DIY PERGOLA TUTORIAL:

HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN

BACKYARD SHADE
Written by Heathered Nest

     

We enjoy our deck. It gets a wonderful breeze most of the summer that
keeps the bugs down and helps us stay cool. At some point we decided we
wanted to add a little bit of shade to our deck. An actual screen room was a
little too ambitious (and costly), so we decided on a pergola. A pergola offers
a little bit of shade, but keeps that open feeling of being outside. Now as you
might know from previous musings on our blog, The Heathered Nest , we
have a pretty large deck that we inherited when we bought this house. We
spent a fair amount of time giving it a makeover   this past summer.  Just to
give you an idea of how much time, here’s a picture of how the deck looked
before this project:
The pergola has been one of our favorite features, so today, we’d like to talk
about how we DIY’d ours, and hopefully inspire some of you to give a project
like this a try at home, too!
How to Build a DIY Pergola
We’ll be using certain terms throughout the post for parts of the pergola. See
image below…
 Four (4) 6×6’s pressure treated – FOR POSTS (ours are 12′)
 Four (4) 2×12’s pressure treated – FOR BEAMS (ours are 22′)
 Eleven (11) 2×10’s pressure treated – FOR JOISTS (ours are 16′)
 Ten (10) 2×4’s, 8′ length (these are for temporary bracing and across
the top of the joists)
 Four (4) 6×6 post anchors
 Four (4) 8″ lag bolts, 1/4″ diameter
  Sixteen (16) carriage bolts, 3/8″ diameter
 3″ deck screws
 2.5″ deck screws
 Drill
 Impact Drill
 1/8″ drill bit
 1″ drill bit
 Socket set
 4′ or 6′ level
 8′ ladder
 Clamps
 Jig saw
 Palm sander
 Circular saw
 Utility knife

How To:
Step #1. The plan:
 ***WARNING!! This is a construction project which requires use of power
tools, heavy construction materials, and a working knowledge of safe DIY
practices. If you are not comfortable with any of these required skills, please
save yourself injury, trips to the ER,  death, dismemberment, physical
trauma, or emotional trauma caused by a nagging husband or wife asking
you why you cannot seem to complete this project. This is not a project for
beginners. By utilizing this tutorial, you agree utilize information contained
herein at your own risk. Neither HeatheredNest.com nor Remodelaholic.com
will assume liability for any injuries, etc, incurred as a result of following the
tutorial information written in this post. You must also ensure you have
checked and are in compliance with any local building codes pertinent to
this project. Installation requirements will vary based upon factors such as
the surface on which the pergola will stand, be it ground, a deck or patio,
etc. ***

Before you start hoisting beams in the air and getting that saw buzzing,
make sure you’ve got a good plan worked out. Decide exactly where you’re
building your pergola (ours was on top of our existing deck). And then,
you need to determine the size of the pergola you’d like to build. Ours is
about 14’x14’ (this is the distance between the 6×6 posts). The strength and
structural integrity of your pergola will depend greatly upon the size of the
structure you are planning to build. Again, be sure to check local building
codes for compliance before beginning the project.

 Step #2. Set the post anchors:

With the location and size determined, we can get started on the pergola
construction. If, like ours, your pergola will be sitting on top of an existing
deck, the 6×6 pergola posts must be located over top of the existing support
structure. This means locating the existing deck joists. Once the location of
the 6×6’s posts has been determined, the 6×6 metal post anchors can be
installed. The post anchors have a hole in the middle so that you can attach
it to the deck joist. I drilled a hole using a 1/8” bit. Then the anchor is
secured to the existing joist with a 1/4” lag bolt. I used an impact drill for
this, but you could also use an old fashioned socket set.

If you want to build your pergola on an existing concrete slab or directly on

the ground, you will need to install your 6×6 posts differently. For
an existing concrete slab, you can use the same post anchors, but you will
need to use a hammer drill and special concrete anchors to attach the post
anchor to the slab. If you are going to build your pergola directly on the
ground, you will need to dig holes for each of the posts, fill the hole with
concrete, and set the post.  The hole depth will depend on local building
codes, but is normally between 24″ and 36″ deep, and 24″ in diameter.

Step #3. Raise the 6×6 posts.

 INSTALLING 6×6 POSTS, USING 2×4’S FOR TEMPORARY BRACING.

With the anchors now installed, its almost time to lift the 6×6 posts into
place. This job will take at least two people. Hopefully, you have a buddy
that owes you. Be very careful, because these things are heavy! But before
you actually lift up the posts, we need to prep them a bit.

We figured this little tip out the hard way…shave off about 1/8” to ¼” off of
one side of the 6×6 post, just at the very bottom. This will allow the post to
slide into the anchor much easier. Also, pre-drill a hole in the bottom of the
6×6 post, right in the middle. Drill a 1” hole about 2” deep. This will allow the
6×6 post to sit flush with the ground and not be held up by that lag bolt we
just installed.
6×6 POST INSTALLED INTO ANCHOR. NOTICE HOW WE SHAVED A TOUCH OFF THE SIDE OF THE POST TO ALLOW
IT TO FIT MORE EASILY INTO THE ANCHOR.

Lift the first 6×6 into place. Once it’s vertical, square it up using your level.
Brace with 2×4’s. I simply screwed the 2×4’s directly into the 6×6 post and
into my existing deck. Check out the pics to see exactly how this should
look. Think about where you put the bracing because this will be up for the
duration of the project. Be sure not only that your bracing is securing the
beams, but also that it will not get in your way as you continue constructing.

Continue this same procedure with the remaining 3 posts.

Step #4. Cut decorative ends of 2×12 beams.
Before installing the four 2×12 beams to the front and back of the structure,
you can use a jigsaw to make the ends look a bit more decorative. Pinterest
is a great source for design inspiration like this. Once you find a design
aesthetic/look you like, using a pencil, simply sketch the shape freehand
onto the end of one of your 2x12s. Once you’ve sketched a look you’re happy
with, use the jig saw to cut along your sketched line. The scrap piece that
has been removed from your beam now becomes a template used to cut the
edges of the remaining beams. This ensures they will all be identical.

After it was cut, we used a palm sander to smooth out the edges of the
jigsawed pattern on the beam. Our pattern took up about 2’ of space. You
need to apply this pattern to both ends of the beam, not just one. How large
or small, or the shape of this pattern in general are all personal preferences.
 USING JIGSAW TO CUT DECORATIVE ENDS OF PERGOLA BEAMS.

Step #5. Install 2×12 beams to front and back of structure.

It’s almost time to “sandwich” the front and back posts with two sets of
2×12 beams. But before we hoist these big pieces of wood up, we are going
to prepare some bracing that will help hold the beam in place while we get it
bolted. We’ll do that with some 2×4 scraps. Cut a few 2×4’s approximately 2 ′
in length, and screw them into the 6×6 posts at the height that you want
your 2×12 beams to sit. Once you’ve secured your 2×4 bracing pieces, we
can then lift the first 2×12, and rest it on the 2×4 bracing. I also clamped the
beams to the post to help temporarily secure them until I could bolt the
beams to the posts. The beams are secured to the 6×6 posts with two
carriage bolts. Once you have the carriage bolts installed and tightened into
the posts, the 2×4 braces can be removed.
 APPEARANCE OF THE BEAMS “SANDWICHING” THE 6×6 POSTS FROM BELOW THE STRUCTURE.

Step #6. Cut decorative ends on 2×10 joists.

2×10’s are the material used for the joists. While not required, it adds some
decorative “flair” to cut the same pattern into the ends of your joists that
you cut on your 2×12 beams with the jigsaw. Since the dimension of the
joists are smaller than the beams, the scale of the pattern will be slightly
different. So again, sketch your pattern with a pencil onto one of your joists.
Once comfortable with the design, cut it out with your jigsaw. The discarded
piece of wood will be used as a template for cutting the pattern into the
remaining 2×10 joists. Since our pergola butted up against our house, we
only needed to cut this pattern on one end of our joists. But this may not be
the case for your particular project.
 REAR OF OUR PERGOLA ABUTS HOUSE, SO NO DECORATIVE ENDS WERE CUT ON THIS SIDE.

Step #7. Install joists across top of pergola structure.

In our case, before we moved onto the joist installation, we had to trim
excess length from the top our 6×6 posts. It is safest, and a better
procedure, however, not to erect your posts until they are sized correctly.
Our joists are 9″, so we want the top of the 6×6 post to rise only about 8″
above the 2×12 beams so that they are just shy of the height of our joists.
This will allow us to bolt the joists into the 6×6 post, but not have the 6×6
post sticking up above the joists.

The first four joists that you will install are those on either end of the
pergola that will sandwich the 6×6 posts above the 2×12 beams. Use two
carriage bolts to secure the joists around the 6×6 post in all four corners of
your pergola.
I then spaced the remaining joist equally between the posts. They ended up
about 2’ apart. To secure these joists to the beams, I used 2.5” screws and
screwed them at an angle into the beams.
Step #8. Brace top of joists with 2×4’s.
Above the joists, and perpendicular to them, we’d recommend installing four
(4) rows of 2x4s.  This will help keep the joists straight and reduce warping.
Screw in one row each at the front and back, and then the other two rows
spaced evenly in between. Lay the 2×4’s flat and secure them to each joist
using 4″ screws.

On our pergola, instead of using the 2x4s on top, we did something a little
different. We installed lattice and screen material. That is a separate
project, and is not part of this particular post, but you could tackle that
additional work if you desired. 

Your pergola structure is complete! You can now remove the 2x4s that were
bracing the posts. Now your pergola is free standing, so it will sway just a
little bit. Ours did not sway too much, but if it does, you can always add in
some bracing at the top corners to help stiffen it up.
All that’s left to do is sit out there and enjoy!
We had a lot of work to get us to the point where we could say we really
loved our outdoor space, but this pergola has been a a great addition to our
deck . Hope that it may be to yours as well.