GardenForums.com a friendly and growing community of gardeners.
We feature a Garden Discussion Forum and Garden Photo Gallery. It's a fun and friendly place to talk with other gardeners, ask questions, share you knowledge, view and post photos and more! Whether you're a master gardener, or brand new to the hobby, you'll find something of interest here.
So I'm gonna be building a Pergola pretty soon, I have some salvaged 4x4x10s and I've just got pressure washing them, there was a bit of water rot on them, but I plan on sanding everything smooth. I was kinda thinking it would make a nice rustic type of looking Pergola. All the wood I have used in my raised beds haven been either red or redwood, I'm sure this wood is pine, and was debating staining it a nice redwood color, but if not I would be painting it something.
My question is - when it comes to re-staining it wouldn't that be quite hard with grapes all over it?
would be just as hard trying to paint with grapes on ...
Myself I am a huge fan of stain/natural wood colors
I would go with the redwood stain..... you don't have to restain as often as repaint if ever stain usually lasts a really good time (except on decks)
Any thoughts? I'm deciding if I should concrete them in since I wonder how that would effect root growth. Also any opinions on what I should put on the part that is in the ground?
That IS awesome. I bet that would help a lot in avoiding root damage to my grape tree for digging post holes. I wonder how sturdy it would be for the pergola, it's gonna have 4 legs, so it should be pretty sturdy. Any other opinions on how sturdy it would be? Check this out, can use this with concrete http://www.strongtie.com/products/connectors/CBSQ.asp - I could also pour a footer and bracket it to that.
Yup! It wood since the wood end sits above the soil level so there wouldn't be any leaching! The posts will last a lot long too! You might want to use some cement in the hole to help keep the post straight!
Stains and paints serve as wood preservatives so your work will last longer if they are used. I would use a stain probably and let it go at that. I'm sure if I tried to redo it later with vines all over it, I would miss areas and also wind up with stain on the vines. That might not be so good.
After doing some looking around and checking things, and asking some family. I've decided on going with, these anchors and going with a 6 inch concrete 1sq ft with that anchor in place. I think it's going to give me the best stability with minimal root disturbance on my grape tree. After reading a bit about moisture I figured this would be a good idea to increase the life of the pergola.
Stains and paints serve as wood preservatives so your work will last longer if they are used. I would use a stain probably and let it go at that. I'm sure if I tried to redo it later with vines all over it, I would miss areas and also wind up with stain on the vines. That might not be so good.
I think Ron has a great idea/solution.
I can't believe my organic brain is even going to say this. Even when using PT wood that makes contact with the ground you should use a copper preservative such as Jasco, Lowes carries it in the paint section. Yes, there is a contamination leaching into the soil and the risk your plants will absorb it, but for the life you wish to get from you project , it is insurance. The concrete is the safest way for you and the plants. Is the salvage lumber PT? Just wondering.
My dad is saying it is, but if it was I doubt so much anymore because I have pressure washed quite a bit of water damage off them. They no longer have any type of color in them, and they are quite old to begin with. They don't have the little tracks in them, so based off that I figure they are probably from the 90s (because they also measure 3.5x3.5 instead of a true 4x4). Well, he said some of them looked like they did, and some didn't. I decided I'm gonna go with concrete pads with a 4x4 anchor in it. The ancors come with a little plate that doesn't allow the wood to come in contact with the concrete, and it is supposed to help with drainage to avoid rot. The pad is going to be six inches deep, and measure square by 1ft by 1 ft. We don't really have a lot of wind (well rarely). But I figure with the concrete pads it should be okay, and I'm planning on building it pretty stiff. Plus when one adds the grape vines attached to it (eventually), that'll make sure it doesn't tip over for some reason. But I'm figuring the pergola is gonna be square, maybe 8ft by 8ft or 9ft by 9ft, I'm deciding if I want it 7 foot tall or maybe 8, reason I don't want it too high cause it doesn't make much sense to have it so high I need a ladder to grab some grapes, I want it to hang down where it's almost eye level around 6 and half feet or so. Much further and it'll get too close to my Dwarf Lime tree and it's still pretty small (3ft), I wanna make sure it has plenty of sun this spring.
Most ceilings are 8 ft so judge by that how high you want it. Keep in mine grape "hang" so you want enough head room to walk through. In Florida we often find snakes in the grapes and yes, up on top. I like having a little more head room so I don't get any surprises when in the arbor.
After doing some looking around and checking things, and asking some family. I've decided on going with, these anchors and going with a 6 inch concrete 1sq ft with that anchor in place. I think it's going to give me the best stability with minimal root disturbance on my grape tree. After reading a bit about moisture I figured this would be a good idea to increase the life of the pergola.
Nope! Not saying that at all. Stained wood blends better with grape vines that painted wood depending on the color chosen. But I think stains are better wood preservatives than paint when buried. I did my grape area last year and I bought PT posts which are standard for the vineyards in our area. But the treatment is no longer an arsenic compound like it was ten years ago. Over the last 50 years our county has become wine country and the Chamber of Commerce boasts over 200 wineries in our county alone. That doesn't make me an expert though. LOL I have seven vines, I believe. None of those are wine grapes. One year I did extract the juice from the three old vines though and I got about 120 quarts of juice. Those vines are about 65 years old.
The pergola sounds like a good idea as it is mutually supportive. I like the idea of the posts standing off the concrete like that. I did that when I built the chicken house. My 8' posts are buried two feet in the ground and I have aircraft cable running from one end to the other for vine support. We don't have a snake issue here in western Oregon though. Further south we do, but not for about a hundred miles.
I noticed after I started sanding I was enjoying following some of the water damage with the sander and it ended up making some fun patterns on the wood to give it that hand carved look.
Pergola 2 - I like this one better with the 4x4 down the middle for added support on the 2x4's. Both are based off an 8x8 plan. I'll have cross bracing from the 4x4 to 4x4. So it should make it pretty rigid. I'm thinking about using the spikes in the ground. Lowes has them for 20$ this, it's way more convenient(I don't need a permit to build), plus with the grapes growing up the side once they touch the top I wont be moving it unless I hack the grapes out (which won't be happening haha). Also I have room to play around with the edge of the wood at the end, I may just do a 45 degree cut on the ends to give it a nice shanking look.
Probably a bit too cold for this California Blood haha. Let me build it first and then decide on if you want me over.
I slapped on some test color on my 4x4, hopefully it'll be near dry tomorrow so I can have general idea about the look. I didn't use any wood conditioner, I want to see what it looks like without and decide if I need it (on a tested spot). Wood conditioner is pretty pricey.
Mark
Nice designs!
You might like to think about only using 7 on the top rather then the 10! It'll let more light through. Odd numbers tend to look better then even numbers and you can space them out more!
This is just a thought!
Gardenforums.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
