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Pergola: brackets, pockets or…..???

| Posted in Construction Techniques on November 20, 2002 03:41am

I’m going to build a pergola sometime next year for the back of my house. I prefer not to use a band board on the house for carrying the ends of the horizontal boards.

I’m kicking around the idea of fabbing out steel brackets, maybe even decorative, lagged into shields. I can access  a plasma cutter and can float a decent bead so the brackets could even have a bit of design.

I’m also thinking of cutting shallow pockets (1-1/2″) into the brick, with an air chisel, and setting the ends into the pockets.

 

Any suggestions?

Ditch

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Replies

  1. Piffin | Nov 20, 2002 03:48am | #1

    Definitely don't try the pocket chisle job. I would let the beams into the roof and flash them into the shingles on this one. They set on the top plate that way.

    .

    Excellence is its own reward!

    "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." --Marcus Aurelius

    1. Ragnar17 | Nov 20, 2002 09:39am | #2

      Piffin,

      If you let the pergola beams into the roof, and seat them on the top plate, where does the gutter go when you're done?  I'm figuring you've done this before, so maybe I am just missing the obvious....

      Ragnar

      1. luvmuskoka | Nov 20, 2002 10:59pm | #3

        I'm also curious about this method, Piff please elaborate. I live in snow country, 50 mi. south of Erie, Pa., I'm not sure letting something into the roof is a good idea....maybe I'm missing something.Ditch

      2. Piffin | Nov 20, 2002 11:10pm | #4

        I'll have to come back to this with a cad drawing to explain it.

        Flashings no more difficult than any other custom skylight of pan work..

        Excellence is its own reward!

        "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." --Marcus Aurelius

        1. User avater
          bobl | Nov 20, 2002 11:15pm | #5

          what about a free standing pergola?bobl          Volo Non Voleo      Joe's cheat sheet

  2. User avater
    BossHog | Nov 20, 2002 11:31pm | #6

    Can't say as I like the idea of a beam only having 1 1/2" of bearing on brick, if you notch the brick as you mentioned.

    OTOH - Cutting a hole in the roof and sticking them in as Piffin suggested also sounds bad to me. Any leaks would run right down on the exterior wall.

    Could you maybe run the horizontal pieces the other way, and only have one post in the patio area? (Around the chimney somewhere) That would keep it as a freee standing structure, and keep you out of the roof.

    If that isn't possible, how about removing some of the brick, and hanging the beams off the wall somehow? Then the brick could be filled back in around the beams after they were set.

    Nice lookin' house, BTW.

    What does it mean if you break a mirror with a rabbit's foot?

    1. luvmuskoka | Nov 21, 2002 01:27am | #7

      Boss,

      The pockets or brackets would carry a nominal load, some percentage of a 2X10.  The  decorative "rafter tail" end would project over a beam spanning the columns, also with decorative end cuts.  The columns will be placed about a foot in from the brick steps on the outside of the patio. I would imagine that I will space the (joists, rafters?) on 24" ctrs. That would mean 30 or so pockets, brackets, or holes in the roof. Ditch

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