Cover Up That Gas! Building a Propane Tank Hide Away Cover

 Our homeowner's association has some very strict rules for things including but not limited to:
1. only a 4 foot fence can surround your house.
2. NO sheds of any kind
3. Any major structural changes must be approved by the architectural committee
4. All mailboxes must be the same
5. Any propane tanks must covered from street view
6. NO above ground pools
7. NO large playsets


The list goes on and on and only a few things are actually enforced at all. The mailbox thing I don't think anyone has EVER followed but when we got a propane tank 2 days before Christmas I knew it would eventually get covered. Why? Because I'm such a stickler for the rules? NOPE! Because the darn thing is hideous!

As you can tell we've been so very diligent in weeding around it. Mostly because I was scared to death that if the weed eater hit it our house would explode. I'm a little dramatic at times.

We purchased:

1 6x8 foot piece of fencing from Lowes $24.98
1 4-pack of L brackets from Walmart $1.98

We used my father-in-law's truck and saw to bring the large piece home and then saw it into 2 pieces. The pieces were 5 feet and 3 feet. We wanted to make sure it was long enough to cover the tank but didn't stick out so far into the yard.

 Next, the metal L brackets were installed along the long support pieces of wood (3).

Then, the two pieces were held together by my husband and I while my father-in-law secured the L brackets together and reinforced with 2 inch drywall screws (I had them in my garage so they were essentially free for this project)

 

We then lifted the entire thing up to the propane tank and used old patio pavers to ensure it was level since our yard slightly slopes.

It has not been been attached to the house yet since I want to paint/ stain it first. But here is the finished building project. The weeds have since been pulled out.  The backyard hose is directly next to the propane tank (on the left) so we need to cut a small hole in the cover to hook up the hose. 

The hose on the left in the plastic housing will be moved up against the propane cover once the hole is drilled but for now our propane tank is covered and it gives me a blank canvas for our backyard for only $30!