Kal's basement Brewery/Bar/Home Theatre build 2.0

**kal** · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 6:38 pm Post subject:

huaco · Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 1506 Location: Burleson Texas

Just gotta be different don't ya! haha..
Looking forward to seeing the final pictures. Carpet looks NICE! Is that a special carpet for acoustics or does any carpet work?

**kal** · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 7:12 pm Post subject:

It's industrial carpet tile. Comes in 19.7" x 19.7" squares. Really the only reason for going with carpet tile is because all of the role carpet we saw looked too "house like" if that makes any sense. It looked like it belonged in a living room or bedroom or similar. We wanted a different look.

It's glued down and doesn't have an underpad so it's fairly 'hard' to walk on if you're used to walking on cushy carpet. Still much softer than tile or hardwood of course.

One of the added benefits is that you can pull a tile up and replace it if needed. (There were extras). I say it's "glued" but it's more of paste that stays permanently tacky. Not really glue.

For accoustics? It's actually a bit worse since it's just 3/16" thick with a rubber back. I may end up putting a black noddle rug or similar on the floor between the screen and the first row of seats. This is the most critical spot (first reflection point). We'll see.

Kal

Rick · Joined: 21 Aug 2012 Posts: 9 Location: Montreal, PQ, CA

It looks awesome!! When are you planning to start brewing in there?

**kal** · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 8:52 pm Post subject:

TrainSafe · Joined: 30 Aug 2012 Posts: 16

**kal** · Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:25 pm Post subject:

All of the fine woodworking is now in, including the wood panels around the fireplace and the custom sliding door at the bottom of the stairs:

The baseboards around the sliding door had to be replaced as they stick out too much. The floor wasn't perfectly level either so some work had to be done there to make the custom door fit (it was hitting the carpet). About 15 tapcon concrete screws were added to the OSB underneath to flatten out the platon to make things work. Easier than sanding.

The bar cabinetry doors and handles were installed:

In keeping with everthing else they are a simple and clean. Straight lines.

The good news story of the day is that the quartz for the bar won't be delayed very long. It'll be installed some time between Sept 27 - Oct 2 instead the original late October date we were given.

On Monday the glass will be installed for the shower wall and niche shelves as well as the bar niche. Painter was in all day today caulking and sealing up the trim. He comes back for most of the day tomorrow as well.

Kal

huaco · Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 1506 Location: Burleson Texas

Kal,
I came across this company that manufactures modern furniture. Thought of your Modern taste... Maybe they have some benches for your sauna...

http://shinerinternational.com/wordpress/?p=43

**kal** · Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:39 pm Post subject:

Thanks! Some interesting stuff there. I'll definitely bookmark it...

Kal

**kal** · Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 5:50 pm Post subject:

The bar quartz has now been installed. I temporarily dropped in the draft tower, drip tray and faucet for the photos below just to make sure everything fits correctly. They will eventually be installed permanently with the right plumbing, properly siliconed, etc ...

The glass shower wall has been installed as well. Not much to photograph. It's see-through. Wink

On Monday and the painter finishes painting the bar area and the brewery windows/bar niche glass shelves/shower niche glass shelves get installed. Then the plumber hooks up the drip tray and the bar sink and the electrician installs the pot lights and changes the light switches. That's probably about it other than a few minor finishing touches. Then the fun really begins and we start moving in furniture and other equipment.

Kal

huaco · Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 1506 Location: Burleson Texas

Man, That is CRAZY-nice looking! Good choice on the quartz tops! They look phenomenal with the chrome hardware.

Scott · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:53 pm Post subject: Bathroom

Kal,

Your bathroom is looking phenomenal! What are the dimensions of the bathroom as well as the shower?
I have 2000 sq feet of unfinished space in my basement and I may be using some of your ideas.
Also, is it justbasementsottawa that took care of the washroom? I am pretty much thinking of the exact same layout for mine, minus the sauna.

Thanks!

Scott

**kal** · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 6:12 pm Post subject:

Thanks Scott!

The bathroom is 12'1" deep by 6'5" wide (not including the little niche behind the door). The shower is the last 3 feet of the bathroom.
JustBasementsOttawa.ca took care of the entire basement. Tell Norm that Kal sent you. (Though he might run of screaming in the other direction at the mention of my name). Wink

Kal

KES · Joined: 13 May 2011 Posts: 472 Location: Iowa

kal, you do realize that you are giving most of us basement envy. Wink

**kal** · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 5:41 pm Post subject:

We took delivery of the Marvel 6GARM beverage center a couple of days ago. We knew the fan in it wouldn't be dead silent but having it in place now it's just too noisy. We're looking at alternatives and our dealer is being very accommodating/helpful.

One that we're considering from their recommendation is a unit that unfortunately they do not have on their showroom floor: The Liebherr RU 500 beverage center.

Anyone have any experience with Liebherr fridges/appliances? Bonus points if it's actually this beverage center.

They do say:

huaco · Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 1506 Location: Burleson Texas

Yeah, seems like if they wanted to substantiate their claims, they would have said "our units operate at XX Decibels"

jphussey · Joined: 17 Oct 2012 Posts: 171

So what's left yet? Getting that brew station setup?

**kal** · Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:32 pm Post subject:

On the design/build basement company's side they still have to:

- Install the final light switches/dimmers/IR dimmers/vanity light/lounge hanging light. (Electrician's coming tomorrow)
- Install the two sauna pot lights.
- They're having a custom fireplace trim surround made out of stainless. Not sure when that'll arrive.
- Caulk/silicone a bunch of areas like around the bar quartz, the bathroom vanity, around the sauna floor edges, shower edges.

There's very little left to do on their side. It's mostly me now.

I ordered two stainless tables on Friday for the brewery, and mounted my control panel a couple of days ago. I've primed my keezer as I want to paint it black.

I'm also slowly moving in all the home theater stuff. Speakers, screen, and seating are now in more or less their final positions. Need to do all the back room wiring and punch holes in the screen wall for passing speaker wires, sub patch cord, sub power cord.

I installed the wine racks about a week ago.

Window blinds ordered.

Shower tower was mounted, plumbing all done now. The drip tray glass rinser's hooked up too and is pretty cool.

... and a bunch of other smaller things.

I need to take pictures! I'll try and do this in the next day or two and will update here. Progress has been slower since it's most me having to do stuff now and I can't work on this 8 hrs/day as much as I'd like to.

Over the next two weeks time will be at even more of a premium since we need to clear out the entire first floor of the house as the hardwood is all being replaced due to cupping that occured before we took possession. That's been a royal pain. They start tearing it up on Monday.

Kal

huaco · Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 1506 Location: Burleson Texas

Look forward to the updates! I bet it looks different down there than it did 12 months ago!

**kal** · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2012 4:13 am Post subject:

It's amazing how much progress slows down when the design/build company stops and I take over. Other than a few small touch-ups, they are basically done. I don't have a team of people who can work on this 8 hours/day.

Here's the progress over the last 2-3 weeks:

My keg freezer (keezer) will be more visible now that it's going into the brewery so I have it a coat of Rustoleum-type paint in black:

I hung my brewery control panel:

The wall plate I used before was stained to match my old tile. It's now been painted dark grey to match the wall (again using Rustoleum):

Immediately to the right of the control panel is the fan speed control unit. This used to be in a separate little wall-hung box. Now that I'm able to design from scratch I installed it as a regular switch right in the wall. The outlet is hidden up above the vent hood.

I'm going to be using a 24x60" stainless steel commercial table for the brew stand instead of the wood one I built previously, so I painted the pump stand to match:

We've started to move in the Jaymar home theater seating that we had before as well as the speakers (Paradigm Signature series):

The bathroom vanity lighting, mirror, and shower tower were installed:

A couple of vapour proof pot lights were installed in the sauna, same ones that are used in the shower:

Sauna heater running (it needs to run for a good hour or two to burn off any oily residues from the manufacturing process):

I installed the VintageView wine racks:

They come in 1, 2, and 3 bottle deep varieties. We went with the 2-bottle deep version:

We moved the movies on to the storage shelves:

The temporary white light switches were replaced with black switches and Lutron DIVA DVCL-153 dimmers. There are a couple of special Lutron Spacer SPS-600 IR dimmers for the home theater:

I like these Lutron dimmers because they look exactly like regular Decora style switches and the dimmer slider is tiny & off to the side. People will simply hit them to turn them on and off instead of messing with the dimmer settings.

The IR dimmers have a clear back so that they can be blasted by an IR blaster that will be installed later. I pulled a CAT5 line into the 4-gang box before the drywall went up. The idea is to have a single IR receiver above the screen that then "blasts" the various home theater devices and these two dimmers. This way you don't have to point your remote in the right direction. Just point at the screen and everything (including the equipment that is out of the line of sight) receives the signal.

Both styles of dimmers also support CFL and LED lighting in case we want to upgrade in the future. LED is still insanely priced today so it's definitely for future use. We may put a couple in the wine rack just to avoid excess heat but other than that we'll probably stick with the halogen lighting that's already been installed.

Kal