The Man Cave: Part 1

And so it begins.

Several weeks ago, I started my Man Cave project. The goal is a room where I can enjoy movies, etc. with the family, Packers Games with a fellow die-hard fan, cigars with my cronies, and play my guitars, etc. (Maybe a little music studio, too.) The finished size of the room will be about 12' x 16'.

I am doing most of the work myself with few exceptions. Why? I enjoy this kind of stuff. I love tools, gadgets, widgets, etc. I like tinkering and creating. I like being able to talk about the experience with my friends.

Part 1: The demolition.

A bout a year-and-a-half ago, I had a sump pump die during a particularly rainy February and, as a result, my basement was flooded. Not terribly so, but enough to cause some mold issues. Combined with the previous owner's half-baked finishing job, I needed to tear out what was in the basement to get started on my project.

I started with clearing out all the stuff we'd stored in the basement. That, in itself, was a major pain in the arse. It's amazing the CRAP you can accumulate over time.

Step two was getting the dumpster. Johnny "Carpets" Eadeh, a good friend, recommended a company called Reube's Roll-offs in Hatfield, PA. Todd Reube was a gem. He rented me a 20 yard dumpster for 10 days for $350, which included the first ton of waste. Unbelievably, I had over a ton of waste when it was completed, but the total bill was only $372. Everywhere else I called, the going rate was $600-$800.

Once that was completed, I needed to tear out the suspended ceiling - the one that was covered in years worth of mouse poop. Yeah, this part was disgusting. I set out a large 9' x 12' plastic tarp on the floor and started pulling down the tiles. I was wearing gloves, safety glasses, and a dust mask. As I pulled them down, I created a pile in the center of the tarp. Once done, I started tearing down the frame. I piled the pieces on top of the tiles, then tied the corners of the tarp together and dragged the whole ceiling out to the dumpster in a single bundle.

There were two 12' x 10' carpets that needed to be rolled up and dragged out.

Tearing out the horribly dated paneling, the fiberglass insulation, and the 2"x3" framing came next. I ran a circular saw around the room at waist height, essentially cutting the paneling in two. That made it easy to grip and pull right off the framing. Then I kicked each section in half so I ended up with quarter sheets which my son, Liam, helped drag out to the dumpster. Then I rolled the insulation up and bagged it. Finally, a small sledge hammer made quick work of the old framing. I used a grinder to cut off the concrete nails that had been used to fasten the framing to the floor.

Lastly, I cleaned. Sweeping up all the debris, shop-vacuuming all the joist pockets to remove any remaining mouse poop, and scraping the floor where necessary to remove carpet backing remnant. It ended up looking like this:

I found at least a dozen dead mice when I was going through this process. Nice to have that smell gone from the basement. I also purchased some sonic pest repellants, so I hope that will put an end to my mouse problem.

Next up: The plumbing issues.