Molynoox
Established Member
Aug 2021 - Pergola stage 1
I did the pergola in two stages, three if you include the planning stage which I explained in painful detail earlier. The multi stage approach was really to work around the weather and material supply issues. Doing the pergola stuff (not really priority item) to fill in time, and then moving to higher priority tasks when weather or material stuff permitted. Great in theory but the staged approach did lead to one decent sized mistake which gave me a bit of head scratching later on.
Stage 1 was placing the posts in situ (plumb in both axis) and marking up the position of the horizontal cross beams, which will be joined together with half lap joints.
Stage 2 was cutting the half lap joints in the posts and assembling the structure
Stage 1 and stage 2 were I think 6 weeks apart. Marking and cutting should not be 6 weeks apart. No matter how clear your marking out is, future self will misinterpret it one way or another. And I did. More on that later.
Design
Here is a reminder of the design:
Groundscrews
I used some self install groundscrews as the foundation for each pergola post. These cost I think £20 each + £10 for a 'U' bracket per screw, then we have £45 for a T bar installation tool and £100 for delivery, so about £400 for 9 screws delivered. Not exactly cheap but with expensive Cedar I didn't want the posts sitting in the ground and rotting either so decided that it was a justified investment. It was also a bit of a learning experience - one of the reasons I wanted to go that route.
The Cedar
It does look nice....
....and smells even better
The screws
Following on from the advice I received on a separate thread I bought some Reisser screws, and I'm really happy with them. The big ones are 8mm thick and are a thing of beauty.
Hugeness (not as big as the groundscrews though):
Here is what I ordered with prices, I was quite happy with the costs (I got them from ironmongery direct)
Marking out
I used maybe 15 or 20 clamps to hold all the posts and cross beams in the right place, just so that I could mark up the posts ready for cutting. Lots of messing around with spirit levels, up and down ladders, adjusting things and readjusting things, until every single part was plumb and level. Then I could mark up the half lap joints on all the posts.
Mistake
The mistake happened on the posts at the near edge of the decking (not the posts adjacent to garden room). These posts receive two cross beams, like all the other posts do, but these posts do it at two different levels. This is where my marking up wasn't clear enough for future self. I ended up cutting the tops off these posts (just above the lower cross beam) instead of adding a second layer of half lap joints for another 'upper' cross beam - this meant the posts were too short and where only long enough to support the lower cross beam.
This is problematic post
The posts are £125 each and on an 8 week leadtime - either way, replacing them wasn't really looking like a great option.
Martin
I did the pergola in two stages, three if you include the planning stage which I explained in painful detail earlier. The multi stage approach was really to work around the weather and material supply issues. Doing the pergola stuff (not really priority item) to fill in time, and then moving to higher priority tasks when weather or material stuff permitted. Great in theory but the staged approach did lead to one decent sized mistake which gave me a bit of head scratching later on.
Stage 1 was placing the posts in situ (plumb in both axis) and marking up the position of the horizontal cross beams, which will be joined together with half lap joints.
Stage 2 was cutting the half lap joints in the posts and assembling the structure
Stage 1 and stage 2 were I think 6 weeks apart. Marking and cutting should not be 6 weeks apart. No matter how clear your marking out is, future self will misinterpret it one way or another. And I did. More on that later.
Design
Here is a reminder of the design:
Groundscrews
I used some self install groundscrews as the foundation for each pergola post. These cost I think £20 each + £10 for a 'U' bracket per screw, then we have £45 for a T bar installation tool and £100 for delivery, so about £400 for 9 screws delivered. Not exactly cheap but with expensive Cedar I didn't want the posts sitting in the ground and rotting either so decided that it was a justified investment. It was also a bit of a learning experience - one of the reasons I wanted to go that route.
The Cedar
It does look nice....
....and smells even better
The screws
Following on from the advice I received on a separate thread I bought some Reisser screws, and I'm really happy with them. The big ones are 8mm thick and are a thing of beauty.
Hugeness (not as big as the groundscrews though):
Here is what I ordered with prices, I was quite happy with the costs (I got them from ironmongery direct)
Marking out
I used maybe 15 or 20 clamps to hold all the posts and cross beams in the right place, just so that I could mark up the posts ready for cutting. Lots of messing around with spirit levels, up and down ladders, adjusting things and readjusting things, until every single part was plumb and level. Then I could mark up the half lap joints on all the posts.
Mistake
The mistake happened on the posts at the near edge of the decking (not the posts adjacent to garden room). These posts receive two cross beams, like all the other posts do, but these posts do it at two different levels. This is where my marking up wasn't clear enough for future self. I ended up cutting the tops off these posts (just above the lower cross beam) instead of adding a second layer of half lap joints for another 'upper' cross beam - this meant the posts were too short and where only long enough to support the lower cross beam.
This is problematic post
The posts are £125 each and on an 8 week leadtime - either way, replacing them wasn't really looking like a great option.
Martin
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