Sim Bay in New House Build

[Program4444]

Hey all -- I am starting on the new build of a home. Part of the build is an area specified for use as a simulator bay. I'll pop an image below of the plans for the room, but it is roughly 15 feet wide and 27 feet deep. The plans say we are dropping the floor 18", but we are actually dropping it another foot.

 

What we are trying to figure out is do we want to drop the entire room or could we get away with only dropping the floor where the simulator would be. Complicating things is that the entry into the room would only give me a depth of 15 feet in the bay before I had to make it awkward by dropping the floor up entry, then building up behind that. Again, you'll see this in the plans.

 

Is 15'x15' big enough for a nice sim set up? I'm earmarking $40-$50K for the build, so I want to make sure I do it right. I've reached out to Foresight, but they told me 22' depth for a hitting area is "perfect". That seems a bit deep.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by Program4444

[BostonWRX]

10 hours ago, Program4444 said:

Hey all -- I am starting on the new build of a home. Part of the build is an area specified for use as a simulator bay. I'll pop an image below of the plans for the room, but it is roughly 15 feet wide and 27 feet deep. The plans say we are dropping the floor 18", but we are actually dropping it another foot.

 

What we are trying to figure out is do we want to drop the entire room or could we get away with only dropping the floor where the simulator would be. Complicating things is that the entry into the room would only give me a depth of 15 feet in the bay before I had to make it awkward by dropping the floor up entry, then building up behind that. Again, you'll see this in the plans.

 

Is 15'x15' big enough for a nice sim set up? I'm earmarking $40-$50K for the build, so I want to make sure I do it right. I've reached out to Foresight, but they told me 22' depth for a hitting area is "perfect". That seems a bit deep.

 

Thanks!

 

 

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I’m actually building a new house and my dimensions are pretty similar to yours 254”x 187 after framing. I dropped the whole room down 24” Why not put the screen on the north wall and your hitting area should land around where your stairs are but centered. Will be an open space so won’t be an issue. 
 

I just signed up for the carls technical design so they can lay it all out for me rough electric etc. just started that process. 

[JAM01]

Do you want a step down or up to the sim? Are you considering an overhead system, radar behind or a GC3/4? 

[Petethreeput]

I would guess it depends on your goals with it.  If you are just going to hit balls then a shallow sim is fine, if you are going to have friends over to play during bad weather months, drink beer and generally sit around you will want it bigger.  I just built our sim room and it is too wide at 24' but it is 28' deep which allows for plenty of space for the seating.  In my opinion, the shallow sim room where any movement behind makes me think I am going to "dome" someone on the downswing is not good.

 

We actually had some folks over this weekend and my wife was lamenting it wasn't a couple feet deeper so there would be room for a fridge.

 

One other thing, and I think this gets forgotten, and it may not fit into your budget, BUT...  There is a thread in here about the decibels of the sim.  The sound is directionless (like the bass) and is much louder than you think when playing outdoors.  If you have family, I would seriously consider getting that thing away from the house.  I know if ours were attached to the house and my wife could hear every single shot she would be living somewhere else.

 

What we did was built a detached garage, again, 24 (to accomodate a car in the garage part) by 40' (I think), the ceiling is 12'.  When we play, and hoot and holler (we gamble), my wife isn't put out by the shenanigans, and it is big enough to spread out a little bit.

 

[JAM01]

PTP makes a good point, insulation will be part of this, but see if there’s the option to make it a little more sound proof. 

[Krt22]

If you have 10' ceilings, do you still need to drop the floor? If you want the extra head room I see no reason for the entire room to be lowered, I think 15x15 is more than fine for a foresight unit. You can then have a seating area in the portion that isn't lowered 

[Program4444]

1 hour ago, Krt22 said:

If you have 10' ceilings, do you still need to drop the floor? If you want the extra head room I see no reason for the entire room to be lowered, I think 15x15 is more than fine for a foresight unit. You can then have a seating area in the portion that isn't lowered 

This is exactly what I am wondering. Is 15x15  enough room?  My wife really wants the back of the room elevated for seating. My worry is if we have friends over, is this enough room for 2 or 3 folks to play together and not be in the way?

 

only dropping part of the floor also saves thousands of dollars. 

 

As for height, I’m 6’4” and don’t want to feel worried at all, so we going to an 11’ ceiling there. 

[Krt22]

11 minutes ago, Program4444 said:

This is exactly what I am wondering. Is 15x15  enough room?  My wife really wants the back of the room elevated for seating. My worry is if we have friends over, is this enough room for 2 or 3 folks to play together and not be in the way?

 

only dropping part of the floor also saves thousands of dollars. 

 

As for height, I’m 6’4” and don’t want to feel worried at all, so we going to an 11’ ceiling there. 

I have a quad and my hitting area is about 10x14. I think 15x15 will be plenty since there is open space behind the hitting area. With this setup I would probably have the steps in the middle of the room and build in some seating utilizing the step down on the back corners of the 15x15 area. This opens up the center of the space for a little piece of mind for the swing arc, then those waiting are on the floor of hitting area, but realistically sitting mostly outside of it.

[Petethreeput]

1 hour ago, Program4444 said:

This is exactly what I am wondering. Is 15x15  enough room?  My wife really wants the back of the room elevated for seating. My worry is if we have friends over, is this enough room for 2 or 3 folks to play together and not be in the way?

 

only dropping part of the floor also saves thousands of dollars. 

 

As for height, I’m 6’4” and don’t want to feel worried at all, so we going to an 11’ ceiling there. 

That was unclear to me if you were going to have seating in the raised portion.  15x15 is plenty of room for just a hitting area.  The potentially confining measurement will be the distance from the hitting area to the front post of the enclosure.

 

I am 6’2”, and I got a 10’ enclosure and I had to move the hitting area out to 13’ to get rid of the fear of the club hitting it on the follow through.  For reference mine is 13 across, 10 high, 10 feet deep.

[JAM01]

I’m going to agree with the above. 15x15 is plenty. Also will keep rolling balls down in the hitting areas.