A bench made of timber: how to make it yourself, drawings, dimensions and photos

A bench made of timber is superior in aesthetics and durability to its analogues, where boards are used as the manufacturing material. The design is distinguished by its impressive weight, so it is often installed permanently in the yard, in a gazebo, or near the garden sidewalk.

Pros and cons of benches made of timber

Massive benches are in demand among summer residents, owners of cottages and country houses. They are installed in squares, parks, and other recreational areas.

The popularity of timber construction is due to many advantages:

  1. The beam is stronger than the board. The bench will last longer. It is difficult to break it or drag it away for intruders.
  2. The timber can withstand heavy loads. The bench can be made long for a large number of seats, and it will not sag.
  3. The smooth edges of the timber make the structure attractive. The bench will fit even in the courtyard, where the design of the architectural ensemble is decorated in a modern style.
  4. Timber is an environmentally friendly material with a low thermal conductivity. The bench retains the comfort of sitting on it in cold and hot weather. Wood does not heat up from the sun and remains warm in cold weather.

The disadvantage of benches is their heavy weight. A timber structure is not easy to move from place to place. To maintain an aesthetic appearance, the bench must be carefully looked after. To prevent the wood from turning black, it is treated with an antiseptic twice a year and opened with varnish or drying oil. From frequent exposure to dampness, the bench will begin to rot. For the winter, you will have to hide it in a shed or organize a reliable film shelter.

Types of benches made of timber

A feature of a massive bench is good stability due to its heavy weight. Despite this fact, the designs differ in the installation method:

  1. Stationary benches cannot be moved to another place or moved to the side. They are dug into the ground with their legs, concreted, and secured to the floor of the gazebo or other foundation.
  2. The portable benches are not secured to anything with their legs. Even if the structure is heavy, it can still be moved or moved to the side if necessary.

There are many differences in shape. Benches are made classic and according to individual designs. The timber is combined with other materials. Despite the large variety, all benches according to their design are conventionally divided into three groups:

  1. A simple bench is made without a back. It is intended for short periods of sitting. They are placed in places where people need short-term rest.
  2. A simple bench with a back allows a person to take a comfortable position and enjoy a long rest.

    Advice! Often, summer residents make a simple bench with their own hands from a 50x50 mm bar and 25 mm thick boards.
  3. Benches of increased complexity are intended not only for relaxation. The structures serve as an element of site decoration. The bench is equipped with a beautiful carved back and armrests. Curly notches are cut out of the timber on the legs.

All types of garden furniture made from timber are attractive, reliable and durable. However, if you want to make a bench, you need to decide for what purpose it is needed. This will make it easier to choose the most suitable model.

What you need to assemble a garden bench from timber

The main building material for a bench is timber. The cross-section of the workpieces is selected taking into account the load the structure is designed for. If there are many seats for adults, the best option is to build your own bench from a 150x150 mm or 100x100 mm timber. For a children's bench, timber of a smaller cross-section is used.

For benches, it is optimal to use timber made of hard wood, such as oak. Coniferous representatives are not suitable due to the release of resin from the wood. It is better to use timber made of pine, spruce, and larch to make the frame of the bench, and lay lumber from deciduous wood on the back and seat.

Additional materials you will need are screws, bolts, nails, antiseptic, varnish, stain or drying oil.

Important! If the bench will be stationary, the section of the legs buried in the ground must be protected with waterproofing. From the materials you will still need to prepare bitumen mastic and roofing felt.

Assembling a bench from profiled timber does not require the use of expensive tools. A standard carpenter's set will do: saw, plane, chisel, hammer, drill, screwdriver.

Drawings of a bench made of bars

Dimensions of a bench made of timber

There are standards for benches that provide standard sizes. However, more often the benches are made at their own discretion. The dimensions are calculated so that it is comfortable to sit on the bench. It is convenient when the seat rises 45-50 cm above the ground. From here the length of the legs is determined. If the bench is installed permanently, the length of the supports is increased to bury it in the ground.

The seat width is about 45 cm. Moreover, it can be installed at a slight slope - up to 20 O to improve rest comfort. The backrest is made 50-60 cm high. Here, similarly, you can maintain a slope or a right angle at your discretion. The number of seats depends on the length of the seat. Usually the bench is designed for 2 or 4 people, keeping to the parameter of 1.5-2 m.

How to make a bench from timber

Options for assembling benches have nuances depending on the design of the product. Work begins when the material and project are prepared.

The video contains useful information about benches:

Simple bench made of timber

The simplest design has no backrest and is intended for short-term rest. For stability, the legs are buried in the ground. Summer residents usually assemble simple garden benches from scraps of 50x100 mm timber left over after construction. To make a portable bench, the structure is equipped with four legs for stability. A jumper is installed between the paired supports.

Opposite racks are connected to each other by a long beam. The element will act as a spacer that prevents the bench from loosening.The seat is placed on the legs and secured with bolts. There are two options here. You can find a piece of a wide board for the seat or put together several pieces of timber.

Timber bench with back

It is believed that building a bench with a back is difficult. Nothing like this if you use the simplest project. The bench is made on crossed legs. Each side support requires a short and a long beam. They are connected to each other by the letter “X” at an angle of 30 O. The long timber leg is a continuation of the base onto which the backrest is attached. Opposite supports are connected to each other by a jumper made of timber.

The bottom of the legs is cut at such an angle that they fit snugly to the asphalt or ground. At the height of the seat mounting, crossed posts are connected with a bar. The boards are secured to it with bolts. The trim is similarly attached to the base of the backrest. The finished bench is sanded and varnished.

Benches made from remnants of timber

If there are short pieces of timber left in the yard after construction, this material is similarly suitable for a bench. Stable legs are made from pieces of different lengths. The bars are stacked horizontally according to the pyramid principle. To fasten the support, a plank is placed on the side and screwed with self-tapping screws to each element of the pyramid.

A rectangular seat frame is placed on the supports. On one long side, at an angle, two racks of the backrest base are bolted. The finished structure is sheathed with boards.

Bench made of cinder blocks and timber

An original bench without a back can be made in 5 minutes. The design will be collapsible. It can be used for sitting or instead of a bed if you add a mattress.

The support for the miracle bench is cinder blocks. Moreover, full-bodied material will not work. You need a cinder block with through holes.The number of blocks depends on how wide the bench is supposed to be. If the seat is enough from three bars, then two supports will need 6 cinder blocks. For four bars you need 8 blocks.

The beam is selected according to its cross-section so that it fits inside the through holes of the cinder blocks. If the lumber is of a larger cross-section, the ends are cut off with a plane or chisel.

To make the bench beautiful, the blocks are painted with façade water-based paint with the addition of different colors. You can use spray paint.

Multi-colored blocks are placed vertically opposite each other. The ends of the timber are placed inside the windows. The shop is ready. To prevent the racks from collapsing, the blocks of each support can be tightened with a belt.

Bench made of timber and boards

In this project, timber was used only for the legs and base of the backrest. The example in the photo of a bench made of timber is shown with dimensions, but you can change them at your discretion. The paired bench posts are mounted on a horizontal timber base. The lower ends of the bars forming the base of the back are also fixed here. The upper ends of the legs are also connected by a block. At the same time, this element at the seat level supports the bars of the base of the backrest, imparting rigidity to the structure.

On the back side of the bench, the opposite posts are connected crosswise by two boards, forming stiffening struts. A 25 mm thick board was used for the back and seat.

Advice! To prevent the back boards from bending under load, they are connected in the center with a transverse bar.

Garden bench made of timber with a table

Garden furniture is in demand at the dacha for family and group recreation. The base of the table and two benches are made from 100 by 100 mm beams, and the seats and tabletop are assembled from boards.

A furniture set can be made whole or from individual items. In the first version, benches with a table are attached to a common base made of thick timber. This design is not always convenient. Firstly, it is heavy, uncomfortable and difficult to carry. Secondly, benches and a table cannot be used separately if the situation requires it.

It is optimal for the set to consist of individual items. For two benches, 4 identical supports with a height of 45-50 cm are assembled from timber. Two similar supports are made for the table, only their height is 70-80 cm. The boards on the seats of the benches can be laid with a gap. The tabletop requires a solid flooring. A good smooth table surface is obtained if fiberboard with a laminated coating is laid on the boards.

Bench for a summer house made of timber around a tree

A special feature of the design is the arrangement of the seats in a circle. The bench around the tree is made in the shape of a triangle, square, hexagon. The more corners, the more legs you will need, because at each turn you need support for laying the seat boards.

The bench is made stationary by deepening the legs into the ground. First, the required number of supports are assembled and installed in a permanent place. The long seat boards are attached first, gradually moving on to the short pieces. The back of such a bench is installed at will, but more often such designs are made without it.

Corner wooden bench made of timber

A corner bench is in demand in the gazebo, on the terrace, and sometimes on the street. For aesthetics and comfort of use, the design is improved by adding a table. It is located on the corner at the junction of two benches.

Building a corner bench is not difficult. First, a frame in the shape of the letter “L” is created from timber. Inside, the frame is divided into squares by jumpers.The elements will add strength to the structure. The next step is to attach the legs from pieces of timber to the frame. The height of the corner square must be increased in order to raise the tabletop. This is done by laying the bars horizontally, but it is better to put up racks from scraps 15-20 cm long and fasten them on top with wooden elements. The resulting frame with a niche allows you to insert a drawer for the table.

The table top is cut out of multi-layer plywood. The seats of the benches are covered with boards. If the furniture will stand under a canopy, chipboard with a laminated coating is used for the tabletop and seat.

Wooden swing bench made of timber

Sometimes you want to not only sit on a bench, but also swing. A swing assembled from timber helps achieve this goal. For the supports you will need four pieces more than 2 m long. Each pair of bars is connected at one point and moved apart to form the letter “L”. A distance of 160 cm is made between the spread ends of the paired posts. In this position, they are fixed with a jumper. The element is installed at a height of about 1 m from the ground. The resulting A-shaped supports are connected by a crossbar.

The bench is made with a back and armrests, but without legs. They don't need swings. Eye bolts are installed in four places. Two fasteners are placed on the corners of the backrest and two on the corners of the seat. Chains are connected to the eyes of the eye bolts.

To hang the finished bench, a fastening unit is installed on the crossbar in the same way. The same eye bolts will do, but hinges with bearings will work better.

A swing, like a bench, can be installed permanently, with its legs buried in the ground, or placed on the surface of the ground. The method is chosen at personal discretion.

Decoration of a wooden bench made of timber

When decorating benches, use all your imagination.For children, a seat with a backrest is designed in the form of colored pencils, painted with patterns and drawings. Moreover, the legs of such a design can be made of metal, and the cladding is made of boards or timber.

Garden furniture painted with stain, drying oil, and varnish looks beautiful. These compounds help preserve the natural texture of wood and protect it from negative natural phenomena.

The technology of aging wood is popular. The surface of the timber is burned with a blowtorch using a gas torch, scratched with a metal brush or lightly passed with a chainsaw chain.

Furniture with carved elements turns out beautiful. The patterns are cut out with a jigsaw on a board, which is then attached to the back of the bench.

Conclusion

A bench made of timber can last up to 20 years. Twice a year, in spring and autumn, it is treated with an antiseptic and painted. Protective measures help maintain the attractive appearance of the structure and extend its service life.

Leave feedback

Garden

Flowers