We have decided to remodel half of our basement a bit in order to create a more useful space. The people who owned the home before us finished the basement. But I will use that term "finished" loosely. In previous projects we have found that there was a fair number of things not quite to code, even though the basement has full permits and passed all inspections. Just goes to show that inspections and permits sometimes mean nothing lol. There were very obvious code violations that were signed off on (not done after the fact) so I can only imagine what we may find in doing this remodel.

Here is a picture of the area we are focusing on. The previous owners made a "crappy" bar to show off the home and make the basement look more finished. This "bar" is nothing but some 2x4 with some quick drywall, some trim, and the countertop is actually just plywood. They painted it all brown. The flooring is laminate cheap junk.

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The end goal here is that we will remove the bar entirely, remove the cheap flooring, and put down a nicer solid wood flooring. The "alcove" where the bar was will be where pinball machines go. I can fit 4 in there against the wall. I can fit a 5th in the office area and a 6th if need be on the other side of the alcove, along the wall.

In addition, we are going to take the wall where our POTC sits and open a hole, and install a bar countertop. The backside of that room will get cabinets installed and that backside room will become storage and holding area for food, alcohol, etc things for entertaining and parties.

Here is the POTC wall I'm referring to, and the backside "room".

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I tore off the countertop from the bar and as expected, code violation. They had an outlet completely drywalled inside and hidden, and lights that we thought were hard wired to a switch were actually plugged into the outlet and the outlet was on a switch.

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Progress! I plan to tear out the rest of the bar this weekend and start working on the wood flooring.

Half of the outlets in the bar area alcove don't work, so that will be a fun side project this weekend to find out why as well.

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We want to have the bar area since it serves as a place for people to set drinks or for us to set out snacks/food etc. It also helps tie the one half of the finished basement to the other half by setting it up on the wall I mentioned. This way we can have guests over and do all the entertaining downstairs. We would have food, drinks, etc all there and then the game room area plus the pool table area and the TV/videogame area.

Here is a pic of the "other half" of our finished basement.

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Picked out and picked up the flooring. 170sq ft so needed 7 boxes. Might get away with 6 and able to return one but we shall see. Also picked up a "bagster" bag portable "dumpster". It's basically a 3 CU yard dumpster that gets picked up. Should be more than enough for our project.

Pic below of the new wood flooring sitting on top of the old wood flooring. Went with a light gray color as we liked how it flowed with the carpet.

We went with engineered hardwood since it is ideal for a floating install over basement concrete to hold up to temp/moisture, but can be refinished. Way nicer than the laminate installed right now.
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The stupidity continues - the wiring they ran for the outlets was stapled to the framing using metal staples that are too small to use for that width of wire, and many of the metal staples went through the insulation and inner insulation of the wires and was in contact with the metal wires! Scary!

The good news is, the rest of the house was not built by the previous owners. Only the finished basement. And in the unfinished areas I can see that the same nonsense with electrical was not done. I'm guessing the bar was their own DIY hack job.

I spent $300 today on a reciprocating sawzall (well, the dewalt version) with 20v/60v etc. We have always had to borrow one before and this time the wife decided she'd rather we just finally buy one. My wife does a lot of wood working stuff actually, so she's the boss there!

I don't care about code violations, I care about safety. I guess I should say "safety issue" instead of code violation as that's really what I'm talking about. There is a lot of nonsense in codes these days that wouldn't matter a bit when it comes to actual safety. Sorry, it's just from years of brainwashing that "code" is "for everyone's safety" when that's really a crock of you know what. haha

Demo under way!

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Wife doing some work

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Off to get paint

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Paint done. New underlay done.

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That bar wasn’t really a bar. It was painted brown plywood on some studs and cracking drywall. It was a hack job to try and sell the house when previous owners had it. It also was in the same area as my pins. So it wasn’t a noise escape. By moving the pins to the alcove we will have them away from the other half of the basement to create that escape.

Progress

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Yea the tongue and groove floating install is definitely the way to go! And my wife is pretty badass like that. Very handy.

Getting close

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No desire to do that much flooring right now lol.

We are using tongue and groove glue so the tape just is an added precaution to help it set.

It’s a 3 in 1 underlay. Moisture barrier. Plus engineered hardwood flooring is more resilient to moisture and temp changes on concrete floor.

Thanks! On the last pieces now. Then done for the day. Tomorrow we will do the trim and then start planning out the pass through bar part.

I have a GotG premium coming Tuesday but my escalera isn’t here yet so not sure how I’m getting it downstairs lol. But once it gets here I’ll move all 3 pins to their new home in the alcove.

Almost done.

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Done! Next up, move pins plus get GOTG pin down here somehow.

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Picking up Star Trek premium VE at MGC in April. Also plan to buy WOZ once I know when it will be available again.

Yea we played both on location quite a bit and really like both.

Discussing options for the back room and pass through bar area. The wife wants a sink installed, however, plumbing that would be I think impossible since there is no rough in for drain, and access to hot water pipes is of course on the opposite side of the finished basement from where the sink would be. I'm thinking there is no way to do this without a LOT of work and cost.

Yes, but it's in the 1st floor joists (ceiling of the basement). The house has septic, and all the drains run to the septic tanks. There is a lift pump for some things, but that crock and lift pump are the complete opposite corner of the house. In the unifinished area right next to the room there is a main drain that runs through the joists that could be tapped into, but it would require the drain water to be pumped up and into that pipe. The sump pump is right next to the bar room, so drain wise I actually think we can do grey water into the sump pump. I think the more difficult part is the hot water.

That looks perfect for the draining! But it doesn't solve my hot water supply problem.