East Oak Deck Box review

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REVIEW – No matter how much storage space I have at my house, it always seems like I need more. This is true inside my house, in my garage, and in my back yard. To help out with my storage problem, I am reviewing a pair of deck boxes from East Oak for my back porch; one is 150 gallons and the other is 31 gallons.

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $192.99 or $188.99 for the 150 gallon; $39.99 or $34.99 for the 31 gallon
Where to buy: East Oak (the 150 or the 31) or Amazon (the 150 or the 31)

What is it?

These deck boxes are outdoor storage boxes made of resin, which makes them waterproof and UV-resistant.

What’s included?

Each storage box arrives as a set of panels and the various pieces of hardware required to hold them together along with a user manual. The 150-gallon box also included a lock.

Tech Specs

The larger box has these specifications:

Weight: 52 lbs
Capacity: 150 gallons
Size: 61 inches long x 28 deep x 25.5 tall
Hardware: Hydraulic rods for opening and closing

The smaller one has these specifications:

Weight: 12.3 lbs
Capacity: 31 gallons
Size: 22 inches long x 17 deep x 21 tall

Design and Features

These deck boxes are exactly what I expected. They have a woodish look, though they are clearly synthetic. They are tough and durable; they are waterproof and won’t rot. They are surprisingly light for their size, and there are handles on each end. They have a simple and practical design that I like.

Assembly, Installation, and Setup

The deck boxes arrived in sturdy cardboard boxes with various inserts to protect the panels and the hardware. I started with the 150-gallon (model DB23003) and pulled everything out, noting that each panel was labelled with a letter to identify it. I read through the manual and used it to verify that all the pieces were there. I then read through all the pre-build advice, things like this is a two-person job, I’ll want a rubber mallet, and I’ll need a screwdriver. Everything that East Oak said turned out to be true. Overall, I found this manual to be clear, well-written, and sufficiently illustrated to figure out what I needed to do to. East Oak has done a nice job here.

I assembled the two base panels together and then the two front and two back panels. In some places there were metals bars that gave extra strength and stability, as this deck box is quite large. I needed my wife’s help to connect these three sides together.

We stood the box up and added the ends. The rubber mallet was definitely required for this step.

I screwed in several pieces in preparation for the lid. It was also at this point that I added the center divider, which really stabilized the entire center of the box.

Finally, I built the lid from the remaining two panels and connected it to the box.

East Oak added a pair of hydraulic rods to make it smoother to open and close the lid, and it holds the lid open. I really, really like this feature.

I only had two problems building this deck box, and neither was significant. The first problem was an inconsistency in the manual. In step 3, the instruction says to add two metal rods, but the parts list says that I only need one. Thankfully, the picture made it clear that I only need one.

The second problem was the locking mechanism. When I was finished, the two pieces used to hold a lock did not line up; they weren’t even close. I couldn’t figure out how I might have done things differently to make them line up. The include lock is a wire lock, so it would still work. If I wanted to use a more traditional lock, it wouldn’t fit. The good news is that I don’t really need a lock, so I just unscrewed these pieces to get them out of the way.

This deck box is really big, much bigger than I expected. I know that East Oak specifies that it holds 150 gallons, but that’s a unit of measurement that doesn’t mean much to me. They sell a wide variety of sizes, everything from 31 to 250 gallons, but they don’t include any measurements on their website, a feature they should really add to help customers choose.

Despite the mammoth size, it’s not all that heavy for two people to carry. There are handles on both sides that help, and this is the only part of the deck box that I don’t like. The handles are small indents, not deep enough to get a good grip. They don’t have a lip or an edge to grab onto, and there is only one on each side, which makes it hard to balance. There’s definitely a lot of room for improvement here. When we moved the box outside, we just picked it up from underneath, and that worked better than using the handles.

Just in case you’re wondering, yes, it’s large enough to hold a grandson.

Performance

What am I going to do with this box? On our back porch we have an outdoor couch and a couple chairs, so I could use it to store all of our cushions and pillows. This would protect them from the rain during the winter months and keep them a lot cleaner than throwing them in the shed, which is what I do now. I could use to store the various grilling implements that we use with our Breeo fire pit, but if I did this, I would probably want to add some shelves or baskets to keep things organized.

I think what I want to do is put it on the paver patio that we built. I cleared out a spot along the house.

This box is sturdy. I can sit or stand on it without feeling like it’s going to collapse or tip over. I wouldn’t worry about our grandson (once he got a bit older) climbing all over it.

I’m going to use it to store firewood for the Breeo. When Hurrican Herlene came through, it knocked a lot of trees down, so I was able to get a lot of good oak for burning. My wood pile, however, is not covered, which makes it challenging to have dry wood when we want to grill. This deck box from East Oak will allow me to store enough wood for several months, keeping it dry until I use it. Additionally, since it’s flat on top, we can use it like a table and put our drinks, condiments, and such on top while we are eating.

It turns out that 150 gallons is even more massive than I realized. I was able to put so much firewood in here. I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to keep such a large quantity of my wood pile dry.

The 31-gallon deck box was much easier to assemble. It didn’t require any tools, there weren’t any screws, and it didn’t need two people. It was so easy that it took less time to put it together than it did to remove it from the box and packaging.

This box doesn’t look all that big, especially when compared to the 150 gallon one, but it’s surprisingly large. I plan to use this to store outside toys for our grandson. I put what I thought was a ton of toys inside, mostly small balls and Little People play sets, yet it wasn’t even a quarter of the way full. As he gets older, this will be a great place to put soccer balls, frisbees, and cornhole beanbags.

The dogs approved of the deck box, deciding that it was a marvelous place to keep an eye on our “highly suspicious” neighbors.

Final thoughts

East Oak makes deck boxes in a variety of sizes. Made of resin, they are outdoor storage containers that are designed to be rugged and protect from the weather. East Oak graciously sent me two boxes, one large and one small, and I found their instructions to be clear and the boxes easy to assemble. I’m using the 150-gallon one for keeping firewood dry for my smokeless fire pit, and I’m using the 31-gallon one for storing toys for our grandson. If you’re looking for some extra outdoor storage space, I highly recommend that you give these deck boxes a look.

What I like about the East Oak Deck Boxes

Strong, sturdy, durable
Easy to build
Wide variety of sizes to choose from

What needs to be improved?

Add size dimensions to the East Oak website
Improve the handles on the 150

Price: $192.99 or $188.99 for the 150 gallon; $39.99 or $34.99 for the 31 gallon
Where to buy: East Oak (the 150 or the 31) or Amazon (the 150 or the 31)
Source: The sample for this review was provided free of charge by East Oak. East Oak did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.