Following on from this thread http://www.bbbqs.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4166&hilit=shelter about ideas for a BBQ Shelter, I decided to build my own.
This thread is how my build turned out, although not 100% done as a few finishing touches are still needed.
Inspiration
I wanted the shelter to have an old shack type theme, and this picture was a good inspiration.
I liked the shingle roof and the chimney so wanted to incorporate these features.
Rough Sketch
So I drew a rough sketch of my initial idea without any measurements
Dimensions
Next up was giving this thing some dimensions. I knew where it was going to go and to make sure the timber I buy would be uniform I stuck to some regular dimensions as advised by my Dad, who by the way, built this thing for me as my DIY skills are non existent. So my next drawing was this.
Location
So this is where the shelter will go, just outside the back up against the fence
Virtualisation
I gave the Google Sketch up a try to give me a rough indication of the scale and look (although ignore the square roof, as my Sketch up skills are not good.
Sides
So a visit to AVS Fencing in Wokingham with my Dad with a shopping list of timber needed led us to start on the sides, the first day we had two sides done.
I left a foot free at the bottom so air could easily be available for the Q's. In my original design I was going to use some trellis, it was another expense so we left it off for the moment.
Patio Extension
The current patio was not going to hold this so it needed extending two more slabs wide by 3 and half long.
Next we loaded the Ford Galaxy with the 6x4 sides and brought them over, patio extension complete
Sides and Back
My contribution was featherboarding the back once the sides were clamped together and and arris rail was used.
The Roof
After a tight squeeze in the car we got the 6x4x2 roof into the car, made of plywood with some polythene stapled on top for an extra layer of protection. A hole was cur for the enamel 6" woodburning tube with a chimney cap/cowl riveted on top. We gave it a test run to make sure it fitted OK.
After a bit of hammering it managed to go on. Next was adding the red cedar shingles. I sourced these from http://www.roofingsuperstore.co.uk/ Western Red Cedar Wood Shakes 16'' - No.2 Red Label (2.32m2 Bundle)
which calculated would cover about 1 and half sides. They also sold the ridge tiles seperately and not in bundles as some other places did.
Front side done. The recommended exposure for each shingle was 5", as this wasn't a real house and budget didn't stretch to another bundle we went for just over 6" and had 5 layers.
We started on the second side and by the end we just managed to cover the second side also, although we had to use some off cuts to fill in some gaps so it didn't look as good, but I won't see this side.
Finshed!
OK so here's the 95% finished product, costing approx. £250 (although my Dad supplied the plywood for the roof and wouldn't let me pay him, so no idea what he put in to it.)
The Barbecue sign I got from retroplanet.com from the USA, link --> http://www.retroplanet.com/PROD/39971 it came with a plastic film which I've kept on to help shield the English weather!
I decided to offset the chimney to the side and keep it over the grill as the heat can escape quick from the roof, the smoker is obviously a low temp cooker, hence it's closest to the house.
It was finished on Sat 19th April 2014 and on Sunday it hammered down so the waterproof test it passed, the roof anyway, there was a bit of water bouncing in from the sides and fence, but it definately protected the smoker as I cooked some ribs to christen it.
I might get some fireproof spray for the wood but so far after a couple of BBQ's it may not need it, and I might paint it. I just need to add some 6" shelves to go on the side windows to help put things on.
It turned out really well and I'm really pleased with it.
Thanks to my Dad and some help from my brother-in-law.
ADDITIONS - updated 29/05/14
Hi All, a small update. I've added some shelves for each side just help hold the beers on
Also added a solar powered PIR light an "Evo15 Solar Pir Utility Light " to give a bit of light for when the nights draw in, seems to work well giving enough light to see when the food is done.
I placed the solar panel on the side
