Pergola Design

[Rick Hughes]

Going to be building a Pergola .. welcome a sanity check on my ideas. Pergola will lead up onto a deck area, length of Pergola run will be around 7.2m ... Which will be created by a run consisting of 4 ?bays? between each 100 x100 upright. Bolted to cast-in concrete supports ? had these custom made in 6mm plates and galvanized -

Pergola will have 4 bays - each bay looking a bit like I use 150 x 50 for horizontal beam pairs, which will be through bolted to teh 1`00 x 100 posts ... and 150 x 50 for the cross rafters with 100 x 50 for decorative longitudinal infill?s ... Q ... What is the max span practical width of the walk through .... I would like to have at least 3m width of walkthrough ... with bolted pairs of 150 x 50 ... making effective 150 x 100 beam ..supporting the 150 x 540 rafters it seems to me that 3m span would be OK ? General construction will be as in... Q is what is Max spacing between each ?bay? ... ideally I?d like bay to be 1.8m between posts ... giving overall length of 7.2m The ?far end? of Pergola will be built into a roofed area over one half of a deck ... so extra rigidity provided there.

Also any thoughts on spacing of the rafters ? if each bay is 1.8m long I could use pairs of rafters either side of each post ,,, and a separate pair mid way along span ... as per sketch ..

be better tan just simply regular spacing of them.

The longitudinal in-fill will be 100 x50 ... and although will provide some rigidity ... mainly just decorative.

Comments ? suggestions ?

Sorry about all the link ... but seemed easiest way to describe

[The Medway Handyman]

When I build decks a single 150 x 50 will span 3m easily without any sag or bounce, and people are walking on that..

Most pergola kits are in 1.8m bays to make it easy to fit standard trellis panels.

[Rick Hughes]

Typo corrected -

Going to be building a Pergola .. welcome a sanity check on my ideas. Pergola will lead up onto a deck area, length of Pergola run will be around 7.2m ... Which will be created by a run consisting of 4 ?bays? between each 100 x100 upright. Bolted to cast-in concrete supports ? had these custom made in 6mm plates and galvanized -

Pergola will have 4 bays - each bay looking a bit like I use 150 x 50 for horizontal beam pairs, which will be through bolted to the 1`00 x 100 posts ... and 150 x 50 for the cross rafters with 100 x 50 for decorative longitudinal infill?s ... Q ... What is the max span practical width of the walk through .... I would like to have at least 3m width of walkthrough ... with bolted pairs of 150 x 50 ... making effective 150 x 100 beam ..supporting the 150 x 50 rafters it seems to me that 3m span would be OK ? General construction will be as in... Q is what is Max spacing between each ?bay? ... ideally I?d like bay to be 1.8m between posts ... giving overall length of 7.2m The ?far end? of Pergola will be built into a roofed area over one half of a deck ... so extra rigidity provided there.

Also any thoughts on spacing of the rafters ? if each bay is 1.8m long I could use pairs of rafters either side of each post ,,, and a separate pair mid way along span ... as per sketch ..

be better than just simply regular spacing of them.

The longitudinal in-fill will be 100 x50 ... and although will provide some rigidity ... mainly just decorative.

Comments ? suggestions ?

Sorry about all the link ... but seemed easiest way to describe

[John Rumm]

difficulty with that span at those dimensions.

[D.M.Chapman]

I built one a few years ago over a deck:

deck boards are 3m long so similar size to what you are looking for.

You might find this handy:

's a link to the instructions for the pergola in the first photo - and it gives you dimensions of the components.

HTH,

Darren

[Rick Hughes]

I am building a 7m Pergola 'walk thru' leading top a 7.2m x 3.6m 2 tier deck.

do you want to swap some tips .. or point to any links on deck design ... I don't mean aesthetic, but timber section sizes, spans etc.

know of any good sites ?

Q's incl .. Foundation size .. assuming 'pad' at each vertical 'leg' or bearing joist ... of 150 mm thick, maybe 300 x 300

joists of 150 x 50 ?

legs of 100 x 100 .. or do I just rest joist on pads direct - no legs

Do you normally have an 'overhang to hid any concrete pads ?

Any design data appreciated.

[The Medway Handyman]

I've built dozens of deck Rick, any question please ask.

If the deck is free standing I use a 3 x 3 post at each corner, 12" down in postcrete.

That will span 3 metres easily, a 100 x 50 will span 2 metres. Depends how high off the ground the deck is.

Again, depends on the height of the deck. I use 3 x 3 on a cheap paving slab.

Yes - and also so you can fit a face board/boards.

Send me the overall size & I'll run it through my decking spreadsheet.

[Rick Hughes]

will do ... is the address: [e-mail] the one to use ?

[The Medway Handyman]

Yup! I'm out most of the weekend, get back to you after.

[Rick Hughes]

have sent it through ... let me know if it has enough detail.