Guide for Buying a Pergola

Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style.
―Billy Baldwin (Interior Decorator)

The best way to landscape your garden or backyard is to install a pergola that will create your own personal space in the midst of greenery. Using a pergola not only provides a shaded area for you to sit and enjoy your favorite beverage on a warm summer's day, but also provides a basic framework to support delicate vines and flowering creepers.

Installing a pergola as an addition to your landscape helps enhance the overall look of your backyard, which automatically increases the aesthetic value of your home front. While a stand-alone pergola looks classy in a large backyard, houses with smaller backyards can use a pergola as an extension of their homes.

While picking the right pergola kit, you need to first decide the elements of function, style, and material of the pergola. When choosing a pergola for your home, it is imperative to take the following points into consideration.

The style you wish to achieve in your backyard is crucial to deciding the type of pergola kit you need to purchase. The basic styles for pergolas include―traditional, contemporary, cottage garden, rustic, and modern.

While a traditional pergola will come with painted wood trellises and simple yet elegant designs, a rustic haven can be created with cast-off wood teamed with stone to give it a natural look.

An intricate lattice-worked pergola will create an enhanced private space, while pergolas made from vinyl, fiberglass, or metal with abstract symmetry, can lend a modern look to your backyard. Ultimately, it's the look you want to achieve in your backyard that decides the type of pergola kit you should purchase.

While choosing the best pergola for your home, you need to decide on the material of construction. It is always good to remember that a pergola is going to be placed outdoors, in the open, which means, it ought to withstand the elements of nature. Pergolas are, generally, made from either wood, vinyl, fiberglass, or metal.

Wood:
You can choose between pressure-treated lumber―that is chemically treated to resist pests and fight decay, softwood―that will resist pests and mold, and hardwood―that can resist expansion and contraction.

You would have to take into consideration your geographical location while choosing the type of wood that will be best suited for the pergola. Remember, what works for one climate may not be suitable for another.

Vinyl:
Vinyl pergolas are created with pressure-treated posts and support beams that are covered in vinyl sleeves. The best part about opting for a vinyl pergola is that it is relatively low on maintenance and high on style.

Fiberglass:
When it comes to durability, there is no match for pergolas made out of fiberglass. In addition to strength, fiberglass pergolas do not absorb moisture, making fiberglass an ideal material to sustain the outdoor elements.

Besides, it can be adapted to resemble wood, sans the high maintenance that comes with wooden surfaces. However, care needs to be taken when handling fiberglass materials, especially when using sharp objects.

Metal:
Powder-coated aluminum pergolas are light in weight, strong, and guaranteed to remain rust-free. Powder-coated pergolas may turn out to be your best bet if you are living along the coast. You can achieve a sleek and modern look or a rustic look by installing metal pergolas in your backyard.

When deciding on a pergola to adorn the exteriors of your home, it is essential that you pay attention to the size of the pergola and your backyard. Deciding on the size of the pergola will help you decide on the style, the material, and estimate the overall cost of installing the pergola.

Pergolas are designed to have slats instead of solid roofs to enable the growth of creepers and vines. However, you can opt for a gazebo-style roof to meet your privacy requirements. You can also look for roofs made from fiberglass or a weather-resistant convertible cover.

What would you prefer―custom-built or an easy to install, factory-made pergola? The only difference here is that you get to create a pergola using your own unique ideas with a custom-made pergola, while the choice for the ready-made pergola could be limited to the mentioned styles and materials.

Depending on your needs, you can choose from rectangular, octagonal, and circular pergolas. As far as design is concerned, you can choose between trellis with close knit slats, or spaced out slats for your pergola.

You can alternatively use resources around the house to construct your own pergola, which will be unique and talk-worthy. For instance, you could use entwined branches to create an arbor, or stones along with a raised pergola to create your own personal space.