Documenting My Build

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whesser

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May 14, 2014
26
pace,fl
After asking several questions and getting some answers - decided about 3 weeks ago to get started with the frame of my L island. Just a "weekend warrior" with some skills. Using the steel studs caused some apprehension at first (as many have said) but made a jig system that enabled me to make several cuts at once with skill saw and metal cutting blade. Built modules based on the BBQ Coach method as I figured I could make walls and convert to boxes as opposed to building bottom up one stud at a time which was a little intimidating to me. Anyway - not sure how many pics I can post at a time but I will try to describe my process as I add to this post.

So - currently I have 3 modules built - all 28" deep and 35" high. I haven't made the cutouts yet. 4 foot module will hold my current grill, 28x28 corner module, and 5 foot L module with countertop and bar. Will have cutouts for frig and drawers in the 5 foot module. Attached are pics so far. Next steps are the cutouts, finishing the bar counter, connecting the modules, durock and trex feet on bottom.

Question for anyone ... if I add cross studs across the modules (primarily corner and 5 ft with bar) ... do I HAVE to have plywood under the durock if I am going to tile ?? Have seen and gotten different responses).

Any questions or comments are welcome. Looking at possible dryvit and stone or faux stone on verticals and tile countertops.
 

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I have a couple quick questions... Where are you getting the your studs? I've only seen the thinner gauge studs at Home Depot, which is the closest place around me that carries the steel. Also, what type of screws are you using? Home Depot sells only a few items for steel studs, but they have no steel stud specific screws
 
whesser said:
After asking several questions and getting some answers - decided about 3 weeks ago to get started with the frame of my L island. Just a "weekend warrior" with some skills. Using the steel studs caused some apprehension at first (as many have said) but made a jig system that enabled me to make several cuts at once with skill saw and metal cutting blade. Built modules based on the BBQ Coach method as I figured I could make walls and convert to boxes as opposed to building bottom up one stud at a time which was a little intimidating to me. Anyway - not sure how many pics I can post at a time but I will try to describe my process as I add to this post.

So - currently I have 3 modules built - all 28" deep and 35" high. I haven't made the cutouts yet. 4 foot module will hold my current grill, 28x28 corner module, and 5 foot L module with countertop and bar. Will have cutouts for frig and drawers in the 5 foot module. Attached are pics so far. Next steps are the cutouts, finishing the bar counter, connecting the modules, durock and trex feet on bottom.

Any questions or comments are welcome. Looking at possible dryvit and stone or faux stone on verticals and tile countertops.
Click to expand...



Hi,
Did you built these or did you buy prebuilt at bbqcoach?
Thanks bbqmom
 
Bought 20 g studs and tracks at a local building supply store found on internet. Most medium size locations should have them. Got the screws there as well. Ask a couple of local builders where they get them at. Good Luck!

- - - Updated - - -

Built myself -- they have video on youtube ... "assemble grill island in 5 minutes"... or something to that effect. Of course they don't really permanently assemble that fast but it shows how they built and assemble each wall.
 

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you can post your photobucket pics here. Go to photobucket. double click on the pic you want to post to FUll Size.
Over on the right is 3 sets of code. You want choose the IMG code.
CLick on the IMG code and it automatically copie it.
then come back here and paste it. Easy as pie.

whesser said:
OK - see other pics via photobucket link below. Includes partial bar counter assembly and how I made the cantilever joint supports ... used regular shelf supports from HD which was suggested to me in one of the forums. I think they will be very sturdy. More work to do today before the US Open ... starting with cutouts. Will post more later.





http://s100.photobucket.com/user/golfisme56/library/
Click to expand...
 
UPDATE ... Wow -- don't even know where to begin except it has been almost exactly 2 months since last post/update. Very hot/humid Summer here in NW Fl so my working time has been limited due to this and some other reasons. The main hangup I've dealt with (and solved) is the issue of wiring to and within the island. First of all - the electricians in the area must have plenty of work because out of 5 that I called ... only 1 showed up and gave me an estimate (too much $ and not to code) - 2 were no-shows (x's2) and 2 no call backs. Long story short ... after consultation in the DIY electrical forums - I decided to do it myself --- which was a 1st time electrical project for me. I was very nervous about it ... you know - thoughts of 120 volts going thru your body if you touch the wrong thing at wrong time type of thing :) But I finally decided to run from my main panel to nearest wall outside my garage and run thru conduit to the island (not totally done yet but all tested and working fine). The hardest part was fishing the wire from attic into the panel but with my brother's help - finally got it done.

The next new thing for me was running wire and wiring the outlets in the island itself. Finally researched enough to have all outlets GFCI protected and to wire a "half-hot" switch for the refrigerator outlet. The biggest lesson here was that I found out that installing the metal boxes I got from HD was going to be very difficult because I would have to manufacture some kind of mount that would offset ~ 2 inches outward from the stud to accomodate 1/2" of durock and 1 1/2 " + of stone exterior. I could have mounted directly to stud to accomplish this BUT with the inlet and outlet holes only coming back 1 inch from front of box ... how would i get the wiring BEHIND the durock ??? My conclusion and HD was that you couldn't. Sooo ... ending up getting the plastic box with the adjustable offset mounting device and drilled holes far enough back toward inside of island -- that I could run the wire to where it would be behind the durock. This issue was very surprising to me in that I didn't think it was that uncommon to have a box to accommodate 2 + inches for the exterior finish.
Sooo ... that is where I am at now. I have purchased some louvered deck lights that I need to run LV wire from transformer. I am ready to button this thing up and finish. I still plan to tile the tops and have decided on stone exterior. However, there is now stone panels (Versetta Stone from HD -- 8 x 36 inch) that you can nail/screw on. These are twice as expensive as individual or small panels of stone veneer out there. I haven't decided which way to go on that yet.

Here are some updated pics :
odk031_zps6ef7ebe1.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]





- - - Updated - - -

More pics:





 
Looking good. And good job on the electrical. I ran into the same problem with the electrical box offsets. I installed three of the boxes that you mentioned on my backsplashes, and changed my plans for the finish material on the backsplashes from stone to glass tile, that way all I need was about an inch of adjustment all together.
 
UPDATE: 5 weeks since last post - still very hot but have made good progress and almost done with this reasonably hard, tedious, and fulfilling project. Trying to remember "lessons learned" but if you don't write it down at short intervals you tend to forget - at least I do. So ... since last post I finished the most of the durock - put on Redgard - decided on tile and stone - and have made significant progress with the install of each. Durock is not the easiest thing in the world to install as it takes some muscle to get thru the metal studs and is harder the lower you get to keep going straight in. Also - need to make sure you have two studs whenever you have a seam. Installed and wired 4 deck lights - 2 under the bar on seating side, 1 under bar on other side, and 1 over the drawers on large island. Have some puck lights that I will place in cabinets and may run some lv track lighting before or after completion as I have the other side of transformer I haven't used yet.

I spent alot of time researching the tile and stone that I wanted for house/patio color matching and costs. I knew I wanted a dark brown for tile as I saw some pics and thought it looked good. Finally decided on it and bought it from Lowe's online. Also decided on a manufactured stone from Horizon-Stone.net ... Handcrafted Ledgestone. Tile was about $5 sq ft and stone was about $6.50 sq ft for flats and about $9 sq ft for corners.
Had a problem using a mortar specific for stone as it wasn't holding good. Ended up putting scratch coat on durock and then applying stone after it was dry using modified thinset --- worked much better.

So ... here are some updated pics:









































Will f/u later when hopefully complete ... everyone invited for steak and beer !!!
 
looks pretty good. nice job. is that door on the outside the fridge? did you switch the refrigerator plug so its not always on? if so, it may start to smell funky.
what we do in the electrical world is use 4x4 metal bracket boxes flush with stud line and use a 2" raised single gang ring. then you use a knockout in the back of the box for wiring. your solution will work too.
 

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