My Basement Bar Build

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Great work. My wife and I would like to know where you got the floor tile. And what did you use to seal the counter? Your work is quite an inspiration for our kitchen.
 
I purchased the slate from a builder on Craigs List. I believe he picked up a couple of crates of it from HD for a commercial job and then he sold me the remaining 350 sq. ft. for cheap. I think I paid right around $250 and it worked out to slightly under $0.75/sq. ft.

The bartop and the countertop are finished with 5 coats of conversion varnish. I don't like the thick glossy look of 2 step epoxy, so I went with that. :mug:
 
Thanks for the compliments guys. Just finished the majority of the drop ceiling and just need to seal the slate tile & grout. Still have 2 tiles to cut, but they have funky angles, so I stopped for the day. I have 4 log bar stools that I picked up for $50 on CL, which I am currently sanding and re-finishing. I'm trying to have everything wrapped up ASAP, so I'll post a few pics. when finished. Thanks again! :mug:
 
Just a couple of quick pics. as I am nearing of the drop ceiling in my bar area. I basically have the entire basement complete with the exception of perimeter tiles that have to be cut to size and have the reveal cut into them. In these pics. of the bar area, I just have a couple of pieces of tile left to cut and drop in. The tile missing in the middle of the room is to allow the pre-existing light nailed to the joist to continue to illuminate the room until I have either my father in law or neighbor wire the home runs into the electrical panel. As you can see by the pics, I have all of the recessed lighting wired and installed, the heat vent diffuser installed, and I used another diffuser to serve as a cold air return for the room. I didn't drop the heat vents down the walls to floor level, because my entire basement is plumbed for a hydronics radiant floor heating system. We are getting a quote for the boiler to heat the floors next week. I just have some finish sanding and finishing to do on the log bar stools, and we need to seal the slate tile on the floor....then it's done! :rockin:

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nice bar mate.
im in the process of building one too pretty hard by yourself trying to move a pool table etc.
im using macrocarpa for mine what finish did you use??
i was thinking a oil would be good but might ttry a semi gloss varnish or something
take care
 
Thanks Ultra_ :mug: For the bar and countertops, 5 coats of conversion varnish were used. For the knotty pine walls, wainscotting, base board, wood doors and door casings.....Sikkens BL (water based) in satin finish was used. For the cedar log trims, mantle, and keezer....I used semi-gloss polyurethane. For all of the cabinetry, Sikkens oil based clear coat in satin was used. Hope that's what you were looking for. Thanks again for the compliment.

Do you have a thread started for your project....If so, I would love to check it out. If not, snap some pics. and share with use your progress!
 
who's all invited for the project completion/drink-your-pipeline-dry party? :D
:mug: Looks *($)King amazing!!!
 
Thanks Ted! Just need to get the slate tile sealed and the finish on the log bar stools, but I'm having a b*tch of a time finding the time to get it done. Thankfully, fall is here and lawn mowing and landscape maintenance is winding down. I mow almost 2 acres and have a sprinkler system, so I have to mow, edge, & trim about every 5 days.....huge time committment. Once that crap winds down, I'll have about 5 extra hours per week to work on finishing up the odds and end in the basement. This winter I plan on building an all electric brewhouse in the basement as well. Can't wait! Anytime your traveling over to Michigan to visit family, your welcome to drink as much beer as you can at my place. :tank:
 
I know.....this thread has been dead for a while, but I have had a hard time getting the rest of this project done. I have been juggling 50 different things with this basement build, but I'm happy to say the project is nearing completion. My wife and I have been putting off the grouting of the slate for too long and decided this past weekend to tackle the dreaded project. I got out of work early today and was able to get the final coat of stone sealer over the entire thing. Just a few things left to do. I need to get a couple of coats of poly on the cedar log bar stools and wipe down the walls that have gotten a little dusty. I need to install the shelving in the cabinetry behind the bar as well. This weekend I'll roll the keezer into it's final resting spot and the fridge will be next to it. I'm still trying to talk my wife into letting me cover the fridge doors and right side with knotty pine paneling, because it's white and sticks out like a sore thumb. Here's some pics of the slate grouted and sealed.

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Thanks EdWort....it means alot coming from a legend like yourself. :mug: Take a peek at my keezer thread and you will see my taps. I have a 4 tap keezer that will sit in the cubby space to the left of the countertop behind the bar. I'll snap a few final pics this weekend and post them.

Here are a few more pics that I was going to post. The first pic is the pantry off of the bar that my wife wanted for extra storage of canned goods, etc. My wife is a huge fan of Costco, so she buys a ton of stuff in bulk. Our walk in pantry in our kitchen is stuffed full, so I promised her another walk in pantry. The door to the left leads into the unfinished side of my basement where my brewing room will be built. You can see some knotty pine in the distance with an exterior door in the pic. That is my wine and beer cold storage room that I built a while back. It houses 180 bottles of wine, has shelving to accommodate six packs of craft beer, mini-kegs of craft beer, 22oz. bottles of craft beer, and cases can sit on the floor under the shelving. I also store my kegs in waiting in that room. To the left of that room will be an entire room devoted to the brewery. There are also a couple of other pics. of the bar area and one pic of my "fake" elecric fireplace below the cedar log mantle. As you can see, I still have to do a little shopping for a TV above the fireplace. Anyways......I'll post some final pics soon and then will start my rustic brewing room thread shortly! :mug:

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Thanks guys. I'm going out of town this weekend, but will try to get the bar stools finished next week and get the keezer and fridge in thier final resting spots. Got the water line in for the fridge for the ice and water dispenser last weekend as well. She's almost there....... :rockin:
 
Looks great Hop!! I have to stop looking at your threads.. the ideas I get from them seem to kill my bank account! :mug:
 
Yeah....mine too! :D Just wait until you see the basement brewery that I'm planning. I'll be starting a thread very soon.....maybe you should just ignore it. ;)
 
Looks great! I love the idea of the knotty pine on the fridge! I say go for it, and include pics please.
 
My wife is being a royal P.I.T.A. about the wood on the fridge thing. It's an older side by side GE fridge that we purchased 10 years ago, when we were at our other house. In our new house, we went all stainless with the appliances, so this one got demoted to the basement. I have enough of the thin T&G knotty pine to cover the front and right side, which will be all that you can see in the bar. She keeps saying that it's going to look stupid with the white ice/water dispensing assembly built into the freezer door. I told her that I could disassemble the components and spray them any color that she wants to blend better with the knotty pine. I could do the same with the white door handles.....or thanks to NewbrewB's idea, I could remove the existing door handles and come up with a way to incorporate thin cedar log door handles, which wouldn't be terribly hard to do. She keeps saying that I'm just going to ruin the fridge. WTF! :confused: I'll keep working on her, but IMO it will look 1,000,000 x's better covered in wood as opposed to being stark white and sticking out like a sore thumb.
 
You should send her on a nice spa weekend as gift showing her how much you love her. That should give you enough time to tackle the fridge.;)
 
Much appreciated. This has been a dead thread for a while, so I didn't realize that I never posted final pics. of the finished product. :confused: I'll get some updated pics. up when I get a chance.
 
That is the most Awsome! basement bar that I have ever seen! I can picture myself having a nice Robust Porter in front of the fire. Kudos to you Sir!
 
wooo hoooo... finished pictures!!! Since your done can you come over and do my woodworking?

If I didn't just start the brewing room in the "unfinished" side of my basement, I would take you up on that. :D Seriously, I'm in the middle of an all electric HERMS build, a dedicated brewing room build, and dual rustic fermentation chamber builds. I'm also slated to build a rustic wood grain bin, a motorized grain mill built into a rustic cabinet, and still need to build the shelving for my beer/wine cold storage room. All of the qualities of my basement bar and keezer builds will be incorporated into these projects with knotty pine, cedar logs, tumbled travertine, etc, so I have enough to keep me busy for a while. I have started a few other misc. threads covering my other builds. I don't have direct links on my signature line, but you can find my threads in my profile if interested.

BTW....thanks for the kind words Brew52. If you are ever in SE Michigan, let me know and I'll be sure to have a porter on tap. :mug:
 
BTW....Lucky_Chicken. I just read through your threads in your sig. line. Nice work! I know this is :off: for this thread, but I'm curious how well the kegerator is holding it's temp. I'm using a mini-fridge to cool the rustic lager chamber that I'm working on. I don't think I'll have an issue getting the temp. down for the primary fermentation, but doubt if I can get the temp down in the mid 30's for secondary lagering. What kind of temps are you able to hold and what's the R value of your insulation panels? I greatly appreciate any feedback. :mug:
 
If I didn't just start the brewing room in the "unfinished" side of my basement, I would take you up on that. :D Seriously, I'm in the middle of an all electric HERMS build, a dedicated brewing room build, and dual rustic fermentation chamber builds. I'm also slated to build a rustic wood grain bin, a motorized grain mill built into a rustic cabinet, and still need to build the shelving for my beer/wine cold storage room. All of the qualities of my basement bar and keezer builds will be incorporated into these projects with knotty pine, cedar logs, tumbled travertine, etc, so I have enough to keep me busy for a while. I have started a few other misc. threads covering my other builds. I don't have direct links on my signature line, but you can find my threads in my profile if interested.

BTW....thanks for the kind words Brew52. If you are ever in SE Michigan, let me know and I'll be sure to have a porter on tap. :mug:

It would have been a heck of a commute anyway :) You do great work, i cant wait to follow the other build threads
 
BTW....Lucky_Chicken. I just read through your threads in your sig. line. Nice work! I know this is :off: for this thread, but I'm curious how well the kegerator is holding it's temp. I'm using a mini-fridge to cool the rustic lager chamber that I'm working on. I don't think I'll have an issue getting the temp. down for the primary fermentation, but doubt if I can get the temp down in the mid 30's for secondary lagering. What kind of temps are you able to hold and what's the R value of your insulation panels? I greatly appreciate any feedback. :mug:

sorry i missed this post... I used 2 layers of 3/4" insulation It wasnt high Im thinking r3.8 i think? It is holding temp great! I keep it at 45 year round. Hottest days of the summer it will only kick on twice an hour. It will hold lower... i tested it at 35 when i first tried it. I use a light bulb to heat it in the winter... btw 100W is way too much! its only on for 20 or 30 seconds. :mug:
 
Thanks for the feedback. I'm building 2 seperate chambers one for ales and one for lagers. The unfinished side of my basement does not have radiant floor heating like the rest of my basement and it stays pretty constant in the low 60's pretty much year round. Since the chambers will be in a static temp. environment, I decided to do seperate warm and cold chambers, because 60 degrees isn't quite warm enough for the ales that I brew and it isn't quite cold enough for the lagers that I'm going to start brewing. For my ale chamber, I plan on using a reptile cage mat heater as my heat source. I'll let you know how it works.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I'm building 2 seperate chambers one for ales and one for lagers. The unfinished side of my basement does not have radiant floor heating like the rest of my basement and it stays pretty constant in the low 60's pretty much year round. Since the chambers will be in a static temp. environment, I decided to do seperate warm and cold chambers, because 60 degrees isn't quite warm enough for the ales that I brew and it isn't quite cold enough for the lagers that I'm going to start brewing. For my ale chamber, I plan on using a reptile cage mat heater as my heat source. I'll let you know how it works.

if you are enclosing them you might not need heat, fermentation will create some.
 
Good point....I'm going to prep. it just in case. The temp. controllers that I'm looking at are dirt cheap, as are the aquarium heating mats. I guess I won't know until I try. Up until this point, I have primarily fermented in my laundry room with an ambient temp. consistently in the upper 60's. I have never tried it in a closed, sealed space. Any ideas about how much the fermentation might raise the temp. in about 10 cu.ft. of space????? I could always go lighter on the insulation for the ale chamber, thereby maximizing the cubic volume within and allowing heat to discipate if needed. Let's move this discussion over to my "Rustic Fermentation Chambers" thread, if you don't mind, so that I'm not straying too far off topic for this thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/hoppos-rustic-fermentation-chambers-ale-lager-301274/

Thanks man! :mug:
 
Can't wait to see the finished pictures of this thread! I had read through your keezer build a while back, so I was pleased to see you had a build thread for your bar too! Sorry if you already answered this but what ended up happening with the fridge?
 
The fridge is still white and sticks out like a sore thumb....:( My wife is really against me trimming it out in knotty pine, so I'm just leaving it for now. I have several other projects going right now and she hasn't been giving too much crap about the time and $ that I have been spending on my other brewing related projects. Gotta know when to choose my battles. :D
 
Wow dude, I wish I had half of your ability to build... this is really awesome! (I know others have said it also, and I'm sorry I couldn't be witty about it)

I'm definitely going to have to start following this one to see how much awesomer it gets! :mug:
 
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