In this first of a three-part series, I’ll describe how I transformed our backyard dining and entertainment area from this…
To this…
This post is dedicated to how I overhauled the pergola. Please see my later posts about the fire pit and kitchen.
Our home came complete with a bar-height barbeque island covered by a shady pergola. Unfortunately, time and weather were not kind to either one. The builder did not use outdoor deck screws on all the 2×2 shade boards, so they rusted and stained the patio beneath. And the barbeque was literally falling apart with huge cracks between the cinder blocks. Something had to be done.
New life for an old pergola
I removed all the 2×2 shade boards with the intention of adding a shade cloth over the whole thing. But a temporary cloth to see how it looked was pretty janky.
Clearly not classy enough for my wife, she had the great idea to add a roof to it. So, that is what I did.
I first pulled away all the vines growing on top, the shade boards, and the beams. That left me with the four posts and box around the perimeter.
The four 45-degree 4x4s helped reduce left-to-right sway on the front and rear beams so I added another set to reduce it from front-to-back. My dad’s trusty router came in handy to curve the edges to match the other posts.
After getting some physics help from a neighbor to ensure the beams could support the load (rafters, roof deck, and shingles), I then installed the vertical posts that support the hip. Getting them up there wasn’t easy; not only were they heavy but they had to be centered and perfectly vertical, two things I accomplished with some temporary screws before drilling and bolting them into place. And, again, that trusty router did the trick to retain the original style.
I re-used the best two beams from the demo to create the hip. I placed some temporary screws to get them up there, them bolted them into place with lag screws.
You’ll notice that the lag screws are embedded into the wood so the head is flush with the wood surface. I did that by cutting a circle with a hole saw, then using the router to cut away all the material incise the circle. Came out nice and clean, and it was pretty fast.
From there I added all the rafters. Each one is cut at an angle where they meet at the top, secured with steel plates and anchored to the beam with hurricane ties at each end. Due to the angle, and the fact that there are two beams at the bottom of the rafter, I ripped a couple of 2x4s at an angle so each rafter sits snugly on both beams. These additional supports are secured to the beam below with beefy lag screws.
The basic skeleton gave us a clear picture of our new space. We quickly realized that a ceiling fan would be awesome and some kind of shade would be really nice to block the afternoon sun that comes blasting directly into it. And I knew I wanted a TV out there. So, I wired power for the ceiling fan and TV, as well as added an outlet to the front beam in case we wanted to add a powered shade.
Before I could add all the pine ceiling boards, they had to be sealed. I sprayed them in my garage (went really fast) with Varathane Spar Urethane clear water-based urethane. The stuff is amazing. Incredible finish, lasts well in ultraviolet light, water clean-up. Pricey stuff though, 50 bucks per quart. I think I used 6 quarts to cover them all three times.
After ripping an angle on the top boards so they were nice and tight together and screwed them down, I laid the rest of the ceiling boards from the hip down to the gutter. To keep the tongues firmly inside the grooves, I wrapped long tie-downs with ratchets around a set of boards, then screwed them into the joists. As I worked my way down, I used a larger and larger loop. It was so satisfying to crank the ratchet and hear the boards sinking into place together.
I then covered the deck with waterproof underlayment, secured with short nails with the plastic washer under the head. I don’t remember the brand I used but since we don’t get very extreme weather in Northern California, it was a basic waterproof barrier.
To make it more contemporary, we painted it black using Benjamin Moore Onyx. I covered the roof with composite shingles in dark gray.
The last step was to add the gutters. This was a bit tricky because the job was too small for a service to come and install them, yet they were too long for most brands. I did manage to find two that were long enough at Lowe’s, but it took some searching. Conveniently, rain empties out the end of the open gutter at the far end so the rain just falls into the planter box.
Overall, we’re very happy with the result and it added tremendous value to the home. Instead of a bland, dilapidated shade that wasn’t very shady, we now have a year-round shelter for backyard relaxation and entertainment.
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