Dining Room Table Help

[Steven Beam]

Creekers,

MLOML and myself are in the design phase of building a new home here in shivering OH. My problem is she wants a huge dining room 13 x 30 as she likes to have the whole fam sit down at holidays gatherings. I am in desperate need of plans for a large table either fixed or with leaves. I have a good craftsman a few miles away, but i am not willing to split with the $$$$$. The lumber alone will be bad enough. i would appreciate your comments and help. The deminsions will be roughly 22' x 48 or 54 inches

Thanks

[alex grams]

22'.. wow...

at 48" that is 88 bf of lumber for the top, assuming you get roughcut and plane it down and square it up, that is a lot of sawdust you plan on making.

I would have to say you make individual tables with wings that attach together solidly, just for the shear fact of the logistics of finishing and moving the thing. Maybe four 6' tables with hinged wings. Then you raise the wings, and make long (5-6') boards that will run between each table for the wings to rest on that would automatically level them up.Along the boards you could put anchor screws in that would level up the tables. This would be more labor to break down (but realistically how often do you anticipate having to break it down or move it).

If you wanted to put a table skirt on it you would have to make the wings drop in and couldn't hinge them.

Sounds fun, challenging, and expensive.

[Joe Mioux]

Do you have any idea how heavy that sucker is going to be?

How about 2 1/2 sheets of 3/4 inch 4x8 plywood set on two banquet tables?

Seriously, check out NYW. Norm Abram did a long table, I believe in the Federal style, a few years ago. That might help. It is project number 0411. That table was 48 inches by 108"

Joe

btw: How many chairs do you plan on making???

[keith ouellette]

Why don't you change the plan a little and make a number of smaller tables and have more of a restaurant set up. One thing you might consider.

The cost of the table is nothing compared to the cost of a 13x 30 dining room. I would make the room a little wider in the plans. 13 x 30 might look like a giant hall way.

[Mike Duffy]

Get some sawhorse brackets and 2 x 4's and make sawhorses for the base.
Butt 3 sheets of plywood together end to end and nail them to the top of the sawhorses.
Cover with a plastic tarp for easy cleanup and, voila, a cheap dining table.
Bon apetit.

[Ralph Barhorst]

I agree with the others. Look at using smaller tables. Consider using four pedestal tables that can be connected together. I have seen a conference room table that was built like this and it worked great. The pedestals will not interfere with peoples legs and will allow maximum seating. The stability is great when they are connected together.

[Steven Beam]

I already suggested the plywood screwed down to banquet tables. The idea got shot down pretty quickly. Keith i do tend to agree with you about the size of the room. 13' is probably narrow it might easily be changed to 15' wide. We'll see its early in the process.

[Sam Yerardi]

Hi Steve,

I'm shivering here in Ohio (McDermott) along with you! Anyway, what I would suggest is to make the table in two sections that pull apart leaving room for X-number of inserts. Internal sliding rails could be tripled up to accomodate the length. If you use that approach, there are several benefits. One is the weight - a 22' table will be incredibly heavy to handle as a complete table. ANother is you can do the top in sections rather than trying to surface the whole thing at once. I work a lot by hand and this weekend I hand planed a 3' x 4.5' cherry panel. For a table the size you're considering, I go back to the old adage - you eat an elephant one bite at a time.

Since you probably live near Amish communities, take a look at how they do this. I've got an oak kitchen table that we bought from them that extends out to almost 17'. It IS a monster to move when all the leafs are installed.

[Sam Yerardi]

One other thing I would do also is to add swing-out leg sections on each end. That way you would provide support under all but the center span of the table, but the center span could be a considerable length unsupported directly underneath.

[Jim Marshall]

One thing to consider with a table that long is getting it into the room, been there, done that.

[Thom Sturgill]

Don't know where you could get plans, but I once saw a table on one of those TV shows about pricing antiques... anyway it was a normal sized table until you opened it up. It had a dozen or so legs that 'scissored' together and spread apart as needed and a stack of 18" or 24" leaves. I think the leaves each rested on a pair of legs. Fully expanded it was about as long as you suggest.

As someone who often seats 25 (and have seated as many as 60) for thanksgiving, I understand the need.

[Josiah Bartlett]

Never mind the table, what are you going to do for all those chairs?

Oh, and with a room that narrow and long, you are going to want a high ceiling or it will feel like a tunnel. I suggest at least 9', maybe 10.

I have a 25'x16' master bedroom in my house with a 7-1/2' ceiling and it feels like a cave. I can't raise it, however, because it is in an attic with dormers.

[Steven Beam]

The Walls will be 10' with either a tray or coffered ceiling. I guess i'll be building chairs for the rest of my life LOL

[David Carpenter]

Did you consider building three 6' drop leaf trestle tables? That way you could size the table(s) to the number of diners. And when not in use, at least two of the tables could be placed against a wall and used as a sideboard. When you needed more than one table, you could connect the tables with hardware such as this: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=777
placed on the undersides of each end on each table, using multiple sets per end to get a solid connection.

[Steven Beam]

Thanks david i will explore that idea with the loml.