Questions about building a bar.

[Macdaddy4738]

Gonna get ready to put a bar in the house for a Halloween Party. I made some plans in Google SketchUp. Was wondering if there is anything I missed or could change to get away with using less wood than I am? Trying to do it on the super cheap.

Obviously the first picture is the basic frame of the bar, the second is with all the sides and top attached.

It has provisions for a mini fridge (hence the larger portion of one side) and will have shelves in the rest, but I'll be using shelving hardware for that rather than 2x4's.

What do you guys think?

EDIT*

Just realized the frame image doesnt show the last change I made. The change is visible in the middle of the second image.

 

[Your Hot Dog Guy!]

Build it stouter than you think it should be, drunks are excellent leaners!

 

[twistedone]

Looks good, if your using 3/4" shelf material get yourself a Craig jig for makeing pocket scew holes ,, that will make your life easier and it will hide all your fastener .

 

[cardudenc]

this is too funny. there is a bet at work between 2 guys about him getting his bar and gameroom done for the same reason. he has been working on this for awhile. I just showed him the thread. he says there is no way in the time left.

 

[RatLabGuy]

What is the long-term plan here - are you keeping it in teh house, liek a semi-permanent addition, or is this just for the party?
Aren't you renting?

If you you plan to keep it awhile and want it sturdy, you need more horizontal slats in the "inside" rows at the top and bottom, so that it is full "boxes" all the way around... otherwise those middle legs are gonna be able to lean/wobble really easily. Don't rely on the top for it to be surdy, it should al lstand on it's own w/o it.
Only requires adding 4 boards, 2 8' studs @ $3 each.

What are you planning to use for the top?

 

[TJcrawler97]

I built one in college and I one thing I wish I changed was sitting the mini fridge on a piece of plastic or a towel. The power went out and water drained leaked out. Also when people sat at the bar they wanted to put there feet on something. So I added a metal foot rest. Also added rope lighting behind the bar for better lighting. What are you useing for the top of the bar? We used plexiglass and it started cracking after people would slam there beers down.

 

[Macdaddy4738]

for the top we are going to make removable inserts with bottlecap designs in them. Originally I wanted to use clear resin for covering them up, but my room mate wanted to use plexiglass because of the cost issue. I'll mention to him about the breaking thing.

As for the bar, it is completely temporary till we move out. It will not be screwed into the floor, just itself. I wanted to make it into 3 parts, but the design got too complicated and used far too much wood.

Now I remember why I originally designed the shelving unit to just rest on pieces of 2x4 rather than shelf hardware, that was going to be my horizontal braces...might need to redesign.

 

[TJcrawler97]

Yeah we built ours in the house and when the lease was up we couldnt get it out of the house. Had to cut it in three pieces and ended up destroying it. Pexiglass isnt cheap either and it was very hard to cut to shape. Also we had a problem with lqiud leaking down in between the molding holding the plexiglass down. Caulk might of fixed the problem but roomates didnt care. I would just get a cheap sheet of counter top and cover the ply wood with it.

 

[RatLabGuy]

for the top we are going to make removable inserts with bottlecap designs in them. Originally I wanted to use clear resin for covering them up, but my room mate wanted to use plexiglass because of the cost issue. I'll mention to him about the breaking thing.
As for the bar, it is completely temporary till we move out. It will not be screwed into the floor, just itself. I wanted to make it into 3 parts, but the design got too complicated and used far too much wood.
Now I remember why I originally designed the shelving unit to just rest on pieces of 2x4 rather than shelf hardware, that was going to be my horizontal braces...might need to redesign.

"Completely temporary until you move out"... meaning for another 9+ months? Better make it pretty sturdy then, who knows how many parties there will be between now and then ;-)

No need to redesign anything, just add a bar along the bottom and top rows. Imagine you are making something like cabinets.
You want it to be sturdy w/o even having a top on it at all.

You can make a "nice" top easy/cheap by buying a sheet of MDF, @ Lowes they will cut it for you, you could get all of it from 1 4x8, teh top can be just 2 pieces. Then buy a sheet of laminate, they'll cut that for you too, glue it to the MDF. Can make it stronger by overlapping the joints between MDf and laminate.

Agree w/ above on Plexiglass, for it to be thick enough to be sturdy, will be very pricy for that much sq footage.

 

[retroedaddy]

I have built a couple of these and everytime I try to make them on the Cheap,they end up with Girls wanting to climb up and Dance on them.Sooo the second one I made was way Stronger,just food for thought.

 

[96tacolx]

Needs more triangulation.

This would be how I would do it. Also build it like you would a wall. Lay top and bottom 2x4's flat instead of on edge.

 

[Macdaddy4738]

okay, took some advice from you guys and re-drafted it.

What do you think?

 

[1ATony]

Build it stouter than you think it should be, drunks are excellent leaners!

I was at a house party once and this lady was leaning against a wall in the basement where the party was, she passed out and fell on top of a little tikes kitchen set totally demolishing it into like 10,000 pieces.

It could have been something out of a Chris Farley movie. Everyone had tears coming out of their eyes. She was fine.

 

[McCracken]

what's the scale on this btw? how tall, wide and deep?

 

[Macdaddy4738]

42" tall, 17" deep with a foot overhang on the edge. Where the fridge is going will be 22" deep.

It is 54" by 25.5" (angled part) by 52"