Summer Backyard Renovation - Outdoor Kitchen, New Fence, Patio Columns, Extended Patio

This summer has been very busy with many projects in the back yard.  The largest project was the replacement of the entire fence around my home.  Since I owned all the fence and none of it belonged to the neighbors, there was over 350 feet of fence that needed replaced.  The fence that I had was over 30 years old so it was definitely time to replace it.  Since there was so much fence that needed replaced, I decided to have a company come and replace it for me even though it ended up being very expensive. I figure it will be the only time I will ever have to replace the fence since I probably wont have this house in 20 years, so I might as well have a nice fence.  It took the fence builders a couple of days but it turned out great.  Below are pictures of the fence once it was installed. 

Around the same time I also had concrete edging installed around my house so you will see this in the pictures as well.  By adding the edging, it really helps in keeping the mulch out of my yard.  

Once the fence was installed I waited a couple of weeks for all the wood to dry out.  I then went and stained the fence so it would match my house better as well as help keep the fence from aging as quickly.  I used an electric paint sprayer and to do the entire fence it took almost 14 gallons of stain.  Below are pictures of the finished product.  

The next project was creating new columns for my patio.  When I rebuilt the patio awning (seen in a previous blog) I used 4x4 posts and I never really liked the way it looked.  This is what the column looked like before:

This summer I decided to make the columns a little larger.  I did this by using exterior wood sheeting cut to make a box around each of the three columns.  To make the project easier on me, I had Home Depot cut the wood for me while I was at the store since they have the large saw that can cut 4'x8' sheets of wood.  I then assembled the columns around the existing post and glued and nailed the pieces together.  

Once that was complete, I filled all the nail holes and did a rough sanding.  To coat the columns I decided to use the Deck Over 10x product again that I had used for the ceiling.  This material is made to coat old decks but has many other uses. The product is very thick and appears to almost have sand in it.  When you use the special roller that comes with the product, the product almost looks like stucco.  That is why I use it for flat surfaces as well since it is much easier than using actual stucco.  Once I coated the columns in the product, I then painted it with two coats of exterior paint and added PVC molding to the bottom of the columns so it cannot rot.  Below is the finished project.  It only took about four hours from start to finish but it made a huge difference to my patio!

The next project was to extend my patio and create an outdoor kitchen.  I did this because I really wanted a nice grilling area as well as create some privacy from my neighbors patio.  Previously the area had a couple plants but really just looked unfinished.  The first step was for me to build the two main structure posts to help with the addition of the privacy wall and awning extension.  These posts were 12 feet long and were buried over three feet in the ground and then cemented in place.  Below is a picture of the posts installed.  Note how you can see my neighbors patio since their house sits higher than mine.  

Once the posts were installed I started on building the privacy wall.  Since this wall will be in the open weather and I really did not want it to warp and degrade over time, I used cement siding.  Although the siding comes with a wood texture, I wanted a more modern look so I used the back side of the boards that are smooth.  I also used two different widths of siding so that it had a little bit of an architectural look. In the below picture you can also see the start of the awning extension. 

Once the privacy wall was installed it was time to extend the patio. I started by removing the plants, pots, and sprinkler system.  I then went in and removed almost eight inches of soil.  I then replaced the soil with roadbed (gravel/sand mix) and tamped it down so it made a very solid base.  I then filled in the area with the same pavers as the rest of the patio. Below it the rest of the patio installed.  

The next step was to install the outdoor kitchen.  I started by making a wood frame for the area.  Any wood that touches the ground was pressure treated so that it will not rot with the snow and rain. Also I lined any area that surrounds the grill with cement board just in the rare case that the area gets very hot and could catch fire. 

 The grill I used was my freestanding grill.  My parents bought it for me and is really nice so there was no reason to get a new one.  I removed the base and then just modified the counter to fit it.  

The next step was to cover the frame with additional cement board.  Since this is open to the elements, I will not have to worry about any of the structure rotting.  After the cement board was installed I then added additional molding to make the kitchen area look like it had raised paneling.  

I also added some PVC trim to the base of the kitchen area.  Once all the trim was complete, I then painted everything with three coats of paint as well as added a tile top to the grilling area.  One of the last steps I completed was the addition of the awning.  I left this part open so that smoke can exit from the grill.  Lastly, I decided that I wanted to add some pendant lights.  I found some metal cube lights on eBay for $11 each.  I wanted to have the lighting in this area attached to my landscape lights so that the lights would come on every night.  I found some LED Edison bulbs that are for RVs that run on 12 volt current but still use a standard bulb base.  I then added a dimmer to them.  Below is the finished project.  It took about 4 weekends but it really turned out well.