All About Canopy BBQ Areas

The barbecue area is the place in the country that they try to equip as quickly as possible. Understandably, cooking outdoors and then having meals outside is a great pleasure. The organization of this place involves a canopy that will protect from the scorching sun and precipitation. And all this can be done by hand.

Structurally, the canopy can be different - from small, formal to high, standing on supports. The latter option will cover not only the barbecue, but the rest area in general next to the barbecue. Usually, a barbecue shed is located separately, but where the place is actively blown by winds, it is often attached to a house or other buildings on the territory. But for safety reasons, such a combination is prohibited: fire-prevention measures are violated.

There is a solution: one / several walls can be built near the barbecue area - they will resist the wind. The place with the help of wall protection will become more comfortable. The height of the roof of such a building must be made at least 2 m, the material for the support must be selected necessarily fire-resistant. Wooden support pillars are coated with a special compound and mounted away from the source of fire.

The barbecue area in the country is usually localized on the leeward side, otherwise the smoke from the stove will be felt in the house. There should be a decent distance in the yard between the children's playground and the summer kitchen. But the barbecue area is not built too far from the private house, because it is also not very convenient to run to it with food across the street.

Variants of places for organizing a barbecue area.

• Patio. Usually this place is not far from the house, but still the smoke from the stove does not penetrate into the dwelling. There is enough space in the courtyard to lay out the site with tiles or bricks. This place is invisible to the eyes of outsiders.

• Terrace. Since one wall is already ready here, the arrangement of the cooking zone will be cheaper. The canopy is also unlikely to have to be built. If anyone has any questions, a terrace is a platform either horizontal or slightly inclined, made of a log or a bar, bounded by a ledge.

• The area in front of the house. It is impossible to retire here, as the territory is visible. But on the other hand, close to the house (it is convenient to run for groceries), you can build a beautiful shed, there will be something to brag about to your neighbors. But if the house is fenced off, there is no problem at all.

Barbecue areas can be open or closed, spacious and modest. The main place is called the site, and everything that is located on it is the equipped barbecue area.

There may be at the same time:

• brazier - a hearth for cooking, usually made in the form of a box on legs, inside of which coals are smoldering;
• a cauldron - a metal cauldron with a sloping bottom, in which it is very convenient to cook many dishes, and the most famous, of course, is pilaf;
• grill - in the original, this is a roasting cabinet in which large pieces of meat are cooked on a wire rack or skewers; a garden grill can be stationary and portable;
• barbecue is a special oven, the function of which is to cook meat on the heat of embers.

If you decide to make the cooking area open, it will never be hot there. The smoke is carried away by the wind, and the canopy protects from the scorching rays. This area can be beautifully decorated with the right finishing, competent lighting, well-chosen laconic furniture. True, this option is intended only for the warm season.

An interesting solution was the patio borrowed from the design of the plots of western houses. This is the name of the courtyard, paved with tiles, in which there is a barbecue stove, benches, a small pool, and even flower beds. That is, this is a whole territory for recreation, which will become a favorite place for all household members. But such a project requires serious investments.

A variant closer to a post-Soviet person, a summer kitchen. One name speaks about the purpose of this zone. On hot summer days, cooking in the house is a torment. It's another matter on the street, and there is no feeling of space constriction, stuffiness, and the appetite in the fresh air is completely different.

The summer kitchen is constructively a platform with a roof fixed on pillars. In fact, this is the shed to the barbecue area. In winter, the stove is closed, furniture and equipment are taken into the house. If the canopy is located only above the stove, and the rest of the area (dining room) is open, then the project turns out to be budgetary.

The easiest material to process and install is wood. For the roof, you can choose an inexpensive and durable polycarbonate. Sheds from it are erected quickly and easily. The canopy is installed either on wooden legs treated from decay and burning, or on metal supports. You can also make pillars of bricks: the process is longer, but the structure will also gain greater strength.

Supports made of metal (aluminum, for example) will meet all fire safety requirements. In this they beat the bar. And if it seems that the metal legs are not aesthetically pleasing enough, they may just need to be painted.

They usually decide to build a gazebo away from the main dwelling. It is a structure with four walls, a roof and a foundation.

The design will be stationary, so even a small gazebo should be organic to the main house. Hence, it is necessary to preserve the stylistic similarity of the buildings.

• A classic BBQ gazebo is simple yet sophisticated with clean lines. For the construction of such a building, brick, concrete, ceramics, and natural stone are used.
• A country-style gazebo is a cozy structure, often rectangular, based on the use of wood.
• An oriental-style gazebo is often made in the form of a Japanese pagoda or a Chinese canopy. Bright colors dominate here.
• Well, one of the most trendy style directions is ethno. Only natural colors and materials are used in the design. The style is characterized by conciseness, even some brutality.It is close to nature and simple.

There are a lot of options: from Provencal style with hanging flowerpots and decorative wooden boxes for flowers to cheerful and cheerful boho, dazzling with its colors and dynamism.

Foundation construction is a mandatory step. Without it, the design is likely to sag shortly. To fill the foundation, you need to remove the top soil layer, leave the soil dense, remove the roots from the ground. Further, the markings are transferred to the ground. At the corners of the gazebo, pegs are hammered into the ground, wrapped around the perimeter with a rope. A trench has to be dug according to the markings.

The walls of the trench should be vertical and the bottom level. First, sand is poured to the bottom, then crushed stone. After tamping these layers, you can take on the formwork, it is made from wooden planks knocked down together. Then concrete is mixed and poured into the trench. After this stage is ready, the floor is mounted according to the drawings. Usually these are crossbars with wooden joists, all boards are treated with an antiseptic.

The walls can, for example, extend only to the middle of the gazebo. Then along the perimeter at a predetermined level, the railing beams are fixed. They are attached to the uprights in the thorn-and-groove method, and are secured with bolts, screws or brackets. And the space between the timber and the roof is laid with a thin lattice.

But that's just one option. Also, the walls can be made of the same polycarbonate, blockhouse or wooden lining. You can also make a so-called living wall of climbing plants.

There can be shed, gable, hipped, hipped, domed, concave, pyramidal. Any roof consists of a load-bearing system and a roof slab. The rafter system is subjected to the main load. The lathing allows the load to be evenly distributed over the pillars of the gazebo.

The gazebo can be impregnated with compounds that will make it more resistant to the influence of the external environment. They (or additional processing) will transform the structure for the better. This refers to paints and varnishes, stain, toners.

How exactly a barbecue area with a canopy might look like can be examined in detail in the following selection of examples.

Inspirational projects.

• Cozy, small and at the same time simple option for decorating a barbecue area. Everything you need fits here. The site is at the same time buried in greenery (visually it seems that way), and harmoniously zoned, and well protected by an unusual canopy.

• A large area where everything will fit for cooking and subsequent meals. The site turned out to be light, because the main material of the canopy was translucent polycarbonate.

• A very nice recreation area, which will fit a small barbecue stove, and everyone who wants to sit and chat - too. The canopy is large enough to shelter from bad weather.

• And here is the gazebo with a gable roof and lattice walls. There is a stove here and very close to the dining area, which is quite comfortable.

• A very interesting solution - although not budgetary, but worth considering. The barbecue cooking area contains something like a bar table, but the main dining room is behind the wall.

• The construction of stone and wood always looks convincing and natural. There are two areas adjacent to the stove: relaxation and dining.Many people can be here at the same time.

• A modern barbecue area in a beautiful area - the continuation of the table for cooking in the bar counter is interestingly decorated. It will be especially cozy here in the evening.

• A fairly large closed summer kitchen under a huge canopy. From here you can only leave for the night, sleep in the house. And even a media room with a TV and a sofa fit into such a well-thought-out area.

• Compact but solid solution. Everything looks very miniature, but it has everything you need. The canopy is small, the dining area is completely exposed to the open air.

• On one site there is a stove and a hearth. Only the stove is protected from rain, but the hearth is not. But this solution is quite interesting.

For information on how to make a canopy over a barbecue with your own hands, see the next video.