The old pergola that I originally purchased from Target rusted through. The posts in particular had large holes lined with red iron oxide and were buckling under the weight of the beams. When I originally purchased it, I had mistakenly assumed that the painted steel would hold up in my environment. I was obviously mistaken, and only 7 or so years later I was forced to pull it down and drag it to the curb in pieces for the recyclers.
I was left with a dirty pad of concrete that's approximately 10' x 10' square. There had been a hot tub on it at some point with a prior owner, but I wasn't going to revert back to that. I had enjoyed the pergola too much while it was standing and keeping my vining plants aloft and in the sunshine to cast a green hue over whomever sat below. So, the only logical choice was to have another. However, as I had discovered the first time, finding a pergola with a compatible footprint that wasn't too ornate was a challenge. I was left with no choice; build one...maybe I could even save money too?
The answer: no, or at least, hardly. But, the end product is something I'm proud to have built. My Lego training as a kid really paid off this time. The project was the largest that I've tackled from demolition to reconstruction, and even though I didn't save any appreciable money on it, I'm quite pleased with the end product.
The first thing that I did was order the pine 2x8s from Home Depot along with the 4x4 posts and the deck blocks. I didn't want to buy pressure treated or cedar or anything like that in an attempt to save money. I had decided to paint it white to match the vinyl trim on the house anyway. I cut the boards to size on a Friday after measuring the heights and lengths of all of the components. I didn't have a blueprint, but I had watched enough YouTube videos to have a general assembly of the members in mind. 96" for the overall height, and then a little overhang for the bearers and rafters...9.5" seemed like a good cantilevered length. So, all my 2x8s were 130" long with a little 45° cut on the end leaving 2" of the original height. It was productive day, and I still had the rest of the weekend ahead of me to sand and maybe even paint if I wasn't too tired by Sunday.
There was just one issue. The deck blocks that I ordered had a small piece of wood adhered to the top. One is supposed to toe nail into it for the supports, but I decided that it would be too difficult for me to do that and try to plumb the posts by myself. I needed the blocks that have straps, so I would return to Home Depot that Friday night to pick them up. I didn't feel like loading the old ones up. They weren't very expensive, but they were very heavy. I'd figure out how to get rid of them later. Besides, this weekend was about progress. I was one of only a few people milling about Home Depot in the late hours. It's a weird place to be at 9 PM. A young couple was hanging out in the aisle in which I had located my new blocks. They seemed to just be casually discussing something with regard to bricks. Every so often one of them would, with crossed arms, point at something with one of his or her feet. I had picked four deck blocks out and awkwardly loaded them up on my flat bed cart before they had decided on whatever they were deciding. After checkout, I wheeled my cart to my car, popped the hatch and realized that I needed to lift these 75 pound blocks up much higher than the cart height, and "gently" put them in the back so as not to punch a hole straight through my little car's trunk.
I was tired from the sawing earlier. I was too concerned with the car and not enough with my back.
I barely made it into my car and considered driving straight to the hospital. I had hurt my back playing volleyball before, but never to the degree that I had just strained it. But I'm stubborn, and I drove home instead. It took me 5 solid minutes to heave myself from my car and hobble to the door from the garage to the house. Ice. I was locked into a hunched position; unable to straighten up fully I pulled myself painfully from the couch and to bed in a forced fetal position. The next morning I couldn't get in the shower. I was too crippled to do anything more that weekend except wear my back brace...the one I should have been wearing all Friday.
Remarkably, I was able to go to work on Monday, albeit quite gingerly. Furthermore, by the subsequent weekend I was back at the build. I sanded the pine boards on Saturday, and it did take all day even with my new belt sander. I primed with pine sealer and painted with satin white exterior on Sunday. And I distributed the boards on blocks and saw horses in my outdoor parking spot to be assembled the following weekend. Or, actually in two weekends since I would be out of town the next. I hate unfinished projects, but my hands were tied.
During the first week, I managed to get two coats of a faux granite epoxy paint on the concrete slab and the second set of deck blocks. I wanted it to fully cure before I set about walking around on it. I moved the deck blocks into position and strapped the 4x4 posts on by the time I had to go out of town that weekend.
After the second week, a week I spent in the desert working long and physically exhausting hours...I was sick...but not so sick that I couldn't tackle the assembly. I was too eager to erect my pergola to let some sniffles stop me. I had devised a away to use clamps to keep the bearers up while I bolted them to the posts. It worked really well, and I had the first set up in no time. By the time the second set was up, I knew that I would finish it all in a day. The rafters went on last, toenailed to the bearers with a Kreg jig that I picked up, and by the end I was standing back to admire it next to the massively warped 2x8 that I had prepped but luckily not needed in the assembly.
This weekend I'll be caulking all of the joints, doing some touch up painting, and prepping the PVC fittings that will be used to create curtain rods. After that I can hang the lights and it's finished. I'll need a new patio seating set and outdoor rug, but it already looks the way I envisioned. Good.
Soon the Passiflora will be climbing back up, and I'll be enjoying living in Pergola-tory once again.
