Help for someone really, really bad at DIY.

donalh087 · 09-08-2021 11:42am #1

Hey, I'm really bad at DIY but can follow instructions pretty OK. We had a planter built last year with an area left to have a bench. It seems fairly straightforward but I can also see a lot of banana skins. I am looking for some simple and yet smart/modern ideas. The width is 208cm and the depth is 80cm. The bench does not need to be the full depth. I am an absolute imbecile - what should I do ? (employing a professional is a reasonable answer - but it looks so simple)

dePeatrick · 09-08-2021 11:47am

Just buy a premade bench and put it in the space. Easier to sweep under as you can move it and replace when the time comes.

donalh087 · 09-08-2021 11:51am

I though of that - and I still might - but getting a 2m bench is proving difficult and I think it might look a bit daft if it didn't fit.

jmBuildExt · 09-08-2021 12:07pm

Simplest DIY solution would be ... Brace the 2 sides with treated 2x4 and run some nice planks across cedar/teak or whatever you're having your self.

BUT the span is a bit wide to not require a middle "leg" - you may get away with it if you thicken up the timber... but the thicker you go, it wont look great IMO.

The high end solution would be to attach (about 3) metal supports to the back wall and run your nice timber across them. How much you can hide the metal rods will determine how good it looks. For maximum "hidden-ness" this would have had to be taken into account before you filled in the planter behind.

Padre_Pio · 09-08-2021 12:10pm

Cut three battons from 2x4s, two short for the depth of the bench, one long for the length of the bench. Paint them and screw them to the sides of the planter at the height you want the bench. These will support the bench.

Cut a few lengths of 2x4s and join them to make the bench seat. Paint this and just drop this onto the battens.

add a leg to the bench if you feel it sagging in the centre.

seamus · 09-08-2021 12:17pm

This is actually a really nice project if you want to get your hands dirty with very little risk.

In theory a floating bench - that is, no legs, just a bench with empty space underneath - would be nice here, a real clean look, but they're relatively complicated and if you don't do it right it'll sag or collapse within months and make a mess of the space. A 2m bench has enough space for 4 people, which means it should be able to accommodate up to 400kg if you want it to still look half good in ten years' time.

The simplest solution here is a simple bench cut to fit the space that you can just place in and out.

There are usually recommended height and depth ranges for benches to maximise how comfortable they are, so you'd want to make sure you get that right. Too high or too deep and the small people in your life will hate it.

Something chunky like this is relatively cheap and straightforward to build and is the kind of thing you can replace without too much crying about it. If you make a balls of it you can start again without it having cost a lot of money or done any damage.

https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/modern-slat-top-outdoor-wood-bench

donalh087 · 09-08-2021 2:55pm

Thanks for that Seamus. I did a quick calculation to estimate the cost of the bench. I'm converting 4x2 (inches) to 940 x 440 (mm) which I think is right. It seems I need 9 by 4x2 planks and 3 4x1 planks. They are all 2400mm long. The final price is over €200 for materials. Is this right?

Lumen · 09-08-2021 10:11pm

I would use three of these brackets, equally spaced, with battens on top, and then another pair of battens at each end, fixed using concrete screws probably, with decking laid lengthways across.

If you want it to look nicer, use better timber e.g. larch or oiled balau, and use the same timber for battens and decking, and use stainless screws e.g. Spax decking screws.

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/heavy-duty-brackets-black-500-x-300mm-2-pack/98807