Retired, now. Finances seem to be in pretty good shape. Time to do something about that nasty, really poorly-done, spider-infested room in the corner of the basement.

Yes, it's time to create my Man Cave

Knowing me, SWMBO was concerned it would get out of hand. "Nah," sez I, confidently. "I'll do most of the work myself. Couple thou, max. Maybe three."

Project green-lighted.

So far there's $550 in glass block replacements for the three old windows. Got $700 in ceiling tile material and carpet squares sitting in the garage. Looking at paying an HVAC guy $450-$500 to "raise" the heating duct and cold air return. (I'm tall.) Estimate $400 in insulation, wood and wallboard for the walls. $200 for a rotary hammer drill and another $50 for an angle grinder.

Coincidentally, there's $2k. There'll probably be another couple hundred in incidentals. Then there's the reloading bench. But I'm still more-or-less w/in budget.

Then this shows up when I remove the visquene-backed-cheap-panelling-tacked-to-poorly-anchored-1x3s that was on the walls...



*sigh* I could have known. And, unlike the other crack: This one's obviously occasionally leaking water.

Just signed a contract to have it, and another crack I've been meaning to address since I bought the house, remediated. Five epoxied staples per crack to stabilize them and high-pressure polyurethane injection sealing in each: $1300.00.

That is not "mission creep" and does not come out of the "man cave" budget! That is just a newly discovered routine maintenance item. You still have $1k to spend on the cave by my calcs. It's in the bylaws...

I agree with Strambo, routine household maintenance, you're well within budget!

If you had not started your man cave you would have never noticed that extreme danger to your home. I mean the whole thing could cave in.

You can convert a used fridge into a multi-tap kegerator for well under $1k btw. Just sayin'...

quote:

Originally posted by Strambo:
That is not "mission creep" and does not come out of the "man cave" budget! That is just a newly discovered routine maintenance item. You still have $1k to spend on the cave by my calcs. It's in the bylaws...

This is the correct analysis. Thank goodness you started your project and discovered this crack.

Everyone is RIGHT!!

This crack repair must come out of the normal day to day financing for "Upkeep of Domicile".

That is the rules.

Not only that, but you deserve a bonus for finding this fixable problem! Say an extra grand in the Man Cave budget so you can continue your mission to improve the "sustainability" of your home.

Interestingly enough, my wife, who I love more than life, itself, said "That's not a Man Cave expense. It'd be there either way. It's a good thing you're doing the Man Cave, or we might not have found it."

I don't deserve that woman

Still: An unexpected and unwelcome expense.

^^^^^She's a keeper^^^^^

Take that woman out for a lavish dinner.

Not finding that would have allowed it to deteriorate causing more damage at a larger repair cost so I would submit that your man cave actually has saved you money.

You should extrapolate that savings over time and add the projected gains into the budget for the man cave.

OR you could've just bought a really fancy kegerator and put it in front of the crack.

Out of sight, out of mind!

Blessing in disguise, as whatever amount is spent on that wall section technically is routine maintenance and not man cave expenditure. Be sure to deduct that amount from SWMBO's budget oversight!

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
Not finding that would have allowed it to deteriorate causing more damage at a larger repair cost so I would submit that your man cave actually has saved you money.

You should extrapolate that savings over time and add the projected gains into the budget for the man cave.

Sounded eminently reasonable to me, so I put that argument to the family CFO...

She gave me a steady look, laughed and said "Nice try"

Most of that shouldn't count against the man cave budget. It's repairs that needed to be made anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
Not finding that would have allowed it to deteriorate causing more damage at a larger repair cost so I would submit that your man cave actually has saved you money.

You should extrapolate that savings over time and add the projected gains into the budget for the man cave.

Sounded eminently reasonable to me, so I put that argument to the family CFO...

She gave me a steady look, laughed and said "Nice try"

Really? You threw my line of bullshit out on the table? Either you aren't very bright or you are just desperate.

Fortunately it sounds like she thought you were just making a joke.

NEVER EVER take anything we say here seriously. We say this shit here because we know better than to try saying it at home. 9 years here I just assumed you knew better.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
Not finding that would have allowed it to deteriorate causing more damage at a larger repair cost so I would submit that your man cave actually has saved you money.

You should extrapolate that savings over time and add the projected gains into the budget for the man cave.

Sounded eminently reasonable to me, so I put that argument to the family CFO...

She gave me a steady look, laughed and said "Nice try"

Really? You threw my line of bullshit out on the table? Either you aren't very bright or you are just desperate.

Fortunately it sounds like she thought you were just making a joke.

That's because I clearly was just making a joke.

Even after 25 years of marriage she can't always tell. This time she could tell

Sounds like a great woman. Congrats on 25 years of marriage!

Keep posting pics of the man cave as it progresses. I have plenty of unfinished space in the basement myself.... and could use the ideas.

Remember, most of this is a home improvement that adds to the resale value of the house so it should be considered an investment.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Sounds like a great woman. Congrats on 25 years of marriage!

Thanks! She is. Better than I deserve--that's for sure.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Keep posting pics of the man cave as it progresses. I have plenty of unfinished space in the basement myself.... and could use the ideas.

I'm probably not going to do that and here's why: Maybe it's coincidence, but, whenever I do a project and document the progress in pictures, Things Go Wrong. Sometimes Horribly Wrong. Dunno why. It just is.

So I'll take some, but only at the completion of major milestones. Mostly to document what things look like in the areas that will be covered.

I do wish I'd remembered to take a couple pictures of the room after I emptied it but before I started demo'ing it. The sheer crappiness of the job the original homeowner did had to be seen to be appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Remember, most of this is a home improvement that adds to the resale value of the house so it should be considered an investment.

That has occurred to me.

This will actually be quite a nice room when it's all done, I think.