Have Any Tips On Building A Pergola?

I've been searching around for tips on building a pergola. While I've found some good ideas, I was wondering if anyone could share some of their "hands-on" tips.

I'm want to build a free-standing box pergola over my soon-to-be-constructed patio, a 13'x11' patio that will be made with pavers.

Here are a few questions I have:

1) What type of wood should I use? Is cedar be a better choice that treated lumber?

2) I'm not going to use paint. What is the best wood protectant for a hot, humid and damp Florida climate?

3) Should I just sink the poles like you would a fence pole, with a bag of cement?

Any ideas or tips you can share will be greatly appriciated.

Patrick

Reply to
NoOption5L
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I would recommend that you browse the book racks at you local home improvement store. They will have several nice books on garden structures with discussions on wood selection, construction, and maintenance.

Reply to
Vox Humana

I would prefer anything over treated lumber. My son used cedar; at home I made my trellises from redwood. Both are nice looking.

My son painted his. On my trellises, I use flood cwf-uv (a clear finish with uv protection) and it looks nice, but we have to renew it about every other year (we have winters here). Of course, Florida has its own climate, so I would ask around there.

California had specific requirements for mounting (due to earthquakes, I think). I would check with your local authorities to see if they have like requirements, probably something to do with hurricanes.

I don't like to sink wood into holes or dirt; water sits in there and can cause rot. I think a better way is to sink bolts into concrete, then get brackets to mount the poles on top of the bolts.

My son's was on his patio next to the house, which naturally turned out not to be level, so we had to choose between level and parallel to the house.

It was a 2.5 person job, even with some clamps. Every once in a while we had to call out one of our wives when we just needed an extra pair of hands, or someone to stand aside and look at it to see if we had it aligned.

Reply to
William Brown

Check with your building codes office and with the local extension service. Chances are they can answer your questions fairly easily. You've got both decay and termites to deal with.

Kay

Reply to
Kay Lancaster

make the cross-beams run along the line of the walk way not across i otherwise to quote Gertrude Jekyl you will " switch off the sky "

-- Eyebright

Reply to
Eyebright

Last year I built a free standing pergola using standard 1x pine boards and 2x2 posts (2x4s ripped in half). It's a reduced size because I don't have a lot of room but it makes for a nice trellis for vines. Mine is anchored in a base made of a 2x4 framed box that is held down by 4 22" planters. I worried a bit about wind shear but after watching it for one year, it was very sturdy in 50+mph wins and the planters that hold it down make its center of gravity very low. The cross braces are 1x3.5" so they don't catch much wind. I'm sure a direct hit by a tornado (or possibly a hurricane) would knock it over but it would get knocked over even if it were anchored to the roof. I used two coats of stain and two coats of Minwax polyurethane and it still looks new after one Chicago winter.

Here's a pic taken late fall last year:

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Reply to
Mark Anderson

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