Just before my landlord left last December, he asked me to put up a fence between my apartment and the apartment next door. I resisted at first, but having the fence has given me more privacy and hasn't reduced the amount of light.
During our discussions, I asked about putting up a pergola and having it span the neighbor's entrance area and part of my patio. He said no, but he did cut a hole in the existing fence in front and said I could put up an arbor, if I wanted. The picture below is what the area looked like after I put up the fence between the apartments - the lattice work fence was existing (and ugly as Hell too). Click images to see full-size.
The problems I had to deal with are the existing fence (and the posts) are only 6' high, he didn't want me using a concrete saw to cut holes in the patio to bury any posts and he used a jack hammer to break up the patio along the fence so he could plant some berry bushes - and did a really sloppy job of it with no intention of making the plant trough clean and smooth.
Not much I can do about the plant trough, but he didn't say I couldn't use a drill. I bored 2 holes for the front posts and epoxied the anchor bolts and then bolted the post base connectors down.
I figured it would look better if all 4 posts were the same height and then I could attach "extenders" the same way on all 4. Not exactly the prettiest way to make an arbor, but I didn't have much choice.
Then it rained and then the snow fell and all I could do is watch the snow pile up on the raw ends of my new posts and extenders for 8 or 9 days. The last of the snow melted away while I was at my doctor's appointment last Tuesday, so I was able to get back to work on it Wednesday.
Cross members were next. The drilling was expensive. I had to buy a long bit for nearly 20 bucks. I used exterior construction adhesive, as well as the bolts to ensure the thing wouldn't fall apart for a very long time.
I had this all planned out on virtual paper months ago, but it kind of evolved and transformed as I did it - and I can't draw 3 dimensional images either, but the plan always did include 4 posts.
But as I drove around the town I live in, I saw that plan in real life a couple of places and it looked kinda "
meh." I didn't see any arbors with an arched top except a couple of store bought rickety little things. I wasn't sure I could do an arch, but I gambled and got a 2x8 to test it with. I used a piece of quarter round I had left over from my apartment remodel and put a couple nails in the board and then bent the molding into a curve. I traced the curve onto the 2x8 and then made another curve for the bottom part. I wanted the board to be flat where it rested on the cross members. It looked good, so I changed from 2 4x4 flat beams to 4 2x8s with curves.
I like the way that looks.
The fence is next. I had to do a drop angle so the end of the fence didn't butt into my fancy angled posts. I started the fence slats on the short side so I could see what it's gonna look like. Once I get the top rail and trim on, I think it will look nice.
I couldn't afford redwood or cedar, so I got mostly primed spruce. I'll primer any bare wood real good and then paint the whole thing. I'll post more as I get more done. I have some other plans for my patio area too. I'd like to make it another room, even though I can only use it in the spring and summer months.
Jim
Deb
