Building the BarnCade

[shoeboxjoe]

Looks like another 100 k to finish it ,I would put in a big wood stove and try to do the electric and other mechanical myself . Legal in south jersey to do your own electrical if it passes inspection without a license

I'm hoping it won't be that much but yea doing all the rest myself. Insulation, HVAC, interior framing, and electrical.

I did all the electrical for our house with help from my electrician brother. Since this is just an outbuilding, not for residents, we don't need a licensed electrician or final inspection. One of the benefits of living where we do. That being said we'll follow codes and do it right, my brother won't have it any other way.

 

[RUSTINGEEZER]

Until someone builds a rotunda with multiple levels for arcade games, color me unimpressed!

(lol j/k)

I bet they could do it in oculus VR or whatever they call it now , but it would take away the fun of fixing these games and living partially in reality.

 

[RUSTINGEEZER]

I'm hoping it won't be that much but yea doing all the rest myself. Insulation, HVAC, interior framing, and electrical.

I did all the electrical for our house with help from my electrician brother. Since this is just an outbuilding, not for residents, we don't need a licensed electrician or final inspection. One of the benefits of living where we do. That being said we'll follow codes and do it right, my brother won't have it any other way.

I had a friend who was a foreman in the union(train) work with me on the first jobs , Looks like a fun job .good luck

 

[Phetishboy]

And here I was excited and felt like an accomplished arcade guy with my recent booth build.



Christ, you could put 25 booths in your space along with everything else you've got and still have room for a bowling alley and a movie theatre. What you're doing here was always my dream, but now that we live on a lake, we just don't have the acreage. Bravo man, love it. If you end up having an open arcade night in the future, I may just have to make the trip out.

 

[MrGorf]

Gonna be great when it's done.
I love watching these kinds of builds from start to finish. Always cool to see the finished project.

 

[DuffCon]

I've enjoyed these threads that I can live through vicariously. Consider me subscribed.

 

[shoeboxjoe]

Been working on the boring stuff, insulation, bathroom framing, vapor barrier. Just ordered $5k in lumber and plywood for interior girts, wall paneling, and loft framing. Looking forward to doing the interior electrical.


Got a good deal on R25 insulation spares from a local commercial construction company, enough to do the long walls and some of the gable walls but I had to piece it together like Tetris




Got exterior bathroom walls framed. Had to frame within the posts because the toilet is too close for girts, and this is also where the breaker panel will go so wanted framing for that.

 

[Phetishboy]

Thanks for the update. I tend to forget about some of these threads if they're not brought up daily or at least weekly. If you ever get some down time during or free time after this build, feel free to check out my New Galaxy Blue thread. It covers the purchase and remodel of our lake home and arcade and our life in it since. It stretches back almost 10 years and I still update it (periodically) to this day.

 

[shoeboxjoe]

Received the lumber for loft framing, girts and wall paneling.




Moved this all inside by hand before a snowstorm came.


1/2" BCX grade plywood for most of the wall paneling. Will apply poly or lacquer to these but leave them natural.



Also picked up a vintage Dynamo air hockey table this past weekend now that I have a place to put one

Remaining R19 insulation for the gable walls should be here this week sometime.

 

[TheShanMan]

Sweet! I have a dynamo photon air hockey table and it gets more play than most of my other games.

 

[shoeboxjoe]

Sweet! I have a dynamo photon air hockey table and it gets more play than most of my other games.

Yea my wife and daughter always go for air hockey when we at arcades. Had to have one.

 

[beerNpretzels]

Concrete was ~$20k, pole building was ~$70k as is. Probably around another $20k to finish it with electrical, HVAC, and insulation but we're doing this all ourselves.

We we're briefly looking to buy commercial building to open a public arcade in our city but commercial property here seems unreasonably expensive compared to other small towns, so we went this route instead.

I don't know how I missed this thread. We did something similar, though not nearly as ambitious, winter '23.

I think all told up to this point I'm in almost $170k and it's not even close to what you have in mind. I might have to do my own thread to help motivate me to get some shit done.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Great looking build! Do you have any pics of the mdonalds items?

Cheers,

 

[OldTymeToys]

Awesome so far! Can't wait to see all the progress and the final money shots. The building with its height eerily looks like Luna City Arcade. RIP.

 

[shoeboxjoe]

Great looking build! Do you have any pics of the mdonalds items?

Cheers,

Most of these are from the McDonaldland from my childhood. I found the slide in a backyard just down the street, that got me leads for the rockers and the Grimace (which i pulled out of a cow pasture). The Big Mac climber took a year to make that deal happen, that and the Grimace teeter-totter came from a camp ground from up north in WI. Ronald and the Orang Julius sign came from north Minneapolis.

 

[Phetishboy]

Most of these are from the McDonaldland from my childhood. I found the slide in a backyard just down the street, that got me leads for the rockers and the Grimace (which i pulled out of a cow pasture). The Big Mac climber took a year to make that deal happen, that and the Grimace teeter-totter came from a camp ground from up north in WI. Ronald and the Orang Julius sign came from north Minneapolis.

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Fuck yes.

 

[RUSTINGEEZER]

That filet of fish spring thing and mayor Mc cheese are awesome ,

 

[beerNpretzels]

That filet of fish spring thing and mayor Mc cheese are awesome ,

+1

What the fuck is that pirate guy? It looks familiar but I can't place it.

 

[Phetishboy]

+1

What the fuck is that pirate guy? It looks familiar but I can't place it.

I associate him with the fillet o fish, but I don't know what his name was.

 

[beerNpretzels]

I associate him with the fillet o fish, but I don't know what his name was.

Some googling reveals his name was "Captain Crook" and the jail thing above isn't Mayor McCheese, it's "Officer Big Mac". Which is I guess what the OP originally said but I didn't catch. Evidently there may have been a "Phil A. O'Fish" character at some point.

The wikipedia page on all this crap looks like a fun read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonaldland