Have you always wanted to remodel your basement, but didn’t know where to begin? I did too. My basement was the last place I wanted to be during the summertime. It was freezing cold, dark, and filled with crap, smelled awful, and was just not nice to be in. I decided I wanted to change all of that. It would soon become my man cave, but where to begin?
Prepping For Your Man cave
To begin, you need to clean that place out! Yes, you heard me right, it’s time to go through everything and clean out that basement. Time to get rid of the garbage that you don’t want and, let’s face it, you’ll never use! It’s also a great time to clear the spider webs and make sure everything is clean.
Next, you should check the condition of your wires, plumbing, and walls. The worst thing that you could do is start a project, just to have to rip a wall down in 5 days to remediate water damage, or pull down the ceiling to replace a pipe that could have been done early on.
Finally, it’s time to measure out your basement. This will help you to determine what can be done in the space provided. Are you looking to build a sports theater? Or maybe you want a pool table and a bar? Whatever your desire for your man cave is, you need to be sure you have the space.
Last, you need to be sure your electric box can handle the extra room. We also need to make sure your plumbing (if applicable) is ready to handle the job. Now that everything is straight, let’s get down to business! If you need help, and you are in Central Ohio, contact us today!
Planning For Your Man cave
Now that you have everything ready to go, it’s time to actually plan how you want your man cave to look. All the prep work was important as you now know what you have to work with.
Keeping in mind what your basement can handle, lets look at the measurement of your basement and draw out a plan. Remember, you should keep everything realistic. If you plan on having a pool table, be sure there is enough room for the walls to be placed and for people to be able to actually shoot pool! It’s incredible how many times people don’t plan for this type of thing, just to be frustrated with the lack of space they have.
Also, remember if you are placing a bar to be sure you have the size that you need. That would include seeing what it would look like by measuring everything out in person.
Next, you need to plan out materials. How much wood do you need according to the measurements you have? How tall to your ceiling, etc. How much drywall do you need? How many new outlets do you need? How much wiring do you need? How about plumbing? All of this should be done during the planning phase. Remember, it’s better to over estimate. With this, you will find out the full cost of remodeling your basement into your man cave!
Building your Man cave
It’s important to keep a copy of your plans. Using your plans, it’s important to know what needs to be done before putting the floor down and the walls up. In some cases, you may need to put the frame up before adding plumbing. Be prepared for whatever you may need to do, including knowing exactly where the plumbing and wiring must go in your frame in order to get your man cave to look just the way you want it!
Before putting in the plumbing, electrical, etc, be sure to have your insulation complete, and be sure to water proof the walls!
Now that the frame is up, the insulation is in, all the plumbing and electrical are done, it’s time to put down the flooring, drywall, etc. Remember, when doing this where your outlets will be and measure them out properly. The same goes for any plumbing. If you don’t do this, it’s going to be very hard to fix it after the fact.
Don’t forget to do proper mud work and painting. These can make or break the look and feel of your man cave, so be sure to give it your all. That means, take your time! Once this is complete, you need only put in the furniture, etc.
Now, for purposes of time, we have dumbed this down quite a bit, but the essentials are here. If this seems daunting to you, then you may want to consider hiring a remodeling company to do this for you. It might actually cost you more if you start the process and mess it up then it would to hire them out of the gate. If you live in Central Ohio, then you should contact us here!