I’ve followed along on several large gameroom projects here on pinside, either new construction or additions (MT45, Spyderturbo007, CaptainNeo, RyanClaytor, Yelobird, Chosen_S, king-pin and others) and I hope one of those large projects is in my near future. For now, though, my full time and my part-time National Guard job preclude me from tackling anything too big, and my adversity of hiring it out means any improvement takes a long time from start to finish.

However, the fact remains that I do not have enough space for the number of pins I have. Most are in the basement, but I had (and still have) several in the garage. Even though the garage is insulated, it is still not the ideal place and I keep the back glasses in a climate controlled space. So, I have continuously rearranged the basement to accommodate as many pins as possible, while keeping the windowed sun room area relatively pin free, a prerequisite of my wife and preferable for the obvious UV issues.

The basement is finished (a previous project now about seven years old), and it is broken into distinct rooms based on an addition to the house (it was a lake cottage when we moved in, we added a great room and a second story, the great room came with additional basement space). There is a crawl space around 450 square feet. I loved Yelobird’s excavated game room addition and this is on my radar as a possibility). We have also considered a fairly large basement addition that would also enlarge the kitchen upstairs.

This project, however, was designed to allow for three more pins by removing closet storage (partially replacing it with another closet). Additionally, it removed a drafty walkout sliding door (there is a new sliding door around the corner) and replaced it with two windows. This allowed me to “temporarily” place a pin in front of the window, which has grown to two “temporary pins” for the time being, until the next project …

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The plans below show both the existing space, and the planned reconfigured space. The space originally allowed for seven pins, four along one wall and three in front of a closet that will be removed as part of a future project. I broke the project into two parts. The first part of this project was to remove the existing sliding glass door, and replace it with two windows. The second part removes the three closets in the corner of the kitchenette area, relocate some utilities and builds a new closet with a pocket door.

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I guess I should clarify this is still in the basement. Its a basement kitchen that is really used for making snacks and as an extra oven for Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners. I have an agreement with the wife - no pins upstairs on the main floor, so have to make the space in the basement wherever I can find it!

I very much wanted to do that and get space for four pins, but there is an ejection pump for the kitchenette and bathroom in that area, plus utilities that made it very difficult to get rid of the last closet completely.

The closets held crafting items, that went up to a loft area on the 2nd floor inside an armoire, and some old hobby stuff, that went out to the garage for the next rummage sale. The rest of the stuff went in totes that are stored under the pins. The closet I am keeping/adding back will hold pin supplies and a rolling cart as well as the ejector pump and water/sewer and central vacuum lines.

Some of the plumbing that is in the way of taking out the last closet

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The sliding glass door actually came from the upstairs when we originally added on the great room, replacing a very cheap unit in the basement. It was still in pretty good shape, so it went to the charity salvage store. Two aluminum clad with wood sash windows were put in its place, and the cavity filled in, insulated and a beadboard/trim finish. The wood sash was stained to match the other window sashes in the basement. Additionally, the walls were painted a dark brown, and the t.v. in the corner removed and the electrical boxes covered. This was left for now, but the boxes will be completely removed in the next project, but first onto the 3-pin area ...

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Next was the removal of the closet. The walls were removed, and the 2X4s were saved where possible to be reused.

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A pass-through that will have glass shelves was framed in the bearing wall so the pins on both side of the wall can be seen together. Even though the space of the opening is not very wide (less than four feet), I framed the heck out of it including an extra steel post, just because. I also ran the wiring for one of the new circuits in the wall and wiring for puck lights in the pass-through opening. The puck light junction box was designed to go behind a piece of removable molding, in case it ever needs to be replaced.

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The existing utilities all ran above the closets below the ceiling. The framed in area for the existing duct lines was already pretty wide, and I did not want to make this area any wider which was a problem because a branch line boot was in the way. The solution was to run a wall rectangular branch line above the duct between the floor joists, allowing the existing duct framework to simply extend straight to the wall. This line runs to a floor vent in the laundry room upstairs. The same laundry room’s water supply and waste lines were also run in this area, and they were pocketed in the gap next to the rim joist along the outer wall. This area was also heavily insulated so the lines won’t freeze in the winter.

Before is shown below:

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And after. The gas line has not been rerun yet, and neither has a new water line from the outside sill cock (the chrome pipe with brass fitting to the right). The waste line runs just inside the remaining closet that is yet to be framed. Notice the transition from copper to PEX. I ran copper in the area that will be insulated and framed in, but switched to PEX in the closet area since it will be accessible and it is a lot easier to connect to the existing water system. Also I added a light in this area. The rest of the kitchenette area has can lights, but I could not get a can here due to the duct being in the way. Rather than move the light, I got low profile LED surface mount lights that come with can adapters or can be mounted directly to a ceiling box.

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Two inch styrofoam insulation was glued to the wall and furred out, to match the existing insulation and profile. You can see the sewer main exits the building here, another reason to keep the last closet. The central vacuum line that runs at a right angle around it is being relocated though. I didn't get a picture of the closet framing, but after furring the wall, framing the closet and the soffit around the duct, I drywalled and gave it the first coat of mud. You can see the tile floor will have to be patched where the closet walls were, luckily I have some tile left over, just enough to make the needed patches.

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Second Coat of mud complete. The ceiling has a knockdown finish (not popcorn) that will have to be shot on, but the walls will have a smooth finish. You can see the low profile surface mount LED lights in the taller ceiling area.

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Ceiling textured and painted. Primer on back wall, closet wall painted.

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Back wall painted and pocket door installed. The pocket door glass will get tinted to hid the sewer line on the back wall of the closet. The three starburst pennants are over the foosball table. Got them at Lowes, they looked like way cool pinballs to me

The foosball table under the pennant lights has a table top made out of a old cheap dining room table and some 1X2 wood brackets with non-slip covering. It sits over the playfield, protecting it and making a convenient surface for my tools to sit on during this project.

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Thanks! I would be a lot further if I didn't sweat the small stuff

Sorry to hear about the flood, hopefully no damage to your games and you have recovered. My house is on a hillside, so the basement is less likely to flood. The whole house will just slide down the hill I guess

So, taking advantage of the "stay at home" time to get back on this project. The tile floor needed to be patched where the closet walls were. Luckily, had some left over tile in the garage. Had to break out all the partial tiles that were cut around the walls, then replace with a new isolation membrane and new tiles. Also had to add one accent mosaic to make the row complete. No need to extend them to the space that will be under the pins though. The accent mosaic is the same that is on the kitchenette wall.

Also, got the pass-through shelving up. Connecting the electrical circuits next, then moving pins into the space. After that, will continue work inside the closet. I don't have enough tile to patch it in there, so I am removing the closet tile and putting in something different ....

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Electrical hooked up to pass-through. Testing of LED lighting.

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