JonH's Simulator

[sulli182]

I had roughly 1/3 of my basement sunk 2 extra feet in a new build to accommodate for my sim. My builder told me that for any part of the basement that extends more than 10 feet deep it requires 12 inch walls (my sim room has 11 foot ceilings). So basically the only thing they did extra was make the walls thicker in the basement pour

[Pickled]

Dax, I will definitely see what we can do to avoid any ducts. My theater is next to my basement furnace room and runs will need to go to the other end of the house. I think 10' should be fine but any chance I can get steal a couple inches I will.

[Dax]

Can you see if there is a way for them to run the duct through the joists? 10 feet for a six footer shout be plenty though.

[Pickled]

As in drill into your floor? Now there's an adventure. I would think your slab is 4ish inches thick so you'd be getting close to dirt. Plus you'd be playing the lottery for running into rebar or something like that....maybe a screen of some type?

Would the high density foam be in the form of the interlocking tiles that a lot of members used for their floors? You can get different thicknesses, I think, and that would assist in getting your desired 3 inch holes.

Jon in American Fork

Interlocking foam is exactly what I'm thinking. As for the holes in the floor, I'm building a house and they are just starting the footings. They will likely be pouring the floor within 2 weeks. I know precisely where my cups would go so maybe there's a way to do it now. I'm going to talk to my builder about it. It would be way too risky after the floor is poured.

[JonH59]

Good to know about the net. I have a call with par2pro on Wednesday so I will add it to my list of questions. There's no question a real cup would be ideal. I will have 10' if there needs to be a duct run through the simulator or 10' 7" if I don't so it will be a game time decision for that one. I'm 6' and my golf buddies are even taller so the more height the better at this point. I actually just got a brilliant idea as I typed this... Someone must have done this before. I wonder if I can put 3 "mock" drain holes in the concrete floor. If I can get them even 3" deep that would suffice. I can do 1" high density foam under the turf. That might work to save some height. Seeing the ball drop would be so much better. Thanks for sparking the idea.

As in drill into your floor? Now there's an adventure. I would think your slab is 4ish inches thick so you'd be getting close to dirt. Plus you'd be playing the lottery for running into rebar or something like that....maybe a screen of some type?

Would the high density foam be in the form of the interlocking tiles that a lot of members used for their floors? You can get different thicknesses, I think, and that would assist in getting your desired 3 inch holes.

Jon in American Fork

[Pickled]

Hey Pickled,

The net behind the screen is something that I'd recommend if your budget will allow it. From what I've read it will (should) extend the life of your screen as well as sharpen the image due to the black color. And my sub-floor served the two purposes of getting my slab flat AND allowing me to put in 'real' cups (when I finally do it). I think it will be more satisfying to see the ball drop in a cup. Plus, the hole being 1/4 inch smaller in diameter may make the holes out on the course look huge. Well....maybe larger.

Jon in American Fork

Good to know about the net. I have a call with par2pro on Wednesday so I will add it to my list of questions. There's no question a real cup would be ideal. I will have 10' if there needs to be a duct run through the simulator or 10' 7" if I don't so it will be a game time decision for that one. I'm 6' and my golf buddies are even taller so the more height the better at this point. I actually just got a brilliant idea as I typed this... Someone must have done this before. I wonder if I can put 3 "mock" drain holes in the concrete floor. If I can get them even 3" deep that would suffice. I can do 1" high density foam under the turf. That might work to save some height. Seeing the ball drop would be so much better. Thanks for sparking the idea.

[JonH59]

For RJBoogie and docsmilez, I finally got the putting green material name. It's Park Central Oasis Indoor-Outdoor Premium Artificial Grass Turf. I put a link to a place to buy it in the parts page, NOT the place that I used. The guys that did the install for me are local and only have a couple shops around me.

Hope that helps,
Jon in American Fork

[JonH59]

Hey Pickled,

The net behind the screen is something that I'd recommend if your budget will allow it. From what I've read it will (should) extend the life of your screen as well as sharpen the image due to the black color. And my sub-floor served the two purposes of getting my slab flat AND allowing me to put in 'real' cups (when I finally do it). I think it will be more satisfying to see the ball drop in a cup. Plus, the hole being 1/4 inch smaller in diameter may make the holes out on the course look huge. Well....maybe larger.

Jon in American Fork

[Pickled]

Thanks for the response Jon. When my foundation is and framing is done I will take a look at my remaining height. I would ideally like to do a subfloor for proper cups in the green but I may just go with the net return cup. I tried one today when I was looking at Rymar turf and it might be good enough for the kids to play around with. I have heard of a lot of people putting a net behind the screens, I will definitely investigate more. Happy hitting!

[dudley286]

Awesome build out and thank you for the great write up!!! Enjoy retirement as it is the greatest thing ever!!

[JonH59]

Hi Pickeled,

Thanks for the nice comments. And retirement is GREAT! I went directly form high school to tech school to working with no periods of time off or goofing off. So after 42 years, it's AWESOME.

I tee the ball up at 10 feet from my screen. I can move that around still as my hitting mat isn't permanently installed yet but the Hawk likes to know distances. Because of that, if I move my tee around, I'll have to move the Hawk too. (And THAT ain't happening.) And, with my tee at 10 feet, the Hawk looks at an area of about 18 inches square where the ball needs to be so that it can 'see' it.

My screen is 8 inches from the wall. I picked 8 because of the many forum members that had success with 8. I bet I could move it to 4 and still have no issues. With the West Coast net that's behind the screen - right up against it - there's very little deflection of the impact screen.

We actually were thinking of using self leveling concrete. There was a corner area that was about 2 inches low that I thought would take 4 bags alone! I think that I was the one who said 'no' to the concrete. I still wanted (a little) cushion from OSB, so I figured I'd be putting that down anyway and I also did leveling concrete before and though it worked, I didn't care for the finished product. And, the shimming job didn't take all that long, really. I bet we did the whole area in under 90 minutes. Was my way cheaper? Maybe. If I remember right, my BIL did some math and we would have had to get a bunch of bags of the concrete....like maybe $300 worth?

Hi Mikeingp,

Thanks for the nice comments.

Yes, I'm disappointed with the image. And, yes, I've read a little about Reshade and I think that'll be my next adventure. The folks down in the Foresight forum are starting a rumor that the next version of FSX will address the less than stellar graphics. Quite a few guys from down there use FSX only for practice and another software for play and describe the FSX graphics as being from an 8 year old Playstation. (HAH!!) I can only use FSX for the Hawk....wait, that's not true now. E6 Connect now works with Foresight stuff. Hmmmm. Christmas is coming.

Hello RJBoogie,

Thanks for the nice comments.

Yeah, I totally dropped the ball on the type of putting surface. I was looking at the typical surfaces that many forum members have been installing but the cost of some of them were crazy! Almost on a whim, I asked the carpet guy about a putting green surface. He didn't even blink and told me of a few houses in our area that he installed putting greens for. REALLY? He then set me up with a large piece to test out. I said yes and it magically appeared. Unfortunately, I have no clue what he installed and at the time I wasn't even thinking about doing the write-up so I didn't ask. If you really want to know, I can contact them and ask.

Hi docsmilez,

I actually am planning on cutting into the floor and making the Fiberbuilt mat flush. I have at least 2-1/4 inches worth of floor thickness and my mat is 1-1/2 inches thick so I'll only have to make up a filler piece of about 3/4 inches. If I recall right, the area where the mat is was not the high point so it'll be a little more than 3/4 inches that I'll have to fill in. But that's no big deal. I have a table saw and wood glue!

If you're thinking about two large mats over concrete, does that mean that you will finish with an elevated hitting/putting area? And, if you go with the large Fiberbuilt mats, keep in mind that they come with these very thick and very heavy rubber bases that have edges that project out a short distance. I'll guess these rubber pieces are to help hold the mat in place? I tossed mine in a second. The good news is I now have a nice rectangular piece to fit down into my floor in the future. The bad news is that the corners of the mat curve up just a teeny bit. If you were to put two of these mats next to each other, you might have to consider some kind of fasteners to hold down the mats and make them perfectly flat.

Maybe.

And, if you also want to know what I have for a putting green, I'll contact the people today and try to find out.

Thanks again for all the nice comments. I hope I answered all the questions. If not, I'll try to do better next time.

Jon in American Fork

[docsmilez]

curious about the turf too. And also curious as to why you didn't build the fiberbuilt into the subfloor? Im debating on a fiberbuilt station but It looks like I will have to buy 2 large mats since I cant build mine into the floor (concrete). This way the put will roll and not just drop off the mat right away.

[RJBoogie]

Awesome write up! One thing I did not see in the links or build progress is, which putting green turf did you go with?

[mikeingp]

JonH59 Wow, great build! You noted the image quality isn't what you had hoped for...do you have reshade installed? if not, I would highly recommend.

[Pickled]

Wow JonH59

So, that being the case, I have to ask, when they did that dig down (2') in your basement, when they were doing construction. Did they have to do anything special around the edges of the 'dug out' area? I'm asking because in my past research, talking to concrete/foundation guys, and with others (up here on forum) that had this done, they always seem to run into this point where the outer edges (on the outside of your house, or near an area where there are footings, or post/beams) - have to be propped up in some way, either with an 8" edge, and 1' depth added below where you currently need the floor... This often involves rebar, and drilling, and back-filling the area. Did they have to do that with your new construction?
-Brett

Hi Brett,

I believe Jon is right that different areas have different building codes. What I can tell you, is that there is an excavator at my property right now digging up my new build. I am doing 10' ceilings throughout so I will have 9'6" flat ceilings with no duct bulkheads. I'm going an extra 18" inches in my theater room and an extra 8" where my simulator will be. In Canada, there is no need for curbs or bench footings. You need bench footings when you are digging an existing basement deeper and that's to support your foundation walls. You don't need that with new construction.

Jon,

Excellent build!! Great writeup. Really helpful for many people. .

Couple questions...

1) How far is your hitting surface from the screen?
2) How far from the wall is your screen? It looks to be 1-2" with the angle iron
3) Your floor levelling worked but did you consider, self levelling concrete for that small area? Would have taken up the same or less space and would have been much easier.

Awesome build and congrats on the retirement!!