A Quick Hibachi 

I knew I had to make a quick, small grill. Don't ask me why..... Anyway I had 12 firebrick handy, some chicken wire and a small grate that my wife uses to cool fresh cake rounds. These grates are readily available and measure about one foot square. The fire bricks are 4.5 inches wide by 9 inches long.

If you stack four of them side by side you get a rectangle nine inches deep by 18 inches wide. You then stack two more on top of each end brick and cut a piece of chicken wire to lay over the top of these two mini-towers. Stack two more bricks on top of each tower. Now place the grate on top of the brick towers.

You can do this in about five minutes. The cooking surface will allow you to grill five hamburgers or two steaks or 10 hot dogs easily. It is very simple to build. Once the bricks have cooled you can take it apart and save the pieces for the next grill out!

A Dry Stack Barbeque Plan

The plan below is a very simplistic barbeque that you can build in two days. The hardest part of the job is pouring a simple concrete pad that will support your barbeque. The pad MUST be square and level. This is not that hard to do. The pad should be 48 inches wide by 39 inches deep. Make it five inches thick. I want you to install 1/2 inch reinforcing rods as well. Put three in each direction about one foot apart from one another. Pour half the concrete and then place the rods in the wet concrete. Then pour the remaining concrete. It does not have to have a nice finish on top as you will only be able to see an inch and one-half at each edge when you are done.

The key is to make sure the darn thing is level in both directions. When you pour the concrete you strike it off so that there are no humps or depressions. If you goof this up, the brick will not stack properly! Use a standard carpenter's framing square to get your concrete form square.

Top View

Top View Notes

The top cooking grate is clearly shown. The bottom grate is directly below separated by about 10 inches or so.

You can slide the grate back so it touches the back wall. This will keep stray "dogs" and brats from rolling into the fire.

The cooking surface is actually about two inches below the actual top of the barbecue. This works out well as you don't have to worry about things rolling side to side.

The pattern of the first/bottom course is a simple continuation of the alternating pairs of brick. Just put them in and they will work out.

Simple Bridge Tips

The bridge in this photograph - depending upon its length - can be built by one person in less than 20 hours. It will take at least 4 days to complete the job. The work will happen on the first and fourth days with the other two days spent at the pool or golf course. Here is why:

The first day will be spent digging the trench and pier holes, setting the forms and pouring the concrete. It is not as hard as it sounds. The key thing is to dig enough dirt out of the way so you can easily set the forms for the grade beam. If you give yourself 6 inches of clearance around the grade beam you will be fine.

Use a round point shovel for your initial digging work. Switch over to a flat spade to trim up the sides and bottom of the trench. Do not over-dig. If you go to deep, don't add fill dirt. You simply will have to mix more concrete.

Grade Beam Alignment

The top of the grade beams needs to be level from side to side. The two beams don't have to necessarily be at the same height. In other words, if your bridge will be sloped, they will not be at the same elevation above sea level. However, if you don't get the beams level from side to side, the bridge surface will be a helix and all twisted. It will really look strange! Before you drive the final stakes that will secure the forms before the concrete is poured, check them for level and string a line from form to form to make sure the top of the two forms are in the same plane. If the tops of the forms are not in the same plane, you will have some problems with the sill plate and the bridge joists. The joists will not sit flush on top of the sill plates if the tops of the grade beams are not in the same plane.

The Piers and Steel

Before the forms are set you need to use a post hole digger to create a pier at each end of the grade beam. A 6 inch diameter hole is fine. Dig until you hit the frost level in your area. Try to widen the last foot of the hole if at all possible. This helps prevent frost heaving of the piers. Be sure to include two pieces of 1/2 inch reinforcing steel in each of the grade beams. Look at the plan for the black dots!

The sill plate will be attached to the grade beam with 1/2 inch anchor bolts. Make sure the threaded part of the bolt sticks up 2 inches above the top of the grade beam. Place the bolts at 32 inches on center and start the first bolt at 8 inches from one end of the grade beam. By installing the bolts in this manner you will avoid problems when setting your floor joists. The bolts will fall directly in the center of the joists if you begin your joist layout from the same side of the grade beams as you did for the anchor bolt placement! Don't get confused when you do each grade beam!

Bridge Joist Sizing

Have you ever walked across the floor of a new home and bounced up and down? The reason this happens is that the floor joists are flexing. It is natural for them to do this and is even permitted by the building codes. Just because the floor joists bounce doesn't mean they are going to crack and collapse.

If you want a stiff floor, you need to make sure the floor joists are sized correctly. Engineers have developed tables that tell you what types of wood floor joists are the strongest and produce the least amount of flex or bounce. You can get these span tables from any high quality lumber yard. They are not easy to understand so make sure you have someone show you how to use them.

Bigger is Better

Wood joists are simply beams. If you want a beam to have minimal deflection over a given span, then simply increase the height of the beam. For example, if you install upright a ten foot long 2 x 6 over two sawhorses that are about 9 feet six inches apart and then suspend 2 sacks of concrete from the middle of this beam, it will surely deflect or sag and might even crack. Substitute a ten foot long 2x12 and perform the same test and the joist's deflection may not be visible to the naked eye. Long bridge spans simply need large joists.

Suggested Spans

If you are going to build a small bridge that spans perhaps 8 feet or less, I would use 2x8's that are placed 16 inches on center. A span of 12 feet would require 2x10's and spans between 14 and 18 feet would require 2x12's. Anything over 18 feet would require 4x4 or 6x6 posts mid span to cut the actual span in half.

If you are thinking of building any bridge with a span greater than 20 feet, you better get a structural engineer involved, plain and simple.

Steel is a Great Substitute

A good friend of mine owns a Christmas tree farm. A creek runs through the property. He wanted to build a pedestrian bridge that would also support a small tractor. The span between the support piers on either side of the creek was about 24 feet. I suggested that we build it using two steel I-beams that were 14 inches high and weighed about 12 pounds per foot. An engineer specified the beams and the completed bridge is quite handsome. We had holes punched in the top flanges that allowed us to bolt treated 2x6 plates. We simply nailed treated 2x6's to these plates to make the bridge deck. The entire bridge took a little over a day to build. Keep steel in mind for your long bridge!

Companion Articles:  Bridges in Your Backyard, Bridge Building Tips, Bridge Planning

I was flying to an awards dinner in Washington DC early one spring (1999) and was paging through a Delta Sky Mall magazine. One of the products offered was a sleek, decorative, arched bridge for a garden. The bridge came in 5 sizes ranging from 3.5 feet long to 10 feet long. The prices ranged from $299.95 to $1,199.95 . It is a beautiful arched bridge, but the prices sort of takes your breath away! If you want to try to find it, you don't need to fly on a plane.

Modifications

If you want to build a bridge like the one in the Sky Mall magazine, you need special tools and skills. The arch bridge frame and the matching arch railings are tough to build. You can try to do a simple one, but I believe you will soon find out that trying to fit the pieces and get consistent bends is very difficult. I propose that you consider a flat or straight bridge that possibly has a fancy rail system. What do you think of that idea?

Bridge Basics

About ten years ago a next door neighbor's daughter asked me to help her with a high school physics project. The challenge was to build a bridge using toothpicks and regular glue. The total weight of the bridge could not exceed 40 grams. I tried to get fancy and copy the truss design of a real bridge that crossed the Ohio River. I made a little template for her to show her how to cut the little pieces and built a sample triangle truss. She proceeded to build a superb bridge and actually won first place in her weight class division. Her bridge ended up being the lightest weight bridge weighing in at about 12 grams.

Do you know what bridge won the overall competition? The one that held by far the most weight? It was a simple crazy flat bridge that an industrious student built by gluing toothpicks next to one another! The bridge consisted of several layers. I believe every other layer the toothpicks were oriented at a 90 degree angle just as plywood veneers are glued to one another. It was so plain and so simple you could scream! The moral of the story is that your bridge doesn't have to look good to be a top performer.

Long or High Spans

The bridge I have in mind that you are going to build is supposed to be about 10 - 15 feet long and cross a gully no more than 2 or 3 feet deep. If the bridge needs to be larger than this, or cross a creek or ditch deeper than 3 feet, you better consider getting some professional input. Bridge engineering is not that hard for simple spans, but it is critical if you don't want to get hurt. Remember, if you build a bridge that you drive a tractor over, it is going to experience concentrated loads and the vibrations of the tractor may set up a harmonic vibration that can further stress your bridge.

Water Problems

If your bridge is going to cross a creek that rises during periods of heavy rain, you need to take special precautions. Bridge designs that include posts at mid span that are in the center of the creek require study. These posts get stressed as the water rushes by them.

Keep in mind the high water mark of the creek or stream. If the horizontal bridge beams become submerged, the weight and force of the water can simply wash your bridge away. You need to make sure that flood waters don't hit the bridge beams.

Planning

If you are getting ready to build a bridge, draw up your own simple plan. Install a simple piece of string to simulate the top surface of the deck. Perhaps string two lines to simulate each outer edge of the bridge. Use these strings to give you the overall length of the bridge and how much room is below the beams in case you have a water filled stream to contend with.

Simply take your time. I would not purchase lumber until I had my concrete grade beams in place. I would want to make sure my beams don't fall short!

Companion Articles:  Bridges in Your Backyard, Bridge Building Tips, Bridge Joist Sizing

Wire Hazards

Several people contacted me about the hazards of having thin wire suspended in the air. They said that birds could fly into the wire and get hurt or killed. So far I have not had that problem. Actually, I think the birds clearly see the wire as many of them roost on it and seem to use it as they do regular utility line wires. I have seen as many as ten to twenty small birds on the wire at once. But I agree it could possibly be a hazard.

Building the System

As I indicated, I used very small gauge wire - 1/16th inch in diameter. You can get even thinner wire if you want, but I used what I bought because all of the parts were readily available at my local corner hardware store.

I was concerned with several things as I started to build the system. I knew the line would sag both before and after I added the feeders. But I didn't now how much. I also knew I wanted the bottom of the feeders at least 4.5 to 5 feet off the ground. In addition, I didn't want the wire so low as to pose a problem as I carried ladders and long lumber around to the back of my home. Knowing all of this I decided to mount the wire about 12 feet up in the air.

Fortunately, I have a wood frame garage on one side of my patio and a large pine tree on the opposite side. The corner of the garage and the tree happen to be in perfect alignment with the far edge of the patio. I installed two 1/4 inch diameter threaded open hooks to support the wire. I made sure these penetrated solid wood for a minimum of 1.5 inches.

The Drop Wires

Since my feeders are different sizes and types I didn't want to make the final height adjustment of each drop wire until the primary cable was up in the air. But attaching drop wires 12 feet high is a problem! So I attached extra long drop wires to the wire before I installed the wire from the tree to the garage. I then was able to work on a small ladder to cut off the excess from each drop wire and make the final clamp connection for the loop that holds the small S hooks to which the feeders are attached.

Lots of Tension

The wire needs, in my opinion, two cable clamps at each threaded hook location. I show these clearly in the photos. These clamps are easy to work with and do a swell job of holding the wire so it does not slip. The combined weight of the bird feeders full of feed is surprising. I would estimate that the wire might have 40 to 50 pounds of weight on it when all feeders are open and ready for business.

Hook and cable with clamps.

Why a Wire?

Just today, while I was eating lunch and looking out the window to the feeders, I mentioned why I like the wires vs. a pole. The wires are so thin you can't see them against the backdrop of trees at the edge of my property. The feeders seem to float in mid air. There are no posts to navigate while cutting the grass or catching a Trac-Ball (one of my favorite outdoor games I play with my kids). At first, Kathy didn't like the wire but she has since grown used to it. Or so she tells me!

Bird feeders hanging from the wire.

Bird Feeder Suspension System Photos

The top photo is a close up of the wire, the threaded hook and the two wire clamps. Take this photo with you to the hardware store to get the right parts. Remember that the wire is just 1/16th inch in diameter. I used two clamps to make sure the wire would not fall. I built the first loop with two clamps on the ground. I attached it on the hook in the tree and then went over to the garage corner and pulled the wire as tight as I could. I made a mark on the wire where I knew the end of the second loop needed to be. Then I went back down the ladder and built the second loop on the ground. BUT, before I built the second loop, I had to slide down the wire the five hammer-type friction clamps for the drop wires. You can just see a hint of those in the bottom photo. These clamps are small aluminum rectangles with a hole in the middle. You put two pieces of wire through them, place the clamp and wires on a smooth, flat surface and strike them with a hammer. It is amazing how well it holds. I used the same type clamp to make the loops for the S hooks that hold the feeders. The entire system took me about 30 minutes to build.

I predicted with great accuracy the response I would get from readers about my method of solving the uninvited squirrel guests at my wife Kathy's bird feeders. I told Kathy and Ellen - the faithful employee who handles my mail order and Stain Solver business - that we would get lots of letters and calls from people who had other and/or better solutions. Let me tell you, did I ever get the letters, calls to my radio show and emails! Most people were supportive and I enjoyed many of the comments.

Squirrel Club President

Believe it or not, I even got a call from the president of a Chicago area squirrel admirers club! He chuckled at the column and politely told me it was just a matter of time before the wonderful squirrels would be feasting at those feeders once again. So far I am OK. I even got mail from two people who had identical setups but the diligent squirrels in their yards crossed the wire up side down fist over fist like you see soldiers traversing a rope! This happened just once to me to my GREAT surprise 10 days ago. It had just snowed the day before and the wire was encrusted with frozen snow. This increased the diameter of the wire and made its surface more uneven. Kathy, Ellen and I were eating lunch and one of those little devils started across the wire! I scared him away and since the snow melted I have not had any trouble. Looks like Mr. Squirrel Club President was right......!

Other Solutions

Everyone that contacted me had a story or an idea. Many people have had success with different types of grease coated pole mounted feeders. Been there, done that. Too messy and the feed sticks to the grease and turns moldy.

Still others used large diameter 3 and 4 inch Schedule 40 PVC plumbing drain pipe. The feeders are attached to the top of the pipe via a standard toilet flange fitting that fits on the pipe. Some people screwed the feeder to the toilet flange while others screwed a piece of plywood to the flange. The flange is not glued to the pipe. This allows you to remove the feeder to service/fill it.

Perhaps one of the most unique solutions was a recent one I got two days ago. A person bought one of those giant plastic water bottles that works on an office or household water cooler. He cut the bottom off the bottle. The bottle was then slid down the pole to just below the feeder. A squirrel climbs up the pole, can see through the clear bottle to the feeder but can't get through/or around the bottle to get to the feeder. Pretty ingenious!

Squirrel Proof Birdfeeders - read about them in that column.