Picnic Table Price

Gryzor

lads

looking for a rough price for the materials for this...also whats the best type of timber to use

Linkage

thanks

kadman

Hi,

The best type of timber to use for a garden table, would undoubtably be teak.

But this would be far more expensive than standard pressure treated spruce.

Teak 4x2 6' long would be about 1/3 of a cubic foot, about 13 euro each.

White deal pressure treated timber , same section, would be about 1/3rd - 1/2 of the price, I think.

Maybe Rooferpete will give a better quote on the white deal.

kadman

Gryzor

sound for the advice kadman...teak would probably be overkill allright and a bit out of budget...i want to get a fairly good quality timber that will last a good few years...i'll treat it myself anyway before i lash it together

kadman

Well if you're going to treat it yourself, standard rafter material 4x2 would do the job, but you will have to thickness it to remove the roughness. Or buy a couple of lengths of cls 4x2 timber used for timberframe. These tend to be cleaner, and more uniform in size.

Pressure treated timber is definitely more expensive than untreated.

kadman

MorningStar

If you want a cheap simple option just for the summer go to B & Q they had a cheap one for €48 but homebase had similar for €30 last year. Not great but it will last two summers at least.

Gryzor

MorningStar wrote:

If you want a cheap simple option just for the summer go to B & Q they had a cheap one for €48 but homebase had similar for €30 last year. Not great but it will last two summers at least.

naaa.....its the making of it that i'll enjoy the most...after that i'll be eying the place up and down to see what the black & decker can do next.. anyway can't imagine a picnic table for €30 would be upto much?? :eek:

kadman

Well done Gryzor, come and join the ranks of the initiated, you are among those that know B&Q furniture is crap. Well done grasshopper.

A small step for man , but a giant step for Gryzor

Rooferpete will be proud of you

kadman

karltimber

one way is to use standard timber -rough if needed -for the supports and legs and buy some planed treated smooth decking ( about e9 an 18' lenght from a builders providers ) for the table top.

Just another way,

Karl.

Alun

I'm thinking of knocking one of these up too, and also came to the conclusion that decking might be good for the table top and possibly the seat section too. Any idea what sizes (widths) it comes in?

BTW there seems to be a slight error in the plans ... the table top supports are supposed to be 32.5" and carry 9 4x2's with an overhang at the edge of only 1/4" ... spot the deliberate mistake?

gregos

Looks like a nice handy little job, and a good result at the end. You could actually not bother treating the timber and still get ten years out of it. I know this because that's what I did the first time I made one, when I didn't understand anything. And it actually lasted twelve years, although admittedly it was getting a bit hairy towards the end.

kadman

Decking comes in various widths, 100mm, 125mm, 150mm, and thicknesses, 25mm, 32mm, 44mm. This would give you an excellent table, but would be far more expensive than ordinary PAO or rough timber, due to its moulding and pressure treatment. Preservative treatments may also contain arsenic, so be careful what you are eating of .

kadman

Snaggerman

New user here, never posted before,absolute virgin!!!!!!!! Anyway, recently I resolved to make a picnic table myself and came across some plans for them on www. They both look fairly decent, although I didn't get a chance to attempt them yet. Worth a look though, you'll find them at the address below,good luck!!!!!

http://www.handymanwire.com
http://www.bconnex.net/~zirgo/picnic.html

rooferPete

Hi,

Great to see some real hands on work being done, you will appreciate the table more than the one you spend €500.00 on, each project like that has a little piece of you in it

I do know that Mc Mahons were doing a deal where all the timber you ordered was pressure treated for about €20.00, if you were lucky with small orders it would find it's way into the machine for €10.00 just to fill it up.

The hardwoods like teak are nice for the first year or two but unless they are well looked after the teak can split from the heat of the sun.

I have never asked exactly what chemicals are in the Protim Pressure Treatment System, so it might be a good idea to follow Kadman's advice about being careful what you are eating off.

Kadman, they wouldn't be using CCA would they ? it's very corrosive on nails now you have me thinking and it's late

.

Cushtie

Man, I would love to be handy like that. I know it's not rocket science but I'd say if I attempted something even as basic as the Picnic Bench it would be carnage....and a bonefire LOL

James_M

Coincidentally I was contemplating doing this over the weekend if the price is right (and I don't go on the beer). I'd welcome any reports on some of the plans from the interweb as well as any prices around south Dublin...

db

I got a quote from McMahons in Limerick for the timber needed for the table in Snaggerman's first link. Pressure treated White Deal came to €92 and teak was almost €400. Should cost much the same from any McMahons branch.

James_M

Ok so I went for it and built one over the weekend. Got it pretty much built on Saturday and couldn't really finish it off on Sunday due to the weather. Just have to plain (plane?) it and treat it.

I used plained white deal and these plans http://www.michaelholigan.com/Departments/Projects/PicnicTable.asp
I found the plans pretty limited but managed to get it together in the end. The only thing is that the seats don't have to stick out as much as they do so I brought them in. In fact it's less likely to topple now when there is weight only on one side.

Materials cost me just over €100 ex VAT in IBS Dun Laoghaire, but there is a lot of wood in this. It is 6ft long and could sit up to eight people (plus two at each end if you like).

One word of advice if you use these plans, find out what lengths you can get the wood in first and then re-calculate the cuttings before buying. I had to do this in order to avoid massive wastage. I used 6'' x 1.5'' which are about 14ft and 4'' x 1.5'' which are over 17ft.

Other word of advice, if you get the legs right :mad: the rest is plain sailing

All in all an impressive table and the end result is something that would cost a small fortune in the shops.

kadman

Well done James M,

Nothing like making your own project, enjoyable, fun, and cost effective.

kadman

db

James M

I intend making up this table this weekend. What finish are you planning to use on your table ?

db

James_M

db wrote:

James M

I intend making up this table this weekend. What finish are you planning to use on your table ?

db

Haven't decided yet. I think some sort of teak stain/protector. I think It'll be better a bit dark so spillages won't show up as much.

Best of luck with it. Better hope the weather keeps up!

Gryzor

well finished her today...took about 7 hours....cost around €120 for timber, scews and bolts...well happy with the end result....now all i need is a bit of sun..

Alun

Gryzor wrote:

well finished her today...took about 7 hours....cost around €120 for timber, scews and bolts...well happy with the end result....now all i need is a bit of sun..

The original poster gave the address of a website where the guy claimed he had bought all the timber to make a table like this in Canada for CDN$ 60 which converts to €38 !!!!!! Is this another example of Rip-Off Ireland?

foxirl

Hi,

I made the same table this weekend. Its only 5' in length as opposed to 6 as I used 4" by 1 and 1/4" white deal. Still very sturdy table. The wood cost 50 euro from DPL in Waterford. Very cheap compared to Woodys or Morris's DIY. The screws and bolts came to less than a fiver.

Took about 3 hours to build. Took about the same length to stain.

Alun

That sounds more like it!

Gryzor

foxirl wrote:

Hi,

I made the same table this weekend. Its only 5' in length as opposed to 6 as I used 4" by 1 and 1/4" white deal. Still very sturdy table. The wood cost 50 euro from DPL in Waterford. Very cheap compared to Woodys or Morris's DIY. The screws and bolts came to less than a fiver.

Took about 3 hours to build. Took about the same length to stain.

i used pressure-treated decking handrail timber...thought the rounded edge finish was nice and have to say the finished product looks good. cost a few quid more but hey, i'll be looking at the thing everytime i open the back door for a few years...hopefully!!

gregos

Gryzor wrote:

i used pressure-treated decking handrail timber...thought the rounded edge finish was nice

That's good, but it does illustrate another point worth bearing in mind when planning these jobs. For the extra money, you could buy yourself a router to make the nice rounded edges, and have a great new addition to your toolkit.

James_M

gregos wrote:

That's good, but it does illustrate another point worth bearing in mind when planning these jobs. For the extra money, you could buy yourself a router to make the nice rounded edges, and have a great new addition to your toolkit.

I used a planer to round off the edges and it worked out quite well. If you don't do somethinig about the edges there will defiinitely be sore knees at some stage.