Building a Pergola (One Man's Journey)

If you were with me on my blog journey through our house-building story you know that we have a 12'x18' deck in the back. It's on the first floor level though that puts it up a level from the ground since we have a Georgia basement on the lower level. My son and his family have the first and second floors and he was hoping for a screened-in porch built in the space of this deck. However, the extra weight and extra work of building walls and a roof were a bit beyond what could easily be done by yours truly. And that was assuming it would be approved by the building department in the first place. When speaking to the inspector he said that the extra weight of the structure would necessitate a much stronger footing down below in the patio. So my son requested that I might build a pergola, which would mean simply building onto the deck. Okay, maybe not so simply.

The original upper deck

For those who came to this page looking for information on building a deck, or are just looking for ideas on what it should look like, I welcome you. When I first started the planning on this structure I was amazed at how many different ways people built their pergola. I looked at hundreds of different images on the internet to get a feel for what would make the most sense for our project. My son and I had a certain look in mind and I wanted to make sure that was present in the plan. For those just looking for ideas just scroll down to the end for the final photos. So, with that introduction, let's look at how this was done. Just be aware that this might end up being a long post!

The finished pergola on the upper deck

While you can see in the photo above how the posts support the front beam that in turn support the joists that in turn support the purlins, you will also discover that there are many more ways to design a pergola. It will depend on whether it is self-supporting out in the back yard, or attached to the house on one side, or many variations in between. For our pergola it made sense to attach it to the back wall of the house which will make it sturdier. After much deliberation my son and his wife elected to have the pergola start at the side edge of the house and run fourteen feet across the back until it reached a corner. You can see this below from the left side of the house to that first angled wall. It would be possible to put a ledger board on that angled wall and run it the entire length of the deck but it would have consequences for covering the windows, and the grill which might discolor the wood above.

Figuring the location of the pergola

Planning the attachment of a ledger board to the back wall of the house kept me awake at night, as the idea of taking off several runs of the siding and patching in that board to the wall made me imagine water getting in through the smallest opening, leaking into the house. If only there were some kind of bracket to hang a ledger board onto the wall, I thought. I imagined myself designing such a bracket and making all sorts of money on such a useful discovery. However, a search of the internet turned up just such a product in the "Stratton Bracket" which looked to be what I needed. I had figured I would need ten of them and as they offered both a six-pack and a four-pack of them, I purchased those two options which cost $116.

The drawing above the deck was what I needed to accomplish
(used by permission of Paul Stratton at www.pastratton.com)

They turned out to be extremely heavy duty and the weight that could be supported by one bracket was listed as 1,375 pounds on one lumber website. The Stratton website showed a lower end of 330 pounds minimum supported by each bracket. It probably was overkill for a pergola but I was going for a bit of overkill. So I took this information and incorporated it into my building permit application of 17 pages which showed every detail of what I was planning for this pergola including the Stratton Bracket support on the wall. I wanted them to run through my numbers and give me approval before I built it. I really didn't want to have to take it down and change it later.

The Stratton Bracket is mounted to the wall and holds the ledger board away
(used by permission of Paul Stratton at www.pastratton.com)

In adding up the weight of the back half the pergola near the house I showed only about 500 pounds that needed to hang on those ten brackets, or just 50 pounds per bracket. Seeing as I pulled myself up from hanging on the bracket, and I weigh more than 50 pounds, I was happy at that calculation. As you can see in the options above I chose drawing "A" since I didn't want to disturb the inside walls and ceiling. The lag bolt would go through to top bracket hole and into the 2x4 inside the exterior wall, while a shorter lag bolt would go through the lower hole and lock in the installation.

The patio already had a heavy footing filled with rebar

On the other half of the pergola, the side by the outside edge of the deck, there would be more weight but there was also more support available for that. I had learned a lot about load weights and supports from my architect/friend on a previous building project, and knew I had to carry the weight directly down to the lowest solid support. The deck sat on 6x6 posts on a post base that was bolted into the concrete patio. But if that patio was a mere three inches or so that might not have supported the weight of the entire deck or the extra pergola. 

Lumber delivered to the house

Fortunately the builder had dug a footing at the end of the patio which was twelve inches wide and twelve inches deep and filled with rebar. I had taken a photo (above) that reminded me of the conversation I had with the builder. Though they were not thinking about a future pergola they were making sure of a firm foundation for the deck. My rough calculation for the pergola was about 1,400 pounds of lumber total with about 500 pounds on the half by the house and 900 pounds on the outside half. That means roughly 300 pounds would be supported on the concrete for each of the 6x6 posts. So when the inspector came by to check out the footing he said it would be fine for the pergola. I had dug a couple holes down 12 inches to show him the footing depth so I got the approval to start.

Clear caulking all around the gap and the brackets

The first project day was putting in the Stratton Brackets on the wall. That took a great deal of measuring as I started inside to locate the 2x4's behind the sheetrock, then had to transfer those measurements outside. I drilled a hole at the first mark and hit the 2x4 dead on so I marked all the others at 16 inches on center and started drilling, making sure each one found the 2x4. On the eighth one I could tell that I missed so I went back inside to do some checking with the stud finder. Turns out they changed the spacing on the wall after passing the patio door and it was a few inches shorter. Doing so was not necessarily against local codes, but to me it seemed as it was against "bro" code. Whenever I do a project I make sure it represents what a future owner or worker, or even myself, expect to find. To me, wall framing should be done sixteen inches on center and continue at that pace until you turn a corner. They probably saved one whole 2x4 doing it their way, but whatever. The last three drill holes also found their mark and I caulked up the errant hole. I painted over that spot and other gaps left by the builder, and called it a day to dry.

All ten brackets lined up like little soldiers

The next day I got out my impact drill and ran down ten lag bolts, each four-and a-half inches long, through the top hole in the Stratton Bracket. I had figured that going through the 1/8" bracket, the 3/8" siding, the 1/2" sheathing, and the 3-1/2" 2x4 in the wall added up to four-and-a-half inches, give or take. Either I would be a tad short or a tad long but only the point of the bolt was in that long tad. To give myself a little more leeway I ground down that tip about one-eighth on an inch. Thankfully none of the boltls poked through the wall inside and those bolts went in tight. I put some clear caulk in the hole and around the hole so it made a watertight seal behind the bracket (goes on milky white, dries clear). Then I went back over the entire length and caulked between the siding pieces just above the bracket, and all around each bracket. 

The 2x8 board set in the brackets with joist hangers added

Before the day was done I decided to mount the 2x8 joist hangers. For this application I used the Simpson LUC hanger which hid the nails inside and behind the joists, for a cleaner look. I put one on each end of the ledger board with the rest in between. These would support the 2x8's which would end up at 13-1/2 feet long and weigh about 40 pounds each when dry. If you were wondering how I figured out all these weights I found them at a website, https://roofonline.com/weight-of-pressure-treated-lumber/, which gave a weight per foot of all kinds of treated lumber both freshly treated and after drying. It was a very helpful site during all my planning and gave me accurate numbers to share with the inspector.

Post bases lined up and bolted down

Next up on the agenda was getting the post bases installed for the 6x6 posts. They went on the outside edge of the deck and I put them right up against the railing. Directly underneath each of them was another 6x6 post and I drove the six inch lag bolts into them with the impact drill. That is an amazing tool to put these lag bolts in far easier than with a ratchet. I might add at this point that the deck was "relatively" level across the length and width the pergola would take, but in a project with this many variables of house, siding, deck, and railing you simply go with what you have. I sighted plumb lines along the way and was happy when my lumber lines agreed with the ones on the house.

The 6x6 monster posts made plumb and nailed in at the base, and screwed into the railings

I needed my wife's help to pick up these 10' 6x6 posts and locate them inside the post base. When they were plumb I put screws through the railings to temporarily hold them until all the structure was built. A bunch of small joist/bracket nails held the post into the post base, which was in turn bolted to the post below and supported all the way down to the concrete. If you're wondering why that's so important it's because that entire length of post won't deflect. If I put a post above in between the two posts below then the weight of the pergola will eventually cause deflection and put a sag into the deck surface between  the two posts. It might not look all that bad but it would definitely not pass inspection. 

The main support beams are mounted on each side of the posts

I would have rather pushed those posts a little further down for even spacing on each end of this main support beam but I didn't like the thought of sagging. So instead I made the left side a cantilever which would support a couple extra joists out near the end which would match up with the other side of the support beam. It is noticeable but not awkwardly so. You'll see it a little better in later photos. Many of the pergola photos I saw supported those two beams differently, using a bolt or two drilled through from one side to the other and locked in with a lag bolt with washers and screws. Would that have been acceptable? Probably. Maybe. But I was going for a bit of overkill once again and so I used these Simpson DJT joist ties which directly support the beams. Those small but thick nails fill up dozens of holes and provide the engineering support. For good measure I also put a lag screw and washer through those half-inch holes and I nailed in some 16D (3-1/2") nails in the top of the beam where the posts meet. Overkill again. But it doesn't move. At the outside end I put up hurricane ties to keep the joist from moving either horizontally or vertically. 

The 2x8 joists nailed into the joist ties at the wall and on the beam

It was finally time to join the two sides together with the 2x8 joists. Note that the bottom of the ledger board and the bottom of the joists on the wall end is at the same level as the top of the 2x10 support beams at the outside end. This makes for a level-height ceiling. If you're going to build similar to this, I stress that you make sure of those heights. The roof joists are higher than the support beam, and rest on top of them. I had that on my drawings and I checked them somewhere around 128 times (give or take) and still I ended up with the top of the support beam and the top of the joists at the same level. Want an idea of what that looks like? It looked like more of a low-pitched roof when I put one board up there to check my eyes. It was way off. Fortunately I caught it before finishing that entire roof system. In the end I took one of my Cats Paw Nail Pullers and ground the end down to a sharp edge. This allowed it to get under the head of those little joist nails and remove them. I was afraid I would have to replace that entire structure of post and beams but my son was gracious to say he would pay to replace them if that had to be done. Fortunately my modified tool did the job and I lived to tell the tale.

Hurricane ties help lock in joists to the support beam

If you have been keeping track to this point you will notice that I have used five different types of support brackets to hold all of this structure together. The ABA post base locks the 6x6 post above to the post below. The Stratton Bracket supports the 2x8 ledger board. The LUC joist bracket support and lock the joists to the ledger board. The DJT brackets support and lock the 2x10 support beams to the 6x6 posts. And the H1 hurricane tie locks the joist to the support beam. Is there any other way to do this? Well, if you scroll through the many photos of pergolas online you will see some that have few, if any, specialized brackets. Some of the videos I watched made it clear that some simply put in a 16D nail to make most of their connections, counting on them and gravity to hold things in place. Because of the final layer of purlins on top of the joists, the roof area is about two-thirds wood and one-third open. In the event of high winds the roof of a pergola can be ripped right off and flung far away. I watched our trampoline rise fifty feet into the air and fly a couple hundred feet into the woods during a really strong straight line wind event. I respect the power of the wind. My inspector made that point to me when he mentioned he was happy I used proper connectors. Using nails instead of these hurricane ties may well allow the joist to be pulled out of the beam. Are those connectors pretty? To many I guess they are not. But to me and my son who understand the physics of building they look pretty cool because they will help this project last the test of time. Another bonus of this hurricane tie is that it keeps the joist vertical since it supports three inches on each side.

The purlins at the top are full-size 2x4's spaced every 6 inches

The final step was adding the purlins to the top of the joists. I noticed that not every pergola has these as only the joists are often used to provide the shade. But they didn't seem to provide enough cover for my tastes so I looked for other options. One particular build online struck my fancy as it used full 2x4's instead of 1x2's or 1x4's. Yes, those smaller boards would be lighter and cheaper than 2x4's but I also wanted it to be stronger structurally. Remember overkill? The purlins will lock in all the joists and provide a checkerboard pattern of strength. This project took me two days as I was working by myself. I cut the 2x4's down on the ground, hoisted them up against the railing above, then went up on the deck to pull them up and run them up on the joists. After I figured out the spacing for the 25 2x4's I had purchased I screwed one along the wall, one at the outer edge, and one in the middle. I had made marks every six inches on the outside joists so it was then a matter of lining up the mark of the 2x4 with the mark on the 2x8 and put a long screw or two through to the joist. I put in just enough to get a feeling of solidity and then I carefully climbed up on top to finished aligning the last holdouts. I had done everything from down below, squeezing through between the joist for as many as I could reach. Then I put double screws in all the outside lumber, and at strategic points through the rest. The last bunch were single screws but the point of the double screws was to keep them from warping as much as possible.

Yep, that's me up on top of the pergola putting in all the screws

Since I just finished this in the middle of December the sun is at its lowest in the sky, but as it gets closer to summer the sun will be more overheard. The pergola may not be a screened-in porch but it does provide some cover and shade from the sun. When the shade is on the deck floor it almost feels like another room of the house, even though we know it's not.

Here you can see the cantilever on the right side of the support beam

Love the pattern of the pergola roof

Has the feeling of a room all its own

It will eventually get stained like the deck

A worthwhile project!

You might also notice that I placed a couple braces up in the corners at the support beam. While all that lumber is locked down together with all the brackets, it could still rack sideways in a monstrous wind. The railings are screwed into the posts which would likely make it impossible to sway side to side, but I wanted to provide some triangulation on the corners. Those corner pieces keep that 90 degree angle at 90 degrees and prevent racking.

As a final note, this project cost us a total of $1,350 for building supplies and miscellaneous. That includes the building permit fee ($115), the pile of lumber in 6x6, 2x10, 2x8, and 2x4 sizes ($710), delivery charge from Home Depot ($79), Stratton Brackets ($116), all the other bracket connectors and lag screws and washers and nails and screws ($266), and sales tax ($64). My initial plan came in at about $1,000 as we were first looking at building one about two-thirds the size. My first plan also used 4x4 posts instead of 6x6 posts, 2x8's instead of 2x10's for the support beams, and then 2x6's instead of 2x8's for the joists. But one of the posts I read online mentioned that they upsized theirs because it didn't look like it fit with the rest of the house and it made sense. But in the end it was what my son and his wife wanted and it was worth the investment.

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

Driving Rideshare (Make $50 An Hour!)

I had not heard of the concept of rideshare before I moved to Georgia at the end of 2016. Uber (originally called UberCab) officially launched in San Francisco in June 2010, while Lyft came a couple years later launching their purple-mustached cars in June 2012. The idea came from the way college students often tried to arrange rides home during the holidays and other events, usually paying some of the gas costs along the way. Ordinary people signed up to drive using their own vehicle through the use of the rideshare mobile app. Riders could search for a ride on the app after adding their pickup and dropoff location, while drivers would be able to accept rides shown on the app and be directed to the location of the rider. The rider would be shown the full price of the ride at that time and the driver would be shown a lower price for picking them up and driving them to their desired location. The difference between those amount would be the profit to the company.

Lyft's purple mustache

Most drivers who would sign up for either Uber of Lyft saw this as a side hustle for extra money, and therefore drove nights after work or on the weekends getting people to their destinations. That was my original need upon moving to Georgia as I had been unsuccessful in finding a job in the Atlanta area during my search all through 2016. As that year wound down and I was looking for what to do after 2017 began, I figured it was worth a shot for a few months as I was still looking for a job in my new home. "Just a few months" is what I figured as the new year began. But then life happened.

The first family event was in April 2017 as our son and his fiance were going to get married in Tennessee. My other two sons and us spent several days in a large rented cabin and had a great time altogether. Then in May my wife and I drove to Missouri for my mom's 80th birthday celebration and had a great time with so many family and friends together. Then in June we headed up the Northern Michigan for the funeral of my wife's mother and our whole family group was there to say goodbye. That was a sadder events but it was nice to see extended family. I began to realize that I was not likely to have the time off from a regular full-time job to attend these family events and was thankful for the chance to go to each of them. But I still continued to look for a job. Then came the end of August and my appendix burst, and I was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. Because of the poison in my body and the swollen appendix the doctor had to remove the poison first and wait for the appendix swelling to go down. I was relegated to rest while dealing with the suction tube for two months, September and October. Then there was family Thanksgiving in November, a fourteen inch "blizzard" (for Georgia anyways) in December, and then Christmas and New Years celebrations. I discovered that people in Atlanta who normally used rideshare throught most of the year took time off from Halloween to after New Years and therefore I had very few rides. In spite of that I was happy to have money coming in.

In the beginning people always asked me why I drove for Lyft instead of Uber and I said that I had spoken to an associate at my bank who drove for both and suggested I start with Lyft. As Uber was about ten times larger than Lyft at that time he though that it would be easier for me to get the hang of all the things you had to do with Lyft, then move on to Uber. Except I didn't feel like moving to Uber because of all the bad publicity they were getting at that time. But one former driver made me promise to try Uber and so I did that first August. I spent one full week's worth of time and discovered that Uber was no longer what that driver remembered. It had changed drastically from his time five years before. All I was given was short five dollar rides and I had to drive a third more rides than Lyft to make up for that. In addition it cost me more money in gas because of more miles driven. So I decided Uber wasn't for me and never drove for them again.

This tanker went airborne and somersaulted right in front of me while driving for Lyft

When starting out at Lyft, the amount charged by the company for the use of its app was 20% of gross earnings. I found out that had just changed from the 10% it used to be. That would be offset a little by any other tips or bonuses available. That first year my overal fee to Lyft was about 17% of gross earnings but nearly 29% after including vehicle expenses. In other words, I lost 29% of earnings (my money) and spent money for auto costs (also my money) and only got to keep 71%. Lyft drivers complained that they were the ones also subsidizing Lyft just like the venture capitalists buying into startup companies. Out of that 71% I had to pay self-employment taxes, health insurance, and far more in auto expenses since I was driving five times the amount of miles as before and things wore out more quickly. I put a set of tires on once or twice a year, oil changes every other months, and stuff was always breaking. I filled up the gas tank at least once a day, more when I drove into the night. And went gas prices went up significantly, who had to pay the extra? Yep, all the Lyft drivers.

An interesting development happened at the end of 2017 that changed the dynamic of rideshare for me. I had been driving my minivan during that year since it was my vehicle and I figured that I might make more money hauling people around who wanted a larger ride. But it didn't work out that way as Lyft never signed me up to be in the "Plus" category of ride vehicles. So when the transmission quit working I was without it for over a week as they replaced the transmission under warranty. During that time my wife said I had better use "her" car since we still needed the money. So it took her little Hyundai Elantra out for six days and I thought I would hate it, but the small car drove admirably in the city. The only difference was that other drivers had no fear of the little Hyundai as they did of my much larger minivan. One thing eventually occurred to me, which I should have thought of earlier, was that the little car used half the gas as the minivan. Duh. But I had never really thought about gas mileage, just that I liked driving "my" vehicle. When I got the minivan back I had a discussion with my wife about this piece of information and she grudgingly switched vehicles. Turns out she hated the minivan so I had to get her a small SUV instead. And she was finally happy again.

What would this article be without a requisite spreadsheet?

I've included a spreadsheet of my nearly six years with Lyft, and you can click on it to see it larger and more clearly. You may be surprised at some of the numbers you see. When I signed up there were ads touting $30-$50 dollars an hour when you drove with them. As with many ads the truth is not quite that simple and there tend to be many asterisks around them. The asterisk would have been that they counted the gross income paid to the driver for only the time driving the rider to their destination. If by magic you could drive a passenger (who showed up on time) to their destination, and then be magically beamed over to your next right, you might make $30-$50 over the space of an hour. But they never included the drive to find the rider, or the riding around waiting for the next ride. The most I ever made was $15 an hour after all expenses, during 2020 and 2021, which happened to be during the pandemic. That's when everyone was getting $15 an hour so I felt like we were not getting a fair shake considering our vehicles got destroyed in the process. Take that $15 I made an hour in my best year, then double it since Lyft took half of what I made, brings you to $30 an hour. Take some of the best rides a driver makes when all the planets align and you could easily make $50 or more per hour by their reasoning. But their fantasy world was never our reality. And a further reality was that when you take out the depreciation of the vehicles, which is not included in the spreadsheet, I made zero money and even less than zero a couple years. 

 

My saving grace was that Hyundai Elantra. We had purchased it brand new in 2013 and my wife got to drive it four-and-a-half years putting 38,000 miles on it. We had paid it off by the time we moved to Georgia so there was no car payment and I was getting nearly 30 miles a gallon during the time I drove it. When it reached 235,000 miles it was starting to complain and we sold it off. For anyone contemplating driving rideshare that is the key. You need a small car with good mileage and it really helps if you already have one paid for. I heard many stories along the way of drivers who bought a more expensive car and then wondered why they never had any money. It turned out they forgot to consider all the costs of the vehicle in their rideshare business. If you think the household is paying the car payment and the gas is on the credit card when you buy the gas then you'll think all the money paid out every week is for you to spend. But you would be wrong since so much of the money is actually needed to just pay for the car. I can't tell you how many former Lyft drivers I ended picking up at the car rental place or the car dealer because they had to turn the car back in. I had everything in my favor during my six years and still made only $10-$15 an hour during the best of times. Had I been able to get a full day's driving in every day it could have been better, but a rideshare driver is at the mercy of the market. Some days you can't find a rider for hours and the day is wasted.

In the long run I was glad to have the flexibility to deal with the vagaries of life that we faced. In 2018 we got back on our schedule of taking vacations, one that had started back in 2009 as we became empty-nesters. It helped back then to have a job that offered three weeks paid vacation, but that would not be the case now. As I often said to anyone who would listen, I can take the time off but I won't get paid for it. Sick days, family events, and doing favors now all came out of my pocket. Thankfully 2018 was a good year and I was able to work most all that year. In 2019 we decided to pool our resources with my son and family and buy a house together. You can read about that elsewhere on the blog. This meant getting our house ready to sell, getting it sold, and moving all our stuff back to our son's home and in storage until the house was built. Then I took the last four months of that year starting to work on the basement apartment project. 

 

For 2020 that project continued into May, which means there were eight months spanning two separate years that we had no income. We had to go into our retirement fund to pay the bills. My other big year was in 2021 where Lyft said I made over $82,000! Unfortunately my share of that ended up being just under $33,300 but that was the most I ever made in a year driving with Lyft. Then 2022 became my final year as I was on my third car that only made it to August. Because of Atlanta's emissions testing it needed to be be able to pass emissions, but failed. My auto mechanic could not repair it and I decided to end my time with Lyft. Those last few months were the worst of all my time there, with income much lower than normal, and my son said it wasn't worth driving for that little money. I decided to retire and that was it.

So, was it worth it? You know, much of life happens organically and I have been following the bread crumbs God has placed for me. At least that's the way I look at it. In the grand scheme of things I was able to bring in an income to the family, help our son with his family, visit family around the country more than we ever have, buy a home, sell a home, buy another home with our son, build up our apartment in the home, help on new projects around the home, all the while enjoying our granddaughters every day. While I would not have imagined Lyft to be the vehicle to make that happen, it worked for us. You just never know what will make the difference in your life.

Until next time,

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)