I have a construction question.

Adding a Pergola to the rear deck.  It's one that bolts to the house on one end and two 4X4s on the other.  The side that bolts to the house requires a 2X6, no problem.  When the house was sided, aluminum coil stock was bent around for a new fascia, it is square to the roof which has a pitch so the fascia is ~15* from vertical.  The aluminum is nailed to the old rafters, spaced 12" apart; not enough to support a pergola. 

I removed the aluminum cover and sofit exposing the rafters, I can put a 2X6 header across the current appearance and reinstall the aluminum, but that won't get me vertical.  I can make it vertical, but then I have to redo the side pieces of trim and I don't have a brake.  (break?)

So, the question:  I can reinforce the fascia, but how do I attach a 2X6 flush at the top and ~1" away at the bottom?  I have a good, solid nailing surface but don't want to use wood shims.  Can I cut PVC, teflon et al wedges and nail the pergola brace to the 2X6 behind the flashing?

Sorry, this may be hard to follow, but what can I make wedges out of that won't rot?

These are the installation instructions.  Scroll down to section 9.

Please let me know if there's something I don't understand, I don't insult easily.

Thanks, Dan

What about this...

Cut the rafters off vertically about 1 1/2" shorter.  Attach the 2x6 to them and let that 2x6 act as the new fascia.  That way you create no trap for water runoff from the roof as it will fall on the outside of that 2x6.

OBTW, you don't need a brake to get clean bends on that coil aluminum if it is just small pieces.

What about a Simpson LSU adjustable hanger, then cut the end of the beams to match the fascia angle?

Add a 1" thick strip of PT wood at the bottom.
 

Or, cut wedges out of PT wood. 
 

Bolt through to the fascia with lag bolts. 

Thanks guys.

I would get some of that plastic wood like "Trex" and rip a piece down to fit that gap.  It does not need to be a wedge, just enough to fill the gap so you are not looking up at it everytime you walk under it and big enough to offer a solid support to the beam.  

I just finished my pergola-ish patio roof last month.  It was a mess behind the siding.  That end of the house has rubber roofing (not much slope) and no soffit.  The wall of the house had a bow to it, so the middle of the siding was all spaced out about 2".  I just stretched a string across and measured from the string into the studs and ripped some PT to space it out and give me a straight surface.

If you haven't discovered the FastenMaster "lok" line of fasteners, they are your best friend.  LedgerLok and HeadLok are wonderful things.  They are a screw that can be driven by a normal impact driver, but they are self-drilling and a replacement for a 3/8" lag bolt.  My entire 8' x 12' patio roof is held up by just 6 of those screws, and given the shear strength of the screws, the screws will hold more weight than the 2x6s will.

I have hundreds of them in the shop at the theater.  I can assemble 4x8 platforms with one screw and it will pull them all square.  I could have 32' of platforms and using one screw between each one will pull it so tight that I can sight down the plywood decks and not see even a 1/16" variation in the line.  I call them orgasm screws because I get a little orgasm every time I put one in.

Related pergola question:

Whats the best way to angle the cross-pieces of the pergola?  I was thinking of 3d printing/fabricating somehow a jig to hold them at an angle and screwing them in from the side as opposed to resting them on top of the "joists" (or whatever they would be called in this situation).  Is there a standard trick for this?

The goal would be to create something that is angled so it provides shade in summer, exposure in the winter.

That is typically called an integrated or flush purlin.  That is how I did mine since I was vertically limited.  I'll get a pic soon.

You simply cut the purlin to fit between the rafters and screw in the sides of the rafter.  You could then angle them at whatever rake you wanted.

Makes sense.  Are there long term effects from that as the (very low) load is now going through screws in shear as opposed to directly transferred to the beam below?

There is a 99% chance I won't do this at my current house, but I can very much see doing it at the next house.  Actually I'm a bit surprised it isn't more common for more homes to have overhangs that keep (direct) light out in the summer, but allow it in other seasons.

It is unfortunate that most homes are designed with very little thought given to this.

Maybe we can turn this into the official pergola construction question thread, because I've got a question too.  This summer I'm planning to put in a concrete driveway and patio.  The driveway will be "regular" concrete, the patio is probably going to be stamped concrete.  I'm going to put a pergola on the patio, but I'm finding conflicting info on how to anchor it to the patio.

Option 1: Before putting in the patio, sink the upright posts in concrete footings that extend below the frost line.

Option 2: Before putting in the patio, put in concrete footings that extend below the frost line but have a J-bolt/anchor bolt coming out of the footing, then attach the pergola posts to the j-bolts using a bracket after the patio is put in.

Option 3: After the patio is put in, attach the posts to the concrete patio using a bracket and tapcons or some other anchor.

I live in Windsor, Ontario Canada, just across the border from Detroit.  I don't have to worry about earthquakes but we do get some pretty strong storms (gusts of 70mph aren't uncommon in a storm) and lots of freeze/thaw cycles in the winter.  I don't plan on hanging a swing from the pergola, so there won't be those forces to consider.

Option 1 seems like it will be the strongest, but is it overkill for a pergola?  Option 3 would be the most desirable for me as far as the order of getting things done, but will that be strong enough?  Considering option 3 is how automotive lifts are mounted, I assume it would be fine for a pergola, but wanted to check with people who know better than me. Thanks!

In reply to Schmidlap :

If your pergola has a solid wall or two to keep it from falling over (or some manner of cross bracing for the same purpose) then attaching to the concrete with post bases should work.

Otherwise, if it's just four unbraced legs and open sides I think you need to bury those posts.  

In reply to Schmidlap :

Your issue is gonna be the freeze/ thaw cycles plus the wind.  
 

Option 1 is a technique I have used for years successfully. However, I am building in the Southern US. Imbedding wood in the concrete is not generally recommended (although I've never had an issue). If I was in Canada, I wouldn't do it. Water will work it's way down the joint between the wood and the concrete, and sit in the footing. When it freezes, it will expand and eventually crack the concrete. The combination you have of wind and freeze cycles would put stresses on the footings over time- I would expect them to fail within 5 years. 
 

Option 3 is not a good solution. Yes, it will hold a car lift.  But car lifts are only subjected to compression- they don't have a wind load on them. 
 

Option 2 is probably your best bet, but you need to check with local builders familiar with anchoring techniques in your local climate area.  They will know how to do this well. 
 

BTW, you are also gonna need solid connections at your roof purlins. If these connections are weak, they will enable a little bit of movement at the top of the posts, which will stress the footings as the posts move. If these connections are really strong, then all 4 legs help to hold each other up. Perhaps consider welded timber frame connection brackets instead of the cheap nail-on plates available at home centers. Again, check with local builders. 

Schmidlap: 

Look at some Home Depot and Lowes' pergolas, get dimensions and read the installation guide.  If it was me, I would put in some sono-tubes at the suspected locations and after the patio is down, use the bases below to secure it.  Just identify the locations because stubbing a toe on 5/8" threaded rod just hurts like hell.

Thanks everybody!

Build this 4 years ago 

Still

holding on ok 

When I anchored my posts to the patio, I used some Simpson plastic spacers.  They're just plastic molded things that keep the post from sitting in water when the concrete is wet.

I drilled the patio with a 3/4" bit and drilled the bottom of the post 3/4".  You fill both cavities with construction epoxy and put a piece of threaded rod or rebar in it.  Proper construction called for 10" each side, but my patio is only 4" thick, so I went through the concrete and about 6" into the post because that was how long the bit was.  Then I cut rebar to 12".  That put the rebar the whole way into the post, and the whole way through the epoxy/concrete and into dirt.  It was a positive way to be sure the rebar was fully contacting all the epoxy.

The ones 914Driver posted work very well also, but I prefer them for non-visible locations like under a deck.

These are the ones I used.  You screw them to the bottom (just to keep them in place) and the rebar/threaded rod goes in the middle.

Here are my bases as installed.  This isn't something I would do in Tornado alley, or Florida, but in suburban PA in a wooded lot on the leeward side of the house, it's overkill.

ProDarwin, you had talked about integrated or flush purlins.  Here is how I did mine.  I still may add strong ties, but not sure.  I'm right on the border of snow load so I think I'll skip it for appearance reasons.  By my calculations from the roofing manufacturer, this spacing can take more snow than PA has seen for 10 years.

Hi folks. Sorry for bumping the thread. I need some help with choosing wooden beams for trusses. Any tips or recs are welcome.  TIA

Hi folks. Sorry for bumping the thread. I need some help with choosing wooden beams for trusses. Any tips or recs are welcome.  TIA

Samueljecket said:

Hi man. Think about the type of wood and its dimensions. Some types of wood are stronger and more durable than others.

Wood canoes are kinda uncommon now. Typically aluminum or fiberglass is used to construct lately.

wusene said:

Hi folks. Sorry for bumping the thread. I need some help with choosing wooden beams for trusses. Any tips or recs are welcome.  TIA

Lighter wooden beams would be less likely to sink your canoe. I would recommend Oak.

Sad I missed this the first time - gonna share what I did anyway.

• My house had wimpy little trim boards nailed on the end of the rafters when it was built.  Not sufficient for a pergola.
• These trim boards had been wrapped with aluminum at some point and a plastic soffit installed.
• My pergola height had to sit above the gutters so it wasn't comically low.

With that in mind, I got to work.

• Strip the plastic soffit, save for reuse.
• Glued and screwed a 2x6 cut down to fit to the back of the trim board.
• Sistered in 2xWhatevers to the existing rafters and tied them to my new 2x6, glued and screwed.  
• Made brackets from 1/4" plate steel and angle iron to support and space out my cross bars.  
  • Bolted below the gutters, kicked out and raised above the gutters.  
• Welded pockets in to the brackets to support my cross bars, screwed the 2x4s into them.  

Way overkill.  You could park a Chinook on top of it and be fine.