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Style of Pergola?

10 years ago

I'm getting my fall/spring project ready to go. I already have the beds designed on paper, this isn't an issue. This is the most important part of my design. My ultimate goal is to have total privacy from everything from this Pergola... including the view of my house. This will go towards the back of my property surrounded by conifers & other trees. I will also incorporate a grill, fire pit, and other stuff just so we can hang out and enjoy. If you remember originally, I was going to buy a Gazebo. But the cost of this built would be roughly $4,000... way out of my price range right now.

Regarding the Pergola... I have 3 options

1. Purchase a pre fabricated vinyl pergola from New England Arbors. Cost of this is $1,150

PROS: It's Vinyl and matches my New England Arbor perfectly. No maintenance. Has nothing but positive reviews. Looks the best and easier to install.
CONS: The posts are 4x4's, the beams are 2x4. The beams are hollow, but does have a 1x1 steel insert. Will sway if pushed or under high winds. Manufacture suggests hanging no potted plants from the structure or climbing vines.

2. I can build my own out of all wood. Cost of this would be $370

PROS: The Posts are 6x6. The beams are 2x8. I can have my climbing roses climb up to create additional shade and for added appearance.

CONS: Made of wood, would require staining and possibly replacing of boards down the road.

3. Build it myself with Vinyl sleeves over the posts
This has everything that option 2 has, but will cost $650

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Comments (4)

unprofessional
10 years ago
Here's the pergola I designed and had the local amish build in 2010. Size is 18' x 10' x 10'. My carpenter had never done mortise and tenon, but was excited to try, and after consulting with an older member of his church, found the process very simple.

Lumber was all treated, and put into concrete footers. Total cost, lumber and labor: $1500.
texjagman
10 years ago
I've gone down this road a time or two for myself and my kids. I would strongly suggest using rough cedar for all the lumber rather than pressure treated and don't stain it. The weathered grey color it will turn into in the first 2-3 years will look very natural in a garden setting.

Also do not cover in vinyl. That takes a lot of the natural look away. And in a zone 6 you probably have pretty good hot and cold temped seasons which says the vinyl will crack a lot faster than the posts will need replacing.

Another thing, set the posts on "raiser" brackets where they are bolted to the surface but it lifts the post about 1/4 to 1/2" off the ground. Those untreated uncovered cedar posts will last for many many years without rotting. If you want a finished look you cover up the brackets completely by wrapping a bottom piece of cedar trim like baseboard.

And if you are looking for total seclusion and looking for some kind of rose to grow up over it, take a look at Lady Banks roses.....agressive, thick, and almost turn into a tree in time. I don't know if they are zone appropriate for you but a great covering option in white or yellow. Covers agressively like wisteria.

mark
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I have looked on houzz , but really haven't found my answer, or a similar home and putting the arbor/pergola on the side of a home. Deviant - you bring up some good punts for me to explore. I'm stuck with only using white vinyl since I am in a neighborhood with restrictions. So, I have to go with the style, material that a local fence mfg. carries. I was hoping they could help me make a decision,but they have No Suggestions or opinions. You want a fence, fine, we mfg. vinyl fencing, whAt do you want??? Lol Wow Deviant - what a difference with the peak/pitched roof, it goes perfect with the style of roof on your home. I was hoping the company that landscaped my front yard could have made some strong suggestions /layout, but they didn't have much to offer. I did pay a landscape designer $550.00 to layout my small front and side yard. He had an arbor with the flat top on it, but he showed it with a picket type wood fence. I didn't use him for the install as I got mad after I paid all that money, to find out that he didn't draw/lay it out, hiis employee that left a week later did it. Then he turns around and bad mouths the guys design talent, geez I paid for What? And Who? If anyone has more images from the own project, please post for me to see how the look matched up to a white privacy fence.
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Normally, for the strongest free-standing structure like that, you want the 4 corner posts anchored in concrete. However, since that is not an option now, you can still make it sturdy by putting in corner braces at the top...these can be decorative and look just like you planned it in the first place! I've given you a link below to a style of pergola with corner bracing that looks very nice. Obviously, there are many styles that work equally well. However, using braces also argues for making the arbor a little higher so the leg of each brace is above head height. I made my pergola/arbor about 9-1/2' tall since I didn't want to feel closed in. If you went for something like 8'-9', any corner bracing or gussets should be well out of the way. I would also say, for a structure of the size you are planning, that 6 X 6 posts would look the most pleasing. You probably have brackets that are made for 4 X 4's, but you can always notch out the base of a 6 X 6 so that it fits the smaller bracket. Just think of the brackets as being good for holding the structure in place and the braces/gussets as keeping it from leaning. Some of those links I gave you before have dimensions, so you should just browse through and see what feels right for you. Good luck. I think you'll be fine if you just put in the effort to make the corners rigid. P.S.: Regarding the contractor recommending the brackets: many people use brackets for these types of applications because it's easy and seems to make sense...until you think about the long-term consequences. Here is a link that might be useful: Pergola
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I've been moving files within my computer (some would call it organizing) and I can't find what I want to tell you about. There is a classic paper on Chinense and Japanese gardens with many, many illustrations. I found it on a search engine called JSTOR. This is a subscription search and your nearest library probably subscribes to it. JSTOR was created by the State of Connecticut university and is making a major effort to digitize large parts of library collections that would otherwise be lost. I think that the original paper was in a periodical from England called "Garden History". http://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_q=garden&num=10&btnG=Search+Scholar&as_epq=&as_oq=chinese+japanese&as_eq=&as_occt=any&as_sauthors=&as_publication=garden+history&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&as_allsubj=some&as_subj=bio&hl=en&lr= I'm afraid that is too long for the GW URL link. I think the paper is the first listed. Also on the list is Hazel LeRougetel's paper on the Ta Fe nursery in China from which so many of our tea roses may have come.
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This information is all so helpful. I’m not really looking for outdoor living space - we have a big backyard for that. Having a place to sit (to replace our current porch) is a big bonus, but I’m really looking for an attractive feature to add to the front of the house. That’s why I’m appreciative of these replies. I’m just not sure what will or will not look good. As far as weather, this house is on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, so most of the year is suitable for sitting outside. Probably more so in the cooler months than the hot and humid days of the summer. And I don’t have a big concern for privacy - sitting in front of your house is a definite “thing” down here. Again, if I want privacy, I’ll go in the backyard. RE: the roofline height, I just ran over to check it out. We would definitely be putting some sort of pavers down as a patio under the pergola, not a deck. If it was built at the height of the white fascia board it would be a 7’ ceiling. That’s assuming the pavers are at the same height as the tiny little cement stoop that is currently there. I think the paver patio could actually be built a step down from that, making the ceiling a little higher. Does that make sense? I also measured the ceiling of my current screened porch and it is 7’5” and plenty high. I found these photos of what appear to be pergolas built on the fronts of houses. I realize none of these houses are very much like mine, which is the main reason I'm struggling to imagine how it would look. I’m thinking either a square structure to the right of the door, or a long narrow one to the left for the length of the house. I know that I might be totally off base with this idea, but it’s something I at least want to investigate. Thanks.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
2. I can build my own out of all wood. Cost of this would be $370

==>>> cost is my main factor ...

double the size ... to at least half the cost of the other ... and still be saving half ....

i have never built anything.. that the moment i was done.. i had not wished.. i had gone bigger ...

i AGREE .. let it go natural ... why you need to stain anything is beyond me.. you plant a NATURAL garden.. and then go foo foo'ing it all up.. and making yourself an annual maintenance problem is beyond me ... i suppose you went with colored mulch too ... natural ends up matching natural mulch ... and its all so .. wait for it.. NATURAL ... lol ..

go treated in ground... and who cares above ...

hanging wood will stay rather dry.. and last 20 to 30 years ... its not like you will be sitting on top of it like a deck ... or old uncle jake at 450 pounds .. lol ...

ken

ps: my sand .. things dont rot.. you might have other opinions with bad clay and inserting wood ....
ricksample
Original Author
10 years ago
Unprofessional - Great picture... I'm jealous of your pond! The Pergola looks very well built especially with the 4 main beams on each side. I was definitely planning on doing mortise and tenon for the top 2x6 rafters just like you did. For the main rafters I was just going to fasted two 2x8's to each side of the 6x6's with stainless carriage bolts.

Mark - I'm not sure where to buy Cedar at or if my local yard carries it. I'll have to check next time I'm in there, I priced everything with pressure treated wood and stainless fasteners. I wonder what the price difference would be. Every deck I've seen they have always just sunk the pressure treated post into the ground and filled with cement. I was considering bolting the pressure treated boards to the cement, but all the brackets I found said it wasn't recommended for top heavy structures. This Pergola will be 10' tall when assembled so that kind of scared me. Not staining it is a good suggestion... now that I think of it, after the roses climb the structure you won't see to much of the wood.

Ken - Going natural it is... the mulch I have is natural wood chips... I don't do colored mulches. Going larger is a good suggestion. The 12x12 outside dimensions (10x10 inside) would cost $370. I'm not sure I would want to go 16x16, but if I do 14x14 outside (12x12 inside), it would be $490. So if I go 16x16 or 14x14 it's only going to cost $120 more which is still less than half the cost of the all vinyl one.

So the cost of a 14x14 or 16x16 would be $490 out the door, that includes all the wood, concrete, stainless fasteners, & tax. Definitely doable and not a bad price at all. I'm glad I checked in with you guys because I was leaning more towards the expensive vinyl pergola.

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