Bartops

[beerman]

got some questions about bar tops.

im interested in having some really cool bar tops seeing as that should be the focus of the nightclub............the sales. i want my bars to be as nice as posible. im thinking a glass top about an inch thick and circular in shape. if you have trouble imagining check out the daily show on comedy central and look at the desk.
anyways where can i get custom glass done and does any one know where to get it cheap. im in florida and im willing to travel at most 3 states away to go get it. thanks

BEERMAN

[David]

I would contact your local glass shops. It's going to be expensive. So be prepared.

[Baudtender]

And be prepared to spend the rest of your life trying to make it
look as good as the day it's installed.

It won't. It scratches, it hazes.

The best bar surface on Earth, given looks versus durability, is
wood laminate - go to the Home Depot and look at Pergo brand,
but there're a lot others. We got a great deal on a big batch of
this stuff on an opening we did 2 years ago, and once we were
done with the dining room, we still had a lot of boxes of it left. I
gave it a burn test, a bang test, and then we glued it down to
our bar top. Wow. It's just plain impervious, and just plain
gorgeous. Today it looks like the day we put it down, and that's
saying something given the abuse it's taken over its life.

I know what I'll use from now on.

Can I ask a question without sounding like a dick - why would
you want your bar top be the focus of your nightclub?

Baudtender

Addendum on how we quantify the above:

Burn Test: Take a lit cigarette and lay it on the surface and let
it burn all the way down. Wipe off the long ash and the resinous
goop left behind and see if there's a mark. Do the same thing
with a well-lit Swisher Sweet (it ain't scientific, but we couldn't
believe it the first time, either.)

Bang Test: Take a pint glass and slam it down at a slight angle
as hard as you dare. See if there's a dent. Beer mugs, next!
Stuff is great, but needs to be glued down and well sealed.

[der_totentanz]

Glass is nice, it doesn't burn but will get scratched up which is where it will really dull. And SUPER expensive. Someone broke a 5x10 window pane, 1300!!! Pergo is quite nice and I think they have a nice warranty, but I do not know the details of it. If you go metal....damn....there are a few ways to do it. After doing what we did, I would go stainless and coat (I'll explain the reccomended coat below) it with something. Although stainless you only need one coat and it may need to be touched up or stripped and recoated a year or two later. Again, stainless is expensive and it can look crapy if staff doesn't take care of it, but the care it needs to stay looking good isn't much. If you steel (cold-rolled or similar)...rust...rust...rust. First of all it is nasty to install and properly seal (which rust will still find ways). You have to use lots of HAZMAT to treat/clean it befor sealing which needs to be done as soon as the MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) evaporates. The sealant that is most durable is this plastic resin that comes separated and you mix them and then you need a torch to apply/spread it. This stuff is impervious, it doesn't burn or melt, however if it not completely and perfectly sealed....rust can get under and it sucks getting this resin off the metal. Or colored alcohol will get underneath and discolor. I would reccomend at least two coats, but what is nice about it is that with the way the resin is applied you can put a slight grade on it so spills will accumulate to one area. Non-Stainless is not that expensive and if treated and sealed right it prolly won't rust. I think they use that resin on the area where planes first touch down on the runway at airports.

-Eric

[Andrew]

All this talk of glass, MEK, steel cold rolled etc. makes me yearn for just plain, good old wood. With laminate as Baudtender, mentioned.

Forget all those hazardous materials and chemicals, please Ethyl. Yep, good old wood. With leather inset, if money was no object.

[clubdesign]

if you are looking for a really cool bar top material try a product
called dicrolam it will transmit light in color. This porduct is verry
cool.

[jack]

Have you thought about using a solid surface material? 100s of colors and it can be placed over an existing surface. Price runs between 10 and 15 dollars for the material plus installation. The surface can be easily maintained and damage can be sanded out.

[beerman]

the glass bar top would be in a VIP room that holds about a 100 people. i really want to make this room as nice as possible. and i dont think that wood goes very well with a "club" theme. i see wood more with a classy lounge or smoky bar, sorry thats me. but i would like to here about this dicloram stuff.... what is it and where can i get it????

[David]

OK, so you are sold on the glass. Have you ever seen a glass topped bar that has designs and etc. acid etched or sand blasted in it from the underneath side? I have. This could help eliminate people noticing the scratches.

Like I said in a previous post. We have glass inserts in our bar top. I think that they are twelve inches wide by thirty-six inches long. They have been lightly sand blasted on the under side to make them opaque. There is also blue neon under each panel.