Pergola

[Bill Webber]

MLW wanted a raised garden with a pergola on one end. She wants to hang bird feeders and such from the pergola. I thought I was doing OK, but it's a little short. Maybe I read the sketch wrong! :D:D:D :rolleyes:

[scott spencer]

The ants will love it!

;)

[john tomljenovic]

your dumb like a fox bill

[Von Bickley]

Bill,

Would like to see an up-dated picture..... What are you using for fastening your wood. A few close-up pictures would be nice...:) :) :)

[Bill Webber]

... What are you using for fastening your wood. A few close-up pictures would be nice...:) :) :)

Hey Von,
I wasn't trying to be clever about the fasteners. I built the thing low to the ground because there is a lot of cutting/fitting; too much effort working up high on ladders. Plus, it needs at least two coats of stain; difficult to do with the tight spacing between boards when assembled.

Since I didn't want to leave big holes at the bottom of the posts, the lowest beams are simply held temporarily with some 3-inch deck screws. These temporary screws will be replaced with lag bolts when assmbled up high on the posts. Specifically, each board end that connects to a post gets 3 ea 3/8 x 3-inch lag bolts. The 2nd level boards that don't touch the posts get 1/4 by 5-inch lag bolts into the cross member below. You can see those in the picture. The top coarse gets 3-inch deck screws into the cross member below.

This took most of a day to hack out. The hardest part was swinging the 9-foot plus boards through the bandsaw to cut the end detail. The notches in the boards were cut with the boards all clamped together. I cut the edges of the notch with a circular saw, chiseled out the bulk of the waste piece, and then dragged the saw across the bottom to make certain it was flat. It's a pretty straightforward project. Weather permitting I should be able to stain it and put it back together this weekend.

[Ken Garlock]

Bill, your "problem" reminded me of the Farside calendar cartoon the other day.

This poor guy in hell has just finished carving the numbers 999 above the devil's office door. The poor guy is telling the angry devil that he guesses he read the work order upside down. :eek: