My Home Pool Room Journey

[runout1961]

Thanks for the kind words Dave. Sounds like a pretty similar situation. To me, to have a full cue around the table is my number one priority and I play with a 60” cue. It will definitely be worth the time and effort to get this done.

I was able to get some more demo done. Good news is, I figured out I can put the table length ways from the sliding glass door to the window wall. The area under the landing of the stairs to the sliding glass door is 228”. So 228”-92”(playing surface length)-120”(full cue on each side)-14”(7” of backswing in each side)=1” to spare on each side so I should be good to go.

This is great news because it looks like I won’t have to move the furnace, mess with any of the ductwork, move the exhaust etc etc which would have been pretty costly. Definitely happy about that. The water heaters need to be relocated but that should be easy enough. I wanted the furnace to be moved down as far as possible towards the window wall and vent it out of the wall after I closed in the two windows. I can’t imagine the cost of moving all that ductwork and installing the new vent etc.

The fireplace will still look a little out of place being right next to the furnace but It is what it is. I’m fine with it.

Here’s where I’m at so far. Doesn’t look like much was done lol. Slowly but surely, it will get there.

 

[Dead Money]

Progress is always good. Having done some of this work myself those pictures scare the hell out of me!

 

[runout1961]

Progress is always good. Having done some of this work myself those pictures scare the hell out of me!

Scares you in what way?


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[Dead Money]

Scares you in what way?


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The amount of work and knowing Murphy can't wait to get involved in the project when you least expect it. However you seem up to the task and I will be following along to see your progress. These types of threads are always great.

 

[runout1961]

The amount of work and knowing Murphy can't wait to get involved in the project when you least expect it. However you seem up to the task and I will be following along to see your progress. These types of threads are always great.

I agree 100% sir. Murphy already started to poke his head out with a few little things but that’s bound to happen. When you have the money, you don’t have the time, when you have the time, you don’t have the money. And I’m short on both! Lol. It will get there eventually. And will be worth it in the end.

Even if I had a million dollars to throw at the lower level, I would do it myself like I am now. There’s a certain sense of pride that comes after completing a project like this. Can’t wait until it’s all done, finished out, my table is down there and I’m sitting back in one of the spectator chairs just looking around at everything I did.

I personally would feel much better about the room and appreciate it much more when it’s done as opposed to just throwing some cash at a contracting crew and telling them to get it done. Nothing wrong with that at all as a lot of folks go that route and that’s great. We just don’t have the money to do that with just buying this house a week and a half ago and all the projects that need to be done around this place. Slowly but surely, I’ll get it done.


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[Tony_in_MD]

I received a friendly private message from a good guy that was looking out for a fellow member and kindly offered his advice which I appreciate. Since I received that message and two others like it, I figured I would post my plan for reinforcing the beam.

I’m by no means a pro or anything like that. Just a regular guy that likes to do things himself and get things done. There’s a company local to me that specializes in reinforcing beams for basements and open concept kitchens and other areas of the home but they wanted to charge $4700 to reinforce the beam. $7700 to recess the beam into the ceiling. So $4700 for a job with less than $1000 in materials. Screw that. I’ll do it myself.

A buddy of mine at work has a sign hanging on his office door that says “common sense just ain’t so common anymore. I wonder if common sense will ever make a comeback”. Lol. But it’s true. Most folks get in way over their heads and such. What I mean by this is I hope people understand and realize the role and importance of lally columns and don’t just go ripping them out before looking into what it takes to support the load of your home.

Basically, to reinforce the beam in order to take out the lally column, I’m going to put a steel plate on each side of the web of the beam. So it will be steel plate, beam web, steel plate. All three will be bolted together with structural all thread. The holes will be a diagonal pattern up and down the entire length of the beam. Each of the two plates have to have a 45 degree chamfer on the edges to accommodate the radius inside the I-beam so the plates will sit nice and flat against the web of the beam before bolting it all together.

My structural/mechanical engineer at work is going to figure out what the thickness of the plates need to be. Then I’ll order the plates from our supplier at work with the holes already drilled according to the ceiling joist pattern and will have the chamfer on the edges that I need for the plate to sit flat on each side of the web.

Then I’ll borrow a mag base drill from work, put one of the plates in place inside the beam, clamp it down and trace out the holes, take the plate down and get to drilling with some good cutting fluid and the mag base drill.

Once the plates are in and torqued down, I’ll weld a bead on the top and bottom of each side where the plate meets the beam at the flange.

Once all that is done, the lally column gets cut out.

There’s obviously a lot more small details to it than this but you get the idea of what I’m going to be doing here or at least what my general plan is anyway.

I was also going to recess the beam into the ceiling but the I-beam runs the entire length of the house. To recess the beam into the ceiling would be the easiest part but we would have to reinforce the garage portion of the beam as well. We’re not ready to do all that. My main priority with this project is to create a nice pool room. The garage will come later.


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Do you need footers at each end point?

 

[runout1961]

Do you need footers at each end point?

Already there. Still going to consult with a structural engineer before we tackle that part just to be safe about it all.


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[slach]

Something to remember is to wire your table light to a wall switch and if you get a dimmable led light you may also need to allow for wiring for a low voltage dimmer switch.

 

[289FIA]

Something to remember is to wire your table light to a wall switch and if you get a dimmable led light you may also need to allow for wiring for a low voltage dimmer switch.

Agree ... buy your light .. or at least spec it out now so you can be sure to allow for the appropriate wiring. I installed an LED wraparound fixture in my light box .. it IS dimmable .. however the dimmer uses "a grey and red wire" that must be run from the fixture to the wall switch if the special dimmer is to work.

 

[slach]

I built my light with three two by two led panels (over nine footer), they had a nice flat glass diffuser without any hot spots I got them pretty cheap the Home Depot ($27 each?). Made a three inch frame in walnut to match my table suspended on chains. Excellent lighting, looks great, couldn’t by happier. Guess it depends on how much trouble you eat to go to. Noticed a new light with led strips only around the edges (arena light by preditor or diamond?) this looks pretty interesting too.

 

[Dead Money]

I agree 100% sir. Murphy already started to poke his head out with a few little things but that’s bound to happen. When you have the money, you don’t have the time, when you have the time, you don’t have the money. And I’m short on both! Lol. It will get there eventually. And will be worth it in the end.

Even if I had a million dollars to throw at the lower level, I would do it myself like I am now. There’s a certain sense of pride that comes after completing a project like this. Can’t wait until it’s all done, finished out, my table is down there and I’m sitting back in one of the spectator chairs just looking around at everything I did.

I personally would feel much better about the room and appreciate it much more when it’s done as opposed to just throwing some cash at a contracting crew and telling them to get it done. Nothing wrong with that at all as a lot of folks go that route and that’s great. We just don’t have the money to do that with just buying this house a week and a half ago and all the projects that need to be done around this place. Slowly but surely, I’ll get it done.


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I agree with a lot of this. I do enjoy taking on and completing a big project. I am casually house hunting now and a room ready for a pool table is a must have. I have a 9 ft.Gold Crown II in storage that belonged to my uncle. Had it for years but have never been able to put it to use. It would work in my current house with some work but until recently having a table here would have been undoable. I may even just break the bank and get a Diamond if the pool bug really bites me again.

 

[runout1961]

Some good info in the last few posts. Thanks guys.

Slach, I’ve seen pics of those lights where the perimeter is lighted only. Not sure if I would like those. Would have to see one in person.

I love walnut. I was going to build my light out of 1x4 walnut boards with dovetail joints on the ends, maple dowels in the middle support and decorative maple veneer strips on all four sides and use two 2x4 led flat panels. Had it all planned out.

Now, the plan has changed as I’m sure it will a couple hundred more times throughout this process.

I’m headed to look at a table and light tomorrow. If this deal comes together, I would be more than satisfied as it is for one of the four tables that I would be happy with.

More to follow.


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[runout1961]

I agree with a lot of this. I do enjoy taking on and completing a big project. I am casually house hunting now and a room ready for a pool table is a must have. I have a 9 ft.Gold Crown II in storage that belonged to my uncle. Had it for years but have never been able to put it to use. It would work in my current house with some work but until recently having a table here would have been undoable. I may even just break the bank and get a Diamond if the pool bug really bites me again.

That’s cool. I’d hold on to that gold crown. I bet that one is a gem. I’ve had a 9’ diamond pro am before but would be inclined to choose a gold crown 2 that belonged to my uncle over a new diamond any day. I wish I could fit a 9’er. An oversized 8’ is the best I can do downstairs. I’m too picky about having to have a full cue. With an oversized 8’er, at least I can still play one pocket and straight pool without things being too crowded on a bar box.

I wish you the very best in your house search. The market is hot right now. In our area anyway, homes don’t last more than a day or two and oftentimes sell for way over the asking price. We are very fortunate to have received the deal we did. No competition, no fighting other offers, no house hunting, no realtors, etc etc. Just a family member that wanted to sell to another family member.


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[Dead Money]

That’s cool. I’d hold on to that gold crown. I bet that one is a gem. I’ve had a 9’ diamond pro am before but would be inclined to choose a gold crown 2 that belonged to my uncle over a new diamond any day. I wish I could fit a 9’er. An oversized 8’ is the best I can do downstairs. I’m too picky about having to have a full cue. With an oversized 8’er, at least I can still play one pocket and straight pool without things being too crowded on a bar box.

I wish you the very best in your house search. The market is hot right now. In our area anyway, homes don’t last more than a day or two and oftentimes sell for way over the asking price. We are very fortunate to have received the deal we did. No competition, no fighting other offers, no house hunting, no realtors, etc etc. Just a family member that wanted to sell to another family member.


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It is kind of the same here in Austin Texas. I am having a hard time making a decision. The monthly costs to stay where I am is very high even though I own it free and clear. My thinking is go out just a bit, something newer about the same size, much less monthly cost and put money in the bank. The GC II is pretty special. I think you are right.. need to keep that! "Chalk holders" in two of the pocket castings, only recovered twice and it lived in a basement for years.

 

[runout1961]

It is kind of the same here in Austin Texas. I am having a hard time making a decision. The monthly costs to stay where I am is very high even though I own it free and clear. My thinking is go out just a bit, something newer about the same size, much less monthly cost and put money in the bank. The GC II is pretty special. I think you are right.. need to keep that! "Chalk holders" in two of the pocket castings, only recovered twice and it lived in a basement for years.

That sounds like a gem. Hold on to that one bud.

I sealed the deal yesterday for a table and light package for the future home pool room. Pretty excited as it is one of four tables I would be happy with and with the layout I’m working towards, I’ll get a full cue all around the table with a 60” cue which was important to me. I’ll pick it up at the end of the month and it will sit and wait to be put in place when the room is ready. At least the most important part is figured out now. In the mean time, I’m going to keep grinding away at this lower level pool room project.


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[Dead Money]

That sounds like a gem. Hold on to that one bud.

I sealed the deal yesterday for a table and light package for the future home pool room. Pretty excited as it is one of four tables I would be happy with and with the layout I’m working towards, I’ll get a full cue all around the table with a 60” cue which was important to me. I’ll pick it up at the end of the month and it will sit and wait to be put in place when the room is ready. At least the most important part is figured out now. In the mean time, I’m going to keep grinding away at this lower level pool room project.


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Yes, I agree.

Very good. Thanks for sharing the project with us.

 

[DaveK]

Already there. Still going to consult with a structural engineer before we tackle that part just to be safe about it all.

Good idea. When I renovated my basement (C10-15 reinforced a wood-lam beam and removed one post / replaced two posts) I needed a professional engineer certified design to get the building permit. He specified larger footings for the posts so I had to jack hammer out the old ones a pour new ones. Lots of work but having no obstacles around the table is priceless (almost).

Dave

 

[runout1961]

Good info there. Thank you. Here’s what I’m working with. The steel I-beam runs the entire span of the house. The pic below is one that I took a while back before we closed on the home. In the pic below, you can see how the beam rests on the brick/cinder block. The wall in the pic is the wall that is being removed. The beam runs from that wall in the pic below all the way through the den/lower level into the garage and sits on cinder block in the garage on the opposite side of the house.

In between, there are two lally columns. One in the garage and one in the den/lower level. The one in the den, which can be seen in my pics above has to be removed to make this work for a pool room.

 

[runout1961]

Got the brick/cinder block wall out. Fireplace will stay where it is. When we were kids, it was wood burning but they have since converted it to gas. For some reason on the bottom back layer of the decorative brick wall, they had cinder blocks filled with concrete. That job sucked even with a good rotary hammer drill. That’s where my spectator chairs and table will go.

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[runout1961]

Beam/lally column update: This whole time I’ve been thinking too hard about removing the post in the way and being done with lally columns all together. The one in the middle of the room definitely needs to go in order to fit a table down there.

I’ve been so dead set on having to reinforce the beam to take out the column that I’m overlooking the space and how it’s going to be used. To reinforce the beam with steel plates, even to do it myself would be an incredibly difficult task. From the weight of the plates, the cost, drilling through the plates and beam itself, making sure the edges of the plates have a chamfer to accommodate the radius of the web and flange of the beam, the ductwork that runs right along side the beam being in the way, etc. etc.

I’m overcomplicating this. I was down there looking at everything the other night and came up with a solution. I’m going to add two columns to be able to replace one. If I add a column on each end, width ways, I can then take out the column in the middle which would give me enough clearance for a full cue around the table. One of the columns are going to go inside the wall that boxes out the furnace anyway.

So, the next day I contacted a structural engineer and explained everything. He came out that afternoon and took a look and said it should work but he has to run the numbers to see if my beam would support the load above across a 15ft span.

Just got the official report back with his stamp on it and everything is good to go. As long as I don’t make the span more than 16ft (it won’t be) and I dig the proper footers (24x24x12” deep) I can move forward with my plan. This is great news considering how labor intensive, time consuming and expensive it would have been to reinforce the beam. Now I don’t have to touch it. And the furnace stays where it’s at as well. The two biggest projects to make this work have just been eliminated.

Moving right along.


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