Barbeque Renos

Did you know that barbeques can be used for renovations?

I'm not talking about just cooking up burgers and hotdogs after the work is done, either. I mean, you really can use your barbeque as a tool to effect renovations for your property. Old-fashioned briquettes or propane units, it doesn't matter.

Here's how. Years ago, a guy I know had a little charcoal hibachi grill that he used all the time to cook up his meals. This guy could grill a burger, a hotdog, steak and even lasagna on the thing. Spring, summer, fall and winter - didn't matter, this guy would happily cook anything.

So one evening he cooked a meal for himself, left the grill out the back door to cool off and continued with his regular routine for the evening. The next morning, he noticed the grill was getting full of ash, so he emptied it out into the garbage can in the alley and went about his day.

Unfortunately, because the grill was so full of ash, the coals from the night before were just banked and not cold.

When he got back home later that day, he noticed that the garbage can platform that was formerly attached to the fence was gone. As was a good six feet of the wooden fence.

And there was burn marks on the ground and the remaining portion of the fence. Not a good sign.

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A hundred dollars of materials later and a day spent rebuilding the fence set things right for both him and his neighbours. Mostly.

Another renovation using barbeques happened when I was a kid. Our across-the-street neighbour (we'll call him Joe) was having a dinner party for the Bridge Club, which was basically all the adults on the street.

He had just purchased one of these new-fangled propane barbeques. No more briquettes for him! He would have instant cooking power and no more blackened fingers from the charcoal.

So everyone had arrived and Joe had proudly shown off his new grill. He was going to rotisserie a nice, juicy six-pound roast of beef for everyone. As the folks were having a pre-dinner drink, Joe went out to get the barbeque lit and start roasting.

About a minute or so later, there was a loud BOOM from the back porch and a thud. Seconds later, Joe walks into the house, without eyebrows, and says, "Well, the grill's lit. Can someone give me a hand with the lid?"

Turns out that Joe opened the propane tank, turned on the burner and went to light the barbeque with a match. He missed the part of the instructions saying to keep the lid of the barbeque open. The first match went out, the second went out as he was putting it into that tiny little hole at the side of the unit and the third was successful.

Unfortunately, there was a considerable amount of propane in the closed grill and as the match touched the hole, it did what propane does and ignited forcefully. The resulting ignition blew the lid of the barbeque off its hinges and up into the soffit and eavestrough by the back door. It also gave Joe an eyebrow removal method that I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

And that six pound beef roast? Well, propane barbeques cook a little faster than the charcoal grills. After a few drinks, for medicinal purposes of course, Joe checked on the roast. That beautiful piece of meat was now about a pound and a half of carbon. Thank goodness for Chinese take-out.

Anyway, there you go. Two different methods to use your barbeque to help along your renovations. Next time, I'll let you know how you can use your washing machine to make concrete for your patio…