Building our own pool cover Bench

[YippeeSkippy]

We just had the Infinity 4000 automatic pool cover installed with the intent of building our own bench to cover the large rolled cover. The benches sold by most of the pool cover companies are often vinyl, expensive and incredibly ugly! Right now we have a large overturned Rubbermaid storage box over the mechanism until we figure the bench out.

One carpenter gave us a quote of $1400 and that was in pine?! I'm hoping we can do better than that, and not in pine.

Has anyone constructed their own bench? Any input, ideas, suggestions and pictures welcome!

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

If it's wood, then it almost has to be cedar or teak to deal with the sun and rain over the long haul. Neither is maintenance free though. The frame, again, if wood, would need to be pressure treated lumber. Hinges and other hardware should be stainless and coated deck screws for construction. I suspect it's going to cost you more than $1400.

Scott

 

[JohnT]

You might consider Trex or another composite decking.

 

[Kerlee]

Consider IPE. I am in SC, I used a furniture craftsman to build some "IPE" adirondack chairs that will last pretty much forever. If you have a picture or design of what you want with some dimensions, he can build it out of pine, trex, IPE, etc.... PM me if you need his name. Good luck

 

[CraigMW]

I'd say go for it. It shouldn't be too difficult of a build and the result you will get will look custom. I think pine is a bad idea. Instead:

Pressure treated 2x4 lumber for the frame covered on sides with HardiPlank, HardiPanel on the top (to weather proof) and then some Trex 2x4 boards screwed in over the HardiPanel top. Trex comes in several different colors so you might want to select a Trex color you like and then paint the HardiPanel/HardiPlank to match. Or you could just paint the whole structure the same color with good exterior paint. The advantage of HardiPlank and HardiPanel is that they are highly weather resistant, relatively cheap (esp. when compared to cedar, redwood or ipe), and very stable around water. They are also easy to cut and work with. The Trex boards are expensive but also highly weather proof and easy to work with. They will make a nice and attractive bench surface for sitting on.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Well, the deck cover bench came out great!! The carpenter who built it charged us a total of $700 (materials and labor) and its wonderful! 16 feet long, a bit higher than the plans originally specified but it makes it much nicer to sit on. He did come back and grind off a bit more at the opening because the cover touched it when retracting and we didn't like that. These pics are from the day he delivered the bench, before tweaking the opening a little more. He made the end panels to open on each side by unscrewing 4 screws. The panels are heavy enough that I think we could easily remove the screws permanently and just cut a few finger holes in the trex (like bowling ball holes) to pull the panel up when access is desired.

http://i39.tinypic.com/dq2bgx.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/2zjaoer.jpg

Thanks everyone!

 

[crek31]

That looks great!

 

[t6pool]

Old post but do you remember what the frame looked like or have any pics?

Thanks

 

[Samantha Sabrina]

Very nice, it looks like he did a great job!

I know this is an older thread, but after reading some of the replies, I was wondering, in a situation like this where the wood is above the pool would pressure treated lumber really be a good choice?

Seems to me that pressure treated lumber might/could leak/leach unwanted chemicals into the pool?

I think the Trex was a wise choice.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Very nice, it looks like he did a great job!

I know this is an older thread, but after reading some of the replies, I was wondering, in a situation like this where the wood is above the pool would pressure treated lumber really be a good choice?

Seems to me that pressure treated lumber might/could leak/leach unwanted chemicals into the pool?

I think the Trex was a wise choice.

The cover bench doesn't sit over the water, it's actually about a foot back. The skimmer is under the cover when closed so the bench and rolled cover within had to be able to sit back far enough to allow access to the skimmer when the cover is opened.