Pergola

Choosing the right designs and features to include in your pergolas plans is an important part of ensuring that you have a beautiful and useful addition to your home and garden. A pergola can add a distinct look to your home, and often will stand out because of it. So making sure that the look is right is imperative. You want a landscaping feature that will make a statement, but not if that statement is that it was poorly thought out.

Building pergolas is much more straightforward a process than the planning. While some skill is necessary, the basic structure of the pergola is something well within the skill-set of your average handyman. If you have chosen your materials and pergola designs wisely, it’s not much more difficult than assembling Lincoln Logs. Well, it’s a bit more difficult than that, but you get the idea.

Features to Incorporate into Your Pergola

When you think about a pergola, what uses of it come to mind? The styling and character that it brings to the visual appeal of your home is perhaps the first reason that springs to mind. Shade for a deck or patio is often one of the main draws as well. How about the ability for the pergola to be used as a trellis? These are the types of considerations that you should be going over as you decide what to put into your pergola plans.

If shade is a concern, realize that pergolas can vary wildly in their functionality in this regard. The slats on a pergola will block some sunlight, but also let some through. The angle at which they are installed will determine how much light is allowed at different times of day or year, so you can better control the amount of sunlight that you let through.

If more shade is required, you have a few options. There are covers that you can put over pergolas, to make them much like awnings in their functionality. These can be retractable covers, which means you can have the shade and even protection from the rain when you need it, and when you don’t you can have your pergola as a pergola. This can be a great option when you want to allow yourself the flexibility to meet any situation.

A more permanent solution would be if you install a glass or plexiglass roof over your pergola. That way you can enjoy the protection from the rain without affecting the amount of sunlight that is allowed to go through. Alternatively, if you use your pergola as a trellis, the plants you choose to grow on it can help to shade the area below with their leaves. This won’t offer any protection against rain, but can be even better than a fabric cover in regards to cooling off your deck or patio below.

It is sometimes tempting to skimp on the features that your pergola offers, or the materials used, to bring down the price. While this can decrease the amount of money you pay for your pergola up-front, often it will mean you end up spending more over time. Cheap pergolas tend to be poorly designed, or use materials which degrade well before their time. The end result is you will be spending a lot of time and money to repair or even replace your pergola before you should have to, and of course may have to live with unsightly designs.

Materials for Pergola Construction

We are all familiar with the wooden pergola. As a mainstay material for pergola construction, it’s still one of the more popular choices to build pergolas out of this natural material. While wood is used very often, there’s still a lot of room for customizing the look of a wooden pergola. The design elements that are included, to the type of wood that is used, and even how the wood is finished can dramatically change the look of any given pergola.

When using wood for pergolas or any other outdoor landscaping features, it’s important to remember the effect that weathering will have on the wood. Some types of wood will gain character over time while exposed to the elements, while others will simply rot and otherwise degrade. Make sure that you understand the way the wood you choose would be affected, and so choose the proper type of wood for your environment. In any case, it’s a good idea to look into protecting the wood from the elements, as that can greatly extend the lifespan of your new pergola. Plus, the right sealant can help to make the pergola look better. A sealant can do this as they can be tinted to help you get just the right color for your wooden pergola.

There are other materials that are well suited for pergolas. Steel has been used, as it’s rather strong for it’s weight, and so large and open pergolas can be designed using it. The drawbacks of steel are that it will rust and corrode when exposed to water, so it needs to be protected from the elements. Stainless steel is a good option if you are worried about that effect. Of course the look of stainless steel is a very eye-catching one, and something that may not fit in with a lot of landscaping schemes, so use it carefully!

Aluminum pergolas are another good choice. Aluminum’s natural resistance to corrosion means that it will keep it’s good looks just about forever with little in the way of maintenance. Also, aluminum is extremely strong for it’s weight, which is why it’s so often used for framing on airplanes. This gives you a lot of freedom about how to design your pergola, as the elements can be much thinner than they would need to be when dealing with wood, and even more-so than when dealing with steel.

For super-lightweight pergola builds that are well suited for outdoor exposure to the elements, PVC pergolas are gaining in popularity. The main thing you have to look out for with PVC is that it isn’t resistant to ultraviolet light. There is a type of PVC called uPVC which has protection against UV rays which otherwise would degrade the PVC in just a few years. You should make sure that the PVC you are using is either treated with a UV protecting sealant or paint, or is uPVC.

When building a pergola, metal (aluminum, wrought iron, or steel) can be used as a substitute to the more common wooden materials that pergolas are built from. Each material has it’s advantages of course. Aluminum is weather resistant, whereas steel is easier to work with and usually less expensive.

Whichever metal you choose to go with for your project, the great strength to weight ratio for both materials can really help you to open up your pergola designs. Aluminum is especially apt in this regard, and that can easily be seen in common uses for the material, such as in aircraft framing where high strength and low weight are imperative.

Suitable for Kits, but DIY Too?

Metal pergolas may not seem like the stuff that do it yourself projects are suitable for. While metal working is less common of a skill for the average handyman than say, woodwork, if you go with prefabricated parts it’s really quite simple. These metal DIY pergolas are essentially just kits that are sold through large home improvement and hardware centers.

Putting them together is much like any other construction from a kit. Step by step instructions about how to bolt and screw the included materials together is not terribly difficult stuff. However you still need to be careful to assemble the pieces properly, and may need help to handle the heavier metal components.

This can be especially true for metal pergola columns, which have to be very sturdy to hold up the heavy “roof” of the pergola. This means thick metal which can be very heavy. Though with lighter pergola roof designs, the columns can be manageable still.

While putting together a metal pergola kit, whether aluminum or steel, can be a rather easy and straightforward project, building pergola components yourself out of metal can be a much more difficult process. It certainly will draw on a more involved set of skills and tools. If you are trying it yourself, it may be best to keep your pergola designs minimal, so as to keep down the amount of weight and work that will be involved.

Do Wooden Pergolas Stand a Chance?

With all that aluminum pergolas bring to the table, it’s worth noting that there are some problems. The lightweight members are rather strong, but sometimes the way they are designed means that they are only strong in one plane. In another they may be rather flimsy. This can lead to damage to your pergola when force is applied to it in unconventional manners. A stray baseball or something of that sort could dent or even bend one of the structural members.

Wood on the other hand tends to be a bit more natural looking. While it will still dent, the type of imprint left is less noticeable as the wood has all sorts of knots and slight imperfections. On an aluminum pergola the straight lines can really highlight any distortions, dents, or bends.

Perhaps where wood pergolas are strongest though is in how they look. Wood’s natural appearance just looks good outdoors, and also has a nice homey feel to it. You’d be hard pressed to find a yard where a well built wooden pergola wouldn’t look right at home.

Metal pergolas on the other hand may be a bit foreign looking in some environments. At least, that is, if they have not been treated to look like a more natural material or at least painted to get rid of the gleaming metal finish.

This may mean that for a pergola in the garden, you would be best served with a wooden pergola rather than a metal one. Having a trellised vine over a metal pergola just might look out of place. Of course, there is something to be said of using materials in non-traditional ways. By using an aluminum pergola in the garden, it could be a way to really make a statement. The trick is being able to do so tastefully without detracting from the general natural look and feel of the garden.

The other area where wood has an advantage with pergola building is in how easy it is to work with. Just about every home owner can probably boast a saw, hammer, and sandpaper. These and other tools that are necessary for a simple wooden construction project are very widespread. On the other hand, not many can weld metal in their garage, and even if they could, aluminum is a difficult metal to weld well. It takes quite a bit of skill with the torch to get a strong and good looking weld on it.

Adding a Roof to Your Metal Pergola

One area where metal pergolas can really shine is when incorporating the look of the pergola in with the functionality of a roof or canopy. Pergolas by nature aren’t very useful against rainstorms, and only somewhat useful for providing shade. With an integrated glass roof or retractable canopy, you can have that extra functionality without damaging the look of the pergola.

Metal pergolas help in this regard because of how they interact with such additions both visually and functionally. The very straight lines make installing and using a retractable awning rather easy, and the look of the materials won’t clash as most awning tracks are metal anyways. Such fittings and accessories might look out of place with a wooden awning.

Working with wood is a long time favorite of home improvement enthusiasts and handymen in general, which is why wood pergolas make perfect sense for the DIY minded home owner.  Pergolas are an attractive and functional addition to your deck, patio, or garden.  They can serve as a visual aesthetic, shade provider, or even as a trellis.  In some cases, you can get the benefits of all three at once.

There are of course other materials you can use other than wood.  Prebuilt pergola designs are available in PVC, aluminum, steel, and other materials beside.  These types of pergolas are generally more of a kit build, with little to no actual fabrication involved by the assembler.  While efficient, they may not bring the rustic charm that timber pergolas can, and certainly won’t provide as much enjoyment or fulfillment from building for the do-it-yourself enthusiast.

Examining Pergola Parts

Pergolas are essentially quite simple structures.  Generally consisting of posts set on foundations, beams to tie the posts together and then rafters or runners that provide most of the visual impact and functionality.  While simple when put this way, there are a myriad of options and interactions with environmental variables that can make building a wooden pergola quite an interesting project.  Certainly to get the best pergola for your situation can be quite a challenge.

For instance, the height of the pergola has many implications on the functionality and usefulness of the pergola.  Too low, and it will make the area underneath feel closed in and restrictive.  Too high, and when the sun is lower in the sky there will be less shade cast by the pergola.  (Though shade is not always a concern with pergolas, it can be in many cases.)

Not only does the height affect the feel and functionality, but can also impact the look tremendously.  Shorter posts will by nature look thicker in relation to the same width of posts on a taller pergola.  This gives you the ability to customize the look somewhat.  Short and stocky, or tall and lithe.  There are some structural concerns as well, though often the loads on pergolas aren’t such that it will become a major issue.  Still, it’s good to run your plans by a professional to make sure you aren’t overlooking something that will come back to haunt you later on.  By doing so, you will ensure that you keep your pergola designs free of potentially negative features.

Ask Your Plants How to Build a Pergola Right

Another consideration with the height of the pergola is it’s possible use as a trellis.  Each plant is going to have it’s own preferences about the optimal height of the trellis from the root system, and making sure that you can plant in that optimal range will greatly increase the productivity and health of the plant.  One way you can compensate for this is to have a potted plant hanging from the pergola itself.  This way you can very precisely set the height of the trellis from the roots of the plant.

A second way that you can approach this is to include an arbor or other trellis like structure on the side of the pergola.  This would allow the vines to climb the side to their heart’s content, and even make for a very lovely privacy screen that would help to cool the area under the pergola if positioned correctly.

Other Factors to Consider When Building a Wooden Pergola

How to build a pergola on a deck can be somewhat tricky in some cases.  The nature of the deck can greatly influence how you should support the pergola so that it is as secure and safe as it can be.  An elevated deck already has it’s structural requirements designed in, and if it hasn’t been designed for use with a wooden pergola, it might be dangerous to try to support the pergola from off the deck.  In such a case you may find that you need to increase the strength of the deck supports or even foundations to compensate for the added weight the pergola will place on it.

You could always just bypass the deck completely and build the supports for the pergola from the ground up.  This would be simpler, but also could be an eye sore as you will have more posts.  Designed right though, and you could make those extra posts into a feature all their own of course, so there are a lot of options in this regard.

Of course, if your deck is made of cement and is well founded, there should be no problem adding a wood pergola on it, even a very extensive one.  There are still structural considerations to take into account though.  One of the main ones involved in building a wooden pergola would be to make sure the wood you are using is well suited to the purpose.

Not all types of wood perform well outdoors, and the strength and weight of the wood will vary.  While you can still use types of wood that have low strength to weight ratios, doing so will result in a more massive pergola.  Lighter and stronger types of wood give you more control over the overall look and feel of the pergola, and so unless you simply must have something else, they should be the way to go.

In most any case though, your wood pergola should be treated with a sealer to keep it safe from the effects of weathering.