As we were driving home from church on Sunday, I noticed someone had put a grill out to the curb for trash day. I asked Tami to stop and I got out to inspect the potential reclamation project. The first thing I noticed was that it was a Weber. Webers are Cadillacs in the grill world. The second thing I noticed was rust... lots and lots of rust. It was mostly the innards that were rusty. The exterior was in rough, but workable shape. I made up my mind quickly. This was going to be Jessi and Barry's new grill. It would take some elbow grease, but with some TLC this grill could definitely be functional.
As you can see in the first photo below, this grill was stored outside and it was not covered. There was algae on the plastic parts. The cabinet doors had fallen off because the lower cabinet had completely rusted out and no longer formed a frame that could support the doors. You can see see the grease covered doors laying in the cabinet. Under those doors, the floor of the cabinet had completely rusted out.
The restoration began with EVERYTHING getting a good scrubbing with Dawn Detergent. That stuff cuts grease like nobody's business! I repaired the cabinet frame and put the doors back in place. I cut a piece of plywood and made a new floor for the cabinet. Tami painted it black to match. Tami also painted the plastic parts silver to match the black and chrome already on the grill. The cooking grates and burners are in decent shape, but they will be the first things that get replaced. Jessi and Barry can do that sometime in the future. For now, the grill looks terrific and it will cook food just fine.
The other photos show the finished project. Not bad for an amateur!
By the way... we were at Home Depot yesterday and decided to look at the Weber grills just for kicks. A grill very similar to the one I restored sells for $400 brand new.
BEFORE
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