The Concrete Bench

A couple of years ago I bought a "park bench" that seemed rather sturdy. Imagine my chagrin when it started to get wobbly and wear out after only a couple of years. I thought I could either throw it out or make it last forever. Since a park bench is not that easy to throw out I decided to concrete it. What I did is get the metal lath sheets that they sell at Lowes for about $7 a sheet and form the sheets around the bench holding them in place with wire. I added some extra re-bar in the legs area and along the seat (top and bottom). Then I troweled on mortar mix, repositioning the bench so I was always just covering a horizontal surface. The last step was the seat and the tops of the arms. Some decorative yard sale glass was pressed into the wet mortar for decorative effect. One thing to remember about concrete is that the less water you use to make it the stronger it is. Drying out slowly also improves the strength. So it is now finished. This is a good companion piece to the concrete chair (over wicker) that I did a while back. Come have a seat!