Garden Structures – Pergola Building

You may not have considered building a pergola in your garden, but there are good reasons for doing so. The most obvious is that a pergola provides a focal point in an otherwise bland landscape, but in addition, it can be an effective ‘soft’ screen dividing you from the neighbours, gives shelter from sun or rain and can frame a view to another feature in the garden or outside it.

The dimensions for the finished pergola should allow for any plant should as wisteria or rose. Most plants on a pergola will extend at least 80mm and on average about 130mm. So when designing your pergola allow an additional 80mm for paths and 130mm for the height. The ideal clear headroom is about 2.2m to the underside of the crossbar.

The first stage is to make out a rough design on the ground to check your planned structure is large enough to be able to walk through or place a seat inside. Use sand for marking out, as it is easy to change and remove after you have finished.

Normally pergolas are formed of a goalpost and cross bar type arrangement and you should aim to use 100 mm square timber for the main supports to give the pergola a substantial feel. Because even treated wood will quickly rot in damp soil consider using metal spikes to set the pergola in the ground.

Mark the area out and dig out the postholes, ensuring they are all at the same level using a straight piece of wood and a spirit level.

Although the crossbar can be placed directly on to the post, it’s a better idea to cut a slot in the post so that the top forms a solid joint, adding stability.

With the posts prepared the next operation is to install the posts and the crossbars. You may want to talk a couple of mates into helping you at this point! Once you are happy with the position of the main sections you can pour concrete around the metal spikes to add stability. Finally settle the top and when you are sure it is perfect, screw the whole thing together as this will help prevent it from twisting in the future.

Garden pergola photograph by sheilaellen, used under a creative commons attribution licence.

 

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