Basement Bar Upgrade

[yoop89]

Starting a thread to keep me focused and get some insights on some of the processes that I have yet to do. We closed on our house this past 4th of July and progress has been slow and steady getting stuffed fixed up and organized. I have found some spare time to get the basement/brewery/bar cleaned up and modified slightly

This is the bar "project" that was already in the house when we moved in.

Loved the hardwood floor bartop but it was unfinished, rough and falling apart. The rest of the bar is wrapped in cedar tounge and groove.

After a little bit of demo and cutting I am here, with the new bartop waiting patiently.

As of last night I just need to redo some framing to support the 6" slab of Oak and clean up some of my cuts. Once its all mounted I plan on pouring the whole bar with resin. Thats where my first question comes in. Has anyone here done it? Ive seen many bar tops that have been poured but never actually seen it done. I plan on running to menards after work to grab a few boards and the epoxy kit.

My plan was to mix up a small batch and brush on to fill in cracks and prepare the surface for the pour then mix up the rest the following day(after giving the first thin coat time to cure).

After the top is poured I plan on moving to the back side and installing our wine fridge and starting my kegerator build. Plans are for a 4 tap tower with this guy to keep stuff cool.

Its an old commercial fridge from Starbucks with enough space for 4 cornies and itll fit behind the bar

Hopefully I will be updating this with more pics soon as work progresses!!

 

[cloudybrewer]

Nice slab. I've always loved that look.

 

[yoop89]

Thanks. I actually got to cut it myself and then used it as our guest book for our wedding. Pretty nervous with doing the epoxy pour. Really don’t want to screw it up.

 

[cloudybrewer]

Yikes. That adds a whole new element to the project. Screw it up, and the missus wrings your neck. Godspeed, good sir. Godspeed.

 

[myndflyte]

I think you should probably do some testing on pieces you don't care about before diving into that.

 

[yoop89]

Got some more work done this weekend! Here it is before epoxy.

I played around with the resin a little and poured a gallon of it. Found I had a bunch of leaks and hurried to patch those to keep it from leaking all over the floor. Anyways here is how it sits currently just need to do a final flood coat tonight!

Loving how it looks right now. Hopefully everything else goes as planned. Anxious to get started on getting taps behind the bar. [emoji482]

 

[AFVet1982]

Looks really nice, I'm starting a basement bar project of my own, might be using barnwood for the top, front & sides. Will start my own thread when things officially kick off and share pics.

 

[yoop89]

I need to get some pictures up of the "final" pour but if you are using barnwood for the top and want to do something like the epoxy I did I would highly recommend sealing the wood first with something else. Not only to preserve the color but to save epoxy too. The barnwood I had was pretty soft and not only did it soak up about a gallon worth of the epoxy(not cheap!) it also darkened the wood considerably. Granted it still has a lot of color to it, it just changed it from light/dark greys to more dark grey/browns. Overall very satisfied with how it turned out! Just need about one more gallon of epoxy to fill in some of the low spots.

 

[mongoose33]

I'm unclear how you're going to keep the resin from simply leaking off the edge. My understanding of how this works is you need a lip all the way around the area to contain the resin. Getting that lip to be level all the way around is key, otherwise the resin will flow to the low side and then give you an uneven surface.

Here's a video showing someone doing a bottle-cap bar-top tutorial; you can see the lip around where the bottle caps are placed:



OK, shows what I know--apparently you can do it on a non-lipped surface, the resin simply rolls off the side and coats it. Don't know how thick such a coat must be, but clearly it can be done that way:

 

[Soulshine2]

Starting a thread to keep me focused and get some insights on some of the processes that I have yet to do. We closed on our house this past 4th of July and progress has been slow and steady getting stuffed fixed up and organized. I have found some spare time to get the basement/brewery/bar cleaned up and modified slightly

This is the bar "project" that was already in the house when we moved in.
View attachment 583589

Loved the hardwood floor bartop but it was unfinished, rough and falling apart. The rest of the bar is wrapped in cedar tounge and groove.

After a little bit of demo and cutting I am here, with the new bartop waiting patiently.
View attachment 583590

View attachment 583591

As of last night I just need to redo some framing to support the 6" slab of Oak and clean up some of my cuts. Once its all mounted I plan on pouring the whole bar with resin. Thats where my first question comes in. Has anyone here done it? Ive seen many bar tops that have been poured but never actually seen it done. I plan on running to menards after work to grab a few boards and the epoxy kit.

My plan was to mix up a small batch and brush on to fill in cracks and prepare the surface for the pour then mix up the rest the following day(after giving the first thin coat time to cure).

After the top is poured I plan on moving to the back side and installing our wine fridge and starting my kegerator build. Plans are for a 4 tap tower with this guy to keep stuff cool. View attachment 583592

Its an old commercial fridge from Starbucks with enough space for 4 cornies and itll fit behind the bar

Hopefully I will be updating this with more pics soon as work progresses!!

very nice. I coated my (outdoor)bar top with an exterior grade varathane. I think I did about 5 coats . It was very easy to work with and resists water rings and much cheaper than epoxy. Im not saying dont use epoxy ,but it can be a PITA if while youre trying to smooth it out ,it kicks on you. Please keep the progress pics coming. Looks great.

 

[yoop89]

The key is to pour in manageable quantities. The resin itself is thick and sets up fairly quick. The slab of oak(bartop) is the highest point and has a nice even 1/8" coat of epoxy on it (from a total of 2 pours). Yes, it drips down the front but I wanted that sealed as well to match the finish on top. You just use a roller to keep distributing it across the front of the slab and to keep it from dripping on the floor. I did build up a 1/4" lip around the barnwood section to contain the epoxy since it is a less than even surface and so far that has turned out well. Just had a few holes that I didnt get sealed 100%

The cool thing about this stuff is that you can sand down the topcoat at anytime and reapply to fix mistakes/damage so if you end up with a low spot you can repour that at a later date.

 

[AFVet1982]

if you are using barnwood for the top and want to do something like the epoxy I did I would highly recommend sealing the wood first with something else.

Thanks for the tip, I got this same advice from some co-workers with woodworking experience. Definitely going to get the boards sealed first, I really want to preserve the patina/weathering/whatever is on them now.

Thanks again, and I'll look forward to the new pictures.

 

[Genuine]

Looks great so far!