8/7/2019 6 BASEMENT

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heta Xi’s basement has had a roughpast, but now renovations have been per-

ormed that makes it look nicer and lastlonger. Te pool room has seen everythingrom ooding, to halloween parties, towatching ootball games, and just playingpool. Te pool room is one o the most usedrooms in the house, which posed two prob-lems: it didn’t look good, and mom’s sleepingquarters were located directly above it. Wesought out to x this problem out o respector our house mother and give us something

to be proud o.Te week ater everyone moved out, the

construction crew moved in. We were armed

with hammers, saws, power drills, a hot wa-ter pressure washer, and a truckload o mate-rials. We knew our main objective o sound-proong the pool room was going to be noeasy task.

Our plan to soundproo the basementwas to incorporate a special sound deaden-ing ber board underneath all ceiling cover-ings as well as covering the walls with acous-tic carpeting to absorb the sound.

Te plan also called or new composite tileoor, new paint on all suraces, new lighting,and a new sound system. We thought not

only should we spruce up the pool room, butthe rest o the basement would need just alittle work to keep it up to par.

 Ater the ceiling was torn out, drywall re-moved, and oor pressure washed to removethe eroding oor paint, more insulation wasput in the ceiling. Finally there was a cleanslate to work with. Te sound ber boardwas put up on the ceiling and covered withdrywall in a staggered pattern to prevent theseams rom cracking and painted at white.

New, low-prole, round uorescent lightswere installed on the ceiling. All the pinepaneling was put back up to cover up the

steam pipes and painted blue. Recessed hal-ogen lighting was installed in the blue over-hang to keep visibility up on the perimetero the room instead o having dark cornerslike beore. Wall sections were built, put intoplace, then insulated. Te bottom our eet

were covered with hal inch OSB and the re-maining two and a hal eet were drywall.

Te OSB creates a more sturdy section

that resists puncturing and was a good surace to glue the tan colored acoustic carpetto. Te drywall was painted a neutral yellowcolor to keep in with color scheme. Someweeks later, laid the tan VC ooring. Teroom was nished of with a navy bluechair rail and cove base, new aceplates andswitches, and new at panel V mount andsound system. otal, the group clocked inover 60 hours o work in 6 days.

For nishing touches, the Teta Xi crestwas painted at the bottom o the stairweland words “Teta Xi Fraternity” were writ

ten on the upper west wall o the pool roomOverall, the basement’s transormation waswell needed, looks great, and will last a longtime.

As or soundproong, our ambitionswere a little out o reach. Music and loudnoises can still be heard through the oorbut mom did tell us it had improved. Eventhough the main goal o completely soundproong ell shy o being successul, the pooroom is a much more inviting place or us touse.

Trough all this, we enjoyed working together and making stronger riendships tha

will benet our brotherhood. Trough oureforts o working together, we can all nowbe proud o our basement and shows whatsome willing guys and a little determinationcan accomplish.

Building the Basement; Building Brotherhood Ater pouring hours upon hours into renovating the basement, Alpha Iotas’s come away with a brandnew basement and a renewed sense o brotherhood.written by Jacob Mueller | A.I. 937

Te newly renovated pool room is a avorite room tohang out in or Alpha Iotas when they have guestsover to the house

T he Arer // F All 2010 // 6