How to Build a Backyard BBQ

Choose a suitable spot to build your barbecue. Remember to consider the late afternoon and early evening sun before deciding on the site. Start by dry laying the bricks to establish a basic shape. Make sure the final design is good for your barbecue coal pan and grill. Now is the time to make any adjustments. Once you decided on the final shape remove the bricks. You can now begin lying the bricks with the sand and cement multi-mix referred to the fact file feature at the end of the tape for quantities. When laying the first set of bricks, make sure they’re all embedded well into the mortar. This can be done by taping the bricks with the edge of your brick lane trowel. It’s important to lay your first set of bricks with care as this is the main foundation of your barbecue. If you’re unhappy with any of the bricks you’ve laid don’t be afraid to take them up and lay them again.

After completing your first set of bricks you must make sure all your horizontals and verticals are in line. Use a good quality level to achieve this. Now, remove any excess mortar. Make sure that the leg standing from the back wall do exactly the same distance. Any final adjustments can be made at this stage. By using your level you can align the face of the bricks by hand or by using the edge of your trowel. Measure the width of the wall and transfer this measurement to the front. Adjust the front if the two measurements aren’t the same. This coupled with your previous adjustments will make for a perfectly square base. Once you’ve completed the barbecue base you may now want to consider customizing the basic design. Here, we’ve decided to extend the left hand side to make a really useful shelf.

At some point during the construction you’ll need to cut the bricks. It’s very important that you follow the steps. One, mark your brick allowing for the mortar joints. Two, always wear eye protection. Three, make sure the brick is on a sandy surface. Use a wide bladed chisel and hit with a hammer. Four, clean up the edges with the chisel and hammer. Always lay the cut edges of the brick inwards leaving its best face outwards. Remove any excess mortar. Continue laying further sets remember under no circumstances should the joint in one set of bricks be mashed up to another joint on the next set. Joints must always be stagger for optimum strength. Spread the mortar over a few bricks and tidy up to minimize any spillage when tapping down your next brick.

Then, form a V down to the center of the mortar. This allows for easier adjustment and leveling of the bricks to be laid on top. After you’ve laid a few sets check your vertical and horizontal alignments wit the level may again your adjustments required. This should be done to all the laid faces, sides, backs and so on. We’ve now reached the point where the support for our barbecue pan is required. In this instance, we’ll use a full brick rotated at 90 degrees to the side walls. When laying one brick on top or next to another make sure that the joint is full, has to say there are no air pockets in the mortar. This will stop any water build up in bad weather which could eventually lead to cracking, should it get freeze and cold.

Remember to level up as you go along. At various stages throughout the project check your verticals and horizontals making minor adjustments when necessary. Here, we’ve let this joint dry in other words no mortar between the two bricks. This will allow a reasonable air flow to help out when the lighting the barbecue coals. Now, lay the last few sets to finish off the barbecue. Always remember with a garden project like this there are no hard and true rules to the design could have bedded your own personality into the project. When the mortar is firm to the touch it’s time to start pointing. You’ll notice the pointing trowel is smaller than a brick lane trowel this is to enable you to reach the small corners and generally make the job a lot easier. As you can see, pointing is a very simple process. It enhances the finally effect and also improves resistance to water penetration. Never attempt to point up your brick lane while the mortar is still wet. This will only make the job more difficult and it can spoil the professionalism of your job and the gaps can be filled in with small amounts of mortar.

Now, clean out any of the mortar that may block the air hole. Brush down your brick work with a soft bristle brush to clean off any loose bits of mortar after pointing. We’ve decided to include a wine rack in our barbecue using—first, lay a bit of mortar to build the support wall. Leave enough space for the wine rack between here and the barbecue wall. Lay your bricks as before. Seeing that a quantity of half bricks will be required we’ve precut this in advance. After laying a couple of sets, spread mortar to start laying the wine rack. Make sure you achieve the tight fit. You use the same procedures to lay as many drains as you like. It’s a good idea to cut this off with a garden slab or something similar. This can now be level off.

Next to our barbecue we’re going to build a brick planter by removing a slab from the patio. Dry lay the bricks as before to determine your size. You may wish to remove two or three slabs. Lay your bricks on a mortar bed. Use exactly the same brick lane process as with the barbecue for example, no joints lining and so on. Even though this is a small structure it’s still important to level off the horizontals and verticals with your level.