Pergola

I have made up my mind to build a pergola over the patio at my house. In researching my pergola, I have come across a ton of sites that list ideas and plans for them. Some for a fee and some for free. I am pretty sure I want to have just a standard pergola, however I have a bit of an odd shape. Instead of being a square it will be a rectangle, and this is causing me some headache. Most plans are for a 9x9, 10x10, 12x12 etc. so I will be going off the grid a little.

I plan on using this blog post to keep track of my ideas and document my progress. Since it is only March, I have a little time before construction begins. So here are my first steps: research and planning.

First I have looked at these websites:

1. http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/pergola/3352816

2. http://diygardenplans.com/pergolaplans/

Here is a picture of a beautiful pergola. This is very similar to what I am planning.

http://s907.photobucket.com/albums/ac276/baconaway/?action=view&current=patio.jpg

This photo came from this thread:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/porch/msg0314220528218.html

More later.

UPDATE!

It is July and I finally got to building the pergola. Here are some construction pictures. We will eventually stain the wood black, but it will have to dry out for several months before we can apply any stain.

I am happy with the way it turned out. It is really beefy with 6x6 post, 2 2x12 girders at each side, 2x8 purlins, and 2x2 lattice. I will add 4x4 angle bracing at each post as well.

I put the posts 36 inches in the ground with 4 bags of concrete at each post, so it should be nice and solid for a long time.

Now that that is finished, I can move on to the side patio.