My Basement Bar Build

It has been a long process, but I'm nearing completion on my basement bar build. I'm finishing about 1800 sq. ft. in my basement by myself, so it has been 2 years in the making. Down to a little grouting, paint, drop ceiling, and carpeting, which I plan on completing over the next couple of months. I should have the slate in the bar grouted this weekend and we finally settled on a paint color for that room, so I'll update the thread when it's done. As you can see, my log bar stools are work in progress. I got all 4 for $50 on CL, so the need to be refinished. Anyway....here's the progress.

Beautiful bar top. From the second picture I thought you had trimmed it and squared it up! That would have been a tragedy

+1 on the bar top. Looking forward to pictures of progress.

<---- Jealous.

More pictures....the last two are as of today.

Yeah, the second one is for the countertop on the cabinets behind the bar. I would have kicked my own a$$ if I would have even considered cutting the bar top. Just posted the rest of the pictures that are current up to today.

very "rustic"

I love it!

Absolutely beautiful!

Where are the taps going to go?

My ex-father-in-law had one built into his new house. I loved it. He isn't a brewer though and has no taps.

Where's the TV?

Are those homemade custom cabinets or factory custom? Either way they are spectacular. Nice work.

Great question.....I just started brewing about 4 months ago, so taps were not accounted for in the original design. At this point, I have bottled everything. It is already becoming a royal pain in the a$$ to bottle, so I need to figure something out in the very near future for taps. I'm considering finding another fridge to convert for kegs and tap handles and putting it where the other fridge is at right now. I'm not sure if I want to start running lines and drill through the redwood slab top to install taps. Anyway....good question and I'll figure something out, since I'm hooked on home brewing and have not intentions on stopping.

There will be a 50" LED in the rec. room with a cedar log pool table, which is immediately adjacent to the bar room. I have also considered a smaller (26" or 32") hung on the wall at the end of the bar as well. It's a work in progress, so all of the fine details aren't hammered out yet.

That's great, I love it!

The bar cabinets are factory custom from the Woodworker's Shoppe in northern Michigan. I have a more rustic homemade cedar log vanity in the bathroom next to the bar, which I actually like better. My wife isn't really a big fan of rustic whatsoever, but she is fine with the cabinets in the bar area, but is not as fond of the log vanity in the bathroom. I'll attach some pictures of the bathroom vanity as well. My wife thinks I'm getting waaaaaaaaay too carried away with the whole log theme in the basement.

Hoppopotomus said:

There will be a 50" LED in the rec. room with a cedar log pool table, which is immediately adjacent to the bar room. I have also considered a smaller (26" or 32") hung on the wall at the end of the bar as well. It's a work in progress, so all of the fine details aren't hammered out yet.

Click to expand...

I had a feeling that with a basement like that you'd have a good answer to the TV question. What about in the corner next to the fridge so people on the stools could see it?

Hoppopotomus said:

My wife thinks I'm getting waaaaaaaaay too carried away with the whole log theme in the basement.

Click to expand...

She's wrong.

I've considered that as well. When I build my house, I had several load bearing walls framed in the basement and had the drains plumbed in as well. It was origionally supposed to be another full kitchen in that space. I would have preferred to have the bar open to the family and rec. room, but I had to work with the framing and plumbing that was there. I had radiant floor heating put into the entire basement floor slab, so busting up concrete to rearrange drains was not an option. Thanks for the advice!

Sorry about my responses....I have been using the quick reply key instead of the Quote key when responding to everyone's questions. I told you I was new to all of this. Rookie mistake!

Please keep the pics coming. I'm enjoying this one!

I shall do my best at getting the job completed. The problem that I'm running into is that a patient of mine was able to hunt down three 15.5 gallon stainless kegs in great condition. I have been polishing away on them for the past couple of days and making ABSOLUTELY no progress on the basement. I'm drafting up plans for a RIMS or HERMS all grain system and keep getting totally side tracked. SWMBO thinks that I am like a child with ADD with this newly found home brewing hobby!

RobVT3 said:

Please keep the pics coming. I'm enjoying this one!

Click to expand...

That is awesome!!!!

NICE BIULD!!!
If you want to do any soundproofing to that ceiling, let me know - that's what I do for a living.

Thanks man...it has taken a lot of blood, sweat, and beers to get it to this point.

FoundersBrew said:

That is awesome!!!!

Click to expand...

As soon as I grout the slate and travertine in the bar area, I'm moving on to paint. Then it's just drop ceiling and carpeting. Are you willing to drive to MI from MN to take on a project? I'll take any advice in that arena that I can get, but I plan on doing it myself sometime this winter.

Gridlocked said:

NICE BIULD!!!
If you want to do any soundproofing to that ceiling, let me know - that's what I do for a living.

Click to expand...

HA! I'd love to if there's beer involved! I have family up in Charlevoix. There are a couple things that will give you huge results. Ducts, Joists and Tile-backers. If you have the ability to up-size the duct work, you can line the ducts with a VERY cost effective lining that helps to stop the sound from going up, through the registers back to the supply/return mains and off to the rest of the house. If not, use flex if possible.

You'll want to get some standard fiberglass insulation in the joists before you run your grid. This will absorb the sound bouncing around in the plenum. Cheap and easy.

Add additional supports for the T-bar grid and use a piece or two of 5/8" drywall on the back of each tile. Again, cheap and easy.

Sound is blocked by eliminating air spaces that connect rooms. Sound is like water - it travels via the path of least resistance. Ducts are that first path because they carry air. The second path is the area with the least amount of mass. Ceiling tiles have less mass than sheetrock, so a cheap and easy way to add mass to the ceiling is to back your standard tiles with rock. The fiberglass in the joists absorbs the sound that would normally reflect from the subfloor to the back of the tiles- like a ping-pong ball bouncing around.

Nice! Thanks for the advice. Are the ceiling tiles that are rated "Superior Sound Control" at Lowe's or HD effective at all? I will keep all of this information for when the time comes......hopefully sooner than later. Thanks again!

looks awesome so far! can't wait to see some finished shots.

I'm just down the road from you so if you want help breaking it in, I'm your man.

Hoppopotomus said:

Nice! Thanks for the advice. Are the ceiling tiles that are rated "Superior Sound Control" at Lowe's or HD effective at all? I will keep all of this information for when the time comes......hopefully sooner than later. Thanks again!

Click to expand...

They won't block any sound from going upstairs, but they will absorb some echo within the room. Tiles that are built and used to block sound are REALLY expensive and there are a few ways to use locally products to get close to the same performance. I always tell people that a drop ceiling is more of a visual barrier than a noise barrier, but if you back the tiles with rock, you increase the density of the floor/ceiling assembly and stop at least some sound.

Do you have a link to the HD or Lowe's tiles? I'll give you some feedback if I can.

I'm in the vicinity of Baldwin and Oakwood....closer to Oxford than Ortonville. I'll do my best to get the project done soon. I'd be happy to have you over for a few beers. I'll keep you updated.

BigHefty said:

I'm just down the road from you so if you want help breaking it in, I'm your man.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. It make sense. I'm not sure of a HD link, because I checked the tiles out in the store. I'll let you know.

Gridlocked said:

They won't block any sound from going upstairs, but they will absorb some echo within the room. Tiles that are built and used to block sound are REALLY expensive and there are a few ways to use locally products to get close to the same performance. I always tell people that a drop ceiling is more of a visual barrier than a noise barrier, but if you back the tiles with rock, you increase the density of the floor/ceiling assembly and stop at least some sound.

Do you have a link to the HD or Lowe's tiles? I'll give you some feedback if I can.

Click to expand...

Got the bar room painted this weekend and we plan on grouting the slate floor and travertine backsplash on Tuesday. I'll post some pictues once finished!

Can I ask where you got the bar top?

very nice bar build, neighbor!

Very nice work so far, man. Prost!

Thanks...it has been a long time in the making. I painted the bar this weekend. My wife and I plan on grouting Tuesday and then drop ceiling over the next few weeks. I have been working on this for waaaaaay too long. Finishing 1800+ sq. ft. of the basement was more than I bargained for, but it's worth it. I just need to get this knocked out, because I have 3 kegs and the materials to start my all grain brewing rig and another 400 sq. ft. of the basement to finish into a brewing room. My wife wants me out of the kitchen on brewing days. Where in Rochester are you from?

rebl68 said:

very nice bar build, neighbor!

Click to expand...

Thanks EarthBound! I just took a peak at your brew stand and it makes me want to stop working on the basement and start fabricating my stand. I picked up 3 nice stainless kegs last week and a patient of mine "donated" the material to build the framework of the rig. I started buffing/polishing kegs the other night and my wife told me to get the basement done before I start any other projects. She thinks I'm like a child with A.D.D. when it comes to my new found brewing hobby. I just think I have my priorities in order better than her.

EarthBound said:

Very nice work so far, man. Prost!

Click to expand...

I live in Michigan, so I searched high and low for something native to Michigan. I knew that I wanted something 4 inches thick with raw, live edges and around 12 ft. long. I was originally searching for black walnut, but I couldn't find anything of this size that was ready for finishing. A slab of this size needs to naturally cure in a dry place. I did an online search for slabs and came across redwood slabs in northern California. Since my dad has a cedar swamp filled with red cedar and I was using red cedar for my mantle, trim pieces, etc., I decided that redwood was a perfect match.

I was dealing with a company call redwoodburl.com, but they turned out to be a bunch of crooks that advertise an "unlimited selection", but couldn't provide me with pictures of anything suitable. Evidently they have a history of promising folks one thing and then delivering something else. Luckily, my online search took me to Jim Parodi at www.artisanburlwood.com. He told me that he had the perfect slab for me and not only provided me with pictures, but he also rough and finish sanded the thing before taking the pictures. The bartop was also reasonably priced compared to the other places, so I ordered the countertop for the cabinets behind the bar as well. He was awesome to deal with! He had just started using a new product for his bartops called conversion varnish as opposed to the two step epoxy that gives the thick glossy finish. He offered to do 5 coats of the conversion varnish, which is supposedly as strong of a finish (redwood is pretty soft) as the epoxy for another $200. In all I spent $1600 for the two pieces, which included the finishing and $275 freight shipping. The jacka$$ at redwood burl wanted almost that much for one unfinished slab that he couldn't provide me pictures of.

If you are looking for anything similar, start with Jim at www.artisanburlwood.com before you look anywhere else.

stephm said:

Can I ask where you got the bar top?

Click to expand...

That is how I want my bar to look, but I don't need the fancy/expensive top. My basement is done in knotty pine and I already have the wet bar against the wall. Now I just need the one away from the wall for people to pull up and drink! Either way it looks great!

Duuuuuuuude.....

My pants feel tighter for some odd reason.