A Man Cave Can Be A Cool Cave, Man

I’ve given up trying to match my basement temperature to the main floor in the summer.

This doesn’t matter for folks who don’t have a basement or their basement is really just a cellar to store stuff like preserves and leftover paint, where tools go to rust and die. That’s the kind of basement I grew up with.

So I am pleased that our current house has zoned heating and cooling between its main floor and basement. It’s the first house I’ve lived in that has a finished walkout basement. It was initially just a place for us to store leftover furniture that came with the move.

But the main area has now become my man cave. I made the best of what was useful which was mainly a TV, an old lounge chair and a lamp. Plus, it’s only 15 steps to the basement fridge.

Over time we’ve rearranged the extra end tables and bookcases to make it look almost like it was intentional. I’ve learned to ignore the popcorn ceiling and the bare walls painted a dirty pink.

We’re still deciding when to update the whole basement. The odds of it happening, however, go down each year. We have had good intentions as demonstrated by a half dozen paint samples taped to the wall. They’ve been there for more than five years.

The cold truth

Don’t man caves, almost by definition, have to be in the basement? That’s what makes them a cave, right? At least that’s what it feels like. I’ve discovered that homes with walkout basements can never have the main floor and basement comfortable at the same time.

So, since we spend most of our time on the main floor, the basement is always cold in the summer, sometimes 10 degrees colder. There have been times it was 30 degrees colder in my basement than outside. Full disclosure: the house was zoned much later, after the basement was already finished. So, it’s not perfect. Maybe if we renovate the whole basement.

After fighting with different temps, I gave up. Cold air sinks and hot air rises, especially when you have an open stairway. You can’t change the laws of physics. Right, Scotty? You also apparently can’t run the A/C upstairs and the furnace downstairs at the same time. I think the thermostat displays “I’m sorry but I can’t allow you to do that, Randy.” Well, who knew? A space heater would be just as silly.

I’m sure there are geniuses who have figured out how to keep the temp the same everywhere in the house. You can probably get a doctorate degree in it. I have decided on the next best thing – a sweatshirt.

So I now keep a sweatshirt in the basement to put on when down there. It’s a good thing for men of the north to do this since it helps us maintain our edge for the cold endurance required for important things like shoveling snow. Maybe I’ll put a sweatshirt rack down there so I can alternate fashion.

Dressing the part

Even wearing shorts in the cave is tolerable and good winter prep. And shorts look more appropriate if you need to answer the door or walk to the mailbox when it’s 90 degrees outside. You can quickly remove the sweatshirt so no can accuse you of hiding out in your man cave.

Catherine uses the cave upon occasion. She has a long table at the back of the room mostly for wrapping gifts. And she’s been known to watch my TV from there. So I have a multi-use man cave. I’m fine with that.

But maybe that’s not the point of man caves. Maybe they’re called man caves because women know better than to give up the constant comfort of the main floor. Even the term “man cave” might have been thought up by women who live with men who act like cave men. And those men were then relegated to the cave.

I think men are mostly just happy to have a place to hide from their cherished family members, even for a little while.

So, I’m a cave man chilling in my man cave. It’s pretty cool.