How to Build a Pergola©

By: Arlene Wright Correll

We live in Zone 6 in Kentucky and the area in which we live is quite windy at times. Plus we have a family compound on about 15 acres. There several outbuildings and 4 large houses that are on this land in which some of our family members dwell.

Our home was the second home that our late son, Fred, started to build and we had a fine view from our little hill looking down onto his home which is about 1000 or so feet away. However, when he unexpectedly passed away in August of 2000 this 5000 plus square foot home was too large for his widow and two teens so another smaller home was built for them and we sold off the big house with about 9 acres.

All of a sudden we had “strangers” to view down at a property that was not a good memory for me particularly and I decided to hire our 16 year old grandson to help me build a pergola that would run parallel with our home and about 15 feet or so from our house.

I would design it and buy the material and Kane would build it with my supervision. This pergola would be two 40 feet long, 8 feet high parallel section with a 5 feet wide space separating them. We would use pressure treated 4 x 4 inch posts set apart so that every other pair of posts would have a 4 foot by 8 foot wooden trellis panel nailed to it.

Kane dug big holes after lining up where the posts were to go and as he set each one in we poured quik-crete in which is a very fast drying form of concrete. Once they were set we were able to put on the trellis panels and on the first section we made sure that we had a 4 foot open space between each trellis section. Then the parallel 40 foot section was made with the 5 foot space separating them and we made sure that the open spaces were opposite the trellis section on the other parallel section and these trellis sections were opposite the open sections thus creating an area that one could walk through.

Once those two sections were done, then Kane put pressure treated 2 x 6 inch 8 foot long boards on top after he cut a sort of oriental design on each end. These were put every 2 feet to give it design and strength.

In between the two parallel sections of the pergola Kane put four 4 feet by 1 foot benches on each of the trellised section on the far side of the pergola that looked towards our home.

We then planted antique climbing roses on one side of one of the parallel sections and this was the side we could see from our dining room window and that would be facing a walkway between our home and the pergola. We also planted some grapes on the far side that faced the orchard and all of these plantings have grown quickly.

When we were finished we had not only a great wind breaker, but a long privacy barrier, plus a wonderful place to sit in the shade that we had created inside the pergola.

Carl electrified it with hundreds of blinking lights so at night it looks like fireflies are all over it. We have enjoyed this pergola for over 7 years now and the pergola houses a couple of bird houses, a wonderful wind chime, some our Carlís copper spinning helixes and a spinning piece of stained glass to say nothing of the hanging planters full of flowers each late spring and summer.

Kane built it well and he built it strong because 4 times since it was built it has withstood winds as strong as 65 miles an hour when we had tornado warnings.

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