Outhouse conversion

Barron2110

Barron2110

Barron2110

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Joined
27 Mar 2014
Posts
213
Location
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Hi Folks,

I've recently bought a house and moved in just under a month ago. Kids love it. Me and my partner love it. We have a 10ft x 11ft outhouse which I've managed to persuade my partner into letting me convert it into a man cave for me and my son. Well at least some of it as we need space for tumble dryer etc too. So I'm going to write a build log of the project and hopefully you guys will enjoy it as much as I do.

Few notes before I begin
1) Limited cash flow due to just buying a house...obvious... so for the most part a lot of this stuff will be upgradable over time. For now my misses just wants my PC out of the new living room. lol.
2)There's going to be a lot of first time stuff going on here. So it might not be of the highest quality. E.g Plasterboarding, plastering, fittings etc! Please bare that in mind :)
3) The outhouse was a old coal house that been extended and roof added etc..

So here's a few photo's after we spent a few hours cleaning the place out as it's dusty as hell...
Enterance
5l2g5i.jpg

Storage corner
2ih87z5.jpg

Man Cave section
2zsquf9.jpg

Utility Corner
e9ey49.jpg

 
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Before you get any permanent flooring down (and I mean carpet/laminate/lino whatever) decide whether you need to dig any channels in the concrete floor to run power cables, network cables (within the outhouse or link back to house and router) or TV/Virgin/Sky aerial from main house.
Also, if you're planning to heat it make sure it's well insulated but also weigh up the cost of aircon vs electric heating. I think it cost me about £800 for an aircon unit that both heats and cools. You might find the cost difference compared to sticking in convectors or storage heaters is not very much. Also, the theory is that it's cheaper to run as you're not creating the heat, merely pimping it in from outside. ...and you get a big grin in the hot summer :D
 
Luckily most of the work was done by the previous owner so all power cables etc are hidden bar where they run down the wall. The ethernet cable is gunna run from the house through in the roof so it will be hidden too. Also ill be using a plug in heater for now until funds become available. Might need some more lightning as one corner can be dark so will have to bare that in mind. As for flooring half of it is level and the other half hasnt been finished. So at some point ill need to try my hand at laying some concrete. Scary...

Edit: not sure why the photos are that huge either...weird..
 
If budget is an issue, first thing I would do is just paint the walls. Also paint the floor with a good floor paint. You can board it out later. Painting the walls will add a lot more light and give it a less industrial look for now.
It will be a sound echo chamber, so a nice rug and some sound absorbing pictures. http://www.instructables.com/id/Decorative-Sound-Absorbing-Panels/ on a budget fix.

I game in an old coal shed, sits within the foot print of the house. I could knock through and make it part of the living room, but the same as your wife, no PC in the living room.

Paint it, put up some pictures, do the floor. Add a desk, for now job done.

My thread, nothing much has changed, I added a small electric radiator for when it got cold. ALso upgraded the rig to 980Ti and a G-Sync monitor. oohhh how hard I regret not waiting for the 1080.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18651274
 
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Another thread that's going to leave me feeling totally jealous and wishing for my own hideaway space lol.

I reckon if you were to take a drill with a wire brush to the red brickwork (to clean it up and remove any messy cement) the bare red brickwork could give you the ultimate man cave finish. Combined with some oak type laminate flooring it could look really awesome :)
 
Worth checking whether there is any damp proof membrane installed too. At this stage you could lay a membrane and then some concrete over it to level. Much harder to do later and you don't want damp coming up and wrecking any carpet or laminate flooring you lay.
If you're on a budget you might be able to get away with painting some bituminous paint over the bare concrete.
 
Small update after yesterday's bank holiday DIY session. Seemed to achieve nothing, or what felt like nothing. After a skip run to clear out some of the junk. A few trips back and forth from Wickes to source some of the materials. Collecting tools from the parents that I haven't had a chance to move to the new house I eventually started around 3PM yesterday.

Slow and steady they say....

One bonus from starting in the back left corner is where the second sheet is on the left of the picture. It is directly in line with the old coal house wall keeping the ceiling up, which means putting up the compartment wall and separating the man cave from the storage will be less of a challenge. I am struggling a little with the un even brick work, but it's never going to be perfect considering the age etc. The extension that was built on the old structure should be a breeze to board.
Also re uploaded the images so they are a better size....thoughts??
5l2g5i.jpg
 
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Looking good so far. Your high-level power sockets will be good for monitor etc but do you not want to run an additional socket down to floor level (plus legal height from floor) to power the PC, speakers etc?

You can also mount the socket faceplate on the top of the plasterboard if you cut the hole smaller - optional of course.
One thing I'd recommend with plaster board is to draw a map of where your wood is with measurements from something you'll be able to see once it's complete. Really helpful if you want to put a shelf or a hook up later. Yes, in theory you can find them later with a stud finder, in practice, they're rubbish.
 
At the minute im only running a cosairs 250d case so plan was for it to be on the desk off the floor until i have a proper desk / flooring in place. But might be an idea to consider. At the minute i wasnt planning on mounting anything to the walll....but you may have given me an idea... haha
 
Barron2110 said:
i wasnt planning on mounting anything to the walll....but you may have given me an idea... haha
Click to expand...

Wall-mount your monitor to save some desk space?

I would reduce the size of your pics (I think the guidelines say about 800 pixels wide max) but not put them in spoiler tags as that's against the rules for project posts.
 
You'd need to edit the image to resize it and re-upload it. Cab be done in mspaint or for better features GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) which is free.
 
This is in the wrong area,this should be in the home and garden thread as this is a pc related thread and not diy.

I will get this moved.
 
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