Fitting Bartop Through Hatch ?

Hi all,

I was hoping some kind soul with a carpentry brain might be able to tell me the best way of going about doing the following…..

Basically – I’ve cut out a hatch in a single skin brick wall separating the main area of the garage to a galley area.

The galley will be “behind the bar” the main bit the pub area.

Now I need to fit a bartop/counter top. This will sit on the brick wall and will need an overhang both sides.

At the back of the bar I envisage I will build a frame for the bar to rest on securely and to provide a little storage space for underneath.

The bar top would need to be secured strong enough for a beer pump – well I suppose as strong as a bar needs to be.

Being a little foggy minded when it comes to these things, I’ve been scratching my head about how this could be done, I can’t quite work out how to fit the bartop through the hatch.

//www.diynot.com/network/lozinger99/albums/21246

Ideally (see pic) I’d like it to be a single piece that fits through the hatch and then down both sides at varying lengths. But in my mind’s eye this is surely impossible.

Can anyone give me any guidance on this or indeed anything about such a project that would help me out…!

Cheers

Loz

Are you going to support the bar counter with supports at the front?

As I see it, you will have a supporting frame at the back of the bar (for storage etc.)

You could use supports at the front for the bar counter ( as many as you need dependant on the length of the bar)

These could be as plain or fancy as you want.

I would be tempted to make the counter top either as:

(a) One piece then cut it across the length at the point in the middle of the wall

(b) Two pieces ensuring both pieces would have the join in the middle of the wall

You can then join/re-join both pieces of counter top. There are various methods (e.g. dowels or biscuits)

I would suggest that if you ensure the join line is midway between the brickwork it will give additional support for the join as the join will be supported from below by the brickwork.

Just IMHO...

Hey thanks very much for the reply.

I wasn't intending on having supports at the front as it there is only a small overhang on this side.

So yes the weight would be taken by the wall and the back frame.

Ok so make is as one piece and then measure a cut to coincide with the wall and then cut it lenghtways and biscuit those two bits together.

I guess in that case Ill have to use a good wood rather than any sort of countertop as ill need to be able to varnish the join in afterwards.

Thanks this gives me a good thinking point to start from.

Only a suggestion though!!

You could also consider some form of thin covering (e.g. thin laminate/perspex -clear or coloured) which would be flexible enough to cut in one piece and then fit through the gap by bending it in a sort of u shape to fit through the gap and then lay on the top.

Lots of options and mine is only one idea.

I thought about a one-piece which was long enough to cover AND fit diagonally through the gap but I don't think that would work as it probably wouldn't be long enough to have a decent overhang at each end.

Someone else may have a better solution!

And mine's a pint!!

And cheers Belboz also.

These ideas are really useful... sometimes you cant get the thought proces going and this is great.

A pint it is!