Sim room 2020 - Time to get serious

[abirdie4me]

I started building out my Sim room about 4 years ago, but work/family/money got in the way of me ever finishing it. It was functional, but not attractive. My kids are now getting old enough to show interest in golf, so I decided to tear it down and start from scratch. Here is the original room:



A couple of notes:

• The studs on the left and right walls don't line up, so I nailed up some 2x4's so I could hang the screen flat. I thought I would be building a box around them to cover the tarp clips, but eventually realized this approach wasn't going to work. So I left it looking like this for 4 years (LOL).
• The CCE mat has taken a beating and I've never really had elbow or wrist issues that some mention. Still dumping it and upgrading to something else.
• We built the house 6 years ago and had this space above the garage intentionally designed for a golf room. We had them put in the cheapest carpet they had because I thought I would be ripping it up as soon as we moved in...whoops.
• The mat slides all over the place, hence the 2x4's on the ground.
• Note the black marks in the middle of the screen. Rookie mistake, I hung a black backing directly behind the screen and it stained the screen over time. Sigh.
• The GC2 has been awesome, too bad Foresight software is so horrible. I only use FSX range, TGC1 and TGC 2019 for SIM play

[abirdie4me]

Next up is putting these foam acoustic panels up behind the screen, they probably won’t help anything but I already have them laying around and don’t have another use for them.

[kmallery]

Looks awesome man. Glad to hear you got your screen early from Par2Pro. I ordered mine a month ago and it still hasn't even shipped. Driving me crazy as it's all I'm waiting on...

[abirdie4me]

Email Cory and Denise, they have been very responsive for me.

[abirdie4me]

Basic screen frame is up, need to put in some braces so the individual pieces are straight. I’m waiting on black velvet fabric from Joann’s to cover the frame, hope to get that in soon.





The tarp clips now bang against the wood when I hit the screen, so will need to put some sort of rubber or fabric between the wood and the tarp clips. The devil is in the details.

[SkeetShooter]

You could use those foam panels if you have any left and put those against the back of the wood panels you installed. I imagine that would work just fine.

[abirdie4me]

I thought about that, but they aren’t quite the correct size. I also want to use black velvet so that it absorbs reflections, which will help give the best image I can get out of this setup. Frustrating to have to wait for everything to come in, but I want to do it right this time.

*EDIT* - I misunderstood your comment. That’s a good idea, I’ll see if I can use those to stop the banging of the clips against the wood. I have a few left over, not sure if they will be durable enough. Thanks for the idea!

[abirdie4me]

There is a bedroom on the other side of the wall to the left, I’m thinking of making a small door from the bedroom to behind the screen. Problem is, it would be tiny. Does anyone know if you can do an 18” wide door?

[SkeetShooter]

You can absolutely do a door like that. Many older homes have doors this wide (I owned a 1911 3 family that had several of these doors) They were closet doors and not pass throughs. My question is why do you want to put a door there? Perhaps I missed the intent of why you would want that. Can't you make adjustments from the front? Or is it because of the wood panels are permanantly screwed on there not allowing easy adjustment?

Either way, I don't think a door is the right solution. I think making the panels removable would be a better use of time and resourcse.

[abirdie4me]

The panels are permanent, and I also need to attach the screen to the floor because it is a big mess right now. Once it is attached on all 4 sides, getting to it to make adjustments will be very difficult. Also, I have enough area back there to use as a small storage area, although I haven’t decided if I want to use it for that.

I found some 18” pre-hung doors on Home Depot website, but wouldn’t be delivered until July. I’ll keep researching, haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet.

[abirdie4me]

Here is a view from behind the screen, looking toward the wall with the bedroom on the other side. I have 24” between back wall and screen supports, so after framing for a door I’m guessing I couldn’t get more than an 18” door in there. Will think it over, would be really nice to have easy access to adjust the screen when needed. (Sorry, can’t figure out how to rotate the image...screen is on the left).

[abirdie4me]

Fiberbuilt hitting strip came in today, looks like the height will be perfect to align with my exercise mat / TFD turf. Here are some pictures in case anyone else is considering this insert.

[jasonreg]

I have this same insert as part of the combo mat. It is excellent IMO.

[abirdie4me]

Got the sprinkler head moved, once my fabric comes in I’ll finally be able to put up the padding around the screen area and move on to the floor. Slow and steady!

[abirdie4me]

Decided to build the door behind the screen, will need an electrician to come move some wires.

[abirdie4me]

Opening between the 2 outer studs is 23.5 inches, I think I can get a 20” door in there!

[abirdie4me]

Starting the subfloor....to trough or not to trough, that is the question.

[abirdie4me]

Ran out of screws so the cross supports aren’t attached yet, but the long 2x4s are down. I decided to not go with a trough, it would make the build more difficult and I’m not sure I would like using it anyway. I could always add it later, but if I did it now I would be stuck with it (turf cuts, etc.).

[abirdie4me]

A bit of a delay as I wait for the black velvet to come in to cover the screen frame. The subfloor is basically ready for the plywood, I just need to find a friend with a truck that can help me get it home from Lowe’s. I made a ‘kick plate’ that sits at the beginning of the room that will cover the front edge of the raised floor. It was more work than expected, but I think it came out looking pretty good. I have training for work the next 2 days, so probably won’t make any progress until the weekend. Still waiting on an electrician to come move the wires so I can put in the door behind the screen, not sure when that will happen. I’ll probably just knock out the small section below the wires so I can crawl through for a while, that way I can go ahead and finish the subfloor and screen frame.



There are 96 cross braces between the main studs...overkill, I know. But I had a bunch of scrap 2x4s taking up space in my garage anyway, so I figured I might as well put them to good use. The subfloor should be rock solid after the next 1000 screws, no squeaking is a requirement!

[wbond]

Coming along very nicely. Backs gonna be sore after that many screws!!

[abirdie4me]

Back is killing me! Taking a couple days off, will get back after it this weekend.

[abirdie4me]

Started working on putting the velvet around the screen frame. I’m using a foam mattress topper between the frame and the bungees to keep the tarp clips from banging into the wood every time I hit a shot. I hope it works, really don’t want to put these up and then have to take it back down to redo it.

[Dax]

Looks great. I do have one worry though about the wood screen frame and if an errant shot might bounce back? Suspect you have thought of this, but did want to check.