Bring a taste of the islands to your backyard.
Bring the tropics to your backyard landscape by making your own tiki bar. With this addition to your yard, you can get your guests out of the kitchen and into your outdoor living space. You can further enhance this area during the winter with strands of holiday lights, a fire pit and a couple of well-positioned heat lamps. Building your own tiki bar is similar to building an open, lean-to garden shed next to your house. Once you're finished, add some coconut cups, a bobble hula dancer figurine and a few all-weather stools. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Create a foundation for your tiki bar. Dig a hole that is 8 feet wide, 6 feet long and 2 inches deep with a shovel. Fill the hole with 1/2-cubic yard of gravel until it is flush with the ground.
2. Construct the deck frame for the bar. Lay down four 8-foot lengths of 4-by-4 lumber to form a base frame over the gravel. Use deck screws to secure the wood together and space the screws an inch apart. Starting on center, secure five 8-foot lengths of 2-by-4 lumber within the frame you just made. Space the 2-by-4s every 16 inches. Use a deck screw on each end of the lumber to initially secure it in place. Then use brackets made for 2-by-4 lumber to secure the inside pieces of lumber to the outside frame. You will need four brackets for each length of 2-by-4 lumber -- two for each end.
3. Lay down the deck flooring. Place 12 8-foot, 1-by-6 pressure-treated deck boards over the deck frame you made spaced every 1/4-inch. Secure the deck boards to the frame with a 1 3/4-inch deck screw on either side of the board.
4. Build the tiki bar's walls. Use four lengths of 4-by-4 lumber to make the frame for the bar's walls cut to the desired height. Keep in mind that you will need to cut the tops of the lumber at an angle if you want your tiki bar to have a pitched roof. Place the lumber for the frame on top of the deck, with one beam for each corner, and make sure the corners are flush. To secure the beams to the deck, you will need to toenail 3-inch deck screws into the beam and deck at an angle.
5. Attach the beams for the backside of the tiki bar onto your home. You can use 3-inch deck screws to attach the wall frame directly onto the siding of your home or use mounting plates.
6. Secure the vertical beams by placing four 2-by-4 lengths of lumber between each one at the top outside corners. Use brackets and 2-by-5/8-inch lag bolts to secure the 2-by-4s to the beams.
7. Make a roof for your tiki bar. Use an angle grinder to make 2-inch-wide, right-angled cuts in the front and back lengths of 2-by-4 lumber secured to the tops of the beams. Starting on center, make a notch every 16 inches. You will end up with seven evenly spaced notches on each length of lumber that you cut. Place 9-foot 2-by-4s into the notches that you made and secure the lumber with 3-inch deck screws. Use thatched palm leaves as a roof cover and secure them to the seven wooden boards you just laid with a nail gun.
8. Create a counter frame for your tiki bar that is 8 feet long, 42 inches high and to your desired depth. Place two 2-by-4 horizontal lengths of lumber between the front vertical beams. Place the top length of lumber 42 inches above the deck and the second length 24 inches lower. Secure the lumber to the beams with 3-inch deck screws. Attach vertical 42-inch lengths of 2-by-4 lumber to the horizontal lengths of lumber for extra support. Space the vertical lumber by 32 inches and secure it with deck screws.
9. Attach a length of 2-by-4 lumber cut to the desired counter depth to each of the 42-inch pieces of lumber to help support the weight of the counter. These shorter pieces of lumber should face into the tiki bar and be mounted with deck screws. Attach another set of 42-inch tall 2-by-4s to the opposite ends of the shorter lengths you just installed for the counter. For extra support, add two more 8-foot lengths of 2-by-4 lumber horizontally along the second set of 42-inch vertical lengths of lumber. The top length should be flush with the top of the tiki bar's counter frame; install the second length of lumber 24 inches below it.
10. Use 35 6-by-1/2-inch cedar fence boards to cover the front and sides of the tiki bar counter. Use 1 3/4-inch deck screws to secure the boards to the counter frame.
11. Install the countertop. Mount an 8-foot length of 1/2-inch-thick plywood that matches the desired depth for the countertop onto the counter frame with 1 3/4-inch deck screws spaced 4 inches apart.
Tags: deck screws, 2-by-4 lumber, your tiki, 3-inch deck, 3-inch deck screws, counter frame, lengths 2-by-4