Man Cave refit (She made me do it!)

[toolin' around]

My wife came home recently after visiting a restaurant close out sale (unfortunately another COVID victim)... and said "honey, I bought an ice machine"!

Admittedly, we do have a few parties at our place, but capacity to produce 300lb of ice a day and 12 cu ft of ice storage might have been a little overkill... nor did she realize that I'd need to install a separate filter, feed line, drainage pan and pump because there was nowhere to drain it! Cost me almost as much to clean it up and install it as she paid for it, but then I had the dilemma of WHERE to install it!

I had a convenient spot next to the counter and fridge in the man cave/bar room, but the floor was badly in need of repair, and once the ice machine went in, it wasn't coming out again any time soon, so it was temporarily installed outside under a patio until I could do something with the floor in the man cave! One job always leads to another!

The floor was bad... the old paint was peeling, but worse were the massive cracks up to an inch wide due to what I think was just an poorly laid slab that resulted in settling on the two sides where the outside walls sat... I'm not actually sure if there's any steel at all in the slab, but it doesn't seem to have moved in the four years we've been here... the cracks had previously been filled with mortar that has just loosened and cracked away over time.

To be totally transparent, I'm in Northridge, CA so some of the floor damage could have been precipitated by the earthquake, but I honestly think it was just poor workmanship!

Here's the floor once we removed the massive sliding barn doors, moved everything out, ground out all the old mortar and opened the cracks up for repair... more to come...

 

[Big Cleve]

Nice work.

 

[Sevenhills1952]

Linoleum. "Ice for sale" sign in yard.

Sent from my SM-S205DL using Tapatalk

 

[gunguy]

Gotta say it - Cool!

I've been thinking about getting an ice machine myself for a long time.

Jim

 

[Richard Cranium]

Just remember that those type ice machines requires a lot of cleaning. Where I used to work, we had a guy that came in every 3 months to clean and sanitize it.

 

[toolin' around]

Tell me about it... first thing I did was download the owners manual then pulled it down, cleaned it all, then ran the sanitizing cycle multiple times... I don’t think it had ever been cleaned before!!!

Gotta say, it’s really handy to have!

 

[nadogail]

I remember that sometimes when I took an idea to my boss, he would smile and nod his head just before saying, "Make if so".

 

[tros]

Very nice

 

[toolin' around]

Used Rustoleum InstaPatch to repair most of the cracks. (the two large bottles) This stuff is expensive but it's amazing. You can only mix around 4oz each of part A&B because you only have around 3 minutes of working time before it starts to cure, and when it begins curing, it literally goes solid as it's pouring! (measured the temp and it gets up to around 250 degrees when it's curing!).



Built the deep cracks up by pouring a layer of silica sand and then pouring the InstaPatch on top. Tried a sample pouring onto sand in a paper cup, and the Instapatch penetrates almost an inch into the sand before it cures, and it sets like a rock!



Built up the cracks gradually and over filled so I can grind it flat. Used almost three packs to do the whole job ($130+ per pack) then used the two part epoxy to patch the small divots and holes. Once it's prepped, I'll epoxy coat the floor.

 

[toolin' around]

Before grinding and finishing the floor, I wanted to figure out what to do with the doors. The original doors were a massive pair of sliding barn doors that were so heavy, they caused the bulkhead to sag and just dragged on the floor. I had adjusted the rollers as far as they'd go and they would eventually sag some more to the point they would drag on the floor again and were almost impossible to move. There was also absolutely no weather sealing, so the dust just blew in around every side of them.

When I took the doors down to work on the floor, I really liked the feeling of having the room opened up onto the courtyard, which we hardly even use! So then started thinking about patio sliders or bifolds that would open right up.

Initial quotes for various bifold or sliding door systems started at $12K plus (in vinyl!), which caused me a little pause! (Should I just refit the old doors???) Time to either figure out a lower cost practical solution or just shelve the idea for now.

(BTW... The faces in the middle photo were not intentionally blurred to protect identity... it's just a lousy photo, but the only one I could find of the inside view of the doors!)

 

[toolin' around]

Because of the cracks and the way the floor drops on both sides, there's around an inch difference in height between the center and the outsides. (3/4" on one side and 1" on the other) So I needed to come up with a system that wasn't going to rely on floor rails, plus I wanted to avoid any form of sill if possible so there's a clean transition from inside to outside when the doors are open.

I only anticipate opening them up occasionally, when we have a party and the weather is conducive, so started working on a hanging design using the existing sliding rails and rollers. Initially considered a bifold, with center hung roller, but there's a small awning box that would obstruct the half of the doors that would swing outwards, and it would be more difficult to weather seal the top edge, so ended up going for an end hung roller with independent doors that slide to the end, then stack together at the end.

Found some solid wood 9 light doors at Home Depot for $206 each. 5 x 36" doors would work, so just over $1,000 for five doors and a few hundred bucks for hardware, I figured I could do it for under $1,500.

First, needed to reconfigure the sliding rails, and create clearance for the doors to swing inward under the bulkhead. So pulled the original bulkhead out, reconfigured and replaced with a new 12x2 bulkhead.

 

[gtsgarage]

Looking forward to seeing the doors.

 

[toolin' around]

For the first time ever, my 18 year old son showed some interest in a project, and started helping me... he now has an appreciation of the sense of satisfaction when you make something yourself, and solve problems, and he seems disappointed if he wakes up late and I've done something without him! Now I just need to work on the waking up late thing!!!

Forged a more compact mount for the sliding rollers and mounted to the top corner of the door, and mortised a recess in the opposite bottom corner and inset a rollerblade wheel, so the doors roll along the track regardless of the floor level, but will also swivel out up to 180 degrees. The edge of the door needs to be lifted to swing out... I couldn't find a recessed ball roller that would work, but I could retrofit later if I come across one... so the roller blade wheel only rolls along the door axis. Since I only see them being opened up occasionally, I didn't consider this an awful compromise for now.

With the uneven floor level, this means the doors are all sitting at different angles, so we set two dowel pins and mounted adjustable latches which pull the doors together, so now, each pair of doors is aligned and hanging on the roller of each pair, which can now be adjusted to get the right alignment.
Mounted spring loaded foot operated door stops to secure the bottom of the doors and a slide bolt to secure the top. (the slide bolt sits inside the bulkhead so it prevents the door swinging out, but doesn't prevent it sliding.

Next episode will be figuring the last door and getting the end frames built out to exactly the required gap so everything fits properly!

 

[Bruce 993 SEA]

Rustoleum InstaPatch to repair most of the cracks. (the two large bottles) This stuff is expensive but it's amazing. You can only mix around 4oz each of part A&B because you only have around 3 minutes of working time before it starts to cure

this seems like a good material to have in one of those double caulk gun mixers...

Love you door wall, that is some nice work!

Cheers!

 

[toolin' around]

this seems like a good material to have in one of those double caulk gun mixers...

Love you door wall, that is some nice work!

Cheers!

Thanks!

The Instapach wouldn’t work in a caulk gun... the two parts are both liquid. When you combine the two parts and mix it, it’s the consistency of really thinned paint... you have about 3 mins to pour it into the cracks before it starts to cure.

My first attempt, I mixed too much an it actually set hard mid pour and I had one of those Coke Can style ornaments!

 

[ZRX61]

That patch stuff looks just like the epoxy they've used to fix all the cracks in the carpool lanes on the 14 just North of you. Lots of it around Acton area.
The original two lanes of the freeway are holding up just fine, then they added a carpool lane a few years back. Miles of that lane are cracked right down the middle, in fact it started to crack within about three months of the lane being opened to traffic.

 

[toolin' around]

That patch stuff looks just like the epoxy they've used to fix all the cracks in the carpool lanes on the 14 just North of you. Lots of it around Acton area.
The original two lanes of the freeway are holding up just fine, then they added a carpool lane a few years back. Miles of that lane are cracked right down the middle, in fact it started to crack within about three months of the lane being opened to traffic.

I wouldn't be surprised, the stuff set's like a rock and it's got amazing adhesion. I suspect that it's expansion and contraction characteristics have been pretty well designed as well.

In this video, he's repairing a crack in a warehouse floor, and driving a forklift over it 15 minutes later!

 

[toolin' around]

I had around 6-8" either end after allowing for the five 36" doors, so I built out the frame on the side where the final door (the everyday access door) would swing, and mounted the door. That way I could fit the final door hardware and see exactly how much I had to build out on the final gap. The intention was to have the swinging door close against the last sliding door.

I used adjustable clips to join the doors, but I was undecided whether to add a rubber weather strip between each pair of doors or not. The adjustable clips gave me the flexibility to do decide later. But that would be 4 weather strips, so if they were 1/4" thick, there could be a difference of a full inch between including and not including them... if they compressed further over time and ended up 1/8" each, that could open the gap between the door latch and strike plate by 1/2". Even the thickness of a few coats of paint of other finish across five doors could impact the final fit. Then there is just shrinkage as the doors age and settle... So I needed a way to adjust the final connecting point.

I welded nuts to some base plates and used long bolts countersunk into the final piece, with fender washers and springs to create an adjustable jamb so I could fine tune to final fit, and adjust it as needed later.

Finished the doors with a Tung Oil finish, rubbed with 0000 steel wool and mineral spirits between coats... I'm happy with the overall result... now back to finishing the floor. (I didn't want to finish the floor until I knew what I was doing with the doors, in case I needed to drill holes for slide bolts or add a sill etc.)










Here's the "BEFORE"...

 

[PhantomEB]

Very nice work!

 

[gtsgarage]

Looks awesome! Great work.

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

more pictures of the track and the wheel set up?

 

[toolin' around]

Back to finishing the floor... started grinding the InstaPatch, and this stuff is tougher than the concrete to grind! Using a 7" diamond wheel and it's slow going!

One thing I have learned is that this stuff doesn't adhere so well to itself! I built the cracks up and in a number of placed the floor on one side of the crack was significantly hiher than the other, so I over filled, expecting that I could gring a gradual transition into the InstaPatch, but that's not looking like a solution... once the top layer of IstaPatch gets thin, it begins to separate from the layer below it. (Tried not working the same area constantly to see if it was a heat issue, bus doesn't seem so... I'm findind that I will either need to scrape up the sections that are not adhering, and refill with the regular epoxy, or I'm having to grind the concrete further out to bring the high side down so the InstaPatch is just filling the crack.

Still have a ton to do, so I'll see how it goes as I get to some of the other areas.

 

[PhantomEB]

I could never justify an ice maker like that but I know my better half wants a fridge with one in the door.

 

[Jinks]

I could never justify an ice maker like that but I know my better half wants a fridge with one in the door.

One as large as the OP has is a bit of over kill, but a clear ice machine will make you rethink ice. I was talked into a small under counter unit for my bar back when we remodeled our house. Before that we had two or three through the door refrigerators. A few months with the clear ice machine & I took the ice makers out of the refrigerator. We no longer buy refrigerators with ice makers. Having 20 some pounds of clear ice readily available is more than enough, & it tastes better. You gain space in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator, reduce the chance of a falling chunk of ice breaking one of your favorite glasses (I've had it happen), & get more/better tasting ice.