Man Cave aka The Dog House

[sweetdiesel]

The family just moved into our new home about 8 months ago. One of the big selling points for us was that it was completely remodeled and in the contemporary style that we both love. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the only room that wasn't finished was the garage. It is basically a converted carport that is uninsulated, unlit, and with only one electrical outlet. If you look over the door, you can see the original siding from the house. Now that the family is settled in it's time for Dad to have some fun in his own room. I started this last weekend with framing the studs on two walls and running the electrical outlets. I added a couple 4' overhead lights and have plans for 3 more on the walls. They are controlled by a new switch box located next to the door. As you can see by the pictures, I have to do half the room at a time, move all my crap over and then finish off the other half. I'll be running the speaker wires this week and then the walls will be ready to be insulated and dry walled this weekend.

This workbench came with the garage. I'll be saving this one and removing the doors. Next to it used to sit a row of old kitchen cabinets that were painted a puke green from the 60s. Tore those out right away to make some room.

Hidden behind this bench is another workbench.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

Diggin the "lunch box" in the third pic

 

[Rolex]

In the end, you'll be glad they didn't do the garage. Now you can do it the way you want it. Don't forget to install cable and phone jacks. You'll need it later....trust me.

 

[sweetdiesel]

The Lunch Box is my 3.5 year old daughter's rig. She's just starting to get the hang of controlling it, but it is still a bit too fast for her, so I end up driving it most of the time.

Good call on the cable line. I don't need the phone jacks though, our house phone came with additional handsets that have their own charger. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I agree that in the end it will be exactly the way I want it.

This is the first time I have done any electrical wiring that required more thought than changing an outlet. The last time I did that, the wife came home to find me laying on the couch with a pale queasy look on my face. I had attempted to change an outlet while she was out shopping. The first couple shocks were OK, but after I started to to smell my hair burn I had to lay down for a bit. First rule of working with electricity...turn off the power!

 

[Rolex]

Here's a tip for you....
Start at the far end, when you get to the circuit panel, cut the power and connect. You might still want the phone line for a DSL sometime down the road.

 

[da beav]

people still have land lines? i just use my cell for everything havent had a hardline phone in at least 6 years now. i do have dsl for internet tho

 

[sweetdiesel]

Here's a tip for you....
Start at the far end, when you get to the circuit panel, cut the power and connect. You might still want the phone line for a DSL sometime down the road.

Good point. I might as well put it in while the walls are completely open. All the internet in the house is currently wireless, but it would be nice to have a faster hard line.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

If you're going to be running internet and network stuff, run an ethernet cable somewhere while you have access to the walls. Maybe one wire on the two opposite walls so you'll have one on either side that you need it on if you ever need to hook it up.

 

[beason]

good job man, I'm jealous! my garage was sheet rocked when i got it and only has one area with power. its 4 plugs but all in the same box in the center of the back wall.... i REALLY need to add some down the sides. i picked up a 4ft florescent light fixture last night at lowes which will be SO much better then the one bulb i have now. for now I'm going to run it off the power to the socket, eventually ill get another one and hard wire them. i have a whole lot of other stuff to do to the house so the garage will be a little here and there. on the good side though, got the hot tub fixed yesterday!

 

[sweetdiesel]

You can never really have enough outlets. I added enough boxes to accomodate 12 outlets and plan to add 6 more on the other wall. I also made sure to put them all nice and high at 5 feet from the gorund. I'm a tall guy and I hate having to stoop down to plug something in.

I'll forgo the phone line and run an ethernet cable from the router inside the house. I was thinking about running a projector with a 5 ft screen over the window but after reading that they require a room with little to no ambient light I'm going to just run a normal TV.

 

[robmob]

Nice cave. You are ahead of me and my Man Cave since you actually have some outlet boxes and wiring.

I currently just have an extension cord running through my under ground conduit from my house garage to my cave. It works great which is why I haven’t taken the time to do it right yet.

Every man needs a Man Cave to hide in. Even better when it’s detached from the house so you can pretend not to hear the wife when she yells for you. I have noticed that if I force my wife to actually take the time to walk out to the cave to tell me something, 9 times out of 10 she won’t do it and I get to snicker with glee.

 

[MrClean]

That's going to be a nice cave SD, I like the idea of putting the outlets at that height. I can't stand having to bend over all the time to just plug something in (oh, now that just sounds bad all the way around). Good luck and keep us up to date with the progress.

 

[robmob]

All workshops should have the outlets at that height. Putting them above the baseboard like in a house means you can’t stack stuff on the floor against the walls without covering the outlets.

 

[SMaxxin]

Thats a good looking cave SD. You guys with caves are lucky!

First rule of working with electricity...turn off the power!

Second rule of working with electricity...After you turn the power off double check it with a meter! That way when you turn off the wrong breaker it won't knock the poop out of you.....Ask me how I learned this one LOL

 

[sweetdiesel]

I am very blessed to have a wife and family that understands that every man needs a place where he can wrench on RCs, eat pizza, drink beer, and watch Kung Fu movies in solitude.

Every man needs a Man Cave to hide in. Even better when it’s detached from the house so you can pretend not to hear the wife when she yells for you. I have noticed that if I force my wife to actually take the time to walk out to the cave to tell me something, 9 times out of 10 she won’t do it and I get to snicker with glee.

Having a detached Man Cave would be icing on the cake but having a keyed deadbolt on the door entering the house will have to suffice for now. Though I'm not sure if I'm locking myself in or if she's locking me out.

 

[Webbage]

I'll second what Charlie said, run a few lengths of Cat5e or Cat6 ethernet cable down the walls, even if you don't use m right away. You'll be glad ya did if you ever switch to a DSL router and ethernet. Wireless is only so good, I just find it too flakey to use all the time.

Looks good though, I wish I had a man cave that big, I just have a corner in my ever-cramped room full of junk.

 

[digger]

Don't forget the jams.


Just in case ya forget to lock the door.

The wife comes in with that "honey do" crap....

Just turn it up a notch or two.