Tiki build-along, pt. 2

I haven't posted much in the way of updates on my tiki build-along of late, but rest assured progress is being made. It's just tough to juggle everything when multiple projects are demanding my attention. My office build-along in particular. But I've been able to piggyback the two on occasion. For instance, remember when I applied polyurethane to all the shelves going into my office book case? I do, and I have the photos to prove it:

I can assure you, that was not a lot of fun. But I was able to include some tiki work while I was at it. The Wife's been picking up little tikiesque items here and there for a while now, and some look cool but are not designed to be exposed to the elements (we've watched several disintegrate in short order). To remedy this, I applied polyurethane to various bamboo and thatch items that we want to display outdoors. This tiki-hut-bird-house-cum-wind-chimes, for instance. It would last maybe 18 months to two years, tops, exposed to our sun and rain.

I like this coconut-bamboo wind chime guy even better. The polyurethane waterproofs it and will help it hold up longer outside. Unfortunately, polyurethane isn't resistant to UV radiation, and we've got that in spades during the summer. So later I went back and coated them with spar urethane, which is softer and less durable overall, but resists UV. Eventually, I hope to get some actual marine grade varnish, which is UV and water resistant in addition to being hard and durable, but it's not terribly common around here, so I make do.

Ah, now here's my favorite acquisition thus far. It's a Craig's List find I got from a person in Austin. I coated it several times to ensure its protection from the elements, because I plan on keeping this rack around a good long while. Isn't it cool? It's got brackets on the back to hang on a wall, and I expect that's what I'll eventually do with it. We have a wine safe in the house, so I won't be keeping wine bottles here--wine doesn't like the extreme temperature swings we get outside, anyway. Instead, I plan for this to become part of my rum library. It'll easily hold 10 or so bottles plus tiki mugs... not a bad start. Tiki cocktail culture is all about maintain a broad assortment of rums, so I've got to work my way up to that.

Now, admittedly, this doesn't show much actual build. I understand that. I have been building, though, and will show some of what I've accomplished in the next installment. It's a slower process than I'd like, but Rome wasn't built in a day, right?

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Tiki build-along, pt. 28

It has been an exceptionally long time since I've posted a build-along. I regret that, but probably not enough to alter that pattern significantly. A Moment of Tiki has taken the place of my build-along posts and that YouTube show is, unfortunately, more time-consuming to produce. That said, I had a small project this past weekend that doesn't warrant a full Moment of Tiki episode but may still be of interest to folks building their own tiki spaces, so I share it here now.

A year or so back, I came across this curious coconut palm tree/monkey lamp at a thrift store for cheap. Naturally, such a thing would fit in well in a tiki bar, so I grabbed it even though it did not have a shade. Note that a weird thing about this lamp is that the monkeys depicted look very much like chimpanzees, they sport tails. So are obviously monkeys. Mutant monkeys. Or mutant apes. Take your pick.

Finding a shade proved more challenging than I'd initially thought. It was more than a year before I came across the one below for $3 at a thrift shop. First, the shade had to be the proper size. I think this one is slightly undersized, but not terribly so. Secondly, I wanted a plain white or off-white fabric on the shade so patterns wouldn't ghost through the new material I applied to it. Thirdly, I wanted the shade to be a straight cylinder to simplify the application of fabric. Check, check and check.

I had some material left over from a different project I realized would work well. I spread the fabric over the dining table then rolled the shade over it to mark where I needed to cut.

I used a pencil to mark the edges of the shade as I rolled it over the length of the fabric, then added an inch to the end of the run as well as an additional inch on either side of the path. As I learned, it's better to leave more fabric than less.

After cutting out the fabric I'd mapped out, I hit the end (that extra 1") with some spray adhesive, then folded over the edge onto itself to make a hem. This will add stability to the fabric later.

Next, I sprayed down the back entire piece of fabric adhesive. I used Gorilla Glue, but any spray adhesive should work. Normally, one would spray both surfaces to be joined for maximum bond but by spraying only one surface give me extra time to reposition the fabric before the glue sets. Turns out, I needed that time.

I positioned the shade on the fabric and rolled it over. Then pulled it off and tried again, as I got it on crooked the first try. And the second. And the third. Forth time it looked good. The hem I'd made earlier was the last to go on, overlapping the raw opposite edge of the fabric. There should be an inch of extra material extending beyond the edges of the shade. Fold these over the sides into the shade and press onto the inner sleeve of the shade. The adhesive should still be tacky and adhere. I cut one side a little short so it wanted to pull up when I folded it over. I had to apply a bit of extra glue to get it to stay.

In most cases this would probably be enough, but seeing that tiki is an over-the-top aesthetic, I wanted to add a little more. I've got a stash of bacbac braiding that would look good on it, so I measured out and cut two lengths to span the circumference of the shade.

Because the bacbac braid has an uneven, textured surface (it's made from weaving together strips of dried banana leaves) I used Goop, a thick, rubbery glue, to attach it to the shade. I held the braid in place with binder clips until the glue set.

And the final result turned out better than I expected. The fabric--which I acquired from Spoonflower--was perfect for this project. I added a LED flicker bulb to the lamp to complete the effect. I'm very happy with it. This is hardly a huge build but the little things add up. Many people don't realize how easy it is to reskin a lamp shade, and the right type of material can make a world of difference in someone's home tiki space. I know this one fits much better into my tiki aesthetic now!

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Tiki build-along, pt. 5

Tikifying my outdoor speakers isn't the only thing I've been up to. Progress on the back bar continues. Once I had the frame put together, it came time to waterproof it. I didn't use more durable, pressure-treated wood, because 1) the chemicals in such wood doesn't always interact nicely with metal, such as that found in nails, screws, fasteners, etc. and 2) the chemicals in such wood doesn't always interact nicely with human bodies (even though copper-based preservatives have largely replaced arsenic-based ones). Considering the fact that this would be a food preparation area, more or less, I wanted to go with something slightly less worry-inducing. In the end I went with Flood CWF-UV, not because it's food-safe (it isn't) but because I had some on hand. Budget-conscious, I am. But it's less threatening than arsenic/copper, so let's go with that.

Up and down, I coated the entire frame. The bar will be sheltered from direct exposure to the elements, but I don't want to have to worry about rot or mold. There's already a water spigot here, and I plan to make it a wet bar, so the potential for constant moisture and spills is not something to dismiss. The fact that the Flood is cedar-tinted made it easy to keep track of my progress--and see if I'd missed any spots.

Once I finished connecting all the legs, I realized that the pebble-concrete floor was not level. I didn't really want the wooden legs to stay in constant contact with the concrete because of the potential for wicking up moisture, but this clinched it. I needed to put leveling feet on the bar legs. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any of the heavy-duty all-metal ones I've seen in the past (just call me Mr. Over-engineering) so had to settle for some plastic anchor ones. You can see where I drilled out the hole to accept the footing anchor.

And here is the adjustable leveling foot inserted. I'm happy to report that the plastic anchor is holding up, and the leveling function is working properly. No unstable bar for me!

With the legs taken care of, it was time to tackle the bar top. If you'll recall from the start of this project, the size of the bar was determined by a 20" x 8' piece of plywood I had leftover. After coating it with the Flood weatherproofer, I positioned it atop the bar frame so that there was a 4" overhang on three sides, resting flush against the backing wall. I then used my drill--which I've had for close to 30 years and gets more use than any other power too I own--to make pilot holes and then fasten the plywood bar top to the frame with 2" outdoor wood screws.

And this is what it looks like. It's starting to be identifiable as a bar, no? I should add that somewhere along the line I attached the cabinet doors with hinges, screws and magnetic closures. They were all coated with Flood as well. I didn't take any photos of that, but I'll trust your imagination to fill in any gaps.

The plywood wasn't high-grade finish. I could have tried to sand it down and build it up to a smooth finish by applying many coats of polyurethane, but I did some of that with the initial tiki bar build last summer, and discovered it's a whole lot of work for minimal returns. That's why I went with laminate flooring for the bar top in that build. Following that route again had the added bonus of matching the back bar top to the tiki bar top, making the two look of a set, like I cleverly planned all this out from the start. Using the glue I had on hand, I spread Titebond III (the really, really strong stuff) along the corners and edges of the plywood surface, and filled in everywhere else with Titebond II (which is merely really strong). It's not my desire for the bar top to separate, you see.

Our entire house is floored in this crummy faux-pine hardwood laminate. Since I'm in the middle of my office build-along and replacing the floor (from whence the tiki bar top came) it was a straighforward matter to cannibalize more flooring from the office. I was able to pull up a section that was almost exactly 9'x4' which was plenty big to cut out a top for my back bar. A quick side note--one of the big reasons we hate this flooring so much (and we generally like laminate) is that it has very little texture and is very, very noisy. Not at all like the laminate we installed in our previous home. I've since discovered that this is actually a thing called "laminate tile" or somesuch, which is much thinner than traditional laminate flooring. It's also unpadded. Those factors combine to give it all the traits we dislike about it. But it makes for a decent bar top. I'll mix a drink on it, but I wouldn't want to walk on it. But it cuts easily enough with a jig saw, so that's what I did.

Then I used clamps and boards and random heavy things I had lying around to secure the laminate to the glue-coated surface of the plywood top. And squeezed it on real tight. The fit was just about perfect. I wiped up any oozing glue and left it secured that way for 24 hours.

And here it is without the clamps and assorted dead weight. The mini-fridge is about 21" deep, so once the trim is in place, everything should fit just about perfectly. It still doesn't look like much, I know, but I'm about to start prettying it up. It's going to look good--trust me on this.

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Tiki build-along, pt. 18

It's hard to believe I haven't posted a tiki build-along since January. That doesn't mean I haven't been working on the Lagoon of Mystery, just that my efforts have been taken up by labor-intensive projects that 1) are taking a long time to reach fruition and 2) are housekeeping/detail/around the margins things that don't necessarily present well in a build-along context. That doesn't mean they're not necessary or important, but they not something that grabs one's attention.

One project that is highly visible and necessary is the dog kennel fence. The section facing the pool is a series of plant trellises tied together. I added wire fencing along the back to make it dog-proof. The idea early on was that trumpet and passion vines would grow over it, making it an attractive, flowering green wall. That didn't really work out. Weedy vines grew up just as aggressively, and the combined weight kept pulling the trellises over one direction. It never looked good. Then when I built a new gate out of bamboo, the die was cast. The existing makeshift fence had to go.

The urgency was accelerated by the woeful state of our deck. It's made out of western red cedar, which is naturally decay-resistant, if taken care of. As near as I can tell, it's never been taken care of. My son cut his foot on a nail that had worked its way loose, so that necessitated my taking the deck apart to fix it. That's not this post--that's another writeup unto itself. The end result being that there was a lot of rotten wood, and after making some changes to the design, the kennel fence would no longer be adjacent to the deck. Without the deck shoring it up, the beagles were finding ways to escape. Fence replacement became a priority.

Recall that I harvested and flame-treated every bamboo culm that went into making the gate. No way was I doing that for an entire fence. So we saved our pennies and ordered two 8' long sections of 6' high bamboo fencing. A 4' high section was too short to ensure one or more beagles wouldn't escape. I wanted 5', but since that size isn't available, I compromised on 6'. I could've trimmed the bottom to make it conform to the size I wanted, but I started thinking about the time that'd take, the potential to screw it up, and other things and came to the conclusion that I could live with a 6' bamboo fence.

Here's the thing: This bamboo is natural. Which means it hasn't been flame treated. Aesthetically, the contrast with the golden-yellow, flamed culms of the gate... wasn't terribly pretty.

I briefly toyed with the idea of removing all the culms from the wire holding the fence together and torching each clum individually to better match the gate, but thankfully, sanity prevailed. Instead, I took my handy torch and scorched the bamboo nodes to heighten the contrast. It's by no means a perfect match to the gate, but the irregular node patterns help the look substantially. And it only took me a couple of hours, give or take. When both fence and gate inevitably fade in the sun, they'll match very closely.

The length of fence being replaced measured almost 16' so this meant I needed a single post in the center. I'd put up several fences around our house, setting the posts in our heavy black clay, and learned my lesson. The clay swells and contracts and does a number on the stability of a fence, so concrete is necessary. I used a post hold digger to dig a hole about 2' deep. I set the pole in and filled halfway with quick set concrete mix. I used a carpenter's level to make sure the post was square and not leaning in any direction.

I stabilized the post in position while the concrete was drying by attaching the two cross beams, one on the top and one on the bottom. Alas, I mis-measured slightly when drilling the screws in and introduced a slight lean to the right. I didn't realized what I'd done until it was too late. It's not obvious, but I know it's there.

Initially, I'd intended to sink another steel post at the end, but while examining the ground before pulling out the post hole digger (there's an old, dead stump cut off at ground level that would be a pain to hack through) I realized I could just attach the cross beams to the existing wooden privacy fence post with brackets and screws. So that's exactly what I did. I may miss the obvious much of the time, but eventually I stumble upon the simple solution. Note the plastic line tied to the post. This linked the post on this end with the gate post at the other, allowing me to ensure the fence went up in a straight line, as opposed to weaving back and forth. It's not good to eyeball something like this, because parallax can wreak havoc.

And this is what it looked like from the beagles' point of view. Note that at this point, none of the existing fence had come down.

Removing the old fence, composed of linked trellises, wire fencing and three years' worth of vine growth proved much more difficult and time-consuming than I anticipated. No, more difficult than that. And much more time consuming. Actually, it took me two days to do it, working in sections. I mention tedious work often. This was very, very tedious.

Another concern I had was the bamboo. Because it's a natural woodlike structure, it would be susceptible to rot. I didn't want it in contact with the ground, where moisture or termites (or other things) could accelerate the decay. So I laid down paver stones to elevate the bamboo from the ground. The pavers also offer a modest discouragement to the dogs' digging under the fence.

There's a 4" drain pipe that runs from the patio and beneath the deck to deal with. Right after it emerged from the deck, there was a 22-degree elbow changing direction of the pipe. Well, because of future plans I have, that bend at that point was problematic. I needed to relocate that turn now, while it was easier to do so. Ha. Turns out a 4" PVC drain pipe is not the same 4" as a regular PVC water pipe. Why? Dunno. But I bought a 4" PVC slip joint, then a 3" PVC slip joint (both were the wrong size) before figuring out what the problem was and securing the proper part. I extended the drain straight to the fence, then added the elbow joint. All is well once again. PVC notoriously degrades when exposed to UV light, so rest assured this pipe will be covered sooner rather than later.

And then I installed the bamboo fencing. I ended up screwing it to the cross beams using deck screws, just as I had with the gate. Unlike the gate, where I attached every culm, top and bottom, for the fence I only attached every fifth culm. Once the fence was up, I tied the remaining trumpet and passion vines to the bamboo. In a few weeks they'll have recovered and will likely be flowering once more, growing to cover much of the fence. This time I think we have a winner.

I still haven't gone through and capped the tops of the fence's bamboo culms with wood putty and spar urethane to extend the fence's lifespan, but that's coming. Just in case you wondered.

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Tiki build-along, pt. 10

With the weather cooling off recently--spurred, in part, by a nasty case of Hurricane Harvey--I renewed work on the home tiki bar. Some of this happened before the hurricane struck, but fortunately I was able to batten down the hatches and despite 15 inches of rain over 25 hours and continuous high winds, we suffered no more damage than the big back gate being blown off its hinges. I'll count that as a win. Especially considering so many people in Port Aransas, Rockport, Houston and everywhere in between who lost so much.

Bamboo Ben is fond of saying "No white walls!" when critiquing tiki bars, and while my walls were technically a kind of off-gray, I don't think he'd give me a pass. So I had to do something with that siding if I was ever going to achieve tiki nirvana. What's more, the round porthole window looked pretty nifty when we moved in, but much like the existing ceiling fans, once I started making upgrades, it just looked worse and worse. It would have to go, and go soon if I was going to fix the wall. So one night, on total impulse, I grabbed my trusty crowbar and ripped all of it off the wall.

With that out of the way, I realized that the existing trim had to be dealt with before I put anything up on the wall. The siding and trim is all fiber cement, which is difficult to cut, drill or nail into. On the bright side, it's durable and fireproof. The most expedient way of dealing with the edging pieces was to paint them, so that's the course I charted. I broke out an old roll of painter's tape and masked off the areas I didn't want painted. Yes, it's all to be covered, but why do things half-assed?

The paint color I chose was Olympic "Chocolate Truffle" or some such wacky name. I took a section of my routered baseboard in with me and selected a brown that was the closest match. The dark brown gives the illusion that the fiber cement is real wood, and also ties it in with the baseboards and future trim pieces. It's a unifying color scheme.

And guess what? It looked pretty darn good once I was finished. Better than I expected, honestly. White/gray/beige are inoffensive colors, yes, but goodness, there is no life or personality in them. My patio area looks much nicer, tikiness aside. The downside is that now I have to paint all the 64' of patio space's trim this particular brown. It's not really difficult, but it is time-consuming.

Next up, the wall coverings. Most tiki bars opt for lauhala matting on the walls, but most tiki bars are inside. The classic is the Midwestern basement-turned-tiki. Mine's outside, though. Even though it's a covered patio, I didn't think the lauhala matting would be durable or easily cleaned. I have issues with spiders, mud daubers and the like. Instead, after asking for advice over at Tiki Central, I decided woven bamboo matting would best suit my needs. I ordered several sheets, which arrived rolled up in a tube. I immediately ran into problems. I tried to coat it with some leftover Flood UV weatherproofer I had on hand, cedar color. Well, as I mentioned in my previous build-along post, bamboo has natural resins in it, and as such, does not cooperate with penetrative stains and sealants. The colored Flood blotched up on it and looked terrible. I ended up getting a clear coat UV/waterproofer and recoated the sheets of woven bamboo. It's not a spar urethane varnish, but at least they have some degree of protection. Once all that was taken care of and thoroughly dried, I took measurements and made cuts. One very nice thing about these sheets of woven bamboo is that they are fairly thin and easily cut with a pair of tin snips.

The first section went up quite nicely. Because of the problematic nature of the porthole, I started from there and worked outward. Fitting two half cuts being easier than making one round cut fit, you know. Because the siding is not flat, but overlapping, and also hard fiber cement, I attached cut furring strips in advance (see two images up) so I'd have something to easily attach the bamboo weave to. Once again, I used the heavy-duty stapler with the intent of going back eventually and touching up the staples with tan paint.

I didn't just measure and cut and put it up. I've learned better. Measurements have a habit of lying. I measured, then stapled up the intact sheet, comparing the measurements to the actual sheet-in-context. This also helped me get a feel for the direction the build was going. Plus, I think it looks interesting.

And here it is, with the bamboo matting in place. Looks pretty good, although I'm still a long way from completion!

The cuts to the matting aren't perfect. And even if they were, well, the edges don't look great. So we need to add trim. What kind of trim? Tiki trim, in the form of split bamboo culms! Here's the thing about bamboo culms that I don't think I mentioned in my last installment--the first season of growth, they reach their maximum heigh (more or less). The ensuing years, they develop thicker walls. Which means that although you want mature culms, it's hard to tell the difference between young and old. I got some young ones mixed in with my mature culms. The younger, thinner bamboo splits easily and isn't nearly as strong. I cursed a lot, having to start over several times on some trim pieces. The traditional way to split bamboo is to work down the middle of the culm with an edged blade, such as a machete or the like, but since I'm working with smaller-diameter bamboo, I found I could run it through my band saw just as quickly and control the cut better. So that's what I did.

After cutting a trim piece the proper size, I used my drill to make a pilot hole through the bamboo and fiber cement siding behind. The siding is tough, and there's no way I could force a screw into that without a pilot hole. Not without a lot of effort.

Next, because the screw heads are relatively large, I used a larger bit to cut a countersink hole in the bamboo. This is where I ran into the most trouble. Because some of the trim pieces I was using were thin, they regularly split apart when I tried to make a countersink hole. Thicker pieces were most cooperative. Live and learn.

And then I attached it to the wall with a wood screw, or in this particular instance, a coarse-thread drywall screw (because that's what I had available). I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to cover those screw heads. They're not terribly noticeable, but they're not nearly as obscure as the staples. I've spent this much time and effort on this build-along already, I might as well not stoop to cutting corners now, right?

The bamboo wall panels made a huge difference. It's starting to feel like a real tiki bar now. I like spending time out there, mixing up drinks, using various tiki mugs... but I've come to realize I don't have any good storage space for my tiki mugs or other stemware. This is a serious concern, and one I'll address in the next installment!

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