Bring
Art and Structure to Your Garden:
Pergolas add Space, Style
and Elegance
(ARA) Arbors, trellises and pergolas have been
adding art and structure to gardens for centuries.
Today, America's growing fascination with outdoor
living spaces and gardens has renewed an interest
in these versatile wooden structures.
 For anyone looking to add space, style and elegance
to their garden, "pergola" is more
than a fun word to say. Building one of these
arbor-like, post-and-beam structures is a practical
project and fairly easy to accomplish in a weekend.
Fall is an ideal time to consider outdoor architectural
upgrades. While it may be the last major project
of the season, your appreciation for the effort
will grow when spring 2004 arrives. The pergola
is already in place, ready to enjoy as plants
grow and flowers bloom around it.
A popular building material for a wooden pergola is western red cedar. It's stable,
resilient, and durable while avoiding the dangers of chemical treatment.
"Safety is important for people making building material choices," says
Peter Lang, general manager for the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association. "Cedar
looks beautiful and is among the most durable woods. For hundreds of years, cedar
has been highly prized for its natural compounds that resist rot and mildew." While western red cedar's natural qualities
have always been recognized, they are taking
on new, heightened value among builders from
professionals to do-it-yourselfers. Earlier this
year, The Environmental Protection Agency issued
a recommendation to avoid chemically-treated
wood, specifically wood treated with a form of
arsenic. Recent studies have linked the arsenic
in treated wood to cancer. Above-ground structures
like pergolas, which might once have been built
with treated wood, can be easily built of cedar,
known as the "Tree of Life" to the
Indians of the Northwest Pacific coast.
You may have seen pergolas on houses and called
them trellises or arbors. Like a trellis or an
arbor, a pergola can support vines or climbing
roses. And like a free-standing arbor, a pergola
can filter light with its lattice-like canopy.
Pergolas are often used as covered, open-roofed
gateways to homes, paths, and gardens.
The basics
of pergola construction are readily available
online or from your trusted home improvement
store. Here are a few handy reminders:
- Ensure that the posts can handle the weight
of the overhead beams. The posts can be encased
in concrete postholes you dig and pour yourself,
or be attached to ready-made concrete footings
purchased from your building supply dealer.
- Take special care when deciding the proportions of posts and crossbeams. A set
of 4-by-4 inch posts would be ideal with 2-by-6 inch boards nailed vertically
for main and crossbeams.
- Remember to create the layout in the shape of a rectangle.
- Make sure the posts are vertically straight and even in height. Ensure the main
beams are level and evenly spaced in parallel to each other. Use a carpenter's
level for easy precision.
- Finally, add decorative flair to the crossbeams with a simple cutting, such as
a quarter circle from the underside ends of each crossbeam.
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Consider attaching the pergola to your home,
using it to shelter a path between a main house
and a garage or other outbuilding. Because the
overhead spans are supported by the uprights,
they can be made virtually any size. Remember,
one of the great appeals of the pergola is that
it's a piece of architecture.
In its simplest form, a freestanding pergola
in the garden provides a focal point. It can
also create an effective soft screen from neighbors,
additional shelter for a walkway, or the frame
for a view to another feature within the garden.
A pergola gives a deck character and creates
a feature for decoration and design. Pergolas
are great for vines, other climbing plants such
as roses, and hanging baskets. If you don't have
a green thumb, adorn the pergola with lights
or decoration for special occasions. With slight
changes of the supporting columns and overhead
lattice, a pergola can fit almost any house style.
A
pergola can make a dramatic change in the yard
and garden. It can display a style or be
the final detail. Better yet, you can do it in
a weekend. To begin the construction process
of a pergola or any cedar outdoor project, talk
with an expert at a home improvement store or
visit www.cedar-outdoor.org.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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This article has been supplied courtesy of the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association
www.wrcla.org
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visit: http://www.wrcladigital.org Media Contact
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