Thread: Outdoor fully exposed table help

Dom

If the deadline is Christmas Day, I assume the table is for the family Christmas gathering.

My suggestion is buy a decent table cloth to cover over what ever fasteners and construction method you choose to use.
Then after New Year recycle the table into something else or a smaller version that can be stored under cover.

Haha. Thanks Ian. So the advice is I just can't have nice things outdoors!

Assuming I want to try and make this work anyway, what should I do? I guess screws from the top is the only way then?

I have no options to move even a smaller table indoors/ under cover. I can provide shade most days if I leave my awnings out, but no protection vs rain. Also I get worried about the awnings during really strong gusty wind days so I don't leave them out all the time.

This is my deck/ pergola that was step 1 in the process by the way; all painstakingly done on my "holidays" . Even made the retractable awnings myself which I'm quite proud of.
20151215_175708.jpg

What is with the random photo orientation on this forum? Anyone know how to rotate photos?

Originally Posted by DomAU

What is with the random photo orientation on this forum? Anyone know how to rotate photos?

I'm pretty sure it's only photos taken on iOS devices that exhibit this problem, something to do with an auto-rotate setting.

Originally Posted by DomAU

Haha. Thanks Ian. So the advice is I just can't have nice things outdoors!

Assuming I want to try and make this work anyway, what should I do? I guess screws from the top is the only way then?

I have no options to move even a smaller table indoors/ under cover. I can provide shade most days if I leave my awnings out, but no protection vs rain. Also I get worried about the awnings during really strong gusty wind days so I don't leave them out all the time.

Unfortunately Dom, I think you're on a hiding to nothing.

My thinking is a smaller table used frequently is likely to get more TLC than a large table used infrequently.

In your situation I'd be building a table with gaps (~10 -- 20 mm wide) between the boards so that rain water can cascade through the top and accepting that the table will rapidly turn an interesting shade of silver grey.

Holding decking boards from below will be difficult as ideally you want to follow the 1/3, 2/3 rule -- where 2/3 of the fastener is gripping the supporting material and holding the boards down. I think I'd be using either copper nails -- which could be clenched (or killed) -- copper rivets (a la boat building) or bronze screws from the top surface.

Yeah ok. Maybe I'll go with stainless screws from the top then. I assume that even with 32mm thick Timber I still couldn't secure from the bottom as there would just be more strength in the timber to cup / bow anyway.

I secured my deck with 100mm 14g batten screws and that's been fine, but far different to 10-12mm of 8g screw from beneath.

Still I notice a lot of tables for sale with slatted tops have some form of fixing from beneath. How do they do it? Or are they not built to last?

[emoji3][emoji106][emoji106]

Not sure if I'm reading this right but;
Why not rebate into the breadboards to hold the top planks in place like this:
image.jpg

They can then be pinned from underneath with stainless steel brads.

With the breadboards and side rails and planks forming a solid top structure, you could then attach to the aprons using Z fasteners in slots in the aprons.

Originally Posted by DomAU

Still I notice a lot of tables for sale with slatted tops have some form of fixing from beneath. ... are they not built to last?

Originally Posted by Lappa

Not sure if I'm reading this right but;
Why not rebate into the breadboards to hold the top planks in place like this:
image.jpg

They can then be pinned from underneath with stainless steel brads.

With the breadboards and side rails and planks forming a solid top structure, you could then attach to the aprons using Z fasteners in slots in the aprons.

But then I'd need to actually join the top pieces into one board right? Wouldn't that lead to big issues exposed to rain, sun etc? I figure one big board is likely to hold water and cup / warp a lot more?
Otherwise, if individual boards, I'd still have to do secure them to joists over the 1250mm between breadboards wouldn't I? This is kind of what I intended to do in the first place, just wasn't sure if screws from beneath would hold well enough.

Also bearing in mind I have this weekend and a few hours mid week. (I work full time and train on the bike 15-20hrs as well...). Looks like Christmas on the floor lol.

The breadboard ends and the sides make a frame. The slats sit within the frame in the rebates. It does make a one piece top but you still have gaps between the slats. The slats are spaced and held in plate with brads nailed up from the bottom. The slats aren't structual hence the brads are sufficient.

Originally Posted by Lappa

The breadboard ends and the sides make a frame. The slats sit within the frame in the rebates. It does make a one piece top but you still have gaps between the slats. The slats are spaced and held in plate with brads nailed up from the bottom. The slats aren't structual hence the brads are sufficient.

So do you simply rebate the slats so that the top finishes flush with the top of the breadboard? (remembering that I will only have about 14mm to work with for the centre boards - unless I waste about 5 hours to drive and get more timber - reducing my building time yet further lol). This makes it a bit easier than cutting a tongue / tennon on each board as well I guess.

However, do you think that the timber doesn't need a lot of fixing in-between given that the boards will still be 1250mm long? I'm worried about cupping, twisting, and even bowing up / down over that distance given the slenderness of those centre boards.

Perhaps the solid breadboards, plus some pocket screws rather than just brads. I planned to put about 3 additional cross supports / joists under the boards per each half of the table; so a support / screws every 400mm or so.

I'm not sure if I understand correctly, Is this the kind of table top you're making? Breadboard ends
By the way, Can't you buy more timber instead of slicing the thickness down to 14mm. It's not very strong at that thickness, if you have 32mm boards throughout, the problems almost disappear or am I incorrect?