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  • Sunken Basement?

    Has anyone sawcut a portion of the basement to increase available depth? Just wondered if anyone is willing to share what the approximate cost might be.

    I would prefer to have no swing restrictions for anyone who may use the sim, right or left-handed. I currently have 8'-8" clear to underside of joists in the basement. Joists are 10" deep. Modifying the joists still wouldn't be enough height for a full swing with driver, after adding sound attenuation to the ceiling and hitting mat.

    So, I'm looking at digging out the basement between the hitting area & the screen. I have an available egress window that could be utilized to remove concrete/dirt.

    I'd like to cut an area approximately 15' wide (I'm right-handed, my son is left-handed so I'll proceed with a double wide mat with center ball strike location) x 13' long. I would add approximately 18" (293 cubic feet of concrete/dirt to remove), giving me approximately 10'-2" clear height. Anything deeper than that might look out of place, won't mesh well with the rest of the basement. I'll lose a good 6-8" of that with sound protection & sub-floor/hitting surface. I'd end up with approximately 9'6" clear swing height.

    I don't have a bunch of sim experience. I'm looking at the protee system. Does that area seem like enough area for a double wide hitting mat? I will make it thinner than 15' if possible, so what would be the minimum? 9'-6" seems to be the minimum ceiling height in other threads around here. There would be 2 stairs down to the hitting area, so standing 10' from the screen, with 13' total length between the screen and the edge of the sunken area, I think I'd still be able to clear the stairs.

    Thanks, looking forward to the experts' feedback.

  • #2
    It's been done. You need to look at another forum, ottawa golf forum, go to home simulator hardware tab and then to the post simulator setup pictures. See page 6. It's called the little dig. Quite impressive!

    15' wide should work centering the hitting zone. Don't think you want to go any smaller on the width. Need to make sure you don't hit the rise on the backswing though.

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    • #3
      I remembered someone doing this and I found his posts from 2013 on the Ottawa Forum. See link. Read Steven's posts. He did an amazing job. Cost around 9k for the digging he said, but maybe you could cut that down if u did some yourself. Good Luck and post pics. Fun to watch guys do the builds.

      **** link removed
      US - Eastern Time Zone

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      • #4
        Just saw the link was removed. Go to simulator setup pictures page 11.
        US - Eastern Time Zone

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        • #5
          Thanks Guys, great information, and good to see some of the obstacles others have come across when proceeding with this type of project.

          I'm still in the earliest of planning, making sure I have an accurate budget, and have exhausted all scenarios before moving forward with the dig. It will be a while, but I will continue to lurk here to help decide the remainder of the setup. Once I move forward, I'll be sure to post pics.

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          • #6
            I thought long and hard about digging down myself. Ultimately I decided the risk of jeopardizing the foundation of the house and potential water problems was not worth it. Happy with the garage setup.

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            • #7
              I agree with Rambo especially on the potential water problems. At 18" deep you are below the drainage system for the house. Presumably a dedicated drainage setup with a sump pump would make it feasible (extra $) but I don't know for sure.

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              • #8
                Bringing this up again. I would absolutely love to do this in one of my basement rooms. I saw the pictures on ottawa golf of the 'little dig' and very cool. Anyone else have any input on this? If I could get this done for 5-9k I would do it in a second.

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                • Frozen Rope
                  Frozen Rope commented
                  Editing a comment
                  As mentioned I'm doing it as we speak. I am performing the majority of the labour. I had the cement company cut the pit. They will then come back and complete 2 pours (walls and then floor). They almost killed themselves cutting the floor outline due to carbon monoxide but I digress. I rented a jackhammer and a large waste bucket to hold the cement floor that I broke up. It took me 20 hours of back breaking labour to jackhammer and remove the cement floor. I carried it in pieces from the basement up to the garage and then used a wheel barrow to put it in the dumpster. The area removed was 10' x 17' with the concrete being 5" thick and it was done as a bench pinning . Today I put in another 5 hours of hard labour removing sand with another fellow helping me. We were able to remove approx. 1/3 of the sand using 5 gallon pails. We are going down 29" to get the finished ceiling height to 10'. One person filled and carried them upstairs and the other person took it from the garage and wheel barrowed it into the lake. I'm' fortunate that I live on water and don't need to put the sand in the dumpster. Tomorrow I have a couple of young guys from my gym coming. I'm hoping that with 3 of us that we can get the remainder removed within a 6 to 8 hour day. I was quoted $70 per man hour for construction people to do it. I am paying these young guys $25 per hour and they are happy to do it. I'm in my 50's, so these guys have no excuses that it's too hard. It is really hard work, and unless you are in good shape I wouldn't tackle it on your own. So I figure there will be 54 to 70 man hours to do all of the excavation. The cost of the dumpster is $500 all in. $200 for the jackhammer rental. I will probably have $500 tied up in a plumber to put in a sump pump and then the big O and gravel (say $200). Last but not least will be the cement work which will be at a premium because of the labour to get it into the basement by hand. I'm speculating on $4000 to $5000 for cement. I have been taking pictures of the project and will post them and final costs when I am done. If you were to do the majority of the work you will come in well under $10k. Hiring it out will put you at the top of your budget or just slightly over.

                • Joko
                  Joko commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Thanks for that information! It's great to have so I can do a little cost comparison, although not sure where you live. I would probably be up for doing some excavation myself, but realistically not sure if I would have the time with a 6 month old. I'm outside of Kansas City in a suburbs and will get some quotes in the coming months.

              • #9
                I don't recall seeing any others, but if you're serious, I would call some places now, concrete people may be looking for some inside work during the winter. Might get a better price in the offseason.
                Originally posted by Joko View Post
                Bringing this up again. I would absolutely love to do this in one of my basement rooms. I saw the pictures on ottawa golf of the 'little dig' and very cool. Anyone else have any input on this? If I could get this done for 5-9k I would do it in a second.

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                • #10
                  Google "bench underpin". I underpinned and recommend it to get your ceiling hight. It's not a big deal if you're not messing with the foundation.
                  My Courses:
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                  Muirfield Village (liDAR) First Ever Lidar course
                  Country Club of Castle Pines (liDAR)
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                  • #11
                    Click image for larger version

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ID:	55764 Here are some pictures. We poured the walls today The floor will be poured tomorrow. I went down 26" to bring my ceiling height to 10 feet. It is hard work but I will enjoy using it even more because of that. Click image for larger version

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                    • #12
                      Yikes! Is 10 feet wde enough? Lots of work but I'm a little leery of the pit's width. Hope it works out.

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                      • #13
                        I was thinking the same, but if you hit the ball centered in the opening, by the time the club gets behind you, it should be above the height of the pit. Depends on where steps will be as well.

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                        • #14
                          10 feet wide will make it feel like a....pit... Might take some getting used to but i suppose workable.

                          Wondering about your sump pump system. Do you have backup in case power fails? In high season I wonder how long before it floods if the sump fails?

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                          • #15
                            There are no issues with the 10 foot width. Because it's a bench design and the room is 16 feet wide it feels wide open. You easily clear the wall both back and forth without a thought. The left handers get the steps (LOL) but the are also not in the way. I put in the sump even though we are still more than a foot above the water table which is really high right now. I didn't put in a back up as I wont leave anything of value in the pit when we are not playing. The floor and steps are being poured as a type this.

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                            • FaultyClubs
                              FaultyClubs commented
                              Editing a comment
                              I made a 10 fit width area by scattering boxes and chairs around. Probably mostly 1.5 feet high rather than your 2 but yeah, it seemed OK.
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