I have my own table, but if I had my way I would own my own pool room.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
If you had room for a pool table???
- Thread starter JoeyA
- Start date
In the 80’s, I talked to the local pool hall owner about buying a table. He sold tables and advised against putting one in my home. He said he would make money off of me either way through profit from the sale or from hourly table fees. But he said that most people don’t actually like pool enough to play alone. They don’t realize that their interest in pool is the social aspect, which is missing at home. According to him, that is why most tables in homes sit unused.
As it turns out, I am one of the people who uses a table at home. My basement is quite large and can fit a 9 ft table without any hindrances. I have had a table for ~23 years and I still play almost every day I am at home. I get lazy about cleaning, so the table isn’t as clean as the local hall and the balls don’t get polished that often. The problem is that I spend a lot of time playing under conditions of high friction.
Even against this concern, I love playing pool enough that I still play every chance I get at home. As much as I have been playing pool, I should be a lot better than this.
As it turns out, I am one of the people who uses a table at home. My basement is quite large and can fit a 9 ft table without any hindrances. I have had a table for ~23 years and I still play almost every day I am at home. I get lazy about cleaning, so the table isn’t as clean as the local hall and the balls don’t get polished that often. The problem is that I spend a lot of time playing under conditions of high friction.
Even against this concern, I love playing pool enough that I still play every chance I get at home. As much as I have been playing pool, I should be a lot better than this.
I chose my current house because it had an adjoining garage that I could convert in to a pool room. Although I have been known to fire up a lung rocket I don't like constantly existing in smoke. I also don't like driving just to hit balls.
I can play any time I want, entertain guest and just unwind of the travails of work life in my billiards refuge.
My only regret is that I don't get to play as much as I would like. Family, friends, other interests, and work have a way of limiting my time on green.
Joey I say pull the trigger and build a building. You only go around once.:thumbup:
I can play any time I want, entertain guest and just unwind of the travails of work life in my billiards refuge.
My only regret is that I don't get to play as much as I would like. Family, friends, other interests, and work have a way of limiting my time on green.
Joey I say pull the trigger and build a building. You only go around once.:thumbup:
You would not lose the love. It does not go away. I'm fortunate to have a home table.... but nobody to play with...but I enjoy drills and trying to improve. I would go to a pool room but most open at 5pm and I prefer the afternoon.
Regret buying a Table? You will regret NOT buying a table. Buy a good quality table (or the best you can afford)...it is endless fun. The biggest problem is my wife yelling down the steps to come up for dinner. I say I'll be right up.....and that's when the fight began
Last edited:
A bit vauge if you ask me.......
Thanks for the discussion about having or not having a pool table. Here's a summary of my thoughts.
First, it's obvious that there are a LOT of great things about having your own table at home and I didn't expect many answers as to why you wouldn't want a table at home and maybe I was just looking for some confirmation of my own thoughts and if that was so, I didn't get any.
My reasons for not getting a table are a few.
Number one on the list is my wife has always hated pool (except when we were dating and that was a LONG time ago). If I have a table at home, I would most likely play on it 20-40 hours per week. If you know me, you know I don't mind hitting those balls. I would want to play when I want to play, not just when it is conveniently quiet or when my better half isn't home.
The rooms in my house aren't large enough to put a 9 foot table in it. I have already remodeled my house to accomodate some business related stuff so there isn't much room left to modify. It's only a 2000 square foot house and a tri-level at that, with NO basement. The basement idea is very attractive to me but a basement would be a swimming pool for anyone who lives here in the New Orleans area since we are several feet below sea level and have been for hundreds of years. It's something we live with. Anyway, no basement.
My lot is rather small at 50 x 100 and it already has a nice size shed in the back yard. Adding on to the house, isn't the most attractive thing for me either, since my house is "raised" and has no concrete slab. Having a combination of slab/no slab is not a really sound idea. If you've seen most of the add-ons that have been around for a while they just don't work out as the soil isn't the best in the world. I have about a four foot alley way for the only access to my backyard so pilings won't be easy to put down.
That gets me to the separate building idea. Yes, I could probably build a separate building in the backyard. I probably barely have enough space to build a room large enough to hold a 9 foot table. I'm not the handiest guy with tools and I couldn't build it by myself and I really don't have time to do so with so many tournaments going on right now, I would prefer to have someone else build it. That brings me to the money part. I estimate that a project like what I envision would cost an easy $50,000.00 and that's not going big time. Then I have to think about heating and cooling the building. That would require separate a/c and heating. Not worried much about the heating but the a/c is a necessity and I would probably have to have the a/c on 24 hours per day or have some super insulation and a programmed a/c unit. Waiting an hour or two for the room to cool down is not something I can tolerate, unfortunately. (It gets HOT down here) So that brings me to the thought of, can I justify spending that much money on a project that is exclusively for me? The sad truth is I don't like to spend money, unless maybe it is for another cue shaft for my Bender cue. My latest one just arrived yesterday. It is a Lucasi Hybrid shaft and I will most likely do a write up when I have more time to practice with it. Last night at Buffalo Billiards in Metairie, LA, the worst player in the tournament beat me. Yes, THE WORST. It happens, not often but it happens. With 64 players in the event, you know this guy had to play really bad if he was the worst of the bunch. A race to 1 can be brutal.
Getting back to the home pool room rambling thoughts, I have one of the best pool rooms in the world to play in and I couldn't ask for a closer one. It is only ten minutes at the most from my house with stop lights and stop signs included and the equipment is always being attended to. While I still primarily just practice (instead of competing against others), at the pool room, I don't have to worry about keeping my wife up with the clicking of the balls or the opening and closing of the doors at all hours of the night.
It would be nice to have a table at home because unlike some people, I would definitely use it; of that I am more than positive. So since it is impractical (for me) to have a table at home, I will have to be satisfied with going to the pool room or moving to another house. My wife and I have a nice little house in a great neighborhood where she and I feel comfortable and moving to another area isn't something we talk about much, but from time to time, we do discuss that as well, so maybe if we move I will push the envelope and ask for one of those special homes where the recreation room is de-tached from the main house and I will have access to all of the comforts of home. This is starting to sound like the dog-house that I sometimes occupy when I return from a long pool tournament.
Anyway, it was fun reading all of your responses and ideas. I envy all of you that have a table but for now, it's just not in the cards. Thanks for the replies.
This thread might be a good one for you younger pool enthusiasts to wrap your mind around, when shopping for your next house. :smile:
First, it's obvious that there are a LOT of great things about having your own table at home and I didn't expect many answers as to why you wouldn't want a table at home and maybe I was just looking for some confirmation of my own thoughts and if that was so, I didn't get any.
My reasons for not getting a table are a few.
Number one on the list is my wife has always hated pool (except when we were dating and that was a LONG time ago). If I have a table at home, I would most likely play on it 20-40 hours per week. If you know me, you know I don't mind hitting those balls. I would want to play when I want to play, not just when it is conveniently quiet or when my better half isn't home.
The rooms in my house aren't large enough to put a 9 foot table in it. I have already remodeled my house to accomodate some business related stuff so there isn't much room left to modify. It's only a 2000 square foot house and a tri-level at that, with NO basement. The basement idea is very attractive to me but a basement would be a swimming pool for anyone who lives here in the New Orleans area since we are several feet below sea level and have been for hundreds of years. It's something we live with. Anyway, no basement.
My lot is rather small at 50 x 100 and it already has a nice size shed in the back yard. Adding on to the house, isn't the most attractive thing for me either, since my house is "raised" and has no concrete slab. Having a combination of slab/no slab is not a really sound idea. If you've seen most of the add-ons that have been around for a while they just don't work out as the soil isn't the best in the world. I have about a four foot alley way for the only access to my backyard so pilings won't be easy to put down.
That gets me to the separate building idea. Yes, I could probably build a separate building in the backyard. I probably barely have enough space to build a room large enough to hold a 9 foot table. I'm not the handiest guy with tools and I couldn't build it by myself and I really don't have time to do so with so many tournaments going on right now, I would prefer to have someone else build it. That brings me to the money part. I estimate that a project like what I envision would cost an easy $50,000.00 and that's not going big time. Then I have to think about heating and cooling the building. That would require separate a/c and heating. Not worried much about the heating but the a/c is a necessity and I would probably have to have the a/c on 24 hours per day or have some super insulation and a programmed a/c unit. Waiting an hour or two for the room to cool down is not something I can tolerate, unfortunately. (It gets HOT down here) So that brings me to the thought of, can I justify spending that much money on a project that is exclusively for me? The sad truth is I don't like to spend money, unless maybe it is for another cue shaft for my Bender cue. My latest one just arrived yesterday. It is a Lucasi Hybrid shaft and I will most likely do a write up when I have more time to practice with it. Last night at Buffalo Billiards in Metairie, LA, the worst player in the tournament beat me. Yes, THE WORST. It happens, not often but it happens. With 64 players in the event, you know this guy had to play really bad if he was the worst of the bunch. A race to 1 can be brutal.
Getting back to the home pool room rambling thoughts, I have one of the best pool rooms in the world to play in and I couldn't ask for a closer one. It is only ten minutes at the most from my house with stop lights and stop signs included and the equipment is always being attended to. While I still primarily just practice (instead of competing against others), at the pool room, I don't have to worry about keeping my wife up with the clicking of the balls or the opening and closing of the doors at all hours of the night.
It would be nice to have a table at home because unlike some people, I would definitely use it; of that I am more than positive. So since it is impractical (for me) to have a table at home, I will have to be satisfied with going to the pool room or moving to another house. My wife and I have a nice little house in a great neighborhood where she and I feel comfortable and moving to another area isn't something we talk about much, but from time to time, we do discuss that as well, so maybe if we move I will push the envelope and ask for one of those special homes where the recreation room is de-tached from the main house and I will have access to all of the comforts of home. This is starting to sound like the dog-house that I sometimes occupy when I return from a long pool tournament.
Anyway, it was fun reading all of your responses and ideas. I envy all of you that have a table but for now, it's just not in the cards. Thanks for the replies.
This thread might be a good one for you younger pool enthusiasts to wrap your mind around, when shopping for your next house. :smile:
No way. All you need is a space about the size of a 2 car garage. So lets say 20 by 20 feet. That 400 squares. You could get that built for $40 to $60 per square depending on how nice you wanted to finish it.
Thanks for the discussion about having or not having a pool table. Here's a summary of my thoughts.
First, it's obvious that there are a LOT of great things about having your own table at home and I didn't expect many answers as to why you wouldn't want a table at home and maybe I was just looking for some confirmation of my own thoughts and if that was so, I didn't get any.
My reasons for not getting a table are a few.
Number one on the list is my wife has always hated pool (except when we were dating and that was a LONG time ago). If I have a table at home, I would most likely play on it 20-40 hours per week. If you know me, you know I don't mind hitting those balls. I would want to play when I want to play, not just when it is conveniently quiet or when my better half isn't home.
The rooms in my house aren't large enough to put a 9 foot table in it. I have already remodeled my house to accomodate some business related stuff so there isn't much room left to modify. It's only a 2000 square foot house and a tri-level at that, with NO basement. The basement idea is very attractive to me but a basement would be a swimming pool for anyone who lives here in the New Orleans area since we are several feet below sea level and have been for hundreds of years. It's something we live with. Anyway, no basement.
My lot is rather small at 50 x 100 and it already has a nice size shed in the back yard. Adding on to the house, isn't the most attractive thing for me either, since my house is "raised" and has no concrete slab. Having a combination of slab/no slab is not a really sound idea. If you've seen most of the add-ons that have been around for a while they just don't work out as the soil isn't the best in the world. I have about a four foot alley way for the only access to my backyard so pilings won't be easy to put down.
That gets me to the separate building idea. Yes, I could probably build a separate building in the backyard. I probably barely have enough space to build a room large enough to hold a 9 foot table. I'm not the handiest guy with tools and I couldn't build it by myself and I really don't have time to do so with so many tournaments going on right now, I would prefer to have someone else build it. That brings me to the money part. I estimate that a project like what I envision would cost an easy $50,000.00 and that's not going big time. Then I have to think about heating and cooling the building. That would require separate a/c and heating. Not worried much about the heating but the a/c is a necessity and I would probably have to have the a/c on 24 hours per day or have some super insulation and a programmed a/c unit. Waiting an hour or two for the room to cool down is not something I can tolerate, unfortunately. (It gets HOT down here) So that brings me to the thought of, can I justify spending that much money on a project that is exclusively for me? The sad truth is I don't like to spend money, unless maybe it is for another cue shaft for my Bender cue. My latest one just arrived yesterday. It is a Lucasi Hybrid shaft and I will most likely do a write up when I have more time to practice with it. Last night at Buffalo Billiards in Metairie, LA, the worst player in the tournament beat me. Yes, THE WORST. It happens, not often but it happens. With 64 players in the event, you know this guy had to play really bad if he was the worst of the bunch. A race to 1 can be brutal.
Getting back to the home pool room rambling thoughts, I have one of the best pool rooms in the world to play in and I couldn't ask for a closer one. It is only ten minutes at the most from my house with stop lights and stop signs included and the equipment is always being attended to. While I still primarily just practice (instead of competing against others), at the pool room, I don't have to worry about keeping my wife up with the clicking of the balls or the opening and closing of the doors at all hours of the night.
It would be nice to have a table at home because unlike some people, I would definitely use it; of that I am more than positive. So since it is impractical (for me) to have a table at home, I will have to be satisfied with going to the pool room or moving to another house. My wife and I have a nice little house in a great neighborhood where she and I feel comfortable and moving to another area isn't something we talk about much, but from time to time, we do discuss that as well, so maybe if we move I will push the envelope and ask for one of those special homes where the recreation room is de-tached from the main house and I will have access to all of the comforts of home. This is starting to sound like the dog-house that I sometimes occupy when I return from a long pool tournament.
Anyway, it was fun reading all of your responses and ideas. I envy all of you that have a table but for now, it's just not in the cards. Thanks for the replies.
This thread might be a good one for you younger pool enthusiasts to wrap your mind around, when shopping for your next house. :smile:
Easy: sell the house and wife and build an apt attached to buffalo billards !! you're in !
lol.......
I like nice. I might even commit heresy by buying a Gabriel 9 footer.
Fargo Billiards had one that was a dream to play on.
Don't I know. :thumbup:
I used to think that way. Fortunately, I got over it.
Had an outdoor deck that was unstable, too hot at times, too cold at times, rained out at times and mosquitos lots of times. Added supports and enclosed it but no insulation.
It still gets too hot or too cold at times but the way I look at it is that there are usually at least 12 good hours in any day to play (rain or shine).
That plus I have a DVR on my TV that allows me to build up buffer whenever I watch TV. There are usually 20 min./hr. of commercials in a program so when I start to watch something I push pause, shoot balls in for a while and then skip past the commercials when I watch the TV.
I understand what you're saying. Some pool is better than no pool at at.
When I was looking for a house if it didn't have a room large enough for a nine footer it didn't interest me. My room in my house was an add on by the previous owner and used as a family room. It is well insulated and large enough for the table and seating. In my previous house I had it my garage and was only able to use it part of the year. Now my room always has the temperature like the rest of the house. I think I'm just spoiled. But then again if you don't treat yourself good, who will.
A full basement was a prerequisite for me when looking for a house for just this reason.
We bought our most recent property with the criteria that I had to have space for a man cave.
I have always wanted a table at home and have never been able to buy a place that would allow it. Now that I have one I can tell you I love it.
My table is in the garage, not the house, so no noise problems. It is never too hot in Summer but can get cold in winter but I have a gas heater for that.
To be honest, with kids, wife, job etc if I didn't have a table at home I just wouldn't play but now I can play 30 mins here, an hour there etc through out the day when I have spare time. I wouldn't drive to the pool hall 3 times a day to play 30 mins to an hour at a time if you get my meaning.
So from me it is a 100% yes to a table at home!
I have always wanted a table at home and have never been able to buy a place that would allow it. Now that I have one I can tell you I love it.
My table is in the garage, not the house, so no noise problems. It is never too hot in Summer but can get cold in winter but I have a gas heater for that.
To be honest, with kids, wife, job etc if I didn't have a table at home I just wouldn't play but now I can play 30 mins here, an hour there etc through out the day when I have spare time. I wouldn't drive to the pool hall 3 times a day to play 30 mins to an hour at a time if you get my meaning.
So from me it is a 100% yes to a table at home!
Joey, I put one in my house and I couldn't live without it now. I like to practice for short periods often. And I can run upstairs and hit for 15 minutes before work, when I get up, after work. Its really convenient. Of course, its 14 hours between leaving for work and returning home for me. Most people probably have more time during a workday.
"Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." ---Casey Kasem
"Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." ---Casey Kasem
It seems like everyone who has ever gotten a table for their home, couldn't imagine not having one.
(I think that means green with envy).
JoeyA, like you, no basements here in florida. That really sucks when you are house shopping. Especially if you'd like to actually use your garage as a garage. No bedroom will be big enough for a 9'. So my girlfriend allowed me to use the living room for the pool table. We haven't moved in yet, but I'm excited to get this set up!
By the way, the formal dinning room will become the TV room. Who needs a room you only use twice a year??
By the way, the formal dinning room will become the TV room. Who needs a room you only use twice a year??
If room and money were no consideration... I would have several of the best tables... 7, 8, and 9ft... Diamond and Gold Crown's... Carom... Snooker... Walls lined with every cue made... Book cases with every video or book ever made... A fire place with the excalibur cue above the mantal... Sorry, I just woke up and came back to reality.