"Arbor" Anyone?

[JackLeg]

Got a call from a lady today who had seen some of our cypress stuff. She wants us to build an arbor for her. She's gonna send me a pic of what she has in mind. :eusa_thin

Anyone ever built one? Or more? Any suggestions? Tips. Need all the advice we can get on this.

Never met this lady, but I can tell on the phone this thing's gotta look right.

Thanx in advance.
:notworthy::notworthy:

 

[Mike Davis]

It should look fine on the phone. :wsmile:


Never built an arbor as such, but I built sort of a half arbor around a brick walled garden. They wanted to hide the brick and have something for vines to grow on and hanging baskets. Oh, and they wanted lights hung under the edge where they couldn't be seen but would light up the garden.

Wish I had pictures, it turned out great and they were very happy with the whole project.

Is this going to be a light weight arbor or a post and beam monster arbor?

 

[Glennbear]

If memory serves me correctly Dave O had a post a few years back about an arbor he built. Landscaping and woodworking are his forte so he would be the man with the answers. :wsmile:

 

[DaveO]

Somebody does pay attention to my posts...thanks Glenn.
I've done a few -

That's all that I have pictures of on this site. I have 3 or 4 more stored on my 'puter at work.
I often can find a lot of inspiration from this site -
http://www.walpolewoodworkers.com/

Also you have to define exactly what your client is wanting. Arbor and Pergola are often interchanged, and that makes life confusing. An Arbor is technically a structure to grow vines on. It might be small as something over a fence gate or as large as a small room. A Pergola is definitely something that you can walk under. It's true definition is a long shaded walk with an over head structure.

In general they are very easy to build in the classic style. Timbers stacked on top of each other in descending thickness. I like to notch out where the timbers meet. The really artistic work comes in with the edge and end treatment of the top timbers and the trimming out of the posts.
If you have any specific questions please let me know....I am sure that everybody doesn't want me to continue rambling on my arbor/pergola thoughts :roll::lol::lol::lol:

Dave

 

[Trent Mason]

Dave,

When I saw your post, the first photo reminded me of this. I've always wanted to build a scale model of that or something similar to it. What type of wood did you use? Those beams appear to be laminated? In the words of Led Zeppelin, "it's time to ramble on." :lol::lol::lol:

Trent

 

[ashley_phil]

there was a great plan in wood magazine last spring i believe.

 

[McRabbet]

Here is an arbor I built at our old home in Durham. It is made with PT SYP and we had Mandavillia's growing up each side.

The horizontal members are 2 x 2 stock and the posts are stock 4 x 4's set in concrete The arches are cut from 1" x 12" stock and overlapped in three layers. They were glued with Titbond III and screwed together with brass screws. I caulked the top and bottom seams and painted the entire unit with several coats of exterior alkyd latex paint.

 

[Trent Mason]

That is very nice Rob! :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap The snow accents it perfectly. Thanks for sharing the details too. I always wonder how people get arches like that. :eusa_thin

Trent

 

[DaveO]

Dave,

When I saw your post, the first photo reminded me of this. I've always wanted to build a scale model of that or something similar to it. What type of wood did you use? Those beams appear to be laminated? In the words of Led Zeppelin, "it's time to ramble on." :lol::lol::lol:

Trent

WOW, Trent that is really cool!! I would love to have someone pay me to make something like that someday.
That was done with Pine, and it is a bent-lam. Doing a bent-lam with 22' long 1" x 6" Pine is fun no matter how you look at it :roll::roll:

Dave