really nice soft carpet and have a couple bean bags for the floor. Got the directv and Bluray hooked up and watch football on Sundays and movies and TV the rest of the time. It's also light controlled no outside light getting in so the picture is great. Good luck with yours let me know if you need any advice or help.

 

[Pick]

I turned mine into a theater room. It turned out great. I believe the dimensions are 14x21. I have a Mitsubishi hc4000 1080p projector with a 92 inch fixed frame screen. I have Polk speakers and sub for surround sound with a denon receiver. I framed like 10 movie posters and hung them all around. I bought a nice L shaped leather sectional that seats like 6. I got it carpeted with a really nice soft carpet and have a couple bean bags for the floor. Got the directv and Bluray hooked up and watch football on Sundays and movies and TV the rest of the time. It's also light controlled no outside light getting in so the picture is great. Good luck with yours let me know if you need any advice or help.

This is nearly my setup but bigger screen. I'll be honest, it's been a life-changer.

 

[SofaKings]

Almost finished with my basement but now looking for a multipurpose remote. Panasonic tv, sony bluray, yamaha receiver...any suggestions? It will still take a 4 credit course for my wife to figure out.

 

[RustyFA4]

Life is funny. A short time after posting and trying to plan and we found out baby number two will be here in early October. My focus changed as I am finishing my new garage into a man area. It is pretty sweet as i like to tinker and it is a great place to have a couple beers. Not so much come this winter. I start on a new deck/entry to the house next weekend. I still plan on doing the basement in the next year or two. I did have a little water in two corners this summer. Not enough to think I need to tile but I am clueless on how to fix other than trying to paint it with the water sealer.

 

[Godsbrother]

The Harmony line of remotes are easiest to program and work well. They aren't very durable in my experience and Logitech can be a PITA to deal with warranty issues. I decided to go with the URC- r50 this time and it is defintely harder to program but once done it works great and seems to be more rugged to me.

 

[⚡DEADHEAD⚡]

Life is funny. A short time after posting and trying to plan and we found out baby number two will be here in early October. My focus changed as I am finishing my new garage into a man area. It is pretty sweet as i like to tinker and it is a great place to have a couple beers. Not so much come this winter. I start on a new deck/entry to the house next weekend. I still plan on doing the basement in the next year or two. I did have a little water in two corners this summer. Not enough to think I need to tile but I am clueless on how to fix other than trying to paint it with the water sealer.

I've been through this. This will NOT solve your problem. You need to protect from the outside, not the inside. Either learn to live with it (i.e. no drywall, carpet, etc.) or have somebody run a french drain on the outside to redirect the water.

Unfortunately I know way more about this stuff than I care to.

 

[Britney Spears]

A cool idea I tossed around when I finished my basement in 2010 was not putting in a drywall or drop ceiling, but actually spraying the "ceiling" black. The duct work, plumbing, joists, canned lighting (if you put it in)...spray it all black. It sounds strange, but it looks really, really cool. And you don't have to worry about any issues with installing the ceiling or leaks damaging your ceiling. To cover up the edges of the top of the drywall, you can put in crown molding.

Dammit. I actually wish I'd have done my ceiling like this instead of a drop ceiling.

Pic 1

More pics

Remember those great memories hanging out, drinking beer with with your GBs admiring the basement ceiling?

 

[doowain]

A cool idea I tossed around when I finished my basement in 2010 was not putting in a drywall or drop ceiling, but actually spraying the "ceiling" black. The duct work, plumbing, joists, canned lighting (if you put it in)...spray it all black. It sounds strange, but it looks really, really cool. And you don't have to worry about any issues with installing the ceiling or leaks damaging your ceiling. To cover up the edges of the top of the drywall, you can put in crown molding.

Dammit. I actually wish I'd have done my ceiling like this instead of a drop ceiling.

Pic 1

More pics

Remember those great memories hanging out, drinking beer with with your GBs admiring the basement ceiling?

I've spent more time than I like to admit on my back staring at the ceiling after a night of hanging out and drinking with my GBs.

:softball:

 

[lumpy19]

The Harmony line of remotes are easiest to program and work well. They aren't very durable in my experience and Logitech can be a PITA to deal with warranty issues. I decided to go with the URC- r50 this time and it is defintely harder to program but once done it works great and seems to be more rugged to me.

I have a logitech running my basement setup. Ridiculously easy to program thru the PC and it works OK.

I have a URC remote in the family room, much harder to program but it's a beast once it's setup.

The ideal setup IMO is an ipad mini....wife, babysitters, everyone knows how to use them and there's enough screen space to make everything easily understandable.

 

[Godsbrother]

Life is funny. A short time after posting and trying to plan and we found out baby number two will be here in early October. My focus changed as I am finishing my new garage into a man area. It is pretty sweet as i like to tinker and it is a great place to have a couple beers. Not so much come this winter. I start on a new deck/entry to the house next weekend. I still plan on doing the basement in the next year or two. I did have a little water in two corners this summer. Not enough to think I need to tile but I am clueless on how to fix other than trying to paint it with the water sealer.

I've been through this. This will NOT solve your problem. You need to protect from the outside, not the inside. Either learn to live with it (i.e. no drywall, carpet, etc.) or have somebody run a french drain on the outside to redirect the water.

Unfortunately I know way more about this stuff than I care to.

It sucks but this is correct. No matter what you do on the inside you need to keep the water on the outside from getting in. The french drain is the answer.

 

[SofaKings]

The Harmony line of remotes are easiest to program and work well. They aren't very durable in my experience and Logitech can be a PITA to deal with warranty issues. I decided to go with the URC- r50 this time and it is defintely harder to program but once done it works great and seems to be more rugged to me.

I have a logitech running my basement setup. Ridiculously easy to program thru the PC and it works OK.

I have a URC remote in the family room, much harder to program but it's a beast once it's setup.

The ideal setup IMO is an ipad mini....wife, babysitters, everyone knows how to use them and there's enough screen space to make everything easily understandable.

Cool, thanks!

 

[Northern Voice]

I'm hoping someone can help me out here, I've recently acquired an illuminated beer sign I want to put up behind my bar downstairs. It weighs about 25 pounds, with all the weight going on 4 screws on the narrow side of the sign (it hangs out about 20" from the wall). I want to reinforce behind the wall that is going to be holding the weight of it. The back side of the wall is unfinished anyway, so everything is exposed. Behind the wall is wood studs, 16" centres. My plan is to use some 2x6 between the studs where the sign is going to hang, I'm just not sure which way the wood behind the wall should go (broad side against the wall for most surface area or parallel to the existing woods studs).

Open to any other suggestions as well.

TIA.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

I'm hoping someone can help me out here, I've recently acquired an illuminated beer sign I want to put up behind my bar downstairs. It weighs about 25 pounds, with all the weight going on 4 screws on the narrow side of the sign (it hangs out about 20" from the wall). I want to reinforce behind the wall that is going to be holding the weight of it. The back side of the wall is unfinished anyway, so everything is exposed. Behind the wall is wood studs, 16" centres. My plan is to use some 2x6 between the studs where the sign is going to hang, I'm just not sure which way the wood behind the wall should go (broad side against the wall for most surface area or parallel to the existing woods studs).

Open to any other suggestions as well.

TIA.

25lbs isn't much. I'd put your braces on the flat between the studs so you have a lot more play for getting the sign where you want.

Interior wall nailer show in the picture