I'm planning to build a large 20x20 pergola in my backyard this spring. Having gone through the pain of sealing my year old 600 sqft cedar deck last year, I'm defiitely trying to figure out a way to reduce maintenance. Also, I plan to have climbing vines all over the thing (the purpose is to provide shade after all), so restaining isn't going to be a fun project and it will cut back the usefullness.
That said, I had originally planned on using rough-cut cedar components. 2x12 beams, 2x10 joists, and either 2x6 or 1x6 battens. We love the look of the rough-cut wood, and really like the added thickness over dimensional lumber. However, I'm starting to question if this is a wise move. In all honesty, if I could build something that I could stain gray and then naturally turn gray with no maintenance I would probably opt for that. The gray color would look really nice with our house. Yeah, I love the look of stained cedar in a warm brown, but I'm not sure I want to commit to the maintenance. Can cedar weather the conditions like that? I live in the Twin Cities and this will be exposed to the south and west so it will get a lot of sun.
Any recommendations based on experience? Is there anyway to successfully allow nature to take its course and still get 10-15+ years from the structure? If there is, will look like trash or can I achieve that nice silver color without warping and splitting? Finally, is there anything I should considering doing differently because of all the rough-cut frame members (i.e. is one stain better than another? I was thinking Readyseal or WoodTux if going brown - not sure for gray)?
Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and build the thing out of pressure treated SYP. Then I know I could get away with the gray stain approach.
Your thoughts and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Hello,
I'm planning to build a large 20x20 pergola in my backyard this spring. Having gone through the pain of sealing my year old 600 sqft cedar deck last year, I'm defiitely trying to figure out a way to reduce maintenance. Also, I plan to have climbing vines all over the thing (the purpose is to provide shade after all), so restaining isn't going to be a fun project and it will cut back the usefullness.
That said, I had originally planned on using rough-cut cedar components. 2x12 beams, 2x10 joists, and either 2x6 or 1x6 battens. We love the look of the rough-cut wood, and really like the added thickness over dimensional lumber. However, I'm starting to question if this is a wise move. In all honesty, if I could build something that I could stain gray and then naturally turn gray with no maintenance I would probably opt for that. The gray color would look really nice with our house. Yeah, I love the look of stained cedar in a warm brown, but I'm not sure I want to commit to the maintenance. Can cedar weather the conditions like that? I live in the Twin Cities and this will be exposed to the south and west so it will get a lot of sun.
Any recommendations based on experience? Is there anyway to successfully allow nature to take its course and still get 10-15+ years from the structure? If there is, will look like trash or can I achieve that nice silver color without warping and splitting? Finally, is there anything I should considering doing differently because of all the rough-cut frame members (i.e. is one stain better than another? I was thinking Readyseal or WoodTux if going brown - not sure for gray)?
Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and build the thing out of pressure treated SYP. Then I know I could get away with the gray stain approach.
Your thoughts and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Grey
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