Day 1 -
I'm ready to get started on the base frame. Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating. It's raining, lightly, but still raining. Thinking positively, I head to home depot (with my 10% off coupon) to load up on track, studs, and tools.
By 1400, the sun is out and I'm ready to work on the base frame. I realize I have no idea what I'm doing and the folks at my local Home Depot have taken to running when they see me coming.

I decide I better get some plans. Okay, no problem I find a set of plans on the internet and download them. That was just the ticket. The plans detailed construction techniques and described how to progress through the construction!

So , I build the base:

Time in project: 2 hours (not counting Home Depot time)

Day 2 - Okay, I'm feeling pretty good about the construction but realize (after reading a bit more) that I messed up the construction of the base frame. The two tracks on the grill side of the island (not by the house or the side yard) should have extended to the corresponding back tracks. Fine, I re-cut and re-assemble the frame. I then proceed to build the end wall back top rails and end wall:

It's the end of the second day. I've got about 6 hours into the construction of my island and I'm very pleased with my progress.

Time in project: 6 hours.

Day 3 -
I'm ready to build the BBQ frame. I do the math (3 times) and have my wife check it. The frame needs to be 26" deep and 51" long. This accounts for the 42 ¾" grill, ½" backer board all around, and the width of the 3 5/8" studs. Great. I complete construction of the BBQ frame. Still feeling pretty good, I go to put it in place and guess what? It's too big. What the heck is going on here? Okay, so I neglected to take into account the width of the studs when planning the overall length of the BBQ island. Now what?

Day 5
I decided to take a day of vacation to work on the island. I had hoped to complete framing the island today. The drawer set and access doors are due to be delivered and I've got enough metal studs and track to complete the project!
I'm up early and head to the gym. Back around 1000 to start construction! First off I call the trucking company to see when the doors and drawers will be here. To my supprise, the trucking company tells me I need an appointment for delivery. They were more than happy to setup the appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Great. Well, I've still got a couple things to do on the island and then several things around the house... so I thought.

First things first. I cut the track for the back piece that I screwed up the other day. While I'm cutting, I use the chop saw to cut 9 36" studs to place along the back and sides for support. A friend at work loaned me a chop saw that I outfitted with a metal cutting blade. It really makes short work of the studs and track.

So, I get the track down, studs in place and top track positioned and screwed on. Now it's time to build the back of the BBQ frame. Since I already built that piece, I center it and put it in place. I cut 10 more 36" studs and position them. Here's the first problem of the day (it's about 1400). The BBQ frame seems to be almost a quarter inch shorter than the back rail! What the heck is going on? I measure each stud and they are spot on 36". Turns out, I got going a bit too fast on those back studs. Two of the studs were not completely flush with the bottom track. Those two studs were elevated by almost a quarter inch. Remove eight screws and fix the problem.

Here's the scarry part. I get my framing square out and check each corner to make sure the BBQ frame is square.

Day 6,
Doors and Drawer set have arrived.
Day 7
I'm looking to finish the framing for the grill and doors today. Since I screwed up a couple of track sections, I'll need to cut and replace them.
I measured and cut the studs for the frame and created a header above the opening. The doors require a 36" cutout so the sides are adjusted for a snug fit.

Next, I build the support for the back of the grill. This is simply a brace that extends up from the floor so the back of the grill can rest on it. The height of the support must match the front support. I also need to take into account the overall height of the grill. The top of the island will be finished with ¼" backer board and slate tile on top of that. It's important to include the height of the thin set that will be used to set the tile in! That's ¼" also. So, my grill needs to come up almost a full inch. I'll accomplish that by using two sheets of ½" (really 3/8") backer board for the grill to set on. This will also allow me to level the grill.

Day 7, Sunday, August 21, 2005
I'm not feeling the best today but I'd really like to finish the grill brace and get part of the framing done for the drawer set. I didn't have too much work left on the grill brace and it was finished up quickly. Time for a test fit of the grill!

The grill is a 43" TEC inferred grill. The fit is good. It looks like I'm out of square by maybe 1/8" from front to back and the grill needs to come up in the back left corner by the same amount. (nothing a little shim can't handle!)

Next I start to work on the framing for the drawer set. I really don't know how to do this, so, I think I'll frame out a "window" like header and build another support in the back of the drawer set. It really shouldn't be much different than the grill except it is fully enclosed. The drawer set will slide in and be fastened using one or two screws.

I managed to get the studs cut but I'm really not feeling well so I'm done for the day.

Time in project: 21 hours.

Day 8,
My goal today is/was to finish up the framing. I need to finishing framing the enclosure for the drawer system. I seem to have cut the bottom studs just about a quarter inch too long. I trim those and secure them to the C track with screws.
A long-time friend (from high school) came out from Nebraska for a visit and he just arrived. Of course, I put him to work! So, after helping Dave unload his bike (Goldwing), we finish framing out the drawer set. I get the front framing done and now need to figure out what the drawer system will rest on. Dave suggests we simply run two rails from the base of the frame to the rear C track. Sounds good to me so we get started.

Time in project: 24 hours.

Day 10,
I install my two water tight boxes on the ends of the islands. The first outlet must be a GFI breaker. The others feed off that. Of course when I made my first trip to Lowes this morning, I had only planned on one outlet on the island. My wife wanted another outlet on the other end so, back to Lowes to get another box and stuff.

While I was gone, Dave completed wiring the island. So, I've got electrical coming in to one end of the island in to a GFI outlet, then heads over to a J box where my built-in light will be connected. From the J Box, it feeds my second outlet on the far end of the island by the grill.

Now we can start on the backer board!

I did neglect to mention before we started on the electrical, we rotated the island on it's side and installed backer board on the bottom. We figured we'd better do that now while we could still lift the island!

We're using quarter inch backer board on all sides except the grill enclosure where we're using half inch. We install backer board on the top counter. Then we start on the sides. This stuff goes up real easy. Of course, it doesn't hurt that we have 3 people working on it!

Before putting the backer board on the back side of the island, we ensure the gas line (from Lowes) was not leaking. After that, it's back to the backer board.

Okay, so it gets a bit more difficult to compute the time in project. Without trigering a debate on the mythical man month, I'm using a factor of 2.5 to compute the time in project when all three were working.

Time in project: 38.5

Day 11, Sunday, August 28, 2005
I would love to get all the backer board on today. My friend, Dave, went for a ride in the mountains so it's just Brad and myself. Of course it's not really a work day without a trip to Lowes again. This time to get some corner bead and a few more sheets of backer board.
Okay, Brad and I get the front sheet put up and finish up the back. This work is going a bit slower because of all the cut outs for the grill, access doors, and drawers.

Here's a lesson learned: Although it may sound like a good idea to use a saws all to do the cutouts, it's not. Get one of those drywall saws and use it. I sawed into the steel studs a couple times with the saws all.

Dave's back and working on the ends of the island with Brad. I'm working on the small arched access door on the back side. I decided to score the back of a strip of backer board and install it on the inside of the arch. This way I'll be able to attach rock when I get to that point.

It's a slow process, but I finally get it done. In the meantime, Brad and Dave get the two ends finished including the cutouts for the electrical boxes. You know, I think we're done!

You know what comes next, put the grill in, insert the drawer system, and put the access doors on.

We had a little problem with the fit of the grill. Seems I'm out of square by about 3/8". Not much I can do about it now. We get the grill leveled, gas hose attached (we used a quick disconnect fitting on the grill). And everything is ready to go.

I start cleaning up the mess while Dave and Brad make sure we didn't miss anything. The grill is the only concern. Since it had to be shimmed to be level, I'll have to do some "magic" with the stone.

Well, the framing and backer board are done. We've got everything installed and the only thing left is to put the rock on and the tile counter top.

Rough construction complete. There's no way I could have done all this myself in 2 days. I'd like to thank Brad and Dave for their help.

Time in project: 53.5 hours.

Day 12, Friday, September 2, 2005.
I haven't worked on the island for four days. I ordered the stone on Tuesday from Legacy Stone. Legacy is a local company (http://www.legacystone.com) . Stone is ordered by the square foot. I calculated my total square footage by measuring the surface and subtracting out the square footage for any cutouts.

This gives me the total square footage for the island. Since I'm using manufactured stone, I will take advantage of the pre-made corner pieces. These corner pieces are sold by the linear foot. Of course this reduces the amount stone I'll need to cover the rest of the island.

So, turns out, just subtract the total linear footage from the square foot calculation. If you think about it, the linear footage IS the square footage of the corner pieces.

Total cost of the stone is $500 and change including delivery. The stone was delivered yesterday and of course, there's a problem.

I ordered 50 square feet of ledge stone plus 20 linear feet of corner pieces. Seems they forgot to include about half of my corner pieces. So, I'm on the phone trying to resolve this problem.

Since the gal I dealt with was out today, I get to talk with someone else. They are quite nice about it and are willing to re-deliver the pieces… next Tuesday.

Well, that won't wash so I'm off to Arvada (45 minutes North).

I finally make it up there and get my stone. It's about 1500 Friday afternoon, and I'm just now starting to work.

So, on tap for this afternoon, I need to apply my 30# felt paper and the metal lath. Okay, so here's my advice to anyone working with metal lath: WEAR GLOVES!!!!!

I don't know what is on top of prison fences, but I'm sure what ever it is, it's no where near as sharp as this metal lath stuff. It's like little razor blades.

First I put the tar paper up and tack it in place with very small nails. I place the metal lath over the tar paper about ½" from the edges. The lath is held in place using screws ( I used Backer On ™ screws) on 4 inch centers. Yes you will use lots of screws. I guess the alternative is to have your lath come free and your rock will then be free to flap and finally fall off! Your choice.

Once I get the lath up, I go back and find all areas that are not 100% securely held against the paper. I then add one or more screws to keep that area secure. Over engineered? Maybe.

I've completed about half the island. I'll finish it up tomorrow morning. Pictures tomorrow!

Day 13,
0730, I'm up early today to finish the lath. I need to make cutouts for the drawer system, grill and access doors. After I make those cuts, the lath goes right up.