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How To Build A Garage Pergola

Parking our car got a little more scenic this weekend with the completion of our carport pergola. Or, cargola (pergolaport?) if you will.

building-a-garage-or-carport-pergola

Last week we talked about dressing up our carport with the help of some pergola plans from Workbench Magazine. The plans took a lot of the guesswork out of it, but there was still plenty of actual work. All-in-all it took about 4.5 days of work (the half day was spent picking up the materials, which we talked about here) but I’m gonna boil it down to one simple post. So here we go.

Pergola After Straight On

 

What you need to know is that there were four main parts to this building project: 1) the column, 2) the braces, 3) the joists, and 4) the lath.

Pergola 1 Parts

Most attached pergolas don’t have the column in the equation (they just attach to the walls beside or above a garage door or a french door), but because our carport only had posts on the left side (see below) our first assignment was to add one on the right to add symmetry and create a place for the pergola to attach.

Pergola Before Straight

To attach a post to our concrete floor, we used this post base which is built for situations like this. And I got to break out my hammer drill to make a pilot hole for the concrete anchor, which was a good time. I bought the hammer drill back when I was starting the deck, but never ended up using it, so I’m glad I had it around because I needed it’s drill-plus-hammer motion to get through the concrete. Then I hammered in a wedge anchor and tightened the nut to keep it in place.

Pergola 2 Attaching Post Base

I attached another metal post base on the ceiling (this time just using heavy-duty screws) so that we could slide a 4 x 4″ post right in there and nail it into place.

Pergola 3 Post In

Since that post is neither very attractive or big enough, we used the same method as we did when we beefed up our porch columns. They didn’t sell any pre-primed pine in long enough boards, so we primed and painted the two 1 x 6″ and one 1 x 4″ boards before hanging them. Here I am using our nail gun to attach the boards in place and give the column a chunkier look.

Pergola 5 John Attaching

After we caulked the seams and added some touch-up paint, our first of four steps was officially checked off the list. And I should add that this took me the better part of my first day (with occasional “hold this with me” and “take a picture of this step” and “help me paint while Clara naps” assistance from Sherry).

Pergola 6 Column Complete Text

The other part of day one was spent getting started on my braces (or “knee braces” if I’m feeling formal). These were by far the most complicated of all four steps, since there were four sub-step when it came to building each one.  We originally hoped to purchase these pre-made, but we couldn’t find any in the size that we needed. In the end, I’m glad I made them because it was much cheaper.

Pergola 7 Brace Parts

Some of the braces that I saw online were going for $50 – $100 a piece, depending on the size. Each of mine were made from one single 12 ft piece of 2 x 6″ and a few bolts, making mine about $22 each. So the first step was to cut my 2 x 6″ into the lengths that my plans called for. Burger double-checked my work.

Pergola 8 Wood Burger Bomb

First up was what I’m calling the “base” (the part that rests against the column). They were pretty straightforward. I cut some decorative notches on the bottom with my miter saw and then used some hole-boring bits to make a few places on each side to countersink my bolts. Again, my plan took a lot of the mystery out of what to do, but it was still a bit tedious.

Pergola 9 Base

The next pieces I tackled were the “beams” – the parts that would stick out from the base at a 90° angle. They were really easy, which was lucky because I had to make four of them. I actually clamped two together when I made the cut so that I’d be sure the beams that got paired together on the same brace were absolutely identical.

Pergola 10 Beam

With the easy stuff out of the way, I turned my attention to the “arch.” Yes, a dreaded curved cut. Cue the dramatic music. To mark my curved line, I tapped some temporary nails into the wood at both ends and at the middle/top of my curve. Then I used a thin piece of scrap wood (a small piece of PVC works too) and bent it over my nails to create an arched shape. That held long enough for me to mark the curved line between my two nail-points.

Pergola 11 Arch Marking Curve

Next was the challenge of actually cutting that line. Since I don’t own a scroll saw, I had to rely on my jigsaw. It did the job okay, but since it’s sometimes hard to keep the blade perfectly vertical, my arch had a couple of wonky spots (not majorly wonky, but wonky enough that I noticed them) so we sanded the heck out of it to try to smooth things out.

Pergola 12 Arch Cut

After some vigorous sanding they were a lot better looking, and some primer further cleaned things up (we primed all of our brace pieces together once they were all cut out).

Pergola 13 Painting Brace

Then we had to assemble them. It was a tricky system of clamps, temporary nail gun nails, and balancing on scrap wood pieces to get it done, so don’t even try to make sense of this picture (it’s upside down, if that helps).

Pergola 14 Assembling Brace

Basically we had to get both of the beams and the single arch piece aligned (and centered and level) and then screw them to the base using some 3″ lag bolts. It took a bit of finesse to get it all done without attaching something slightly crooked, but eventually we got the job done.

Pergola 15 Lag Screws In Back

Then we had to drive some bolts through two beams (and the portion of the arch that sat between them). It sounds very straightforward, but the process took me a while and the rest of the day was spent rerouting a gutter and outdoor light fixture. So by the end of day two we had built two braces, but I couldn’t call this step complete since they were neither painted (that happened the next morning) nor hung (which also got done the next day).

Pergola 17 Both Done

Hanging them took some finesse too, mostly because one of us had to hold the weight of it while the other checked that it was level and temporarily nailed it into place. There’s no way brad nails would support the weight of it over time, but they kept each brace in place long enough for us to drive a lag bolt into the top and bottom of each one, which secured it for the long haul.

Pergola 19 Tightening Brace

By noon on day three we were finally ready to move on to step 3.

Pergola 20 Braces Complete Text

Step 3 was the joists. You know, those two long pieces that would rest on each of the braces. These were again made from 2 x 6″ board and again they required a decorative curved cut (marked below). We did the curve on just the left side since on the right side they’d butt up against the side of the house.

Pergola 21 Marks On Joists

Once they were cut, we hoisted them into place and marked the exact spot where they rested on the braces.

Pergola 22 John Marking Notches

These marks showed me where we needed to cut notches in the joists so they’d sit tight on the braces. And while we had them down, we also primed and painted them.

Pergola 23 Cutting Notches

While the paint dried I got started on step 4, so it wasn’t until the next morning that we could actually hoist them into place. As for how we screwed them into place, we basically drilled a long pilot hole through the top of each joist and used a long drill bit to screw right through the top of the joist and into the brace’s beam below.

Pergola 24 Joists Complete Text

The last step was the lath, or the small strips that create the rail across the top. Since we were going to paint ours I couldn’t use the pre-cut pressure treated 2 x 2″ pieces that they sell pre-cut for deck railings (they say pressure treated lumber should be allowed to “dry out” for a number of weeks before paint or stain traps the treatment’s moisture in – and we wanted to paint things right away). So we bought regular 2 x 2″ boards that were 8 feet long and cut them down at home. This ended up being substantially cheaper, but we needed 50 of them (including a few just-in-case extras) so cutting and sanding them took me a good two hours. It was not exactly fun, but it was nice and mindless. Then came priming and painting all. those. pieces.

Pergola 26 Lath Priming

We had to cover all four sides of them since they’d all be seen, so thank goodness the paint had good coverage and it only took one coat (it’s Benjamin Moore Exterior paint leftover from the previous owners). Once everything was dry, we could start putting the lath into place on top of the joists.

Pergola 27 John Putting Up

This was the point that we both started to get giddy because the pergola was actually starting to look like a pergola. Oh and we cut a few 3-inch wide “spacers”out of scrap wood to help us keep our gaps even so we could screw them into place as quickly as possible (see the two longer unpainted boards in the picture below?).

Pergola 28 Screwing Lath

By the end of day four, step four was 100% done.

Pergola 30 Lath Complete Text

And with that, we could step back and enjoy our gussied-up carport. How YOU doin?

Pergola Before And After

We’re both crazy happy with how it turned out. We were nervous (well, I was nervous) because it wasn’t the most conventional spot for a pergola – but it really is a huge upgrade. Suddenly that parking space tacked on the end of our house has some character. It has actually turned two anti-carport people (remember we almost didn’t look at this house just because it had one) into carport lovers. Well, cargola lovers.

Pergola After Side Angle

Despite being a bit tedious, none of the labor was really that back-breaking. And the DIY price can’t be beat – especially when we heard that custom attached pergola kits are being sold for over 2K! Here’s where ours wound up:

  • Truck rental (to get materials home): $19
  • Lumber: $112
  • Post bases: $23
  • Nuts, bolts, & screws: $46
  • Materials to reroute gutter & light: $14
  • Paint & primer: Already owned
  • TOTAL: $214

Oh and if you have a carport that already has two columns (or a garage with outside walls to rest the braces on) and you buy the braces instead of building them it would be about 50% easier (and should cut out around 2 days of work). So that’s an awesome option for anyone who wants to instantly cut four steps down to two.

Pergola After From Sidewalk

I feel like the new pergola gives our house a bit of “quaintness” (if that’s a word). We especially like how it frames the view of our street, which is currently blooming like crazy. Either way, it definitely adds some nice dimension to our flat ranch.

Pergola After Looking Out

So yeah, between this and our beefed up porch columns, we’re falling in love with the front of our house all over again. And can you just imagine some flowering vines growing up those posts and across the top of the pergola? Holy charming, batman.

Pergola After Full House

What’s on your outdoor agenda these days?

Comments

  1. Laura C says

    I’m so impressed – it looks fantastic! And, you can decorate with hanging flower planters until whatever vine you choose grows in. Awesome job!

    Reply

  2. Parke says

    The pergola looks amazing!! I seem to remember y’all mentioning possibly adding a pergola over the deck… is that still an option? I would LOVE to see that project!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We thought about that some more and worry it’ll close things in since those two exterior house walls on either side of the deck are a lot closer (and fully closed in, whereas the carport is more open) so for now we think leaving it open is nice. We think swagged white string lights would be pretty up above though!

      xo
      s

  3. Shaina says

    Nice job! I love the character it adds. We’ve been considering putting a pergola on our detached garage for awhile, but have felt a little intimidated by it. It *seems* simple enough, but you really made the process look pretty easy and doable.

    On a side note, I am a little jealous of how green your neighborhood is! Here in Kansas, our Spring has been so strange (86 today, 52 by Wednesday for example), we still have a lot of trees that don’t have leaves yet. Poor nature is so confused…

    Reply

  5. Sarah Woods says

    Our house had a garage on it that burnt down long before we bought it. The hubs and I were talking about building one back at some point, but didn’t know if the cost would be worth it since we are not planning on staying in this house forever. I showed him your carport and now we think that is the way we are going to go. Covered area for entertaining on the weekends and a way to keep frost off the car in the winter. It is a win, win! I’ll keep you updated when we decide to do it in five years ;)

    Reply

  9. Allisen says

    I personally prefer “pergolaport.” I can’t stop saying it in my head! I think I will attempt to work it into everyday conversation today :)

    PS. It looks awesome, I wish I had somewhere to put one!

    Reply

  11. Kate Sigler says

    One good vine idea is a combination of Morning Glory and Moon Vine. As with their names, the Morning Glory shows its blooms in the morning and the Moon Vine in the evening. That way you have blooms throughout the day that change as the day progresses.

    Reply

  12. Diane says

    Sara Richardson would approve.

    Do your neighbors comment on your DIY improvements? Or do they just hate you? LOL!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      They seem to love watching us do all the work! One of our neighbors keeps saying “come do my house next!” and we’ll be all sweaty and gross while shouting “be right over!” – haha!

      xo
      s

  13. Kimberley says

    Beautiful. Love the character it adds as well as the visual appeal. Such a wonderful project, great job guys!

    Reply

  16. Angela says

    Be careful if you paint the gutters! Mine were expensive Leaf Guard in almond and I had them painted to match the siding when I redid my house. Loved that they blended in. But…several years later they took on a pink tint!! I didn’t want to have to keep repainting them so I replaced them with almond again. Yikes!

    Reply

  17. Erica says

    Looks great.
    We built a pergola over our patio last fall!
    Feel free to do what I like to do:
    Refer to it as #pergolawesome
    And sing about it like… “We built this pergola…. We built this pergola with ROCK and ROLL!”
    :)

    Reply

  19. Emily says

    I love this! It’s amazing what a little change like that will do to really improve the look of the carport. We spent our Saturday outside in the beautiful weather giving our headboard a makeover to save us the money of having to buy a new one. It was an easy DIY project and turned out so well. And saved us a ton of money. Thanks for all the inspiration you guys give with your great projects!

    http://emilyandtylerglover.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/diy-old-to-new-headboard/

    Reply

  21. dJS says

    Nice architectural detail!
    One thought on any climbing vine – think about the cons of a flowering vine. They attract BEES!! If you are walking through there or sitting out there, it can get quite unpleasant :) We made this mistake planting some heather by our walkway. Tho it smelled heavenly, the bees were extremely annoying to walk past, and there was some bee stings to deal with. Bummer.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Here in Richmond it’s a selling feature to have unpainted brick since it’s extremely low maintenance (painted brick can get green mold, needs to be repainted periodically, etc) – so we’re happy to leave it as-is.

      xo
      s

  24. Karen F says

    NICE job, John! And a very well written/informative post to go with it. The “cargola” looks great! I would love something like this over my garage, but alas neither me nor the hubs are handy enough to tackle this ourselves!

    Reply

  25. Juliemara says

    your neighbors must love you. Do most of them know what you do online and follow? comment around the neighborhood? get inspired by you? I would. Looks beautiful.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Some of them follow along, and others just walk by and say “my house next?!” and we all laugh (while I try to tame my crazy hair and wipe away my sweat. I’m sure we always look glamorous mid-project… haha!

      xo
      s

  27. Dana @ House*Tweaking says

    It’s time 4 da pergolator.

    Personally, I am a little disappointed that this post wasn’t accompanied by a video of your family percolating under your pergolator. Yes, I am officially dubbing this newest upgrade “the pergolator.”

    You guys, it’s awesome!!!!!!

    Reply

  28. Karyl says

    thanks for the step-by-step instructions on this one–one of my favorite projects to date you’ve done! Love it! Well done!!

    Reply

  29. Thais Bessa says

    Beautiful! It will be lovely with the vines. Question: what do you think about adding some trellis panels to the open side of the carport, making it a bit more closed in, but still keeping the light in?

    Oh, and now I think Mr. Carport definitely deserves to be included in the House Tour before and after! :)

    Reply

  30. Liz | Hogs Ever After says

    This looks amazing! Like people said above, the extra column alone did wonders. I can’t wait to see it with some vines and window boxes hanging out around it. I vote we pergolaify all ranches ever! Also, we should add “pergola” into as many words as possible. “Oh look at Clarola and Perger playing in the perglaport.”

    Reply

  32. Katie says

    Did you have to re-route a gutter and security lights from the right exsisting post? It looks like they magically disappeared. :)

    Reply

  34. Katherine says

    WOW. Adding that one column makes such a huge difference – the whole pergola looks great, but I’m especially amazed by how that one column took the space from all carport-y to looking like a defined space that just happens to house a car. Symmetry for the win!

    Reply

  37. Lauren says

    Looks fantastic! I saw a few people mention Wisteria, but definitely talk to a nursery pro before choosing a variety (if you go that route)- it can be a lot of maintenance and if you’re not prepped for that, could damage your gorgeous structure. Southern Living had an article on it a while back, so they’d be a much more official resource than a random reader like me. :) Either way, it looks awesome.

    Reply

  38. bethblntn says

    It looks amazing! Love the white it really ties everything together so well. I think if you guys had stained it it would have looked out of place. Done like a pro :)

    Reply

  39. Richard says

    This is SUCH a wonderful addition to your home. It is amazing what you get out of a (mostly) horizontal element!

    Piece of (unsolicited) advice about the vines you mentioned–
    Stay away from wisteria. That stuff is so strong, it’ll rip the whole pergola down, if it has a mind to!

    Reply

  40. Christine says

    You guys never cease to amaze me – this project came out awesome!

    We’ve been house hunting for our first home and every so often, I find myself thinking, “Interior Brick wall? No problem. There’s a YoungHouseLove post about how to pretty this up!” My Realtor keeps accusing me of watching too much HGTV and I keep correcting him and saying, “No, it’s YoungHouseLove!”

    Keep up the good work guys!

    Reply

  41. Hilary L says

    This adds so much charm :0) I love your idea for adding window boxes (I follow you on Pinterest) I can really picture them now – especially in the last pic! Now that it’s warming up, I’m sure we will have some “get outside” posts! Looking forward to what’s next as always!!

    Reply

  42. jess says

    Love it {as always}!

    And window boxes would look amazing! I have a 1950s stucco rambler and I’d love to put in window boxes, but we are afraid it would damage the stucco. I’d be interested to see how they are installed on brick! :)

    Reply

  43. Katie Baker says

    Do your neighbors know that you have this blog and are epitome of a DIYer? Or, do they just drive by and go, “Wow, that house is really coming along”? Seriously, if I were your neighbor, I’d totally be watching your house to see what you do next…and then steal the idea and do the same to my house!

    Reply

  44. Patti says

    Wow YHLovers!! This is one of the most impressive projects I’ve seen from you guys. So much bang for your $214 bucks!

    Reply

  45. R Sims says

    LOVE it! I’ve been wanting to put one over our garage to beef up the curb appeal, and this is now making me itchy to get it done! Great job : )

    Reply

  46. oh Holland says

    Genius! I am now re-thinking my carport’s possibilities. So far it’s only painted to match the house, but now I see it could be so much more.

    Reply

  47. Amy says

    Hi,

    I love your blog and been following for awhile. This is kind of a random question but just curious what the square footage of your house is. We are looking to purchase a new home and love the layout of your home and want something similar.

    Thanks,
    Amy

    Reply

  49. Lezlie says

    Just an FYI – you can use colored stain on pre-treated wood right away. We added a screened porch to our house a few years ago and all of the lumber was pre-treated, then immediately painted with Olympic colored stain. It looks just like paint but wears much better. I even painted the floor a pattern with it in three colors and it never chipped once!

    Reply

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