DIY Redwood 2X4 Outdoor Bench: Simple Building Plans and Instructions

so my mom would like an outdoor bench and what i did i went and i bought eight pieces of redwood that are two by fours at 10 feet long and we are going to see if we can build it in one day and get it to her and hopefully she'll love it huh i love it do you think she'll love it yeah i hope she loves it we'll see stay tuned one two three come on this project cost me less than a hundred dollars total and i started by using eight pieces of redwood that were uh let's see they were two by fours but at ten feet lengths and i started by taking those pieces to my chop saw and cutting a majority of the pieces before assembly this is what i've got cut out so far basically i have two pieces that are 24 inches long for the front legs i got two pieces that are 32 and a half inches long for the back legs and then i have got 19 inch pieces two of them for the arm rest and then there are three pieces that are 55 inches long one will be for the top of the back support and then the other two are to make the frame for the seating area and then i have got 16 to 16 and a half inch pieces that are going to also make up the framework for the seating area and then last the 13 and a half inch piece will be the center support for that seating area support i assembled the framework for the seating area first by taking the 16 and a half inch pieces and pre-drilling on both sides of the wood as shown here and those would act as the side pieces and i would attach those to two of the 55 inch long pieces which i said 55 inches but they are actually going to be 52 inches and i'll explain why in a little bit i pre-drilled all of the holes and then i also used wood glue and i made sure to square everything up before attaching and use two and a half inch long screws to screw everything together the center support is the 13 and a half inch piece that i had as well okay so i have got the framework done for the seating part of the bench and originally i had cut my boards at 55 inches but i actually want the total length to be 55 inches and i didn't account for these the side pieces going on this side so i had to subtract my inch and a half plus my inch and a half on the other side so three inches so these are actually 52 inches long they are not 55 inches long and now i am going to cut the four two by fours that are going to sit on the top for the seating part of the bench and those are each going to be 55 inches long because those are going to come all the way to the end for the slats i started the same process with all the slots and i pre-drilled on the outer edges as well as for that center support on the framework i pre-drilled and i glued and screwed again with two and a half inch screws down into it i made sure to do the front and the back piece first and then i spaced out the two center slats evenly to allow for the drainage and wood movement since this was going to be outdoors also whoops let's make sure the glue cap is on shall we next time okay so i just finished the seating part of the bench you'll see that i went ahead and i just screwed the edges into the center support and i did the two outside pieces first and then just spaced the two middle pieces evenly and now it's time to attach the legs so let me show you what that's going to look like so in the diagram you'll see that they have the legs 13 inches from the bottom of the support to the floor so i am going to cut my legs at those lengths and get those screwed in i started with the front two legs which again were cut at 24 inches and i measured 13 inches from the bottom marked a line and lined that up with the bottom of the framework of the seating part i went ahead and clamped those pieces together checked for square i countersunk some screws into there took it apart glued it and reassembled it i followed the same process with both those front legs and then moved on to the back legs i just wanted to mention as well that for the glue i did use an outdoor rated glue and i would recommend doing that so that you will have long lasting joints and the weather will be able to withstand it for the back legs i decided to cut a 13 inch scrap piece to to clamp to my 32 and a half inch back leg and use this basically to line up the back leg so that it would be even with the front leg so that it would sit level and i did the same process with the other side of the bench back leg as well now it was time to move it down and give it a little test set oh that's lovely and then i went and i grabbed my other 55 inch piece that i had cut beforehand and put it on the top to make sure it would fit now for the slats that go on the back of the bench it was a little more difficult the plants called for one by fours and i just had the two by fours and i didn't want to use any extra wood so i used what i had and i measured the center of those boards we ripped them down on the table saw you obviously can get your own one by fours um and then i took those pieces and i cut out six pieces that were 16 inches long now you can choose to attach these slats however you like the plants recommend doing pocket holes i just happen to have a biscuit jointer and that is what i chose to use um i'm sorry about the angle i didn't realize my camera wasn't really pointing over there but here i am using the biscuit joiner and i'm basically spacing out the slats on the top piece of the back support and i'm cutting all of my slats so that they will fit into that top piece the top piece was also attached via the biscuit jointer and i made sure to use clamps to keep that in place while the glue dried then i pre-drilled the bottom of all of these slats and i glued all of those biscuits into the top support piece and then i screwed them to the base framework at the bottom as shown here the last part of the build was to attach the armrests and i did that by counterseeking those holes as well and i used a level to make sure that i was lined up square i then glued and screwed those into place now the build part is over and it's time to do the finishing touches you'll be able to see here my process for plugging all of the screws so that they won't show first i put a little bit glue into the holes and i just take dowels and i hammer them into those holes and let it dry once those are dry you can take a flat saw or i have an oscillating saw that i use to cut those dowels flush with the board the dowels are cut you can go ahead and take a sander and sand those flush so that they're nice and smooth after all of my holes were filled i went and gave the whole bench a good sanding finally it was time to apply the finish to my bench i did two coats of a weatherproof sealer and it really brought out the wood grain in this redwood and it turned out beautiful i love how this bench turned out this is the bench that my mom had chosen and it uses minimal tools and again it cost me less than a hundred dollars and took about six hours to build i hope you guys like it too and it motivates you to build something on your own again i appreciate your support please comment like subscribe and we'll see you next time

Channel: House of Timbers

Views: 89,587

Keywords: diy bench, outdoor bench, outdoor seating, bench tutorial, budget friendly bench, how to build a bench, simple bench, diy outdoor bench, redwood 2x4 bench, simple building plans, outdoor furniture diy, diy woodworking, step-by-step instructions, outdoor bench design, redwood lumber project, backyard bench build, outdoor bench tutorial, redwood 2x4 furniture, diy outdoor seating, bench building tips, diy wood bench, diy bench ideas, outdoor redwood project

Id: YGfyqdSz4xc

Length: 10min 30sec (630 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 06 2020