Paint or Stain a pergola

[Markymark]

In that design they are roughly 1 foot apart. You think that's too close? Either way I'm always happy using less, how about the mean down the middle?

 

[RonsGarden]

Sometimes less is more!
I like the beam down the middle, it'll help keep the other beams from sagging, or twisting over time! It kind of gives the pergola a finished the look!

 

[Markymark]

At the ends of the 4x4's I was gonna hang my topsy turvy's I thought that would make it look pretty cool. I'm considering bricking in the bottom of the pergola and putting a bench or something.

With a mental picture of it, it would be like the "garden of eden" wrapped up into an 8x8 space, got your hanging tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, and grapes!

 

[RonsGarden]

Who could ask for anything more!

 

[Markymark]

So this is what the wood looks like after running a 220 grit over it a bit.

I'm wondering if it's worth all the effort to make it look like this (I've never really set down and sanded like this). I just can't believe how insane it looks once I got it really soft.

 

[RonsGarden]

You might think about doing a clear coat, and forget about the stain!
It would be a shame to cover up the beauty of the wood after all that work!

 

[Markymark]

I was thinking the same thing after sanding it a bit. I had no idea it would look so nice after some sanding. I'm gonna do a bit of testing before I make a final decision.

 

[Markymark]

From left to right: Plain (no stain/conditioner), Conditioner, and Red Wood Stain (it hasn't been on for about 40 minutes)

 

[lynpenny]

I like the one in the picture. this is a cool project. your doing a good job.

 

[Maggie]

I love your redwood stain.

 

[Markymark]

I'm really having a good time. While I'm deciding on the final plans, I've been taking my time sanding the wood so smooth that it feels something like a really high end table. But I'm trying to keep the woods originality while matching it to my raised bed's. I've really carved the wood nicely in some Spots. Now I'm kinda thinking about putting a bench under the harbor and if I do - if I should put some kind of floor down, maybe bricks or laying a pad of concrete or something.

 

[Crabbergirl]

Nice job! I love wood and the grain and colors of wood.You post are going to be so nice you won't want the vines to cove them up Here we reclaim cypress from the river and the swamp. It makes great hobby wood.

 

[Markymark]

Hehe, I reclaimed this from my uncles property. He use to be a Bee Keeper (236 hives). So he has a bunch of bee trailers, of which he just stacks tons of stuff he doesn't use anymore, he doesn't have bees anymore but it would be nice to have some honey! I'm probably gonna start bees soon as well, if not this season definitely next.

 

[Crabbergirl]

I have a hive in my yard, courtesy of my neighbors( about 3/4 mile away). They were starting a new hive and couldn't do it near current established hives. It's great. They really work hard in the garden. With the decline in honey bees , I say you should go for it!

 

[Markymark]

Here's a 1/12 scale of it. Can't do much work during the night so I figured this would be a fun project to do for a bit.

 

[Crabbergirl]

Looking good. Can't wait to see the real thing.

 

[Randy]

Smart way to do it if you have the time. You can catch the problems before you tackle the real thing. I don't usually build a model, but I like to work over the drafting board and get a good drawing before I tackle a project.

 

[Markymark]

Yeah, I ran into the problem of how many 2x4's are going to go on top. So now I'm gonna decide on spacing, but I want a 2x4 on the edges, and 1 right on top of my vertical 4x4 as I am thinking of cutting a cross brace for stability.

 

[Randy]

Good thinking. Gussetts will stabilize things too.

 

[Markymark]

This is how I'm going to tie it into the yard now:

This is my final revision of the pergola layout I think.

So this gives you a basic layout of my yard. As you can see I built a structure for the grape tree - I didn't realize until reading a bit how big this thing can get, so now I feel a bit dumb haha! Only cost me a couple bucks as it was made out of red wood fence boards cut up.