Building the Basement; Building Brotherhood
After pouring hours upon hours into renovating the basement, Alpha Iotas’s come away with a brand
new basement and a renewed sense of brotherhood.
written by Jacob Mueller | A.I. 937
Theta Xi’s basement has had a rough
past, but now renovations have been per-
formed that makes it look nicer and last
longer. The pool room has seen everything
from flooding, to halloween parties, to
watching football games, and just playing
pool. The pool room is one of the most used
rooms in the house, which posed two prob-
lems: it didn’t look good, and mom’s sleeping
quarters were located directly above it. We
sought out to fix this problem out of respect
for our house mother and give us something
The newly renovated pool room is a favorite room to
hang out in for Alpha Iotas when they have guests
over to the house
The Arer // Fall 2010 // 6
to be proud of.
The week after 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 of mate-
rials. We knew our main objective of sound-
proofing the pool room was going to be no
easy task.
Our plan to soundproof the basement
was to incorporate a special sound deaden-
ing fiber board underneath all ceiling cover-
ings as well as covering the walls with acous-
tic carpeting to absorb the sound.
The plan also called for new composite tile
floor, new paint on all surfaces, new lighting,
and a new sound system. We thought not
only should we spruce up the pool room, but
the rest of the basement would need just a
little work to keep it up to par.
After the ceiling was torn out, drywall re-
moved, and floor pressure washed to remove
the eroding floor paint, more insulation was
put in the ceiling. Finally there was a clean
slate to work with. The sound fiber board
was put up on the ceiling and covered with
drywall in a staggered pattern to prevent the
seams from cracking and painted flat white.
New, low-profile, round fluorescent lights
were installed on the ceiling. All the pine
paneling 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 perimeter
of the room instead of having dark corners
like before. Wall sections were built, put into
place, then insulated. The bottom four feet
were covered with half inch OSB and the re-
maining two and a half feet were drywall.
The OSB creates a more sturdy section
that resists puncturing and was a good sur-
face to glue the tan colored acoustic carpet
to. The drywall was painted a neutral yellow
color to keep in with color scheme. Some
weeks later, laid the tan VCT flooring. The
room was finished off with a navy blue
chair rail and cove base, new faceplates and
switches, and new flat panel TV mount and
sound system. Total, the group clocked in
over 60 hours of work in 6 days.
For finishing touches, the Theta Xi crest
was painted at the bottom of the stairwell
and words “Theta Xi Fraternity” were writ-
ten on the upper west wall of the pool room.
Overall, the basement’s transformation was
well needed, looks great, and will last a long
time.
As for soundproofing, our ambitions
were a little out of reach. Music and loud
noises can still be heard through the floor,
but mom did tell us it had improved. Even
though the main goal of completely sound-
proofing fell shy of being successful, the pool
room is a much more inviting place for us to
use.
Through all this, we enjoyed working to-
gether and making stronger friendships that
will benefit our brotherhood. Through our
efforts of working together, we can all now
be proud of our basement and shows what
some willing guys and a little determination
can accomplish.