Building a Pergola

Last year we hired a contractor to pour a cement pad. This year we planned to finish the pad as an outdoor living space, by constructing a pergola, laying landscaping blocks and planting flower beds and lilac bushes.

We have extensive covenants here and we first had to get approval for the pergola design. We had built our shed/studio from scratch but this time we found numerous pergola kits available and after taking the plans to the office secured approval.

The pergola arrived a week later!  I first opened the box and did an inventory of the parts. Everything was there and so the next day Renita and I begin the, “Fun”, task of sealing the stained wood pieces with two coats of sealant.

By the next day everything was dry and laying out the pieces we started to assemble the structure.

The directions were easy to understand, and the assembly should have gone smoothly, except for the tools provided for the assembly. It was a Sunday and so I had to use them as the nearest open hardware store was twenty miles away, (I should have driven there to buy inserts for my drill).

As we started to assemble the pieces I dropped one of the two tools, picked it up, tightened the provided bolt, and dropped the tool again, (I ended up dropping the tools over one hundred and thirty-one times but who was counting).

Slowly the pieces went together, and we were finely ready to lift the frame. It was too much for Renita and I, we dropped one piece, but luckily our friend George came over to help, (He was not feeling well as he had been forced to drink too much scotch the night before.

We got the frame up and after thanking him we sent him home. The rest of the job was straight forward, and the slightly warped cross members came together as we bolted together piece after piece.

As I would tighten each piece Renita would pick up the tool and hand it to me after each drop. Taking several long breaks, we had the pergola mostly done by dinner. We waited for it to cool a bit before finishing the pergola by adding twelve perlons. (long square two by two wood pieces), across the top.

Many of the perlons were severely warped but by slowly aligning each piece and screwing it into the cross member, we were able to straighten out the pieces and the finished the pergola before sundown.

Putting out two lawn chairs we watched the sunset over the Salt Mountains. It had been a long day and we were both exhausted from the ordeal. We decided we would not go into the pergola construction business as grinding rocks and making jewelry is a heck of a lot easier!  Clear skies