Project book · an hour

Build a backyard balance beam

An 8 ft cedar beam a few inches off the grass. An hour to build, all summer to use.

How many beams?

beams

This fits in a car

About 36 lb of materials. Comfortably inside what a car carries (200 lb), so any shopper can take it. ⚠️ 1 item on the list has no weight on file, so the real load is a little heavier than this.

Before you start

Sand the top and edges until there is nothing to splinter a bare foot. Use cedar, not pressure-treated wood, where hands and feet go. Keep it low, with feet wide enough that it cannot roll or tip, and put it on grass or mulch rather than a hard surface.

What to buy — untick anything you have

Lumber

Hardware

Supplies

Tools — already ticked off, since most people have them

Tools

It lands in the shopping form, where you can edit anything and say what you think each thing costs. Nothing is ordered until you send it.

How it goes · about an hour · beginner

  1. Cut the 2×6 into three 18 in feet.
  2. Sand the 4×4 hard on every face and round all four long edges. This is the surface bare feet stand on.
  3. Screw the feet across the bottom of the beam, one at each end and one in the middle, from underneath so no screw heads show on top.
  4. Set it on flat grass or mulch, not concrete, and check it does not rock.

Something else

Build a raised garden bedMulch a flower bedPaint a roomPut up garage shelvingFix a patchy lawnBuild a fire pitMount a TV on the wallCookout for a crowd

Feeding people instead? The recipe book works the same way — pick a meal, say how many, every ingredient lands on the list.

Build a backyard balance beam — everything for it, in one tap · DriverRuns