Ode to Dan: Custom Pool Room

[nrhoades]

My wife and I bought a split-level home with a 25'x30' unfinished lower room. I've been inspired so much by dsoriano's Custom Pool Room, that the unfinished room was a large factor in purchasing the home. I plan on creating my own custom pool room as an ode to all that dsoriano shared with us in his thread.

Unlike him, I do not have a background in construction, so I will be doing research and learning as I go along. There are also other side projects that must be accomplished along the way (garden gates, shed, concrete driveway, fence, etc.) so updates will be sporatic. I invite everyone to share their advice and opinions (maturely) as the project progresses.

Here's a picture of the house, and unfinished room...

 

[Brian in VA]

Congrats on the new space! That's exciting, I know.

My recommendations are to, first, draw up a floor plan. This allows you to understand what kind of space you have and how useful all of it is. My experience is that, unless you start from scratch, there is never enough space to do exactly as you'd like and it's always better to know before you start swinging a hammer.

Next, I'd take the time to use one of the free CAD programs available on the web to render it in 3D. This will help you further understand how best to use your space. (I love Sketchup which is free and there is a warehouse on the net that you can go fetch things people have already drawn. It's really amazing.)

Finally, decide on your budget and your timeline. And remember that there are 3 factors in any project - Cheap, Fast, Good. You get to pick 2; the other will behave as a result of your choices. (Example - I want it fast and high quality, therefore it will cost much more.)

Good luck!
Brian in VA

 

[bdorman]

My only suggestion is to put in a Dri-Core subfloor. I installed one in our lower level and it's made all the difference in how comfortable, dry, etc the floor is. Putting any kind of flooring directly on concrete is just asking for trouble. Best $2 I've ever spent.

http://www.dricore.com/en/eIndex.aspx

 

[nrhoades]

Artist's Conception

I started off by doing what I always do: MSPaint and a photograph. I want to add buildouts to house open cylinder sconces, and because I need something to cover the main propane line. I'm planning on using engineered hardwood for the floor, a black or wood-trim drop ceiling, and oak-faced plywood wainscoting across the room with green texture paint. I'll also be creating a bathroom area with a toilet and sink. I will have a 15'x30'+ playing area for pool. I own a small portable wet bar that I've acquired from a friend and will go in the corner.

The rough procedure will be as follows, subject to probably a lot of discussion:

1. Wire lighting + extra outlets to garage
2. Seal settling cracks with polyurethane repair kit.
3. Seal concrete with sodium silicate.
4. Frame 4' shelves up to the concrete height, install XPS against concrete walls. Install fiberglass insulation.
5. Sheetrock.
6. Texture paint spray the walls.
7. Install drop ceiling.
8. Wainscoting with 3/4 oak-faced plywood panels and molding.
9. Stain wainscoting.
10. On floor, install Superseal dimpled plastic membrane, underlayment, and Schon floating engineered floor.
11. Along the way, acquire a 9' pool table.

 

[nrhoades]

My only suggestion is to put in a Dri-Core subfloor. I installed one in our lower level and it's made all the difference in how comfortable, dry, etc the floor is. Putting any kind of flooring directly on concrete is just asking for trouble. Best $2 I've ever spent.

http://www.dricore.com/en/eIndex.aspx

Ahhh!!! I love that this was the first question.

Ok, so I did a lot of research on this. DriCore is excellent, in fact, my neighbor is using it for his walkout. It is about $1.75/sqft around where I live ($5.50-$6 a panel).

I've been talking with a company called SuperSeal (www.superseal.ca) up in Canada, and they manufacture a dimpled membrane used for this purpose. They have a product called Carpet Subfloor (but can be used for laminate/eng hardwood too) that has a compression strength of 15,600 lbs/sqft and a 0.11" profile. The dimples allow the water vapor coming out of the concrete to move to the edges of the room, just like DriCore tiles, and also acts as a vapor barrier. The advantage is that the plastic membrane is only $0.55/sqft, no plywood layer needed. The underlayment can go right on top, and then a floating hardwood floor.

There are two settling cracks, one in this room and one in the garage. The garage flooded through its crack with about 1" water earlier this spring, so I will probably install a sump pump in there if fixing the crack doesn't help. However, the water level i nthe garage will never exceed 1" because any more than that and it leaks out of the garage door area. So i dont have to worry about any flood water from the garage getting 3" high and flooding over into the other room.

Now the unfinished room does have its own crack, but only leaked about a 1/4 cup of water during the worst weather. That will be fixed next with polyurethane. There is some efflorescence happening around the slab expansion joints and I did see some moisture, but never any liquid water from the ground. This still makes me want to sodium silicate seal the concrete, and then add the 0.11" membrane to be safe. But I think that I'll be perfectly safe for engineered wood on top of that, especially after I hook up the forced air to the room.