Pergola or Arbor ?

Is it a Pergola or an Arbor? (or even Arbour)

Here is a general guideline-- If you live in the Southern US they are all Arbors or Trellises or Patio Covers. Click Pergolas link in the title to see all kinds.

In most of the rest of the world a pergola is a room without walls.

In Australia a Pergola is a roof in the yard and normally has sheet metal applied to reflect the sun.

There are many different variations on the theme.

Generally an arbor is a gate arch or 4 post entrance frame when entering a yard.

This is a gated pergola entrance with trellis screens, (or trelliage or trelliswork) in my humble opinion.

L

GardenStructure.com NEW SITE !

The main page helps you navigate through all the pergolas we have been hiding--actually, we were holding back designs to maintain an advantage over the competition.





This is likely the largest portfolio of pergola designs worldwide... so drop in and stay a while.




The new gallery shows many new pergola designs from the past 4 years not included in the previous website.








When you click the gallery items they open into a feature page and show different pergola views or versions of the pergola projects.











There is a separate section of Pergola Plans that you can find by the drop down menu for DIY Plans.

It has been a lot of work--but we think you will enjoy our new pergolas website!

L

Our Pergola Display at the Toronto Home Show!

You can see our Pergola Display at the Spring National Home Show in Toronto Canada in the "Dream Gardens".

This pergola has an internal canvas canopy that retracts and opens by remote control. (Thanks ShadeFX). As usual, we designed the woodwork to blend with the concept by Connie Cadotte of Garden Retreats.

It is certainly one of the busiest booths in the show. The Pergola-Garden-Landscape display is located at the exit from the dream home.

The Landscaping was done by Gelderman.

Materials were provided by Deckmasters of Canada Building Products--Thanks Dave!

L

Simple Pergola Plans

Simple Pergola Plans - T003 DIY. They don't get more simple that this. Pergola plan with trelliswork that can be stretched to about 12 x 12 and has detailing for trelliswork as well.

As usual with GardenStructure.com plans it has step by step instructions, material list (as shown), and full size templates for any sculpted parts and a stain guide to help you make it last. Switch to 6x6 posts and use hurricane clips if storms are a concern. These are all materials that are easily found in any local lumber yard.

L

Composite Pergolas

We get a couple of calls a week for composite pergolas. "Serves us right for making our pergolas look so flawless". People see the solid stain and tight joints and they often assume they are cast from plastic.

The fact is composite and PVC have aspects that make them unsuitable for building any structure that is in any way structural.

PVC products, (like siding, and plumbing materials), tend to get brittle when exposed to the sun for extended periods. In a place like Florida you will have a hard time finding an engineer to stick his neck out and stamp plans for a pvc pergola--and everything built in Florida needs an engineer's approval.

Here's a pergola hidden within a now defunct composite decking plant's yard...obviously not attractive enough to show in public. It even looks askew--and watch that last riser, looks like a killer.

Composite products have not been as wonderful as we all hoped. "Maintainance Free", turned into "Low Maintenance" after a few law suits. Recently those containing recycled wood and recycled plastic have been breaking out in mold spots that grow from the interior out, and troubles with disintegration, "Flaking".

There are a few new products, however they all have issues with weakness when heated, so without solid wood or metal within the structure they simply won't take high temperatures, wind or stress of any kind.

The last tragic issue has to do with fastening. It is difficult to make a secure connection from composite to composite, or pvc to pvc, (unless gluing--but even that lacks strength and doesn't look good with sleeves).

To create composite pergolas that don't have a metal frame or wood within will require designs that will change the look of composite pergolas. They won't look like pergolas as we know them--which means that they could be a hard sell.

If there are any composite companies looking to develop plans for composite pergolas give me a call and lets get moving on it.

For more about composite decking (click)

Large Span Pergolas

“I want a 22’ pergola but I only want it supported by two posts.”

We get numerous requests for pergolas that look like this. "Do your pergola plans work for a 16' x 18' pergola with 6 posts", and before I can begin to explain that "that type of span is possible, but that is no simple and basic structure to plan and build due to such a large span"--the guy hangs up! I was going to give him free information but the guy was too impatient to receive it.

Many people want to avoid posts for some reason. It is a common source of frustration for me. That kind of thing requires some engineering—heavy beams and structural tricks and in the end after you triple your budget it just doesn’t look right..

Inspired details need to be simple and practical. Unique Pergolas can be designed and built, however what will it look like and how much will it cost. I always said we can build anything—however you may not like the price.

Pergolas are typically built in a perpendicular way with supports about 8’ to 12’ apart.

The purpose of a pergola is to create a room without walls and offer a vertical source of interest. Just the framework to “Frame the View”. You don’t see very many walls that don’t have any support posts in a house…

“No… I don’t want mullions and I want a window that is 20’ wide”.

Now that would be kind of ridiculous. Even big glass buildings have support columns. There are always dividers and supports spaced between even a wall of windows if for no other purpose than to add strength to the glass.

Supports don’t detract from the view—they enhance it. They bring architecture to the view—blending nature with the human creation.

The last good reason for not having a 20’ span…

Proportional Correctness.

L

Adaptable Layout Pergolas

This article will show you how to use our P008 Pergolas Plan. It is by far the easiest to use pergola detail around. It is also adaptable to all the following arrangments of pergolas shown in the photos in this article.

The trouble with typical pergola plans and details for pergolas is they are predicated on square or rectangular layouts. Sure, rectangular pergolas are nice, however they are often not the kind of pergola layout we really envision.

What if the deck has a cut off corner? How do we develop plans for pergolas that just stop and start? Like this?

On these Pergolas we simply decided where we wanted to place the posts (in a pattern), with the supports not more than 10 or so feet apart.

Between the clustered supports we added a bench so that in the summer you can sit comfortably in the garden with a beautiful vantage of the entire yard.

These Pergolas were lit from below to give a nice ambiance at night.
Planter Pots were added within the pergolas to make them green.

We even made the pergola trelliswork into gates to allow easy access in a few spots.

Now, say you had a grape vine climbing on metal poles and wanted to do something a bit more decorative... say like the pergolas shown below.

With a very similar layout to the pergolas shown above, this one was built with 3 pods in a straight line. Angled rafters were placed to support this pergolas grape vines. This pergola bears on the masonary wall and the pergola posts.

This plan is the basis for all the photos shown in this blog entry.

Using this pergolas plan details you can create any number of layouts and of just about any size. You could do a 6' long and 2' wide pergola, it could be 12' x 12', and it could cover an L shaped area or even a football field.


Pergola Plan P008 will give you a material list, designer's notes, full size templates, details and notes on the trelliswork sample layouts and stain guide.

When you want to build a pergola on an existing patio or deck in a weekend-- this is the plan to use.