So Dad wanted to redo the outdoor bar..

[SunsetBengal]

My father, being fantastic guy that he is, decided to enlist my help with another project in his backyard entertaining area. The aforementioned area has a bit of a history. It started out life as a simple patio addition with a simple pergola with a bar top made out of treated lumber.

The pergola was beautiful, but not much fun to enjoy as the Sun and heat here in the Southeast is brutal. The next year, he had a hip roof built over it, and it made a world of difference. Then, I helped him wire it, and we installed lighting, outlets, and a ceiling fan. The next year, we built a partial wall on the side away from the bar. I covered the inside face of the wall with 4x8 inch travertine tiles with tumbled edges, and we mounted a flat panel to enjoy football games in the Fall.

Fast forward to present day, and Dad decides he wants to redo the bar top. (also using my tile skills) I knew going in, that this was going to be more of a task than he had envisioned. The treated 2x8's that were in place had the screws counter sunk, with wooden "buttons" glued in the holes to make a smooth, flat surface for outdoor dining. Turns out that the screws, all 90 of them, had the heads wallowed out when they were originally installed. Further complicating matters, was the fact that the glue that Dad had so generously applied when installing the buttons, making it impossible to get a regular drill bit head to turn them out.

Dad was ready to scrap the entire idea, and just putting the buttons back, and forgetting about the whole idea. I asked him if he had a set of those special bits for turning out damaged screws? He had no idea that such a thing existed. We went to the local Lowe's Home Improvement and purchased a set. Let me tell you, those bits make it entirely possible, but in this application, it took a lot of muscle power to get the tool to be effective. Extrapolate that over the course of 90 screws...

So we get the old boards off, clean up the base frame, and installed a double layer of plywood for me to put my backerboard and install tile on. We also bought some 1x4's that we will dress up with the router and stain to frame in the finished product. Dad was pretty worn out, and I gave a little more effort than I typically like to on a Sunday, but seeing him smile made it all worthwhile. He's 73 now, and I'm 51, we just don't kill these projects like we used to, when he was my current age. We'll do the pretty work next weekend, and I'll snap a picture of two so that we can revisit this thread and see the finished project.