Houston, TX
Quoted from Yelobird:Busy no so fun weekend for me.
(Topic ID: 243196)
Yelobird, This is a great project! following with great interest. I looked at the pictures but it was hard to tell some of the technical details. Looks like the wall was tied in at the top of the existing footer with re-bar dowels every five feet or so? Is there a footer and if so, was it poured at the same time as the wall? Rebar in the wall and how was it formed? Finally, how thick is the wall and does it partially rest under the existing foundation? Sorry for the barrage of questions!
Quoted from ReadyPO:Yelobird, This is a great project! following with great interest. I looked at the pictures but it was hard to tell some of the technical details. Looks like the wall was tied in at the top of the existing footer with re-bar dowels every five feet or so? Is there a footer and if so, was it poured at the same time as the wall? Rebar in the wall and how was it formed? Finally, how thick is the wall and does it partially rest under the existing foundation? Sorry for the barrage of questions!
Actually great questions and ones I asked when evaluating contractors to see if they Knew what they were doing! The existing foundation holding a brick frame house ended about 4' deep to a traditional footing. They excavate in Sections to 4 plus feet below that footing flush. Under the existing footing they pour massive support columns and back that with the Pin wall (again not a pinball thing) which is both a new foundation wall And footer in one. The pin wall is 15" Thick and believe it or not a full 25" thick underpined. All done top/bottom/sides with specific rebar fully anchored in at every angle. Not a job for the faint of heart! The key is they only do this in short 15 foot sections. This keeps 80% of the house still supported on earth and keeps the Massive side loads of the earth from pushing the existing foundation wall inwards. The failure videos you see on YouTube and on the net are typically the guys that try to do To much wall at one time. Bad move! Overall I feel confident I have a sound foundation for a zombie apocalypse or game room whichever I need!!
That is a really beefed up foundation! Much more than I thought or the pics showed! That seems better than your existing full size basement which I guess is probably 8 or 10" wall on a 16"-20" foundation. Don't think you will be having any problems at all!
Quoted from ReadyPO:That is a really beefed up foundation! Much more than I thought or the pics showed! That seems better than your existing full size basement which I guess is probably 8 or 10" wall on a 16"-20" foundation. Don't think you will be having any problems at all!
Yep. Existing is 10" thick plus an additional 15" thick reenforced pin wall. I don't foresee any support issues. Pictures to come but the 6' window and side windows were shored and poured today! An ejector pump pit was installed as a secondary fail safe and the final waste lines go in tomorrow. At this point we are 90% confident the floor will pour Friday. FINALLY!! Need to run the new dual battery backup sump pump system tomorrow and pull the remaining old ducts down. Lots more fun till the Real fun starts.
Quoted from Yelobird:The pin wall is 15" Thick and believe it or not a full 25" thick underpined.
Damn, how do they bring in all that concrete and place it? Do they drive it in in a bucket? Or can they pump it?
Maybe this is a really dumb question, but why didn't you just move to a bigger house? LOL
Doing this project must have cost a fortune!
I'm going to admit something there a thing called 'pinball disease' and it makes you do irrational things. Trust me I saw a documentary on it. I might have it because I considered or I am considering moving just to get a bigger basement. You know you have this disease when you sit around in your basement for hours on end trying to figure HOW CAN I GET ONE MORE GAME IN HERE. Then after about 8 hours of mauling it over you leave your basement for the computer and start looking for new houses.
LOL
You might have that disease!
Quoted from drfrightner:Maybe this is a really dumb question, but why didn't you just move to a bigger house? LOL
Doing this project must have cost a fortune!
I'm going to admit something there a thing called 'pinball disease' and it makes you do irrational things. Trust me I saw a documentary on it. I might have it because I considered or I am considering moving just to get a bigger basement. You know you have this disease when you sit around in your basement for hours on end trying to figure HOW CAN I GET ONE MORE GAME IN HERE. Then after about 8 hours of mauling it over you leave your basement for the computer and start looking for new houses.
LOL
You might have that disease!
Covered earlier in thread.
Quoted from wayner:Covered earlier in thread.
Yeah I went back and looked mentioned 50k to build this out. Hey if you love your home and you don't want to move I guess this might temporarily cure his pinball disease! LOL But what happens next when he outgrows the expansion? Build up! LOL
Quoted from stangbat:Damn, how do they bring in all that concrete and place it? Do they drive it in in a bucket? Or can they pump it?
Ah thats a fun and cleaver process. Rather basic though when you consider they have to place Thousands of pounds of concrete to very specific points of the room. Basically they back a cement truck (actually 6 so far) up onto my lawn a few feet from the house and then connect a series of chutes across the basement targeting the drop zone. Like an Adult version of chutes and ladders! They also strap sections from the steel beam of the house to further support the weight. There are also areas where they run the chute through the installed windows (about 4 and 6 foot wide) to get to certain areas. The only time they have to wheel barrel it in manually is when they are pouring window frames and the wells. Miraculously they hardly spill a drop?
Quoted from drfrightner:Yeah I went back and looked mentioned 50k to build this out. Hey if you love your home and you don't want to move I guess this might temporarily cure his pinball disease! LOL But what happens next when he outgrows the expansion? Build up! LOL
All I can say is I have 20 games now Before the basement addition so I feel comfortable with this amount of space for growth. Who knows pins tend to be like potato chips so you never know. I really should have stuck with my watch collecting....
Quoted from Yelobird:I really should have stuck with my watch collecting....
You made the right choice.
There's no way that the fun you have capturing 3 seasons of minor villains compares to staring at a drawer full of watches.
batusi.gifQuoted from Yelobird:Ah thats a fun and cleaver process. Rather basic though when you consider they have to place Thousands of pounds of concrete to very specific points of the room. Basically they back a cement truck (actually 6 so far) up onto my lawn a few feet from the house and then connect a series of chutes across the basement targeting the drop zone. Like an Adult version of chutes and ladders!
The only bad thing with that is the mix has to be pretty high slump, so the water/cement ratio is high. If they plan for that and adjust the mix design, fine. But if they use a normal mix and just make it runny, you're compromising strength. Sorry, my degree is civil engineering and I used to work for the DOT. W/C ratio is something beat into my head, hard to break old habits. 
It is one thing I'd ask about and question when getting the project bid.
Quoted from Yelobird:I really should have stuck with my watch collecting
That is funny!!! You know I started collecting stuff it was muscle cars, now you want to talk to about needing space. I would consider going to pinball would be easier, but that addition is even worse! Cars go in the garage, and pinballs go in the basement, then in the living room, then your bedroom, well then onto we can fit one into the bathroom and well then lets dig out under the house.
Its a crazy addiction right?
Did this ever get finished?
I see the Light!!!! Final forms pulled today and the light is finally shining through window frames finally. More gravel laid followed by laser leveling and perimeter seepage drains and tiles. Inspection passed on the sump and ejector pits so we are now Green light for concrete floor pour Tomorrow!! Need to run the sump lines tonight do my No More Rain dance. From 3' space to game-room fantasy for us we are getting so close now. If I can yank the old ducts down I should be able to start blacking out the ceiling this weekend. Time to get the Breaking Bad suit on for a black out party.
IMG_3453 (resized).jpegIMG_3462 (resized).jpegIMG_3465 (resized).jpegQuoted from Backyardace:I hope your pin budget isn’t depleted after the renovations!
Who says I stopped buying!!! lol Actually the only set back I personally take full credit for. Seen the opportunity to buy many of the classic and hard to find titles I always wanted and figured "why not there will be room soon!" Well, now with the delay of constant rain I have 23 NEW games folded and stored in every corner I could find as well as local friends nice enough to let me crash some at their place. Just couldn't pass up those deals.... I have a problem!
Quoted from Yelobird:Who says I stopped buying!!! lol Actually the only set back I personally take full credit for. Seen the opportunity to buy many of the classic and hard to find titles I always wanted and figured "why not there will be room soon!" Well, now with the delay of constant rain I have 23 NEW games folded and stored in every corner I could find as well as local friends nice enough to let me crash some at their place. Just couldn't pass up those deals.... I have a problem!
You are my hero.
ummm... if you do need some spare funds... I was still waiting on those pictures of that one game I believe 
Leduc, AB
Quoted from Yelobird:Who says I stopped buying!!! lol Actually the only set back I personally take full credit for. Seen the opportunity to buy many of the classic and hard to find titles I always wanted and figured "why not there will be room soon!" Well, now with the delay of constant rain I have 23 NEW games folded and stored in every corner I could find as well as local friends nice enough to let me crash some at their place. Just couldn't pass up those deals.... I have a problem!
Holy crap!
Quoted from High_End_Pins:Cool project. I don’t know how I missed it.
So cool to see the man himself check it out. We hope to finally have a space Worthy of the beautiful TZ you created for us. Still our #1 bride and joy and anyone that views it. Have a much nicer game hoping to send your way soon I hope.
Quoted from Darcy:If you or your contractor had found an ancient Native Indian burial site, would you have been legally required to report it to the government. Or your wife!
New found funds and pinball conquests are shared After they happen with mama. Gives me time to come up with a marvelous story and makes undoing my irrational decisions less likely!
Can you share your planned pin/game/space layout for the new space? Wondering how you are planning the sewer line relocate and how you will work around its exit location.
Quoted from ReadyPO:Can you share your planned pin/game/space layout for the new space? Wondering how you are planning the sewer line relocate and how you will work around its exit location.
All of the drawings and layouts I have done are in CAD so would be a bit to upload them. As for the sewer lines, those will be Completely out of the area and run neatly (with proper slope) along the perimeter wall. Won't loose any real-estate with those especially since they will be over the perimeter pin wall which gives me 15" of space to play with.
Quoted from kcZ:Just remember... Shit rolls downhill.
Unless you have a macerator pump and ejector! You are correct though we hope to keep the poop flowing smoothly.
Quoted from Yelobird:... do my No More Rain dance.
YouTube video, please.
An army of cement trucks rolled in at 7am. You know your going to see progress when you see that! 3 trucks lined up waiting to drop their load. (Don't go there!!!) Envisioned this day for awhile happy to see it finally arrive. Window wells drop in today also. Due to 20" of mud they are waiting for the ground to dry out and back fill the outside till next week. Rather amazing how deep a full cement truck can sink into the ground after 4 weeks of rain. Not so fun fact. Chicago broke a record for the Most rainfall since 1870. Great record to break when your digging out your house!! Pics to come and yet another Way busy weekend of labor for me.
IMG_3469 (resized).jpeg
Unknown City
I work in construction and it has always amazed me that here in the UK we have much less space compared to our American cousins but never install basements!
I live in an expensive part of the UK where the average 3 bed house costs £600k ($755K), installing a basement would add so much value at relatively little cost.
Good luck with your project, it's usually us Brits complaining about the weather!
Quoted from Indypin:I'm proud to say the money I spent on The ModCouple's Munsters mods helped fund this project. Good show ole Man!!
And Know that we sincerely appreciate You! If you couldn't tell we LOVE this hobby and are committed to enjoying it and expanding our product development to share with others. I might even break out the roller skates and do a few laps down there this weekend. Might speed up my electrical work and efficiency!
cool project, I'm enjoying following along, but I have to say those are concrete trucks, cement is the power stuff that goes in concrete and comes in tanker trucks to the concrete plant (and rail cars and big ships).
Added over 5 years ago:lol, I just noticed I typed 'power' instead of powder. while it is the power that binds it all together that's not what I meant.
Quoted from BorgDog:cool project, I'm enjoying following along, but I have to say those are concrete trucks, cement is the power stuff that goes in concrete and comes in tanker trucks to the concrete plant (and rail cars and big ships).
Ok? Education noted. Big trucks with Concrete then.
With that large opening on the side of your house did you at all consider putting in a cargo lift to make moving games in/out easier?
Quoted from merccat:With that large opening on the side of your house did you at all consider putting in a cargo lift to make moving games in/out easier?
No because as noted a few times in this thread we are putting in a winch system on the stairs. Works better for those 3 foot snow days.
And at Long last a beautiful new floor Finally!!!! My vision was a roller derby with a stripper pole show in the center but my wife vetoed that direction. Going to be a Busy weekend. Need to get electrical in, lighting, and get the compressor and sprayer dialed in to start blacking out the ceiling. After I cover the floor of coarse.
IMG_3487 (resized).jpegIMG_3490 (resized).jpegQuoted from marksf123:sorry if you mentioned this before as I did not go through the whole thread but what is the dimensions of the room and how many pins can you fit in there?
As its a basement addition we should total out around 1700 sq feet ish... With a theater and bar and bathroom I estimate 43 games granted some are not pinball.
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