Garden bench plans, sized for real people
Choose the length, height and slats, and see whether the bench holds everyone who’ll sit on it, without sagging or wobbling.
Open the garden bench designerFree · no sign-up · works in your browser
How the design works
A simple, strong bench: slats on two rails, four legs, and optional stretchers low down to stop it racking.
Starts at 1.4 m long and 450 mm high (48 in long in US sizes). Change any size and everything else follows.
What Woodworker checks
- Slats and rails bending under people sitting on them
- Wobble along and across the bench
- Joints between the legs and rails
- Whether the wood lasts outdoors, if it’s for the garden
When something isn’t strong or stable enough, it says why and offers a fix you can apply in one click, like a bigger section, an extra brace or a different joint.
What you can change
- Length, seat depth and height
- Slat size and the gap between slats
- Leg, rail and stretcher sizes
- Weight of each person (Advanced)
What you get
- A cut list of every part, with sizes, wood and how many
- A shopping list of timber lengths or sheets, screws, bolts and hardware, with rough costs
- Assembly steps in build order, with the joints and fixings for each step
- Dimensioned front, side and top drawings, and a printable workshop sheet (PDF)
Tips
- A gap of 5–8 mm between slats lets rain drain away.
- Stretchers between the legs make a long bench much steadier.
Questions
- Can it go with my dining table?
- Yes. Set the seat height about 300 mm (12 in) below the table top, and the length to fit between the legs.
- Is it really free?
- Yes. Woodworker is free, with no ads and no account. Designs are saved in your browser and never uploaded.
- How accurate are the checks?
- They use Eurocode 5 methods and common furniture test loads, as a guide for home-made projects, not certified engineering. Ask an engineer about anything large or anything people could be hurt by if it failed.
