in today’s video we’re gonna be showing
you how to build the ultimate picnic
table not only is it weatherproof but it
also has a built-in cooler cupholders
and condiment trays here’s the supplies
we’re going to need to get started on
this picnic table we’ve got five boards
of composite deck material this is sort
of like MDF if it were made out of
plastic its texture to look like wood is
extremely durable and it’s pretty much
completely weatherproof each of the
boards I have is eight feet long and
they are the same width as a two by six
board after it’s been planed down I’ve
got five two by fours that are eight
feet long and I have two one by fours
that are eight feet long we have some
regular two and a half inch screws some
one-and-a-half inch screws and some two
and a half inch deck screws which are
specifically designed to work with this
composite material I also have a scrap
piece of board that’s one quarter of an
inch thick and that will be used for
spacing out our other boards to help
with the structural integrity of this
build we’ve also got some three and a
half inch bolts and the washers and nuts
that fit onto those here’s the basic
idea the general design is a straight
forward picnic table but we’re making
some improvements the tabletop and
benches will be made from weatherproof
decking boards added supports under the
table will hold a plastic tub that acts
as a drink cooler and we’ll add
closeable cup holders and two small
removable baskets to hold condiments
let’s start by cutting all of the major
pieces that we’re going to need for this
bench first up is our composite board
and we need nine pieces that are four
feet long these boards are almost
exactly eight feet long but they have
enough extra that will probably do a
there are several pieces that we need to
cut out of our two-by-fours the first is
the legs and for that we need four
pieces that are 29 inches long for the
support pieces that run parallel to the
ground and hold up the benches we’ll
need to cut two pieces that are 51 and a
half inches long we need two pieces that
are 28 inches long and those will hold
together the top surface of our table
finally we need one piece that will run
crosswise and that will act as a lateral
support that needs to be 37 inches long
with all of our pieces cut we now need
to start getting ready to assemble the
first pieces we’re going to need are
five of the composite boards and our two
28 inch two by fours these two 28 inch
pieces will work as supports for the
five slats that are the very top of the
table to avoid cutting and scraping
knees while sitting down at the table we
want to modify the two side supports by
cutting some 45-degree angles into the
ends of them after adding the cuts our
two supports will end up almost
trapezoid shaped although I’m not going
to try and make the cut come all the way
to the exact corner to add a little bit
of strength to it we’re gonna have our
cut and right about here leaving maybe a
third quarter of an inch about a
centimeter at the bottom so we’ll have a
cut something like that
we’re going to be attaching the five
composite planks into these two by fours
using screws going down from the top so
we now need to line them up just in the
right spot on top of these beams and
spaced out just the right amount we want
this support to be four inches in from
the end of our board our scrap of
quarter-inch board is going to be cut up
and we’re gonna use that as spacers to
make sure that the slats are evenly
spread out across our table
[Music]
we’ll start by securing one board on
this end and then making sure everything
is pressed together spaced out just
right secure the other board on the
other end and then secure two of them in
the middle for the moment we’ll leave
the very center board unsecured with the
four corners attached whenever moved to
the second boards in for the moment
we’re not going to attach our center
board because we still need to alter it
a little bit as we build the cooler that
goes into this table although we don’t
want to screw the center board down yet
we do want to pre-drill the screw holes
the reason we didn’t screw down the
centreboard is because we’re going to be
putting a cooler into this picnic table
we need to cut a slot into this top
center board that will allow us to
access the cooler down below what we’re
using for our cooler is this plastic
planters trough that I got at Home Depot
for about eight bucks this planter box
is twenty five and three quarters of an
inch long and approximately five and
three quarters of an inch wide this size
of planter box works very well because
its width is almost identical to the
space between two of these boards if one
is removed we now want to cut a length
of board out of the center of this one
that matches the length of our planter
some quick math shows that we should
come in eleven and one eighth of an inch
from either side with our Center board
cut we can now replace the spacers and
use a couple of screws to hold the end
pieces where they belong
[Music]
these end pieces are pretty sturdy just
as they are but they are going to get a
little bit of additional reinforcement
from below we need to add some supports
on the bottom that will hold the center
top board in place as well as holding
our trough right where we want it for
our drinks we’ll set up two pieces of
our one by four board one on each end
that’s what’s going to support our
center board when it’s covering the
cooler we’ll take a piece that’s just
the right length and make it overlap the
gap by about half of an inch let’s cut
two pieces of our one by four board that
are 12 and seven eighths of an inch long
[Music]
we’re using that length because we
should be able to fit two additional
pieces of our board right on the edges
and have it all line up with the hole at
this point we don’t want to use our deck
screws because if we did they would just
stab out the top of our table it’s a
terrible table tables shouldn’t stab you
these one and a half inch screws should
be the perfect length our cooler will be
able to slide into place so the two
sides will have supports as well as the
back to do that we need three pieces
that are 24 and a quarter inches long
and four pieces that are five and a half
inches long while it may not be totally
necessary just to give ourselves some
cleaner edges let’s trim off the excess
from these one by fours we’re using two
and a half inch screws which should be
long enough to reach all the way through
these three boards and just barely into
the composite board below to be sure
this bottom piece is well secured to the
surface of our table we’ll use a few of
the short screws on here before we
attach the other two pieces
[Music]
[Music]
our cooler trough can now easily slide
in and out of place and is held on quite
stable on three sides the top of our
table is constructed we have a removable
center panel that allows us access down
into the cooler which slides in and out
of place for easy draining and washing
so now it’s time to turn this tabletop
into a full table the next step is to
add some legs four of them in fact I
find that’s a good number for picnic
tables so it’s time to grab the four 29
inch pieces of 2×4 these four legs will
go on at an angle attached to the cross
pieces that run the width of our table
right now though they don’t sit very
flush up against anything so we want to
cut all the ends at 30 degrees when we
cut these cross pieces we made them both
pointing up in the same direction giving
us a sort of trapezoid shape with legs
we’ll switch it up and all the angles
will go the same direction giving us
more of a parallelogram this time we are
going to aim for the very corner rather
than going up about a centimeter these
legs will be installed so that the
outside corner of one angle lines up
with the end of the flat portion of the
board to attach each leg will use one
screw to start and then two carriage
bolts to really hold it in place the
screw is really just so we have an easy
way of holding the leg right where we
want it as we drill the holes for the
bolts to keep the leg in place as we
pre-drill and screw in our screw it can
help to grab one of the pieces that we
just caught off the end
our picnic table now has legs which I
think most people would agree is an
important part of a picnic table one
quick note if you build a picnic table
that’s going to be outside somewhere
it’s going to get wet or especially if
it’s going to sit on grass or dirt
you’ll want to make the legs out of
treated lumber not the regular two by
fours that you see me using here treated
lumber has chemicals embedded inside it
that help prevent rot and bugs and
fungus which is going to be important if
the legs are gonna be sitting on wet
ground we now need to add some supports
that are going to hold the seats up
those will run along the legs and stick
out the sides
that’s the 251 and a half inch pieces we
cut from our two by fours we’ll want to
measure so that’s nine inches from the
bottom of the feet to the bottom of this
board and of course we need to make sure
that’s level all the way across this is
what the benches are gonna be attached
to so if they’re at a weird angle
someone’s gonna be falling off the back
of the table and someone’s gonna be
falling into the table that’s no good
it’s not starting at zero which is why
it’s not ending it 9 it’s going from 1
to 10
similarly to the cross pieces that are
holding up the top of the table we want
to take off the corners making this into
a sort of trapezoid shape once again
this isn’t structurally necessary it
just makes it less likely for your like
a fanny or leg wires getting onto the
we do need to make sure that this cross
piece is evenly centered we don’t want
to have three planks on one side and one
on the other we’re going to line this up
the best we can we’ll clamp that in
place pre-drill and add one screw and
then we’ll use a level to make sure this
support is balanced just the way we need
it just like in the cross pieces at the
top we’ll use two bolts to connect the
leg to the support beam with those cross
beams attached we have one remaining
piece of our 2×4 and that’s the 37 inch
piece and what we’re going to do with
that is span the gap between the two
supports we just installed and add some
screws to make it so our bench doesn’t
[Music]
[Applause]
okay guys time to learn from my mistakes
I said before that we needed to have
nine inches from the feet of the table
up to this bar and then I proceeded to
attach this beam on the wrong side of
the nine inch mark meaning that this
whole setup was one two by fours width
too low too close to the ground leaving
it like that would cause a lot of
problems so I had to undo the screws and
bolts and lower back down into place
with that sorted out let’s flip our
table over and add the benches
that is an assembled picnic table it’s
got a top it’s got benches and it’s
honestly really sturdy now this picnic
table is a mid-sized picnic table which
means if you are over six feet like I am
it may be a little short you know my
knees don’t fit underneath it super well
this isn’t really meant for full-sized
adults which I like to pretend that I am
sometimes but we do have a few more
little things that we need to add onto
it still so let’s take it off of the
workbench put it down at ground level
and see what we can do now we know that
we have a cooler in the middle of our
table but at the moment it’s a little
tricky to get to there we go
let’s drill a hole big enough that we
can reach through the board and lift
this out with that hole drilled in the
center it’s a lot easier to access the
cooler and put the lid back on right
where you want it I want another small
addition that will work as a sort of
condiment or accessories holder I want
these little trays to be able to stay
right at the edge of the table so we can
put you know ketchup mustard or whatever
we want in them they should also be
removable so that when we’re not using
them we can just take them off drop them
down into the cooler for storage our
goal if the trays is going to be to
drive two screws into the sides of the
board so that just the head is sticking
out we then want to be able to put the
trays on and drop them down which means
we need to make a small hole and a small
slot that will fit over the neck of a
screw these plastic containers are
actually sold as desk organizing
containers I grabbed them at Walmart for
about 4 bucks each this screw bit is
just barely larger than the head of this
screw so if we put a hole into the
basket of this it should fit over nicely
[Music]
excellent to make the slot that will
drop down onto the neck of the screw
let’s hit this screw with a blowtorch
and then just melt our slot right into
the plastic that way we’ll know it will
fit just right now we can mark on the
table where we want the screw to be
attached
our condiment containers are working
well they’re easy to put on and to take
off and they store nicely inside our
cooler but there’s still one more little
element that I want to add on to that
and that is cup holders I have these two
and a half inch grommets that are
designed for cable management through a
desk but I also know that they could
make some pretty slick cup holders if we
just drill into the table and apply
if you aren’t interested in using the
composite decking material that I built
these surfaces out of you can do the
whole thing out of wood a 2 by 6 board
will be the same width and just a little
bit thicker than these boards this same
design should scale up nicely if you’d
prefer the 6 foot long full-size picking
table rather than the mid-size table at
this one is this is a good sturdy picnic
table design and because the benches and
the tabletop are completely weatherproof
it should last for quite a while guys
there’s still more for you to see that
little box up at the top will transport
you directly to our last video the box
at the bottom will show you what youtube
thinks you should be watching next and
this bomb here will subscribe you to our
channel so you never miss a video don’t
forget to ring that Bell and we’ll see
you in the next one talk to you then
you how to build the ultimate picnic
table not only is it weatherproof but it
also has a built-in cooler cupholders
and condiment trays here’s the supplies
we’re going to need to get started on
this picnic table we’ve got five boards
of composite deck material this is sort
of like MDF if it were made out of
plastic its texture to look like wood is
extremely durable and it’s pretty much
completely weatherproof each of the
boards I have is eight feet long and
they are the same width as a two by six
board after it’s been planed down I’ve
got five two by fours that are eight
feet long and I have two one by fours
that are eight feet long we have some
regular two and a half inch screws some
one-and-a-half inch screws and some two
and a half inch deck screws which are
specifically designed to work with this
composite material I also have a scrap
piece of board that’s one quarter of an
inch thick and that will be used for
spacing out our other boards to help
with the structural integrity of this
build we’ve also got some three and a
half inch bolts and the washers and nuts
that fit onto those here’s the basic
idea the general design is a straight
forward picnic table but we’re making
some improvements the tabletop and
benches will be made from weatherproof
decking boards added supports under the
table will hold a plastic tub that acts
as a drink cooler and we’ll add
closeable cup holders and two small
removable baskets to hold condiments
let’s start by cutting all of the major
pieces that we’re going to need for this
bench first up is our composite board
and we need nine pieces that are four
feet long these boards are almost
exactly eight feet long but they have
enough extra that will probably do a
there are several pieces that we need to
cut out of our two-by-fours the first is
the legs and for that we need four
pieces that are 29 inches long for the
support pieces that run parallel to the
ground and hold up the benches we’ll
need to cut two pieces that are 51 and a
half inches long we need two pieces that
are 28 inches long and those will hold
together the top surface of our table
finally we need one piece that will run
crosswise and that will act as a lateral
support that needs to be 37 inches long
with all of our pieces cut we now need
to start getting ready to assemble the
first pieces we’re going to need are
five of the composite boards and our two
28 inch two by fours these two 28 inch
pieces will work as supports for the
five slats that are the very top of the
table to avoid cutting and scraping
knees while sitting down at the table we
want to modify the two side supports by
cutting some 45-degree angles into the
ends of them after adding the cuts our
two supports will end up almost
trapezoid shaped although I’m not going
to try and make the cut come all the way
to the exact corner to add a little bit
of strength to it we’re gonna have our
cut and right about here leaving maybe a
third quarter of an inch about a
centimeter at the bottom so we’ll have a
cut something like that
we’re going to be attaching the five
composite planks into these two by fours
using screws going down from the top so
we now need to line them up just in the
right spot on top of these beams and
spaced out just the right amount we want
this support to be four inches in from
the end of our board our scrap of
quarter-inch board is going to be cut up
and we’re gonna use that as spacers to
make sure that the slats are evenly
spread out across our table
[Music]
we’ll start by securing one board on
this end and then making sure everything
is pressed together spaced out just
right secure the other board on the
other end and then secure two of them in
the middle for the moment we’ll leave
the very center board unsecured with the
four corners attached whenever moved to
the second boards in for the moment
we’re not going to attach our center
board because we still need to alter it
a little bit as we build the cooler that
goes into this table although we don’t
want to screw the center board down yet
we do want to pre-drill the screw holes
the reason we didn’t screw down the
centreboard is because we’re going to be
putting a cooler into this picnic table
we need to cut a slot into this top
center board that will allow us to
access the cooler down below what we’re
using for our cooler is this plastic
planters trough that I got at Home Depot
for about eight bucks this planter box
is twenty five and three quarters of an
inch long and approximately five and
three quarters of an inch wide this size
of planter box works very well because
its width is almost identical to the
space between two of these boards if one
is removed we now want to cut a length
of board out of the center of this one
that matches the length of our planter
some quick math shows that we should
come in eleven and one eighth of an inch
from either side with our Center board
cut we can now replace the spacers and
use a couple of screws to hold the end
pieces where they belong
[Music]
these end pieces are pretty sturdy just
as they are but they are going to get a
little bit of additional reinforcement
from below we need to add some supports
on the bottom that will hold the center
top board in place as well as holding
our trough right where we want it for
our drinks we’ll set up two pieces of
our one by four board one on each end
that’s what’s going to support our
center board when it’s covering the
cooler we’ll take a piece that’s just
the right length and make it overlap the
gap by about half of an inch let’s cut
two pieces of our one by four board that
are 12 and seven eighths of an inch long
[Music]
we’re using that length because we
should be able to fit two additional
pieces of our board right on the edges
and have it all line up with the hole at
this point we don’t want to use our deck
screws because if we did they would just
stab out the top of our table it’s a
terrible table tables shouldn’t stab you
these one and a half inch screws should
be the perfect length our cooler will be
able to slide into place so the two
sides will have supports as well as the
back to do that we need three pieces
that are 24 and a quarter inches long
and four pieces that are five and a half
inches long while it may not be totally
necessary just to give ourselves some
cleaner edges let’s trim off the excess
from these one by fours we’re using two
and a half inch screws which should be
long enough to reach all the way through
these three boards and just barely into
the composite board below to be sure
this bottom piece is well secured to the
surface of our table we’ll use a few of
the short screws on here before we
attach the other two pieces
[Music]
[Music]
our cooler trough can now easily slide
in and out of place and is held on quite
stable on three sides the top of our
table is constructed we have a removable
center panel that allows us access down
into the cooler which slides in and out
of place for easy draining and washing
so now it’s time to turn this tabletop
into a full table the next step is to
add some legs four of them in fact I
find that’s a good number for picnic
tables so it’s time to grab the four 29
inch pieces of 2×4 these four legs will
go on at an angle attached to the cross
pieces that run the width of our table
right now though they don’t sit very
flush up against anything so we want to
cut all the ends at 30 degrees when we
cut these cross pieces we made them both
pointing up in the same direction giving
us a sort of trapezoid shape with legs
we’ll switch it up and all the angles
will go the same direction giving us
more of a parallelogram this time we are
going to aim for the very corner rather
than going up about a centimeter these
legs will be installed so that the
outside corner of one angle lines up
with the end of the flat portion of the
board to attach each leg will use one
screw to start and then two carriage
bolts to really hold it in place the
screw is really just so we have an easy
way of holding the leg right where we
want it as we drill the holes for the
bolts to keep the leg in place as we
pre-drill and screw in our screw it can
help to grab one of the pieces that we
just caught off the end
our picnic table now has legs which I
think most people would agree is an
important part of a picnic table one
quick note if you build a picnic table
that’s going to be outside somewhere
it’s going to get wet or especially if
it’s going to sit on grass or dirt
you’ll want to make the legs out of
treated lumber not the regular two by
fours that you see me using here treated
lumber has chemicals embedded inside it
that help prevent rot and bugs and
fungus which is going to be important if
the legs are gonna be sitting on wet
ground we now need to add some supports
that are going to hold the seats up
those will run along the legs and stick
out the sides
that’s the 251 and a half inch pieces we
cut from our two by fours we’ll want to
measure so that’s nine inches from the
bottom of the feet to the bottom of this
board and of course we need to make sure
that’s level all the way across this is
what the benches are gonna be attached
to so if they’re at a weird angle
someone’s gonna be falling off the back
of the table and someone’s gonna be
falling into the table that’s no good
it’s not starting at zero which is why
it’s not ending it 9 it’s going from 1
to 10
similarly to the cross pieces that are
holding up the top of the table we want
to take off the corners making this into
a sort of trapezoid shape once again
this isn’t structurally necessary it
just makes it less likely for your like
a fanny or leg wires getting onto the
we do need to make sure that this cross
piece is evenly centered we don’t want
to have three planks on one side and one
on the other we’re going to line this up
the best we can we’ll clamp that in
place pre-drill and add one screw and
then we’ll use a level to make sure this
support is balanced just the way we need
it just like in the cross pieces at the
top we’ll use two bolts to connect the
leg to the support beam with those cross
beams attached we have one remaining
piece of our 2×4 and that’s the 37 inch
piece and what we’re going to do with
that is span the gap between the two
supports we just installed and add some
screws to make it so our bench doesn’t
[Music]
[Applause]
okay guys time to learn from my mistakes
I said before that we needed to have
nine inches from the feet of the table
up to this bar and then I proceeded to
attach this beam on the wrong side of
the nine inch mark meaning that this
whole setup was one two by fours width
too low too close to the ground leaving
it like that would cause a lot of
problems so I had to undo the screws and
bolts and lower back down into place
with that sorted out let’s flip our
table over and add the benches
that is an assembled picnic table it’s
got a top it’s got benches and it’s
honestly really sturdy now this picnic
table is a mid-sized picnic table which
means if you are over six feet like I am
it may be a little short you know my
knees don’t fit underneath it super well
this isn’t really meant for full-sized
adults which I like to pretend that I am
sometimes but we do have a few more
little things that we need to add onto
it still so let’s take it off of the
workbench put it down at ground level
and see what we can do now we know that
we have a cooler in the middle of our
table but at the moment it’s a little
tricky to get to there we go
let’s drill a hole big enough that we
can reach through the board and lift
this out with that hole drilled in the
center it’s a lot easier to access the
cooler and put the lid back on right
where you want it I want another small
addition that will work as a sort of
condiment or accessories holder I want
these little trays to be able to stay
right at the edge of the table so we can
put you know ketchup mustard or whatever
we want in them they should also be
removable so that when we’re not using
them we can just take them off drop them
down into the cooler for storage our
goal if the trays is going to be to
drive two screws into the sides of the
board so that just the head is sticking
out we then want to be able to put the
trays on and drop them down which means
we need to make a small hole and a small
slot that will fit over the neck of a
screw these plastic containers are
actually sold as desk organizing
containers I grabbed them at Walmart for
about 4 bucks each this screw bit is
just barely larger than the head of this
screw so if we put a hole into the
basket of this it should fit over nicely
[Music]
excellent to make the slot that will
drop down onto the neck of the screw
let’s hit this screw with a blowtorch
and then just melt our slot right into
the plastic that way we’ll know it will
fit just right now we can mark on the
table where we want the screw to be
attached
our condiment containers are working
well they’re easy to put on and to take
off and they store nicely inside our
cooler but there’s still one more little
element that I want to add on to that
and that is cup holders I have these two
and a half inch grommets that are
designed for cable management through a
desk but I also know that they could
make some pretty slick cup holders if we
just drill into the table and apply
if you aren’t interested in using the
composite decking material that I built
these surfaces out of you can do the
whole thing out of wood a 2 by 6 board
will be the same width and just a little
bit thicker than these boards this same
design should scale up nicely if you’d
prefer the 6 foot long full-size picking
table rather than the mid-size table at
this one is this is a good sturdy picnic
table design and because the benches and
the tabletop are completely weatherproof
it should last for quite a while guys
there’s still more for you to see that
little box up at the top will transport
you directly to our last video the box
at the bottom will show you what youtube
thinks you should be watching next and
this bomb here will subscribe you to our
channel so you never miss a video don’t
forget to ring that Bell and we’ll see
you in the next one talk to you then
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