You'll Shoot Your Eye Out...You'll Burn The House Down

When I think back on the chances I've taken over the years with candles burning in the house, gas grills, and charcoal grills the words that come to mind are not Ralphie's (a Christmas Story) You'll Shoot Your Eye Out but rather You'll Burn The House Down.  I could regale you with horror stories of close calls but today's lesson in what not to do with a charcoal grill, especially a Weber Grill and its a simple one.

I love my Weber Grill as you can see by this old post of how to make a Grilled Turkey, it has been a faithful appliance for more than 20 years but one that also could have cost our family our home.  If you are familiar with Weber Grills you know there is a shallow pan underneath that catches the ash and small bits of charcoal, this is sufficient most of the time but when you are grilling a turkey and adding charcoal for several hours the pan can fill quickly.  One weekend when we grilled a turkey, ate it down to the bone and went to bed with happy grilled turkey thoughts a couple of small pieces of charcoal got between the grates inside the grill and fell into the ash pan, the pan was full so the charcoal rolled onto the porch and overnight burned two large holes in the wood decking.  I'm not talking sissy holes I'm talking close to starting the house on fire holes.

This is the solution I came up with, not a gorgeous decoration for the porch but kinda cute and much safer.

 I had a big box of these blue tiles that were used for house numbers and street names a few years back.  All I had were odds and ends that hadn't sold in the store so don't spend hours trying to figure this out like you would one of those word puzzle books.  I used a piece of cement backer board and mastic to secure the tiles and then just grouted them as you would any tile project.

Under the base I placed spacers so that the tiled board actually sets up off the porch decking about a 1/4 inch.

This is the bucket I now use for ashes and coals, overkill maybe but I'm never again taking any chances.

And so sits my ever faithful Weber Grill safely on top of a fire resistant tiled slab.  Oh and I don't leave it sitting this close to the house (dumb as I am but not stupid) when I actually use the grill but since we only use the Weber a few times a year its tucked neatly and safely away the rest of the time.  I love the grill cover, its one I ordered from Martha Stewart many many years ago.  I've washed it a ton of times and it still looks great.

So my friends go out there and fire up the Weber (or any other charcoal grill) and be safe.

Sherry @ Open House Thursday
Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday