Deck building

I’m planning to build a pergola onto the deck. What’s necessities to build the pergola? Did you attached it at the top on the house side?

 

mine's free standing with about 1' distance to the house. same angle like the roof.

the posts are sitting on the deck beams and are bolted to the joists (through the deck boards).

i set up he 4x4 posts first, then did the 2x8"s as a square around them, built the frame with the 2 vertical posts and the cross beam in the center, then set the 2x6 joists at an angle. once it was all bolted together, the wife and i moved it up in about 6" segments, holding it with clamps underneath. took a while to get it up to 8' but was way better than building it up there.

i also added a steel cable above where the 2x6s meet, to let the sun sail rest on it. pics are in the imgur link a couple pages back.

edit imgur link again here

https://imgur.com/gallery/gR5aC5P

 

How easy is it for you to pull that shade across?
Did you use landscaping fabric underneath the house?

 

Shade sail comes off in the fall and when strong winds are to come. Takes 5 min to get off and roll up and about 15 to get it up there.

Yeah, got a thick tarp (water runoff) and also under that landscaping fabric (for the weeds) under the gravel

 

Btw the railing and pergola were just pressure washed, will still need some sanding and then stain.

First run with cheap fence paint was a mistake

 

I’m looking at the vinyl covered pergola. I don’t want to paint shyt!

 

Rough sawn cedar looks great and will last a long time.

 

Define a long time??

 

I've built some 15 years ago and absolutely no maintenance whatsoever, still holding up fine. I really don't know how long a good cedar product will last, I do know they have doubled in price in the last 2-3 years. I always use 8'x8' for the corner columns.

 

I just looked up some prices on rough sawn cedar....8"x8"x12' are $250 each! Ouch

Foo probably knows about their longevity more than me. @eggfooyoung

 

Damn! That’s a bit steep. I’m looking into the vinyl covered or composite pergola. I’ve been looking at several things for future consideration.

 

Plastic decks are dreadful.

Amazing stuff here: https://bearcreeklumber.com/index.html

 

Sounds like a perfect job for some Chicken Hawk digitals.

 

Anyone have thoughts on the proper length of wood to get? Leaning towards 16’ boards because duh, but not sure how much more warping/twisting/bending there’s going to be on install vs using 8’ or 12’ boards.

Any insight is appreciated - looking for the quickest and easiest install.

 

Decking? You can get up to 20'. Even in pressure treated. Splurging for #1/select grade, will lessen your chances for those problems, and it'll look nicer. I'm fairly certain the box stores only carry #2, in both framing and decking. Don't quote me on that tho, as I dont buy it from there.

 

Racking my brain trying to remember the transparent sealer we used on some cedar trusses and brackets a couple of years ago. Having said that, I'm leery of cedar in an exposed environment, that isn't painted. Especially the end grains.

 

Guessing a lumber yard is where one would get #1 from?

 

I would, yes.

 

Not trying to go all out Brooks Brothers or diesel dually but I ain't trying to nickel & dime it either. So the better quality of wood will be found at a lumber yard? Better to mean straighter wood [insert wood joke here ], less knots and how its cut? Explain about the rings of the wood and how it should be on the plank of wood

I just finished with 84 Lumber's site and they provided the decking planning app that allows plans to be submitted for permits. I will assume that the big box stores have that same feature but I was at work playing with the app and finalizing the dimensions of the deck.