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Home Tiki Bar Build Out - Spider Island Lounge |
liabungalo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 02, 2003
Posts: 176
From: Bloomfield, NJ
|  Posted: 28 days ago; 08:53 am Permalink
This has been a long time coming, but I didn't want to post photos until I had most of the non-Tiki frame work done for what will eventually be my Tiki basement.
A little background: Three years ago, my wife and I purchased an 85 year old him in NJ with a short, but clean and dry basement. The goal was to eventually turn it into a Tiki lounge, but I first had to figure out what to do with the nearly 100 feet of asbestos piping that was falling apart and then learn how to actually frame out a basement. I have never worked with wood before, let alone done construction. I'm a wedding photographer and have never even used a saw before.
Last October, I took on the asbestos. I sealed off the basement, dragged in the gardening hose, put on the mask and space suit and cut out everything, bagged, mopped and HEPA vacuumed the room for good measure. Hopefully, I didn't eliminate 30-40 years off my life, but I have a feeling smacking my head against the asbestos whenever I did the laundry would probably have killed me faster. Regardless, that sucked.
For the past few months, I've learned how to frame walls, put up insulation and vapor barriers, ran electricity and plaster. All by myself. It's taken about six months, but I'm finally putting up the finishing touches and am ready to start Tikifying the room.
Below is a montage of what I've been up to leading to now. I will probably have a ton of questions, particularly regarding what to do with the low ceiling (6'7"), so please don't kill me for the noob questions.
Here are the blueprints. knocked down an outhouse that had a toilet in it and sealed off in a new enclosed laundry room. I put a cut-a-way in the wall between the laundry room and Tiki Lounge to get some natural light in and to offer a shelf for some of my Tiki mugs. I put a closet to hide the meters and piping that will double as a secret access to the tiki bar. The back half will become an office... eventually.
After one week of work and about 20 hours of cutting and hammering we have one framed wall almost complete. The bar will go on the right between the column and short wall. I'm going to build a secret access to the bar via a hidden closet that will be covering the gas meter and exhaust pipe.
Partition wall between the Tiki Lounge and my new office is about half done. framing a door that I don't have yet sucks.
Half of the wall on the left side is up. I've also started putting cross-beam studs to support the wall separating the office and Tiki Lounge on the opposite wall.
Demolished the outhouse.
Goodbye outhouse; hello nautical themed bathroom/laundry room.
I hammered out the wall between the Pirate bathroom/laundry room and the Tiki Lounge. The 94-inch shelf in the top half is going to display some of my cooler Tiki mugs.
The goal is to put an opaque acrylic window behind the display case (with hinges to switch out the mugs) and a clear one in front. This should allow some natural light into the Tiki Lounge without giving people a peep show. The plan is to put LEDs in the display case to light the mugs. We'll see how that pans out.
Spent an entire weekend running 250 ft of cable to 18 recessed lights, got power to laundry room, finished rebuilding the rotted closet, finished the pocket door frame for the secret access way and finally finished all the framing. All ready for a bigger breaker box and sheet rock.
Sheet rock is a hell of a lot more fun to work on than wood, but a ton more tiring too.
Plastering sucks
Had to custom build two doors from scratch, since the ceilings are so low.
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El Jefe
Grand Member (2 years) 
Joined: Mar 13, 2012
Posts: 237
From: The Third Coast
| Posted: 28 days ago; 09:39 am Permalink
Looks like a good start. Thanks for sharing.
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littlegiles
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 08, 2003
Posts: 663
From: Lancaster, SC
| Posted: 28 days ago; 10:51 am Permalink
Awesome start!! Can't wait to see it get some tiki skin on those bare bones.
- Dale
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Kanu
Tiki Centralite
Joined: May 17, 2011
Posts: 19
From: Michigan
| Posted: 28 days ago; 11:16 am Permalink
Did you have any initial thoughts on the ceiling? With it being that low, I'm assuming drywall or drop ceiling as a starting point is out of the question (since you'd lose a few inches of space).
I'm thinking spraying black matte paint up there would be a good starting point. It'd be your choice whether to re-route any electrical/plumbing beforehand for the sake of aesthetics. But the black could give you an easy backdrop to hide a lot of boring "house-stuff" and let you play mix-and-match with ceiling materials. Bamboo grids, fish netting, tapa, etc. I think keeping it dark otherwise is key, though.
For your supports and PVC piping, a faux-bamboo/wood paint job might work well... maybe a rope wrap.
Can't wait to see how it progresses!
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liabungalo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 02, 2003
Posts: 176
From: Bloomfield, NJ
| Posted: 28 days ago; 11:34 am Permalink
@Kanu: You have no idea how much thought I've put into the ceiling. It's really the toughest challenge I have, but I think I'm overthinking it. I don't want to use sheet rock because I don't want anything too permanent (who knows when an inspector might make a surprise appearance and I want access to the pipes). Drop ceilings just suck; even black ones.
So what I'm going to test out tonight, is I'm going to drop the ceiling by an inch and a half using 2x4s to try to clear the shorter water pipes and then try stapling on a 4x8 section of reed fencing from Home Depot. It seems to work for other people here and since the studs and ceiling are already dark brown, I don't think you'll be able to see much. Also, it will allow me to do a proper trim around the top of the sheet rock, which is pretty amateur looking. Hopefully it works. It would definitely be a lot cheaper.
[ This Message was edited by: liabungalo 2014-06-30 11:34 ]
[ This Message was edited by: liabungalo 2014-06-30 11:51 ]
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Kanu
Tiki Centralite
Joined: May 17, 2011
Posts: 19
From: Michigan
| Posted: 28 days ago; 12:20 pm Permalink
I agree with your assessment of the sheetrock. Even beyond inspection, an 83 year old home may have certain "quirks" that may need to be addressed easily. I think the reed fence idea is great! You'll be the best judge on whether that's the solution for the full ceiling... or if you'll want to change it up a little (for example, a slightly different ceiling over the bar from what's over the sitting area, etc.). Maybe find an organic way to transition (hanging thatch, bamboo trim, or something).
Oh, and in regards to where your sheetrock meets the ceiling... it's amazing what a well placed rope or bamboo pole can hide! It's like tiki crown molding!
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liabungalo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 02, 2003
Posts: 176
From: Bloomfield, NJ
| Posted: 28 days ago; 12:42 pm Permalink
@Kanu: I completely agree about the trimming. I just didn't want the sheet rock to die at the studs, if you know what I mean. You can see the light from the other side of the wall, etc. I think the reed should give me a nice line where the ceiling meets the sheetrock without going overboard.
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ErichTroudt
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 412
From: SoCal
| Posted: 28 days ago; 12:48 pm Permalink
Congrats liabungalo,
The fact the you went out of your comfort zone, and learned to do all the construction is great.
Good job on taking your time and doing it how you want it.
I look forward to seeing the progress....
Erich
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VampiressRN
Grand Member (7 years) 
Joined: Nov 23, 2006
Posts: 5666
From: Sun City Lincoln Hills (NorCal)
| Posted: 28 days ago; 2:13 pm Permalink
Wow...you have done a lot of great work for a DIY and learn as you go project. CONGRATULATIONS. I also like the plan for your ceiling. I am looking forward to more pictures and explanations of your work.
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Humuhumu
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3606
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 28 days ago; 2:31 pm Permalink
Oh how wonderful, congratulations! That's a lot of hard work, now you get to start having some real fun.
Regarding the low ceilings: one thought is that you could just embrace it and have fun with it. Put a bunch of jungle foliage up there, and make people have to bend over a bit to get around the room. This only works if you have easy access to ample seating for everyone, but it can add to the otherworldly feel.
My initial inspiration to have a home bar (which ultimately led me to the world of tiki) was a housewarming party I went to. The house had a weird little bar room with ceilings even lower than yours. You had to walk in hunched over until you got to the bench seating along the wall. It was so crazy, I knew I had to have one of my own. When I bought my first house a few years later, I didn't have a room with crazy low ceilings, so I had to make do and make it crazy with tiki instead. You lucky duck, you get to have both!
More practically: my current tiki bar has about 7.5' ceilings, low enough I can't go crazy up there. The hanging elements and lights are put in strategic spots where they aren't in the way; most of the light comes more from unobtrusive halogen spots that I can aim exactly where I want them without worrying about hitting someone's head.
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liabungalo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 02, 2003
Posts: 176
From: Bloomfield, NJ
| Posted: 28 days ago; 9:33 pm Permalink
Thank you so much for the great feedback. I went to Home Depot today and bought four 2x4s and a roll of the smaller 4x8 foot reed gate and it looks pretty awesome on the ceiling. I may need to drop it another inch and a half to clear some pipes, but this should work. Best of all, it got the approval of the wife.
The only hiccup is that you can still clearly see the beams from below. I'm probably going to have to pull the reed down and spray paint the new 2x4s brown, as well as all the 2x4s and light casings. Should be worth it in the end.
Should I be worried about fireproofing? This stuff is basically kindling, but I'm not sure there's much I can do to make it safer, other than use LEDs and trust that my wiring is solid.
[ This Message was edited by: liabungalo 2014-06-30 21:33 ]
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Pele Paul
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 26, 2008
Posts: 584
From: San Dimas, ca
| Posted: 28 days ago; 10:10 pm Permalink
I believe there is something you can brush on or spray on to make the reed fire retardant possibly at Home Depot?
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Kon-Hemsby
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 17, 2003
Posts: 1272
From: Andover, England
| Posted: 27 days ago; 04:16 am Permalink
That is looking amazing. I huge task you're undertaking but it's looking great already. I also had a low ceiling and was worried about thatching, so I fixed sone Lauhala matting to hardboard, stained it and fixed these to the ceiling. Here is a mid build shot.
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Humuhumu
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3606
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 27 days ago; 05:34 am Permalink
Here's what I use:
No-Burn 1102A Original Fire Retardant Spray, 32-Ounce by No-Burn http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003M8G39E/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_.OQStb1H8WHD3
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Critiki - Ooga-Mooga - Humu Kon Tiki
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RevBambooBen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 12, 2002
Posts: 7438
From: Huntikington Beach
| Posted: 27 days ago; 09:30 am Permalink
also try www.flamestop.com
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