Soil is clay/sand, kind of brownish gray in color. I had to import real soil when I built a garden.

The concrete stairwell will have a floor drain and 4 or 5 steps. Then the door will be a hinged door rather than sliding, to give me a larger opening. I'm working with 4 feet wide and taller than normal, so it will be a special order door..ugh.

The yellow pipe *was* a feeder for a gas fire pit, and I'll need to zigzag that out and around the bottom of the stairwell. Another project added to the list. Two electrical lines, one was run to that gas burner (probably was there for an electric flame starter but never used) and the other powers a pond pump and landscaping lighting. Sooooo--I will need to address that before the concrete. Finally, an outside light needs to go in, along with a wall switch and inside light as required by code. Amazing how a simple project snowballs.

Good advice. We planned on bringing it outside the perimeter of the concrete forms, around the outer edge and back into the soil. Then the line needs to be pressurized and tested for leaks at 20PSI. THEN, the inspector will check off on it.

Lot of hassle, but definitely worth the effort...

Making some headway. Window removed, doorway cut open. This entry door will be just under 48 in. wide, and slightly over 8 ft. tall.
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The pink panther stopped over and insulated the walls. All the electrical and plumbing is now installed, outlets everywhere. Ceiling fully blacked out along with all new added wires and pipes.

Next, the floor will get a very high tech treatment; it's a metallic surface with aluminum sparkle particles mixed into the surface. Words can't adequately describe what the floor actually will look like. I'll try to capture it in a few images.

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The big one will be that bar. Granite top, and they will need three slabs to make it. It's going to be a circular bar with about a ten foot outside diameter, kind of stop-sign shaped. Lots of scrap because of that odd shape.

The good news is, that circular bar has a mountain view. So I won't be putting too much window covering on them.

The small room in the bottom right view is going to be aa "Redemption Cage" that the kids insisted on. Rectangular cutout will have a series of bars and inside will have shelves loaded with beanie babies and candy bars...the skee ball prize room...! This one should be interesting.

Progress on the floor.

First step was to grind the top surface with a diamond cutting machine to score the concrete, then cover the entire floor with an epoxy based primer in black:
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Next, a METALLIC top coat is applied with a two-part material. Actual aluminum flakes are added to the base material and blended in. The result is an amazing shiny metallic surface. When applied with a trowel, it has a depth that almost looks like clouds, with a glossy appearance. Then, acetone is sprayed on sporadically to "float" the silver flakes into a random pattern with various depths. This type of surface technology is just amazing.
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This stuff is incredible! I can walk on it today, so I'll do a walk-thru video.

I wanted something different; the last game room I built in IL was carpeted, and got flooded out three times, so I finally started over with ceramic tile. But it looked like a kitchen rather than a game room with all that tile. And it got flooded again. But a squeegee made short work of cleanup this time.

So I moved out of IL and into Colorado, 5000 feet higher than I was in IL. Almost no chance of the basement flooding anymore.

Still, I'm gun-shy about carpet. So I did the search and came up with this, completely different flooring, and something new.

I can't wait to see what it will look like once the pins and games are in place. It'll be a couple of months though, since it's "hurry up and wait" for things like the custom door I needed for the walkout. I can start assembling the pool table now that the floor is in place. Cover it up for the drywall stage, and all is well.

The stuff is not cheap, about $6/SF installed. The material is very expensive, comes in different colors as well as copper, and you can't destroy it once it's on - very rugged. You can place the feet of your pins directly on it and won't hurt it.

It's the flooring to end all flooring for sure. And you can customize it as it goes on. Best stuff I have ever seen, perfect game room floor. I almost went with a "hammertone" finish, but decided to have some of the black show thru, to complement the blacked-out ceiling. Also, the walls will be gray and the baseboards and cove trim will be black so it brings it all together.

Footing going in today, for the concrete stairwell that gets me into the basement from outside of the house. This will make game installation a piece of cake.
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The floor is done - Woo Hoo! The finish is known as a polyaspartic surface, similar to epoxy, with aluminum flakes and dust added to the mix. The result is a shiny, wet-look. In fact, when the surface was ready to walk on, my first impression was that the floor was wet - I really didn't feel right walking on it. But it's rock-hard and impervious to dragging the machines across it. Very rugged and can take some abuse. I only need to wax it occasionally, and it cleans up with a damp mop. Can't wait to start filling this room up.
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I was told that it won't be slippery because of the irregular surface. The stuff was hand-applied with a trowel, so there's various levels. They did tell me though, if I drop a glass of wine on it, there won't ever be a stain, but the glass will disintegrate once it hits and I'll be forever finding shards of glass. So, I'll try to limit glassware.

Meanwhile, the bar sink is all plumbed in and waiting for cabinets and granite.

Drywall in place. Mudding begins today.
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Meanwhile, outside the house, where the window was, is now the walkout entrance. Foundation poured today, steps tomorrow:
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Regarding the floor:

It's called "Polyaspartic" coating. Close to epoxy, but different, and I'm not sure what the difference is. There is a whole chemistry involved with this stuff:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyaspartic

You add actual metal, in my case, aluminum powder and flakes - a lot of it. The poly coating can support some amazing colors and materials. One that I really liked (close second) was copper which used the actual metal as the filler.

First part of the prep is to grind the surface of the concrete with a diamond surface grinder, sort of like a big floor scrubber. Then, a layer of black epoxy binding material is rolled on.

The contractor that applied the surface was going to roll the top coat, but right before the job started, he consulted with a polyaspartic guru, who convinced him to "trowel" it on instead, revealing some of the black epoxy underlayment surface randomly. Then they spray acetone onto the uncured surface, which causes the metal flakes to kind of separate and appear to look like clouds. Very interesting how it's done - spritz the acetone on, or blast it with a stream, and it has all kinds of different effects. No two floors are the same.

The floor has a wet look, but is not slippery at all. First impression I had was that a pipe burst and the basement flooded, but you get over that quickly. Cannot wait to get some lighting and sounds down there.

Actually, I'm going for the balls-out sound. There will be several slot machines, some with attract sound and game sounds, all with bells that blast during payouts, a few arcade games (Cruis'n USA, Lethal Enforcer II) and the pins which will be turned up for the occasion.

It's gonna be noisy in this room, but no kids at home, I won't have a problem with it. However, the noise will travel thru the ceiling to the main floor, so it can get out of control real quick.

If it gets too loud, I can always place some sound-deadening material between the joists. Hoping not to have to do that though.

I'm now at the pre-paint stage. The drywall has all been taped, sanded and primered. It's about to get a textured finish. There is an art to this finish...

The texture layer is applied (or kind of splattered on using a low pressure spray gun). Here's how it looks right out of the spray gun:
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Once the texture is set, it gets a special trowel treatment to smooth out the extreme edges:
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The finished surface takes on a texture of its own:
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Then it's ready for paint:
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Steps to outside access starting to look like a stairway:
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Texturing of all the walls is finished. Paint will be applied by the end of the week:
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Bar is halfway done. More construction to make it a full circle soon:
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Yep, the drain is in the middle of the landing, covered by tape. Once the concrete is cured, the tape is removed.

The drain taps into the piping which runs around the perimeter of the foundation, then dumps into a sump pit inside the house. Never had a pump in the pit - until now. That stairwell becomes a big funnel when the rain hits.

Updates. Well, here we go. The sawdust is out of control, putting on upper and lower trim, door trim, floor tile in the bathroom, bar cabinets in place and ready for granite. Ceramic on the bathroom floor, shower base is poured and as of today, shower floor tile installed:
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Upper blackout trim installed and ceiling paint added above the trim line to blend with the ceiling:
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Lots of work still in progress. Window ledges and trim all in place. All the baseboards and doors will be painted black. All electrical is finished (this wall has an outlet every 48 in. and dedicated to a row of pinball machines:
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Bar base cabinets and fridge are all in place, and the granite template is finished. This is the pattern they use when fabricating the granite bar top. I plan on installing six diner-style chrome and red vinyl seats around the outer perimeter of the granite:
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Room is taking shape. Ceiling is completely blacked out and trimmed:
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Still waiting on the fireplace which will be added to one wall, and the outside access door, which is being fabricated now. It's hurry-up-and-wait at this point, waiting on custom fabricated items - next month, the granite should be ready to install. I hate waiting!

Making progress. Pachinko game built in on one wall. These machines really have to be in a wall instead of a stand:
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Storage room doorway ready to hang. That window opening will be a "teller window" sort of thing, adjacent a separate room "Prize Room", a request from the grandkids. This one will get interesting:
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Closet shelves painted and finished. Ready for the sliding door:
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Doors primered, painted, ready to hang:
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Window ledges throughout, primered and painted. Here's the bar with cabinets. The center opening is about 6 ft. in diameter:
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Pinball Row. Room for 6 nicely spaced, or 8 packed like sardines:
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