Gonna have an entire finished basement to turn into a gun room.

[beeenbag]

So as the title says, the wife and I are buying a new home and I will have the privilege of a full finished basement, looks as if it was a "mother in law" suite before as it has a bathroom, full kitchen and such, all to my self for a "man cave"

3 of the rooms will be my main focus, the living room, the kitchen and the smaller, less finished "work room" that has shop benches and concrete floor, unfished walls and such.

I have considered either converting the kitchen into a reloading room and using the already installed cabinets and counter tops as my bench/shelving.

I also considered using the "work room" as a reloading and gun maintenance room and converting the kitchen into a bar of sorts with glass cabinet doors and such.

The livingroom portion obviously will be mainly gun memorabilia and hunting/fishing décor with my guitar and nascar stuff added in.

My question is, before I start making big changes, what would you guys suggest for the best use of all this newly acquired space for my hobbies?

What I don't want to do is jump in head first and get done or partially done and have regrets as to how I should have done it another way.

PS ( I can already feel the envy )

Edited to add pics of the kitchen and the living room. Didn’t have one of the “workroom”. The current furniture will be gone.

 

[drband]

Sounds great!

One thought, I would measure the humidity in the different rooms, particularly the unfinished room, to see if there is a relatively dry area. Basements are notorious for high humidity, especially unfinished areas. 55% or less relative humidity might work, though 50% is better. If the entire area is air-conditioned, then you are probably ok!

 

[beeenbag]

Sounds great!

One thought, I would measure the humidity in the different rooms, particularly the unfinished room, to see if there is a relatively dry area. Basements are notorious for high humidity, especially unfinished areas. 55% or less relative humidity might work, though 50% is better. If the entire area is air-conditioned, then you are probably ok!

yes, fortunately the entire basement is central heat and cooled. there are even small windows as the upper portion of the basement external walls are not covered in dirt, and the front wall of the basement is open and has a walkout door.

 

[JR24]

Nice!

 

[doubleh]

That sound very nice.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Congratulations on your new house.
A dehumidifier might be a good idea in the summer although the air con may be enough.
Have you considered a walk in safe? I included one when I built my house and it's my favorite room.

 

[beeenbag]

Congratulations on your new house.
A dehumidifier might be a good idea in the summer although the air con may be enough.
Have you considered a walk in safe? I included one when I built my house and it's my favorite room.

I have thought about this, and the "work room" would be a good candidate for it considering 3 of its 4 walls are block already.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I have thought about this, and the "work room" would be a good candidate for it considering 3 of its 4 walls are block already.

You wouldn't regret it and it makes climate control easy.

 

[beeenbag]

You wouldn't regret it and it makes climate control easy.

My only hesitation is the fireproofing. with ducts for AC/Heat, and the wooden subfloor as a ceiling, I imagine it would take a lot of work and money to make it any sort of fire rating at all.

 

[entropy]

Merely a pipe dream for me....my wife is a hoarder, er, avid collector. We still have a ton of stuff for Operation Christmas Child, and she no longer does that. I have one tiny little room for my gunsmithing/cleaning bench and my reloading bench. (And ammo, reloading supplies, etc.)

Enjoy setting up your 'man cave'!

 

[bearcreek]

My question is, before I start making big changes, what would you guys suggest for the best use of all this newly acquired space for my hobbies?

I'd get a better weight bench and a squat rack in there and hang a heavy bag. I'd love to have that much room for a home gym.

 

[beeenbag]

I'd get a better weight bench and a squat rack in there and hang a heavy bag. I'd love to have that much room for a home gym.

The weight bench isn't mine and will be gone when I take possession of the home, I hope anyways.

 

[bearcreek]

My only hesitation is the fireproofing. with ducts for AC/Heat, and the wooden subfloor as a ceiling, I imagine it would take a lot of work and money to make it any sort of fire rating at all.

A lot of "fireproof" safes get their rating from a couple layers of fire resistant drywall. You could use that. Wouldn't make it totally fireproof of course, the safes aren't either, but it would certainly make it more fire resistant I would think.

 

[courtgreene]

If your hesitation is fireproofing, and trust me, I get that, are you going to keep the guns outside of the house somewhere? In other words, having that room set up as a walk in safe seems to have no bearing on fires. If the guns are in the house and it burns, then the guns are still in the house and it is still burning. If you are otherwise keeping them in a fireproof safe and don't want to remove them from that to put them in a walk-in, then I suppose that makes sense. I suppose my confusion, as usual, comes from my not knowing all the details surrounding the issue.

 

[bearcreek]

Seems like a handy person could make a basement room like that quite fire resistant by using several layers of firecode drywall and sheet steel supported by steel joists. What are the rough dimensions of this room?

 

[beeenbag]

If your hesitation is fireproofing, and trust me, I get that, are you going to keep the guns outside of the house somewhere? In other words, having that room set up as a walk in safe seems to have no bearing on fires. If the guns are in the house and it burns, then the guns are still in the house and it is still burning. If you are otherwise keeping them in a fireproof safe and don't want to remove them from that to put them in a walk-in, then I suppose that makes sense. I suppose my confusion, as usual, comes from my not knowing all the details surrounding the issue.

Yes, I currently use fireproof safes, and will be adding another when I move, just didn't want to move it twice.

The idea of a fireproof safe, like I currently use, inside of a walk in safe just for the fire protection kinda takes away the attraction of the walk in safe for me.

 

[beeenbag]

Seems like a handy person could make a basement room like that quite fire resistant by using several layers of firecode drywall and sheet steel supported by steel joists. What are the rough dimensions of this room?

dimensions of the smaller work room is roughly 12x24

 

[bearcreek]

dimensions of the smaller work room is roughly 12x24

It'd be expensive for sure. Probably have $5K+ in C channel and sheet steel alone. Add block for the fourth wall, a steel door and the drywall and you'd be looking at serious money. Be a real nice setup if you could afford it though.

 

[beeenbag]

It'd be expensive for sure. Probably have $5K+ in C channel and sheet steel alone. Add block for the fourth wall, a steel door and the drywall and you'd be looking at serious money. Be a real nice setup if you could afford it though.

Yeah, buying the home, new furniture, and all expenses leading up to the purchase, I'm probably not looking to drop 10k on a project that I wouldn't even be able to finish on my own for 8-10 months lol. I work out of town and only home every other weekend most of the time.

 

[BSA1]

Sounds great!

One thought, I would measure the humidity in the different rooms, particularly the unfinished room, to see if there is a relatively dry area. Basements are notorious for high humidity, especially unfinished areas. 55% or less relative humidity might work, though 50% is better. If the entire area is air-conditioned, then you are probably ok!

Basements are also notorious for flooding such as when the sump pump quits working while you are out of town for the weekend.

I would remove all of the carpet and replace with floor tile or paint of your choice. There are some really nice epoxy concrete floor paint that can be custom colored.

...there are even small windows as the upper portion of the basement external walls are not covered in dirt, and the front wall of the basement is open and has a walkout door.

The windows and especially the walkout door are features that require additional security. Remember with walk-out door thieves can walk-in. I would replace it with a steel clad door and maybe the frame using long screws and long dead bolt locks.

You still need a gun safe. Speaking from experience get one at least twice as big as your think you will ever need...

NO just get the biggest one you can get in the basement. Safes can hold much more than guns...cameras, jewelry, important papers.

edit...I see that you already have a gun safe. I would still add another large one.

Set the safe on a platform several inches high. Remember my comment about basements flooding. Keep the safe high enough off of the floor so water never reaches it.

I am surmising that you don't have kids or grandkids so the basement is really exclusively yours.

 

[beeenbag]

Basements are also notorious for flooding such as when the sump pump quits working while you are out of town for the weekend.

I would remove all of the carpet and replace with floor tile or paint of your choice. There are some really nice epoxy concrete floor paint that can be custom colored.



The windows and especially the walkout door are features that require additional security. Remember with walk-out door thieves can walk-in. I would replace it with a steel clad door and maybe the frame using long screws and long dead bolt locks.

You still need a gun safe. Speaking from experience get one at least twice as big as your think you will ever need...

NO just get the biggest one you can get in the basement. Safes can hold much more than guns...cameras, jewelry, important papers.

Set the safe on a platform several inches high. Remember my comment about basements flooding. Keep the safe high enough off of the floor so water never reaches it.

I am surmising that you don't have kids or grandkids so the basement is really exclusively yours.

Awesome thoughts. I do have gun safes, and as I said, will be acquiring another as my collection continues to grow and I'm already out of room.

I prefer the "multiple smaller safes" over one large safe. Id rather move smaller ones several times if need be than to deal with heavy equipment for a very large one. plus, thieves would have to break into more than one safe to have access to all of my goods rather than one and done.

I love the raised platform idea, hadn't thought of that, should also provide a way to add extra security (securing to the floor) as well, if thought out.

I do have kids but the main level is plenty large enough for them to have their own rooms play rooms. So yes, it will be exclusively mine, but I will still be having precautions in place in case one of the kids sneaks away from mommy.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I have thought about this, and the "work room" would be a good candidate for it considering 3 of its 4 walls are block already.

Man if you can afford to finish it off and harden it, you gotta go vault!

A panic room/short term shelter is a great addition to any home, and you already have the makings. I'd probably have the vault door installed, and then talk to contractors about what it would take to reinforce the ceiling also. I'm not talking nuclear fallout prepper crap, just a fantastic tornado shelter/emergency supply and gun room.

 

[bannockburn]

beeenbag

Sounds like a great start to having your own "man cave"! Something else to be concerned about (along with flooding and high humidity), especially in a basement setting, is radon gas. If you 're planning on spending a lot of time down in you basement you might want to have it checked for radon gas.

 

[beeenbag]

beeenbag

Sounds like a great start to having your own "man cave"! Something else to be concerned about (along with flooding and high humidity), especially in a basement setting, is radon gas. If you 're planning on spending a lot of time down in you basement you might want to have it checked for radon gas.

can you expand on this? I have never even had this thrown out to me as something to consider.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

bannockburn is correct. Radon gas is a radioactive gas that is colorless and odorless and can seep up into basements through cracks in rock and soil. It can accumulate in basements and lead to cancer if over exposure happens. If a radon check wasn't part of the home inspection, you should get it tested, especially if you will spend significant time down there.