Post #743450 by Kahiki Guy on Fri, May 22, 2015 7:53 AM

two pieces of advice for all outdoor tiki bars...

1. weatherproof everything
2. weatherproof it again!

As I built my bar, I used Olympic Water guard on all the wood, from the frame up

and then, for the bar top, about 15 coats of Helmsman Spar Urethane, which is designed for outdoors and is UV resistant.

And I reapply about 2 coats to the top of the bar every year. I'm fortunate in that I have a roof over my back patio, so there is limited exposure to the elements, but the side bar gets rained on all year, as well as exposure to Maryland's snow and ice all winter, and has help up pretty well for the past 2 years.
(from the side)

(from the front...sorta)

Now, for the part that I would have done differently...

I trimmed my bar top in bamboo slats and raised them slightly above the top of the bar (1/16" at most), and filled in with lots of coats of the urethane, so that I have a "spill resistant" edge. Pretty smart I thought, until the rain, melted snow, etc started building up at the end of my bar and sitting there, which has now clouded the end of the side bar. It's still got the urethane finish on it, but there's an obvious difference in the look of the side bar, which is exposed to the elements, and the front bar, which is not. I'm going to try to sand down the urethane on that end and recoat over the course of this summer, but I fear that this is one of those things that I'll just have to write off to a learning curve.