The planning and built of My Gameroom

[ckong]

I dont know how far the shed will be located from the house, but maybe its efficient to put one of these isolated pipes in the ground from your existing central heating system.

this is what i put between my friends house and his garage for the heater (he converted his garage to a office)

Never thought of it. But the distance between my house and the shed will be appr. 35 meters. Would it work? I do have a heating system which at the moment is a bit too powerful, so it could have some additonal load.

[level42]

I agree with Petieken: Of the electrical variants, the oil version is probably the "most" efficient. But it's still WAY more expensive then connecting your central heating (which I assume you have) in your house.

I am also planning (I should have long done before winter....) to do it this way. It's the only cost-efficient way.
It depends on how far your shed will be from your house of course.

Also, there is one drawback when connecting it to the central heating: It will go on and off together with your (clock)thermostat. This may mean it will be colder in the gameroom than you want. Or it is heating it when you don't want it.
There may well be solutions for that though but they're pretty expensive.

[level42]

35 meters is pretty long. I'm not sure if that would be possible. Think you should ask someone who is in the Central Heating business (I will ask my neighbor when I see him, he has a "loodgieters" business and will do my heating next spring....

Here's a description how it is done:

http://www.gamma.com/stappenplanDetails.html?i=450

You will have to dig at least 60cm deep all the way to keep the leads below the frost area. I did that with the small digging machine you probably saw in my gameroom thread on BYOAC.

No fun to do 35m. 60cm. deep by hand !!

[Etienne MacGyver]

well 35 meters is possible i think, maybe you need to put a little extra pressure in the system, like 2 bar instead of the usual 1.7-1.8

if i calculate the way from my friends Nefit to the attic radiator in his house (the Nefit is in his garage) i think he will be close to the 35 meters of pipe and the attic is more than warm enough.

investigate at a CV proffessional i would suggest.

the problem with too hot because of the central heating thermostate located in the house you can simply  solve by putting thermostatic valves so it will stop heating when the room hits the preset temperature.

too low temperature is more dificult to overcome, but i think its just to prevent freezing temperatures in your shed.

for the digging, i read somewhere that it dont need to be so deep because of the good isolation the pipes have...
but in my friends house we digg also something like 60 cm deep.

for the energy bill this is the most efficient i think.

the costs of renting a digger is not so much in comparation with a complete build. and payed back by the energy bill that will be lower than the electricity bill

goodluck !

[petieken]

the problem with too hot because of the central heating thermostate located in the house you can simply  solve by putting thermostatic valves so it will stop heating when the room hits the preset temperature.

too low temperature is more dificult to overcome, but i think its just to prevent freezing temperatures in your shed.

I think too low temperature can be overcome by oversizing the radiators. But of course this means losing more wall space inside the shed too less cabs.

[ckong]

guys, that is serious useful information about the heat pipes and all. I sure will investigate this further. And the fact that I already need a digger (Bobcat) for the foundation and the concrete floor makes it more easy because I don't have to dig a groove by hand 

[Etienne MacGyver]

yeah, and also i was thinking you need to dig anyway to get electricity to the shed, and a good way to do that is 60 cm or more deep 

[ckong]

I now got 3 offers from 3 shed builders. I will check and value them this week, plan visits with these builders for next week and then make my decision which shed and which builder it will be. Exciting.    I hope that I can hand in my building permit application before the end of February. Then it will take another 8 to 12 weeks before the permit is granted, so somewhere in May.

with a bit of luck and effort the shed could be ready mid June. And then I will start making it into a nice gameroom. This will take some time also, and I don't want to rush it because it has to be just as I want it, like a dream come true.

[Sonic 1992]

Your best bet is to have a dedicated heating & cooling system for the gameroom seperate.   If you combine it with the house, it maybe too hot/cold because the temperature difference you want will not be detected by the thermostat, basically becoming a "dead man" area.  If you're building your game room like mine, a metal building, I highly suggest having a dedicated HVAC for your gameroom.

Example... It's a cold day outside.. all the games on, lights etc.. it will get warm fast/ hot, you want instant detection of the temperature..You won't get this sharing of another system, not to mention over taxing the unit.   If you can I suggest gas heating, it is more efficient than electric... especially for a larger area.  I don't know how your temperatures are regularly, but just wanted to offer suggestions!    Here are a few examples of my AC & Heat being installed..








And lastly, don't fall for one of these units, total garbage!!!  Unless your game room is the size of a phone booth.

[ckong]

Thanks, I got more or less the same advice from other people too and I decided to go for a separate central heating system, powered with gas. It will cost a bit more to install, but the energy bill will be much lower. I think that the system will have an earn back pepriod of less than two years.

But I don't want to have radiators hanging on the walls, so I might use floor heating with it. That is not so efficient as radiators, but it doesn't take space and it is very comfortable The cabs will be the secondary heating system.  

My shed will be made out of wood, which is a pretty good insulator. And because we haven't very hot seasons over here I won't need a cooling system. If there are days when it is very hot outside I probably will be sitting at a nice spot in the garden with a beer nearby.  

Oh, on your last picture above, what is the white stuff on the wall? It looks like some kind of thick foil.

[Sonic 1992]

That is the insulation for the walls/ceiling... provides R19 insulating factor...  I didn't paint it etc, the signs, posters and displays cover it all!  It makes it look like a white wall!








Did you say your gameroom will be wood?  Just make sure you seal it up very well to keep out dampness/humidity as well as insects & pests.  Cedar is a very good choice... lasts a long time and has a great "cabin" smell!   

[ckong]

Did you say your gameroom will be wood?  Just make sure you seal it up very well to keep out dampness/humidity as well as insects & pests.  Cedar is a very good choice... lasts a long time and has a great "cabin" smell!   

Yes, it will be a Cedar wood shed and I will take the necessary steps to prevent humidty built up from the outside and from the inside.

[ckong]

A little update: yesterday I signed the order for building the shed   I will file the building permit application in a few days, and if everything goes as planned, which it never does by the way, the shed will be there mid June.

That doesn't mean that the Gameroom is then ready also. I will have to prepare the floor heating, wall and ceiling insulation, install the electrical system (yikes   ) and decorate the place. I hope to be 'up and running' by end August.

In  the meanwhile I sterted to gather nice items for decorating the gameroom. If anybody has tips, please don't hesitate to tell them  

To start, the mailman brought some nice posters today:






The star wars poster will look nice with the SW cockpit and the SW Pachinko. I love Star Wars, never knew it though.  

[Sonic 1992]

Tips for decoration:  It's all a matter of personal choice,  It can be a theme of 80's arcade posters (hard to find)  and 80's movie posters too!
Some people have "Bar" decorations in their game room, like beer signs...   In my game room I use anything videogame related, Classic or New game memorabilla, Arcade and Home videogame signs, posters & Displays..

Decorate with what you love most!   

Half the fun is getting the decorations!  I went on many local and far roadtrips to hundreds of stores all throughout the '90s finding my decorations!

[scr33n]

A little update: yesterday I signed the order for building the shed   I will file the building permit application in a few days, and if everything goes as planned, which it never does by the way, the shed will be there mid June.

Good news  Keep us informed ...