later this summer I`m thinking about building a pergola on my deck. There is one problem keeping me from doing it and that is, how to make an open span with 2×10’s spanning about 19 ft?
I have asked around and have been told, that it’s “impossible” to use “LVL”. With LVL, I wouldn’t have to worry about sagging at the center of the 2/10’s
A friend said LVL would hold up using 2x10x19
Would anyone out there agree with using LVL to make my pergola with an open 19′ span, using 6×6 posts….
Mike
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Replies
so why can't you use a 2x10? lentghs not available?
2x10's are available but having them 19" long without a center post is my concern...
for ceiling purposes you can span something like 19' with 2x10 IIRC. Using PT might cause an issue to derate but I'd think it would be more twist (can be addressed with some blocking made decorative) than span. You gonna build a dance floor on top of it or just let vines grow?
Not to worried about a ceiling, will have joists running from house to end of the frame and then a decorative cut for a hangover, wrong word but that`s what i`ll have after i`m done??For some privacy and yes vines tooMike
The word you were looking for is "overhang"--but some of us do have (or will tomorrow) hangovers on our minds! Happy Memorial Day!
For what its worth, I think a double PT 2x10 would be good, as Piffin (and some others?) said. Don't try to grow wisteria on it though! (Wisteria will pull most things down unless you build everything out of large timbers, like you would to build a railroad trestle! ;-) (Oh, if you use pressure treated, don't forget to use stainless steel screws or other screws (or nails) suitable for ACQ.)
Thanks to all
and drink lots of water and 3 advil before bed for that overhang, I mean hangover....
put a steel cable under the lower side of the beam, extend to each end , secure well, add a 2" block under middle of cable, then you have a stressed member that will appily any load to cable. You can faux up / box in so it looks nice
your going to have to help me with this. What kind of cable and where do I attach it too, the posts??
3/16 aircraft cable, then I suggets a stell reinforceing plate , like cut up a joist hanger where the cable contacts the beam end, carry around to the top and install a say a 3 /8" closed loop lag boly, screwed all the way in ,and then secure cable to eye bolt
Check out this link to my picassa photo page. It includes some shots of a pergola I built using 2x10x20. I had to special order the 20 footers. No post in the middle and it is still standing. I think I built it approximately 3 years ago. No sagging at all. Pergolas really do not carry that much weight. I doubled them and they have worked out beautifully.http://picasaweb.google.com/nalcontractorservices/BackyardStructures
Great job
live close to NYC????
Can I ask you a few questions?
What kind of wood did you use ? how should I secure those 6x6 posts to my deck?
and should I secure it to my house also or leave it free standing?
Miker
I don't live too close to NYC, but I can help you out with your other questions...... All of the wood used on that project was regular old pressure treated pine. Nothing too fancy.The 6x6's will have to be set in concrete in the ground. You will have to pull some of your deck boards off, dig post holes, set and plumb posts, brace, and fill in with krete. Keep in mind that if the structure is free standing (get to that in a minute), your holes need to be deep and wide enough for a five gallon bucket to fit all the way down inside of them.I would build it free standing. Decks, arbors, pergolas, etc. are subject to move. These types of structures will move much more than a house ever will. Attaching it to the house will be a bad idea because someday it will probably pull away from the house and cause damage. Hope this helps.
OTOH, if secured and built properly, it won't move any more than the house does, and will move less when attached to the house.It comes to a matter of what design is wanted for function and the style of the house. Then the detailing takes care of preventing movement.Yours looks nice
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My thinking on the pergola attachment issue is that no matter how properly attached, the two outside posts are still going to move if they want to. The side of the pergola closest to the house could be relatively controlled through proper attachment, but all of the fastening in the world is not going to prevent the outside posts from moving if they want to.Now I've never actually had anything I've built move.... but I do like to take into account that soil and pressure treated wood can both do very strange things over time.
Foundation takes care of that. If just burying in the ground with PT posts, I agree with you.
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Now that I have to cement and pull up boards that makes it awhole different job. More work then I bargaided for. I love the idea and will have to get someone to work with me on this. I was hoping to use a friend here and there but not mbuilding with your specs.Under my deck is dirt and not level at all, pitched away from the house. So now where talkin different length of post for each pair as we move away from the house.
I am a paramedic with FDNY and don`t have much time for a project like this. But who says I have to finished it in one season? I guess the posts go up first?
Mike
don't give up so easily, you can do this, we can help. ;^)
Different length posts is not a big deal and simple to address. google water level (or ask in a separate post and you'll be sure to get a zillion answers.) and you can make one for less than $20, probaly less than $15. That'll get you to figuring the right heights of posts. The remainder is even easier.
link to water level to address post heights http://www.factsfacts.com/MyHomeRepair/WaterLevel.htm
Not giving up at all, just a bit set back by the amount of work involved. I just will take my time and keep asking everyone here for help
Mike
i'll preface this with i don't know what kind of soils you have there, but there are ways to build it w/out cementing the posts in place by placing diagonal bracing @ the tops, setting the posts on CC pad in the hole and then filling & compacting with dirt. yhey'll last longer than if in CC as well.
anyone think this is a bad plan for NYC area conditions?
I live in an are called the wetlands or greenbelt. So the ground it always moist and we have clay for dirt
and yes, posts go up 1st.
1 Q that'll help clarify, are you using 2x10s as the josits of the pergola or the member to set the joists on?
here is a picture to give you an Idea of what I want to build, looks simple except for that 19' span left to right
was using ceiling as a reference to what coe allows indoors for josits, outdoors you can be a little more liberal
what you're looking for is a 19' beam. I'll have to think on that a bit...
I've been told LVL lumber will work???
like piffin said, go with the double 2x10s or if you're still worried go up to 2x12s.
OK, are both of you saying go with regular 2x10's or LVL 2x10's?
so go with pressured treated 2x10's ?
Now you're cookin'!
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regular 2x material will do. no need for LVLs
if you're going to bolt them to either side of the post, I'd block between them every 24" or so to keep them from warping off on different tangents.
You are talking about the beam then, not the joist span?So need to know what the length of the joist loading onto it are to figure load, but still a doubled or tripled 2x10 should do fine.
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The only load of weight they are carrying is their own dead load and the sky above. Somebody is trying to apply load charts as though this were a floor with a 30-40# live load requirement
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Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
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Point being? Should not be a problem then using LVL to span 19' without a worry?
Can LVL be pressured treated?I believe that you can treat glu-lam's, but not sure which othr can be..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I don't know about LVLs but I know PSL lumber can be, I have 3 PSL treated beams sitting in my yard.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
"I have 3 PSL treated beams sitting in my yard."
I'll bet they look very nice there. And DURABLE too! They could probably last there for what, say 40 years?
;-)
I am currently using them to access the bed of my 1-ton flat bed truck that hasn't moved in 2 years. ;-)
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
See, everything has a use. That's why we NEED such things.
PT 2x10, tripled up. 16' long boards. lots of nailing. maybey you can get longer than 16's where you are.
Here you go - http://www.betterheader.com/ccatreated.asp
Great products. Not cheap for this application. Flush through-bolt fasteners a big plus.
Jeff
Thanks
will call, one thing, looking at most pergola's the header are on each side of the post and the with carriage bolts attached to the posts. Will I knotch out just the fromt or back of the post and bolt them in that way?
Mike