My upcoming project...

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J

jgreen1024

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Jul 29, 2008
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Loudoun County, VA
Hi all-

Another follower from the defunct BBQs Galore forum. When they took down the forum they were also kind enough to remove all useful product information from their website as well - I guess it's to force us into the local store to talk with someone. Oh well.

In any case, I have the Dr. Dave plans, but the parts list just says "2x3 metal studs". What gauge? What length? I can't find these at any Home Depot, Lowes, or lumber yard in the area (San Jose, CA) but I did find a local building materials wholesale company today who will sell to me. They have a pretty big variety though so I want to know what to ask for.

In case anyone is interested, I think I have a relatively good idea of what I'm going to build - it will be a very simple rectangle shape. Here is a simple diagram. The first rectangle is the top-down view, the second is the view from the front. It will be 36" high, 32" deep, and 115" long.

[attachment=0:hj32zwsv]gif_1.gif[/attachment:hj32zwsv]

The grill will be a BBQs Galore Turbo STS 4-burner, with the STS side burner as well. Both will be run on natural gas. On the left side, I'm making a 3-sided opening for a smoker (currently a Weber Smokey Mountain but in the future, probably a Backwoods Party upright smoker). I debated also building in a Big Green Egg, but my wife talked me out of it.

I'm still trying to decide if I should add some sort of serving counter on the left side - there's a bit of space left on the patio. I might do a circular type table, though I have to figure out how to bend Hardibacker. And still no real idea on the finish - maybe stone on the outside and a granite top. Will have to think about that one. I will take pictures and share as I go along here.
 

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Nice looking project! Look forward to seeing the pictures, if I remember correctly the "soaking in a pool" method works well for bending the hardibacker. As far as the studs go, my local Lowe's carried them, in fact, here is a link to their website with a general description and instructions on how to build a BBQ island:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=h ... sland.html


If I remember correctly my Lowes carried either 22 or 25 gauge studs, I bought the 2 1/2" x 10' track and studs and used a cheap carbide blade in my mitre saw to cut them (tin snips for the joints). I do remember on the old forum some people around the country ran into the same problem about their local stores not carrying the metal studs as well.

Again, good luck! and let us know if there are any questions we can answer..

Greg

BBQ build
 
jgreen,

I would seriously consider your idea of adding some 'counter space'. Your current design doesn't leave much room for staging uncooked food or serving cooked food.

I also recall people soaking their hardibacker in the pool to bend it. The was one guy who made a very nice island with some surprisingly tight bends.

Good luck and keep us posted on your project.

Kevin
 
Nice design!!!

I purchased my steel studs at Lowes; 1 1/2"x2 1/2" studs, 8' long and the tracks were 10' long. Came in bundles of 10, but you can buy them individually also. They were 25 guage, I beleive. Home Depot also carried them, but they were more $'s.

I can personally attest to the "soaking in the pool" method of bending the HardiBacker! It works GREAT!! I found that 1/2 hour worked well; any longer and it almost became "too" flexible, and cracked easily.

Have you bought all of your equipment/doors yet? The reason I ask is I found that the BBQ Galore given dimensions were quite "generous", especially on the door cutouts. I would highly suggest you purchase all of your equipment first, verify dimensions with your own tape, and build from there.

One comment about your design. The slim area between your grill and the access door below may be a problem. Stacked dimension given off your layout is 32 1/2", with a counter height of 36". That only leaves 3 1/2" between your grill and doors. You also show the doors being "raised off the ground slightly. You may want to give this area some thought. When I designed mine, I knew I wanted to use cultured stone, and this dimension was pretty tight to fit stones in. I raised my counter height to 38" to give me the added room in this area. FWIW.

Keep us posted on the progress; the end result is definately worth it! C-Ya!!
 
The assumption when the plans were put together was that the Home Depots all carried the same products. Some things we just don't have any control over.

As for the guage,the smaller one works fine if you follow the basics as outlined in the plans. The length is not important since they will all be cut to a smaller length. I think I got 3 verticals out of each stud. The vertical strength comes from the shear panels tieing everything together.

As for bending the HB, the previous post addressed that well.

Post some photos as you go.
 
I did end up finding a steel stud supplier - a place called "Railroad Distributing" in Campbell, CA. They appear to be mostly a drywall contractor supply house, but they were willing to sell to anyone who walked in.

Construction so far went well. I will post photos soon, I promise! Two of us were able to get all the framing done over a couple of days. Not the prettiest job in the world, but I figure the framing's job is to provide a place to screw in backerboard, so it doesn't need to look that nice.

Question for the group - I am looking for a stainless steel louvered vent cover for my upper and lower vent. After a good 30 minutes of Google searching, I came up with exactly one thing that looks like it could work:
http://www.bbqguys.com/item_name_Fire-M ... 25588.html

Maybe I'm searching for the wrong words - does anyone have another supplier of these things? I'd like to get something not quite so.. shiny.

Thanks!
 
Go to my home page and see how to do it.
These vent covers look cheap and do nothing to the look of an Island except make it look like an amateur built it.

Basically, all you need is an opening and the screen inside, attached to the studs. After you stucco, it blends in and looks like it belongs. Vent covers remind me of large moon hubcaps used in the 50's on Chevys and Fords.
 
I totally agree with DrDave on this one.

I purchased stainless steel "gutter guard" from Lowes. I then attached it to the studs BEFORE I applied the HB. Once the stucco/stone is on the island, they really do disappear. I did 13! vents for under $20. Worked great!! C-Ya!!
 
I'm with you to a point - the vent covers I saw at Home Depot all looked terrible, and I wouldn't think of using one. I have, however, seen some nice ones (probably on the BBQG forum) that were made out of thick stainless steel and had very small louvers. My concern is just that I'm going to be using the inside of the island for storage of charcoal, wood chips, etc., plus there's an electric outlet in there, and I don't want water getting in when it rains. I suppose a grill island cover would solve that problem..
 
Unless you have horizontal rain where you live, water will not get in using my method. In over 9 years, not a drop inside mine from vents. MCR500 did basically the same as what I did. I used attic vent screens cut in half.

You seem to be stuck on covers and louvers......
 

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Not stuck on them, just want to do it right the first time. :) I will give it a shot without anything and see how it goes.

By the way, a couple photos below. I ended up with not really enough counter space, but the wife kind of put a limit on how big this could grow. I won't be using the side burner all that often, so I can put stuff on top of that when I need to. I also realized that I blocked off the side air vents for the grill and burner, so I need to cut holes on either side of where those units will go.

Thanks to advice here, I also elevated the unit on strips of Trex. I took an 8' board, ripped it down the middle, and cut it into six 30" sections that go underneath the island.

I now need to figure out the countertop. I think I'm going to go with granite tiles. And I'm also waiting for the drawer unit, which the shipping company seems to have lost. :(

http://www.hosed.org/gallery/d/23644-1/IMG_1121.JPG

http://www.hosed.org/gallery/d/23686-1/IMG_1136.JPG

http://www.hosed.org/gallery/d/23695-1/IMG_1139.JPG
 
Looks great!!!

I wish I could have tapped into the NG line in my house, but it would have involved cutting out an existing concrete patio, and I decided againest it. I now have an extra propane tank on "stand by", just to alleviate the "can't finish the steaks" syndrome.

Keep us updated with progress pics!!!

BTW, my island is finally, totally COMPLETE!!!!! :-D I will update my gallery pics this week. Too busy BBQ'ing to do it any sooner!!!

It was well worth ALL the effort!! C-Ya!!
 
An update photo...

IMG_1187.JPG


At this point I'm just trying to figure out how to finish this thing off. Here's my pile of cultured "stone" that I need to stick to this thing all around.

IMG_1188.JPG


And I have a stack of granite tiles in the garage for the top. As soon as I get the stone veneer installed, I'll measure and cut the granite tiles, then take them to a stone shop to have the edges bullnosed. It is coming along, although slowly. :)
 
Not very much, given available space. I thought about making this bigger, but given that the real kitchen is about 20 feet away and has ample food prep space, I decided against it. I mostly need a spot to set down trays of food, and the top of the side burner is working out OK for that. Next time around - I'll have a bigger back yard. :)
 
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