Options for 8’ ceilings?

[bnsn]

My basement has 8’ ceilings and I can swing there on the floor. Looking at most options, they tend to want 8’6” for a screen. Are there any options around to fit something in the space? I am guessing it’ll be tight, but it should be doable. I already have a home theater projector I can repurpose. Or I could just get a net and use an iPad or a 32” tv that is sitting there too. I think the Net Return Home 7x7 would fit fine. I’d be fine with the net and stuff as I want to hit more over the winter (I’m in Minnesota). Garage isn’t heated plus 2 cars park in there in the winter. 

My current idea is either a build my own screen and enclosure to fit the space and use the projector I have, or to go with the net setup as that would be the simplest. Leaning net as I could take it to the backyard and hit in the summer too. And it would be easy to upgrade later and continue using the net. 

[chollier986]

8’ is tight for woods.  May be fine with irons.  I am a big fan of the net return.  Many options available if you want to use a screen as well.  Here is an idea from my garage set up I used to have.

[Mike412]

Others can correct me if I’m wrong, but I would think the biggest issue would be having room to swing. At least the longer clubs.

[bnsn]

I suppose I could put it in my family room that has 8’6” ceilings, but it would have to be able to set up and down to get out of the way. 

[Mike412]

Everything I’ve seen seems to agree you need a bare minimum of 9’ preferably 10’

[ApostateDrive]

I'm not a tall person (5'9") and I usually choke up around 1/2" on my standard length clubs. Even then, I can't swing a 7 iron comfortably with our 8' ceilings. You would likely be limited to only using wedges and maybe a 9 iron. 

[puresurfr]

Thats enough height to practice punch shots

[Bob Ferguson]

17 hours ago, puresurfr said:

Thats enough height to practice punch shots

And putts! I'm 6'4" so I'm no help! I hit my 9'6"" ceiling !

[puresurfr]

Not sure how your house is built but is it possible to cut a hole/opening  in the ceiling right above where your swing ends up vertically ? depending on the joist and clearance, you may buy yourself some much needed room.  Alternatively u can consider sinking your floor a bit like a sunken living room. 

[phillyspecial]

On 7/8/2023 at 7:18 PM, puresurfr said:

Thats enough height to practice punch shots

^This.  In my old house I jammed a sim into a space I thought was fine, with 8'9" ceilings.  It was not fine.  It always felt tight, and I never got out of the sim what I really wanted (even after talking myself into the fact that Id never really be to hit woods and be fine with it).  Hitting balls in a tight space is not going to be good for your golf swing either.  

 

Garage?  Build a shed?  If you cant dig down and create the right space, look at other options.  Trust me.  

 

 

[2bGood]

On 7/8/2023 at 1:39 PM, bnsn said:

I suppose I could put it in my family room that has 8’6” ceilings, but it would have to be able to set up and down to get out of the way. 

The divorce might really break your simulator budget. 

[puresurfr]

Has anybody here increased the height of their ceiling or lowered their floors to install an indoor simulator ???  

 

[2bGood]

6 minutes ago, phillyspecial said:

^This.  In my old house I jammed a sim into a space I thought was fine, with 8'9" ceilings.  It was not fine.  It always felt tight, and I never got out of the sim what I really wanted (even after talking myself into the fact that Id never really be to hit woods and be fine with it).  Hitting balls in a tight space is not going to be good for your golf swing either.  

 

Garage?  Build a shed?  If you cant dig down and create the right space, look at other options.  Trust me.  

 

 

^ this. You need more height. You should look at digging down. One you quote that, you may like the idea of an outbuilding more.

[phillyspecial]

3 minutes ago, puresurfr said:

Has anybody here increased the height of their ceiling or lowered their floors to install an indoor simulator ???  

 

I did not (ended up building a house and custom space for sim), but I spoke to a contractor who said he had done multiple dig outs, like 10+ of them.  Ceilings are very difficult to go up.  But where there's a will and $$$, there is a way.  

[Pilk]

Timely thread.  I just cleaned out my JD room which was full of junk so I could put in a GS.  Its 18'x12'x9'....or at least I though it was 9'.  It's actually 8'9".  I'm 6'1" and feel like I 'could' take a swing with a driver but it does feel cramped .  Uuug.   Not a fan of the garage....it absolutely  defeats the purpose of a dedicated practice area in poor weather.   Not giving up.  

[doctor220]

2 hours ago, Pilk said:

Timely thread.  I just cleaned out my JD room which was full of junk so I could put in a GS.  Its 18'x12'x9'....or at least I though it was 9'.  It's actually 8'9".  I'm 6'1" and feel like I 'could' take a swing with a driver but it does feel cramped .  Uuug.   Not a fan of the garage....it absolutely  defeats the purpose of a dedicated practice area in poor weather.   Not giving up.  

Unless you’re super flat it’s prob not gonna work. You will at minimum subconsciously recognize that you are very close to hitting ceiling. This leads to indoor swing syndrome, after which you will post why your ball speeds are real low and distances are going nowhere. 
 

need to be absolutely unencumbered like there is no chance you will hit it so you can swing freely, otherwise no dice 

[bnsn]

Yeah, I’m just going to use my garage for now. I am not going full sim, just a net and mat to start and see how it works out. If it’s ok, I’ll start looking at other options, but the garage will work for now as it has 10’5” ceilings. If I like it I’ll just have to figure out heating it in winter (either install a heater or just get big space heaters for when I’m going to golf in there). 

[JAM01]

Garage - Amazon garage door DYI insulation kit, lift master side mount garage door opener, retractable screen. Movable Mat. Skytrak, laptop, projector on case in floor. Easier than digging down, or building up .  This is prior to swapping the garage door opener and after mounting projector to the ceiling. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by JAM01

[Giocatore4]

On 7/10/2023 at 3:20 PM, 2bGood said:

The divorce might really break your simulator budget. 

Ha! Then you married the wrong person 😂

[BHA17]

Has anyone ever dug down in a basement (or looked into the cost for doing so)? Like OP, I have a basement with ceilings that are too low to swing most clubs. Seems like a pipe dream, but I am curious if anyone has ever looked into the "dig down" approach to create a section with enough clearance.

[phillyspecial]

On 8/10/2023 at 10:53 AM, BHA17 said:

Has anyone ever dug down in a basement (or looked into the cost for doing so)? Like OP, I have a basement with ceilings that are too low to swing most clubs. Seems like a pipe dream, but I am curious if anyone has ever looked into the "dig down" approach to create a section with enough clearance.

Prob a $25-30k job but depends on many factors.  

[BHA17]

18 minutes ago, phillyspecial said:

Prob a $25-30k job but depends on many factors.  

 

That's about what I figured. One hell of a tough pill to swallow lol

[Giocatore4]

On 7/10/2023 at 3:23 PM, puresurfr said:

Has anybody here increased the height of their ceiling or lowered their floors to install an indoor simulator ???  

 

This is a huge job. You'd be better off building on a separate space. 

[rlb4]

I have a spare bedroom upstairs with an attic above it. Ceilings are 8' high. I was thinking I could raise the ceiling in the hitting area 2'. Would probably only be maybe 4 joists. How difficult of a job is this and what might something like this cost? I'm in northern NJ.

[Bob Ferguson]

9 hours ago, rlb4 said:

I have a spare bedroom upstairs with an attic above it. Ceilings are 8' high. I was thinking I could raise the ceiling in the hitting area 2'. Would probably only be maybe 4 joists. How difficult of a job is this and what might something like this cost? I'm in northern NJ.

Depends on what you have for ceiling joists/rafters. If you have trusses you'll need an engineer to run the loads, those things can't just be cut out like a standard 2x ceiling joist. I cut out my ceiling joists in my garage and there is a finished room above. I would compare the penetration to a skylight rough opening. Cost? I'm a contractor and off the top of my head I would think 2-3 k. If I was your neighbor, we would knock it off in a couple of weekends for pizza, beer and 500$ and lifetime membership !

[rlb4]

On 10/31/2023 at 8:27 AM, Bob Ferguson said:

Depends on what you have for ceiling joists/rafters. If you have trusses you'll need an engineer to run the loads, those things can't just be cut out like a standard 2x ceiling joist. I cut out my ceiling joists in my garage and there is a finished room above. I would compare the penetration to a skylight rough opening. Cost? I'm a contractor and off the top of my head I would think 2-3 k. If I was your neighbor, we would knock it off in a couple of weekends for pizza, beer and 500$ and lifetime membership !

The beams are 16" apart. I would only have to cut the 2 beams circled in green to give me 48" wide of space between the 2 end red line(beams). They would need to be cut back about 6-7' in the direction away from the duct. This would give me a 4' x 6-7' raised area.

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by rlb4
add

[JAM01]

On 7/16/2023 at 2:49 PM, Pilk said:

Timely thread.  I just cleaned out my JD room which was full of junk so I could put in a GS.  Its 18'x12'x9'....or at least I though it was 9'.  It's actually 8'9".  I'm 6'1" and feel like I 'could' take a swing with a driver but it does feel cramped .  Uuug.   Not a fan of the garage....it absolutely  defeats the purpose of a dedicated practice area in poor weather.   Not giving up.  

I’m moving into a place with 10 foot basement and 11 foot 1st floor ceilings. That said I did a garage sim for a few years in Michigan. 9 foot 8 inch ceilings. Bought a DYI garage door insulation kit. Moved the opener to a side mount opener. Installed a retractable screen. Added 12 inches of blown in insulation above the garage. Finished it off with a few smaller plug in space heaters. The screen was a luxury for a second car. The side mount replaced a dying opener, but did require some electrical upgrades. I figured I could spend the money on a home sim or hump it to a local indoor place at $50/hour. 

[JAM01]

4 hours ago, rlb4 said:

The beams are 16" apart. I would only have to cut the 2 beams circled in green to give me 48" wide of space between the 2 end red line(beams). They would need to be cut back about 6-7' in the direction away from the duct. This would give me a 4' x 6-7' raised area.

 

Any need to get a structural engineer in to just verify? 

[rlb4]

2 hours ago, JAM01 said:

Any need to get a structural engineer in to just verify? 

No idea. I wouldn't think so since the roof beams are attached to the outer wall frame not the floor beams. It seems like the floor beams are mostly for attic floor support. I would only be cutting a 6-7' portion of only 2 beams. I can't imagine that would compromise anything structurally. I would not be doing this myself. I would hire someone. I was just looking to get an idea of the difficulty and possible cost.

[MD_]

Since you have rafters and not trusses, and assuming those ceiling joists are only there to support the attic flooring and hang drywall for the ceiling you could definitely box them out....hired out including new drywall work and cleanup I'd say $3k in at least my area would be about right for a contractor.....now boxing it out I would not be doing any weight bearing on the entire span of the joists you're cutting to box out...if there's any heavy HVAC equipment or other stuff up there that needs to bear weight on those joists I would definitely seek the opinion of an engineer.