Make a Concrete Garden Bench

Stain the Western Red Cedar bench

Then apply two coats of oil-based stain and leave everything to dry overnight.

Staining the red cedar of the Garden Bench — Staining red cedar

Assemble the Concrete Garden Bench

To help with assembling the bench I mark the corner locations of the legs on a flat surface.

marking the ground to aid in assembly — Prepping to assemble bench

I use a long straight edge and framing square for this. I set the legs in place while I slide the stretcher onto the bolts. Then add the seat planks and check everything for square. I add washers and nuts to the seat bolts just finger tight for now.

sliding the stretcher onto the cast concrete bolts — Sliding stretcher onto bolts in legs

I slide the flat washer and lock washer on the stretcher bolts.

setting the seat slats onto the carriage bolts cast in the concrete legs — Placing seat planks

Then thread the nut on the bolt and tighten with a wrench. Not too tight, just enough to pull the end of the stretcher against the concrete leg. And I do the same on the other end. I can now tighten the nuts on the seat planks with a socket wrench .

assembling the seat for the bench — Clamping ties to underside of seat

The ties are screwed to the seat planks from underneath. I use a scrap strip of wood and clamps to hold it in place while I run in screws. With the seat planks having only two attachment points, the ties are required to counter any twisting forces.
I realized that my center two pilot holes should have been offset as the driver was blocked by the stretcher. So I just drilled two more holes.

Rubber Gaskets

rubber gaskets from an tire inner tube make the wood last longer — Rubber gaskets

I forgot to add rubber gaskets to keep any wood from contact with concrete. Wood will wick moisture from concrete and cause rot. So a rubber gasket will help prevent this. I used an old tire inner tube and cut the gaskets with scissors.

rubber gaskets from an tire inner tube make the wood last longer — Gaskets laid on legs

When I move this bench out to the garden I’ll add the rubber gaskets then.
Please leave a comment with your thoughts or suggestions. I am amazed by the wealth of knowledge out there and I so appreciate everyone who has shared it.

Red Cedar and Concrete Bench

the final concrete garden bench — Concrete Garden Bench – DONE!!

So I hope you have enjoyed this post, and thank you so much for reading. If I make any further improvements or changes I’ll post them here.
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