Various materials are suitable for making an outdoor bench in the courtyard of a house or in a country house. The combination of wood and concrete is practical, inexpensive and elegant. Moreover, in principle, any adult can cope with this work.
Will need
Before starting to implement the planned project, we will prepare the following materials and products:- Chipboard with melamine coating;
- pine board;
- ready-made cement-sand mixture;
- fittings with a diameter of 10 mm;
- various screws;
- metal corner brackets;
- ready-made mixture for sealing joints in formwork;
- colorless moisture-resistant varnish;
- construction cord, etc.
To work on the bench you will need the following tools and equipment: a circular saw for wood and metal, a grinder, a clamp, a reciprocating saw drive, a drill, a screwdriver, sandpaper, a brush, a ruler and a marker, a container (trough), a shovel, a trowel.
The process of making a garden bench
We begin work by making two identical formworks for concrete legs. To do this, use a portable circular saw to divide a sheet of melamine into two halves.
Then we cut each of them on a stationary circular saw into the necessary elements, two units each.
We assemble the formwork using clamps, a drill, a drill and screws, taking measures to increase their strength and rigidity.
To prevent the concrete mixture from sticking to the protruding corners of the formwork when drying, we cover them with special tape.
We wipe the formwork for the bench legs from the inside with a damp cloth to remove dust, dirt and debris. We apply sealant to all joints using a construction gun and smooth it with a special profile.
To strengthen the concrete legs, we use 10 mm reinforcement, cutting it to length with a pendulum saw.
Mix the concrete solution and fill the formwork with it.
When they are half filled, we place the pieces of reinforcement in the solution and shake the formwork, placing a flat halyard under the base from the edge, manually.
We fill the formwork completely and to remove the air remaining in the solution, we vibrate the side walls of the formwork, acting on them around the perimeter with a reciprocating saw drive.
Now we leave the formwork with the poured concrete solution alone for one week until it hardens. Then we disassemble the formworks, unscrewing the screws with which they were fastened, and install the legs in the right place.
We lay the longitudinal board of the seat in the upper shallow but wide grooves of the legs, making sure that there is a small gap between the walls of the groove and the board to compensate for the thermal expansion of the materials.
We install a transverse board in the groove flush with the outer side of the leg, close to the end of the longitudinal board.
We do the same on the other side. We cut the longitudinal board along the transverse line, departing from the outer edge of the concrete base the width of the wooden insert.
We remove the wooden elements of the seat and clean the legs with sandpaper, removing irregularities, rounding corners, edges and sagging.
To protect concrete legs from moisture, we cover them with silicone enamel. After letting it soak in and dry, we paint the concrete black or another color.
We process the boards with a grinder and sandpaper until all burrs, roughness are removed and the edges are rounded.
At the bottom of the longitudinal board, to strengthen it and stabilize it, we glue and screw in the middle a board that is narrower, but of the same thickness, and whose ends will rest against the concrete legs.
We tightly tie the concrete legs with a construction cord and lay them across, lubricating the place of contact with the longitudinal board with glue, the seat elements with a gap equal to the thickness of the melamine bar (20 mm) between the threads of the cord.
Starting from the second and ending with the last, we secure the transverse elements with clamps and fasten them from below with screws.
We do not glue the two outer transverse elements of the seat, since they will be removable. To do this, we attach bars to them from the end in the middle using three recessed screws.
On the longitudinal board of the seat on both sides we prepare places for two long screws, which will be screwed into the concrete after installing the bench in its place.
We cover the ends of the cross beam and the longitudinal board with a wooden element and fasten it with four screws.
All wooden parts of the seat, top and bottom, are coated in two layers with urethane varnish to protect them from moisture, sun and cracking.
After installing the concrete legs in the right place, we return the wooden seat without the outer crossbars to its place and screw two screws until they stop into the places prepared for them in the longitudinal board of the seat.
We put the outer transverse elements of the seat in place and the bench is completely ready to perform its functions.
By the way, the seat can also be attached to the concrete legs using metal corners, attaching them from below with screws to the reinforcing beam and the sides of the legs.
