Oak Pergola To Create Zoned Garden Area

Joanne and Michael bought their unloved, late 1970’s stone built home in 2018. The whole house needed renovating after it had been relatively unlived in for 14 years.

After upgrading the electrics, the plumbing, bathrooms, kitchen etc, the house was relatively ‘finished’, and then, the last major project, was the garden.

The garden is mainly along the sides and the back of the house. They had inherited an unloved garden with uneven paving stones, brambles, no plants and many overgrown trees. However, it benefits from overlooking fields and a small wooded area.

After cutting back the overgrown bushes and trees, so they could actually see the fields, they started on getting some planting done.

After taking up the existing paving stones, and re levelling the patio area, Joanne knew she wanted an oak pergola to zone the otherwise relatively bland space.

Having worked at Oak by Design for 12 years, Joanne had always wanted either an oak porch or oak pergola on her home! Now was the time!

The pergola was to be sited on the back of the couple’s house, over the French doors leading from their dining room. The oak French doors and frame had been supplied by Oak By Design a few months before.

At 3.5 metres wide, and 4 metres deep the oak pergola would zone the proposed dining area.

The oak was finished with 1 coat of Osmo Polyx UV Protection Oil in 429. We usually supply our oak products with 2 coats of oil, but they wanted the oak to ‘silver off’ quickly.

Having a relatively newish, 70’s house, without a great deal of character, they wanted the oak pergola to look as though it had been installed for a while, adding some character and ‘age’ to the property.

All the oak was supplied with a stop chamfer to the edges.

The horizontal rafters were supplied straight cut and slightly oversized and then shaped and cut on site, once Joanne knew how much overhang on each side she wanted.

On a fresh January weekend, they decided to install their new oak pergola.

With the help of a friend, the timbers were brought into the garden and a scaffold was erected. The largest timbers were relatively heavy (about 80kg).

The photos below show the installation in various stages.

As Joanne is constantly telling customers how relatively easy our products are to install, she wanted to ‘put her money where her mouth was’, and be part of the installation process so she could talk in future from experience!

The main framework timbers supplied are 140mm x 140mm timbers. The horizontal timbers are 140mm x 70mm and these were notched to sit over the horizontal side timbers of the framework.

The main framework timbers were mortice and tenon jointed, so these fit together very easily with the 6 curved braces/brackets.

The braces not only add character to our oak porches, but mainly they provide stability. They are mortice and tenon and fit into the upright side timbers and the horizontal timbers.

Joanne, on the scaffold, was in charge of the horizontal timbers being put in position over the framework after they were passed to her. She did a sterling job!

The measurement to the underside of the front frame is 2300mm, and at the sides – 2230mm.

The photos below show the pergola just after installation, and then another 18 months later. You can see the change in colour, and see how the pergola has ‘settled’ into the garden.

If you prefer to keep any external oak looking more like it does when it is new', regular application of the Osmo oil is important. We have a section on our website which explains the process - SEE HERE

Michael (a joiner by trade) was recently asked how easy it was to install the pergola - “it was a doddle!”

Joanne also found it easy to install, although she’d rather not get involved in the lifting of the timbers. We suggest if you plan on installing an oak pergola, or porch or similar yourself, that you either get yourself a few rugby playing friends or a genie lift to help with this.

Joanne’s plan is to have clematis and climbing roses eventually wrapped around the top framework. Michael’s plan is to put some sort of roof on. Watch this space to see who gets their way!