Putting Lipstick On A Pig - aka The FREE BBQ!

I had found a free charcoal grill on Craigslist on Easter Sunday.  The girls and I jumped into the truck that morning and headed out to load it up and drag it home.  It was in pretty decent shape for a free grill.  You sure couldn't beat the price and I knew a good cleaning and a nice coat of high heat grill paint would make it look much better.

Later that same day I took a bag of miscellaneous leftover items back to Home Depot and they gave me nearly $10 in store credit.  I used half of that to purchase a can of grill paint.  A couple days later I got to work.

First things first I took it apart so I could clean it up and get an idea of what we were dealing with.  I removed the wood slats from the shelf brackets along with the handle.

I got out a couple grocery bags and removed the partial bag of briquettes that came with it as the charcoal bag was in pretty rough shape.

I removed the grill and the worn out charcoal tray, then used a dustpan to remove all the ash in the bottom.  After that I used my 5 in 1 tool to scrape out the inside.  Then swept it out and scooped up the last of the debris.

Before

After

I did the same with the charcoal tray and there wasn't much left of it by the time all was said and done.  A big hole is in the center where it had burned through from much use, but the rest of the grill still has some life left in it.

Pretty pitiful

I got a bucket of soapy water and washed the whole thing down.  Then I taped off the heat gauge and proceeded to give that grill two good coats of the black paint.  It was already looking a ton better.

Next I got busy sanding the wood shelf slats and the handle.  Most of the paint flaked right off so it was a fairly quick job and I only needed a quarter sheet of 80 grit sandpaper.

I have all kinds of spray paint in my garage and decided the best color for the wood pieces was red!  I gave all the wood two coats of Colonial Red paint and let it dry really well.

I even did the hardware as it was mismatched and some of it was rusty.

Then it was time to put things back together.  Hands down the best part and most satisfying part of the process.

I used some exterior Varathane to coat the shelves and the handle once they were put back on.

I used some oven spray I'd picked up at Dollar Tree to clean the grill which wasn't too dirty, much to my surprise.  I scrubbed it up good, washed it with some soapy water and rinsed it with a hose.

I picked up a few items for the grilling season ahead.  These were all things that were on my list for our little grill so not an unplanned purchase by any means so I'm not even counting this as part of the cost to redo the grill.

But what I am going to include is the solution for the hole in the charcoal tray.  I laid three bricks I had in my backyard in the bottom of the grill and placed two foil grill pans I picked up at Dollar Tree on top of the tray.  The bricks will add support to the tray and the foil pans will hold the charcoal and allow for airflow.

A replacement tray, if I could find one, would cost me more than I feel I should spend.  One that is too small for this grill was listed for $39.95.  Both of the foil pans cost me $1.  A much more equitable solution I feel.

So what do you think?

My daughter was thrilled when she saw it

Is this grill worthy enough for my daughter's graduation party?  We are going to give it a test drive to make sure, but I do think it will be more than adequate for the job!  And with only $1 out of pocket to refurbish it, how can you beat that?!