Building Man Cave.. question about size.

[TechBoyJK]

Hi Guys,

Wife and I bought a new house, and I'm having trouble deciding on how I want to frame out the larger area of the basement into my man cave. And it's less of a man cave and more of a music room. So the more space the better. However, while extra space would be very nice in a jam/music room, we're also short on storage space, and if we sacrifice some of the music room for a storage room, I think the storage space would really come in handy.

The primary dilemma is on how we utilize the space closest to the stairs. There's a sewer stack and support column near by. The sewer stack is ugly and occupies useful space.

1) Moving the sewer stack (about $2500) will make the surround area much more functional and open the space up.

2) I could leave sewer stack in place, but also keep room completely open and just deal with the sewer stack being kind of in the way. I could drywall around it to make it look nicer, but it still puts a column right in the middle of a useful area.

3) Decrease the size of the man cave, and frame in area between stairs, sewer stack, and support column, and create a storage area.


Here's some pics of the area.

Main area for man cave

Stairs, Sewer Stack and Support Column.

Ideally, here's what I'd like to do. Remove Sewer Stack, frame in Bathroom, and otherwise leave that entire side of the basement open.

However, if we leave the sewer stack in place and build a storage room around it, it will save us approx $2500 while giving us a storage area we do need. Especially for overstock food, etc.

Thoughts? If we remove the stack and open the room up a bit, it adds quite a bit of usable space to the music room. I really do want that extra space because it could mean the difference between fitting a couch down there and still having some breathing room. Otherwise when I stand in the area assuming it would have the storage area as well.. it feels too small. And I know if I don't remove that stack now before we start putting up walls and stuff.. it'll never get done.

edit: another option would be to frame in the sewer stack and support column into an isolation booth.

 

[ViviTheMage]

For storage, keep it 'unfinished' that way you do not have to pay property tax on it, at least I think that's how it works. Our house is 2700 square feet, but we have about 600 in storage that's unfinished, and AFAIK we don't have to pay property tax on it.

What do you want to do with the rest of the room? Can you map a top down of the area too, that might make it easier to figure out what you want to do and how to frame out the sewer lines, and try to work around them.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

How long are you planning on being in the house? Because it sounds like that's how long you'll regret not going ahead and moving the stack. But I agree that some top down diagrams with some actual footage numbers are going to help in making the right decisions. It looks like you have a lot of room down there regardless.

If it were me, judging from those pictures, I'd try to incorporate the bathroom, stack, and support all in the same room/booth.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Also depends what do you really want out of the basement? Theater, game room, bar, storage? Mix?

 

[Exterous]

If this is a music room I would figure out the size and dimensions you want (golden ratio?) and use that to help inform the decision on moving the stack

For storage, keep it 'unfinished' that way you do not have to pay property tax on it, at least I think that's how it works. Our house is 2700 square feet, but we have about 600 in storage that's unfinished, and AFAIK we don't have to pay property tax on it.

I'm a bit rusty on code but proximity to egress plays a part. IIRC for most states 'livable' (finished space) must be within one room or hallway's distance of two egress points to count. Unless its a bedroom in which case there must be two egress points in the room itself.

 

[ViviTheMage]

That makes sense.

 

[purbeast0]

in regards to storage space vs. man cave, you 100% should go with the man cave.

when is the last time you heard someone say "i wish i didn't have this awesome man cave and had some storage space instead!"

i've definitely heard people say "i wish i could make this area my man cave!"

my wife LOVES my man cave and enjoys movies down there just as much as i do. i also have a support beam right in the middle of mine, but i worked around it. it's pretty much right in the middle of the room, but i have my seating area right up against it.

 

[TechBoyJK]

If this is a music room I would figure out the size and dimensions you want (golden ratio?) and use that to help inform the decision on moving the stack



I'm a bit rusty on code but proximity to egress plays a part. IIRC for most states 'livable' (finished space) must be within one room or hallway's distance of two egress points to count. Unless its a bedroom in which case there must be two egress points in the room itself.

I'm going to try and get better measurements posted tonight. I'm at work and I don't have them, and only had access to various pics of the basement that I have hosted on imgur.

The house definitely needs some additional storage. So the storage area is justified; not to mention the storage area would not be finished. So not only do we save money in keeping the stack where it's at, there's less area to finish. Con? Less area is finished and useable.

 

[Greenman]

Need a floor plan with accurate dimensions.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow what a terrible place for a sewage stack, not sure what the original builder was thinking there. Depending on how far you want to go you could also put in an engineered beam to get rid of that support. Moving stack can be done but only to some extent, you don't want to create too much of a horizontal run from what I presume is the upstairs bathroom.

I'd probably go with the option of framing that general section into storage. Bonus is that under the stairs could become part of the storage space. Since you want a storage area anyway, may as well put it there. Another option is to make a small bathroom there.

Moving the stack or support is an option too but both are decently involved. Moving the support may or may not be possible, depends on where the different parts of that beam end, if they are multiple pieces of wood.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Wow what a terrible place for a sewage stack, not sure what the original builder was thinking there. Depending on how far you want to go you could also put in an engineered beam to get rid of that support. Moving stack can be done but only to some extent, you don't want to create too much of a horizontal run from what I presume is the upstairs bathroom.

I'd probably go with the option of framing that general section into storage. Bonus is that under the stairs could become part of the storage space. Since you want a storage area anyway, may as well put it there. Another option is to make a small bathroom there.

Moving the stack or support is an option too but both are decently involved. Moving the support may or may not be possible, depends on where the different parts of that beam end, if they are multiple pieces of wood.

You are telling me! I was saying 'wtf' about the stack before we even bought it. Tried to get the seller to move it but they wouldn't because it was too expensive and they were already broke.

I don't have any diagrams yet, but I do have basic measurements of the area.

If I remove the sewer stack, I'll get full use of the left side of the basement except for where a small bathroom will be. The bathroom will be there regardless of anything else.

Without sewer stack, mancave area is 19'x28'

With sewer stack and storage area, mancave area would be 14'x28'. Kind of like a long bedroom.

Since there will be a bathroom in the area, I'd really be gaining an area of approx 5'x15'.

So, removing the sewer stack gives an additional 5x15' area to use.

 

[Subyman]

Don't you have enough projects going on?

 

[shortylickens]

I would put a TV in one corner and a gaming PC in another corner.
Fusball table in corner 3, and wet bar in the last corner.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Don't you have enough projects going on?

Baby's due in November. I'm nesting. =) Once she's born, I fully expect a paradigm shift in my thinking that will likely make it impossible to manage my current projects.