You need to use bb code instead of html. Most of the time that just means using these "[ ]" instead of these " < >".

For your pictures from photobucket instead of using the html tags, use the [img] tags.

Hopefully, these pics will come thru. After much thinking today, we decided to do cultured stone (light weight concrete) for the front (with overhand) backside of grill and one end. The other end (facing fence) and the interior will be some sort of hand applied finish.

Getting started


A little further



Frame done




Arbor done and island placed in spot. Some siding done




The framing and Hardie backer is complete except the top, We will add the top after we do the cultured rock.
The top will be Noce tumbled marble with 3 accents of a lighter marble mosaics on mesh that have a Texas Longhorn in the middle out of the Noce. The pic attached shows the state of Texas. This is taken with the mosaic on my kitchen floor and kinda has the same look. Roma Tile in Arlington, Texas has this tile in Longhorn, State of Texas & the Texas Star. .



Obviously, I need to go resize my photos in photobucket

Very nice so far. Make sure you provide vents both high and low in each compartment. Locate your bottle in a separate compartment if you are using propane.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the compliments and advice. We did put in two vents. We vented it on both ends. Hard to see in the small photo above where you see the grill cut out on the left (vent on the end) and the door cutout on the right (vent on that end).

We have a natural gas line already that the grill hooked to on the old island. We built this island, keeping the line as is. We did put a partician wall of 1/2 inch Hardie Backer separating the grill area from the rest of the island.

We had a fridge in the old island and they had that too, so we just copied it. We pretty much kept the same thing but just eliminated the bend and added some length.

The old island has a splatter/drag texture. I do not think it is actual stucco. It has no lath and is applied directly to the backerboard. For the interior of the new island, I want to do a similar finish but am unsure of what to do. I have stippled and textured interior walls Is there a premix something that I can do a similar texture or a texture you recommend?
Thanks

Your old island is the first I've heard being so rusted it warranted replacement. Did you investigate what caused it to rust so badly? Was there any kind of feet to keep the metal off the ground? Do you have any pics of the bottom of the old one?

Hello Cobra,

Once we found the damage-by moving it and the bottom cement board falling off and apart, we checked our pavestone patio for low spots, where water may have pooled. We never noticed pooling but you never know. Once the grill was out of the way, and before the arbor was built, we did not find any low areas but obviously, it got wet enough and stayed wet enough to rust out. I do not know how long it has been this way. This is the first time we have moved it since buying it 9-10 years ago.

Once we discovered the damage, we had to give it some thought to repair or replace. The ¼ inch cement board (not Hardiebacker) was starting to pull away from the studs on the sides as well. It needed some of that replaced, re-stuccoed and cracks repaired in the stucco in other areas.

Besides the bottom studs, some of the vertical studs needed replacing due to rust and deterioration.

In addition, in moving it, we were going to have to rotate it so that the long serving area was parallel with the roofline of the house, as the arbor being built was to be parallel.

It did not sit on any type of feet. It sat on ¼ inch cement board (again, not Hardiebacker) was attached to the metal frame on the entire bottom. The whole unit sat on a pavestone patio.

Here it is before we discovered the damage





Here are two bottom photos of the damage

Sorry for your loss. These are great pictures to support why people should not place their Islands dierctly on a slab. On the BBQG Forum, I saw a lot of this and no matter how hard I tried to talk them out of it, most still went metal to concrete slab anyway. Some were next to a pool. Fortunatley, one of the finest Islands I have ever seen was caught in time and the builder listened.
I advocate a Hardie backer bottom and if you don't need adjustable feet, use Trex squares attached at all corners and intersections. I have a photo on my web site if you want to see how i did my own.

Dr. Dave,

We were very disappointed as well. We bought this one strait from BBQGalore. It did come with a 1/4 cement fiber board bottom but it Disintegrated into many pieces. You can even tell where the layers were separating. It was not hardiebacker.

The new one is on 1/2 hardie on the bottom as well as the sides.

We were planning to set it back down directly on the paver patio. Even with the 1/2" hardiebacker on the bottom, should we raise it up?

Absolutely!!!
Go to my web site and look at the the photo of my retrofiit. You won't even notice the lift and when you hose down the patio, you can clean under it. Your Island will last longer than you if built right and elevated.

Keep in mind, that even the best of materials, can absorb water. The Trex material is a plastic base and water will never affect it.

Here's a link to MCR500's recent build. He has some adjustable feet he fabricated himself.

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e70/M ... mview=grid

You will notice that his feet have plastic bottoms. This is important to avoid the electrolysis (rusting) from occurring.

Dr. Dave, I totally agree.

But keep in mind, they (the feet) did NOT come from Grainger that way. They were just a 3/8" threaded rod with a 1/2" round galvanized foot attached. I looked high and low for one with a plastic foot integrated, and found a couple. But I could build them for less than I could order them on the internet for.

I had the machine shop at work take a 1 1/2" cylinder of delron, cut wafers 3/8" thick out of it, chamfer a 1/2" hole, 1/8" deep, and then siliconed the feet to the delron. A lot of work, heck yes!! But they work GREAT!!

The main point is you want NO metal to concrete contact, period. You have to let the water escape under the island; ESPECIALLY if you are near a pool/spa. There are other methods of obtaining this goal, but this is what worked for me. Not everybody has access to a fab shop; internet searches can be your friend on this type of stuff. C-Ya!!

I didn't worry about level. I made mine out of Trex and whatever the slope of my patio is, the Island shares. It has never been a problem for me. Unless the slope is radical, I see no reason to be "dead nuts" level.

<<<<Dr. Dave Writes>>>>I advocate a Hardie backer bottom and if you don't need adjustable feet, use Trex squares attached at all corners and intersections. I have a photo on my web site if you want to see how i did my own.

Absolutely! Dr. Dave. Saw your photo and I agree, We do not need adjustable feet and Trex will work perfectly. Went to Lowes last evening and bought an 8' board. Feet will go on today. We are supposed to get some rain from the tropical storm out in the gulf (YEAH) so we put it up on pavestone blocks last night.

Feel free to use my photos if you need them for "why you need feet". I can take some others, showing the interior damage as well. Not only does the base ruin, but the veritical supports do as well.

While it is a fraction of the retail cost to build your own, it was sickening to loose a very expensive island that a $28 dollar purchase (cost of trex board) could have saved.

I definitely want to save this investment from the same fate.

I did not realize until last night that I had highjacked this thread. My apologies. I will go to the front of this forum and post there our build. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

Hi everyone,
Just found this site, DrDave had posted it somewhere. I will be retiring in May and then attempting to build my own barbeque island. I have a 4' X 12' slab that houses my swimming pool equiptment at the spot I want to build my barbeque. I will be moving my equiptment 50' towards the front of the lot and keeping the natural gas line as well as the electrical.

I will demolition my existing pad to access the pool plumbing, so will build a new slab for the island. Lot's of questions on how thick to build pad..cement base with tile or all cememnt, etc.

Some questions I am dealing with now is what barbeque unit to purchase..make, size, what it should have on it. I probably will go bigger, at least 42"..I will also want a refrigerator, warming box, and my wife was suggesting we put an oven unit on the island. She has always wanted a second oven, and the way out interior configuration is, we would have to tear our exsiting drop in overn and replace it with range/oven unit, loosing all the built in storage area below oven. I will want lights, although there is an existing 24' roofed pation right next to the unit. and I could run lights off the overhead of the existing patio. I will probably want to cover it for protection from the weather, by either extending an attached cover off the exsitng patio, or a new one that tucks under the exsiting one. The exsitng lowest height of the exisitng pation is 11' so I have been pleanty of room. I'll try an attach some pictures of the existing area.

I certainly am appreciative of all the great minds and skillsets found on the web for assistance.
Let the fun begin

DIYMike
Welcome to the Forum! Thanks for the plug!

One of the Folders on my CD has 178 photos, they are the best from BBQG's Forum and many more. One build was $125K and many others down to our pocketbook range. It covers concrete and granite tops as well.

Overall, there are about 250 photos in all the folders. Every concievable build possible.

As for the BBQ, make sure it is 300 series SS, cast ss burners and has a great warrantee.

what are the most practical componenets for an island..grill obviously, refer,but what about a oven? We will not have sewer line hooked up so no sink.
on another subject I;ve seen or read using both rivets and screws for island frame construction, comments?

1/2" hardi vs 1/4"

I have a Turbo WOK and a Turbo 3 Burner grill. All made by Grand Hall which is now BBQG. They were making them all along, now they own them.

1/4" on the sides and if you tell me what top you are using and if it's granite how thick I can advise on the top HB. I recommend rivets, but there are places where a screw might be better. The HB is held with special HB screws, do not substitute these.

Dr. Dave or anyone else with input. I just visited the big orange box and was only able to find Hardie Backer in 1/4 thickness. They did have Durarock in 1/2 pieces. Is that OK to use as well?