Operation Back Yard Part 1

Out here in West Texas there is sun. Lots and lots of sun. There is also heat. Lots and lots of heat. There are, however, very few trees. 

In our back yard, there was basically no shade. Zip. Zero. None. As a matter of fact, there was basically nothing in our back yard at all other than a fire pit, a grill, and an ugly fence. Apparently, we decided it would be better to add to the heat with fire than add shade.

In the shade the heat of West Texas is somewhat near bearable. Solution? Pergola. 

We forgot to take multiple pictures of the hideous back yard. Trust me. It was bad. So here's a picture of just before we started.

We used Oz Posts instead of digging holes and using concrete. They're nifty spikes that are about 3' long that you drive into the ground with a sledge hammer. Much less mess. 

We opted for treated wood over cedar for two reasons: 1-Cost. Treated=Cheaper, more readily available and 2-Look. I prefer the cleaner lines of treated to the rustic lines of cedar. Travis and his dad routed all of the edges of the wood we used for a more finished look. They said that was the most time-consuming part of the whole process (it also left a ton of sawdust in the garage).

The finished size post-to-post of the pergola was 10x14 with a finished span (with overhang) of about 15x15. 

We used 4x6's as posts for our base. Our headers were sandwiched on the posts and were from 2x8's. The runners were from 2x6's.

The top lattice design was made by alternating 2x4's and 2x2's. This layered on top of the runners makes for a pretty nice amount of shade.

 

To make the pergola look more intentional, we tapered the boards up to about 2 inches from the roof line. This helped us avoid any building permits and the hassle of attaching it to the house but still have the built-in look.

All done! This is the view from the back door looking out under the pergola. There's that ugly zombie fence I was talking about.

And a Red Raider ready for some football-watching parties!

Here's the finished pergola from the back corner of our yard. Note the green grass where our neighbor's sprinkler system broke and flooded. Also note the dead grass (record low rainfall + record high heat + lazy homeowners = dead grass). 

We will be cutting the top posts to about 1/3 of the size they are now once our concrete work is done and the wood dries out a little more. We'll finish them with a small routed edge and maybe a decorative cap.

Much more to come! 

Concrete! Furniture! Accessories! Curtains! Football season!