Interested in enhancing the looks of your backyard? Want to make it stunningly remarkable? Try organizing it with a beautiful pergola. A pergola is a shaded area or a passageway with vertical pillars on both its sides that support the cross-beams. It’s a shaded structure that magnifies the beauty of a landscape while still allowing sufficient light to pass through.
Types of pergolas
Cladded pergolas – If you’re interested in closed pergolas unlike the traditional ones, this one would be an ideal option. You can use different types of cladding, including steel, plastic, PVC and shade cloth. They are referred to as roofed pergolas and are best for areas that experience hot summers. They not only provide shade, but also protect you from elements. They also reduce noise and help in regulating temperature.
Open top pergolas –These pergolas come without any roof and are closed with frames, which gives them a feeling of a room. They give a characteristic feel to your outdoor space and allow ample sunlight in your backyard.
Gabled pergolas – Gables are triangular in shape and have a two sloping halves that make a decorative roof. Gabled pergolas do not have walls, which gives them an aesthetic look. They protect you from direct sun when they’re placed in the right direction. You can use deck covers, shelter clothing or shade material to make it an enclosed space as per your needs.
Pitched pergolas – Pitched pergolas integrate angled roofs that produce a single slope. They resemble a patio as they remain attached to the house. The best thing about them is that access is easy and you can use it as an open room that’s extended from within.
Walkway pergolas – These pergolas can greatly beautiful a commercial structure or a house. Building a walkway pergola in your front door will make your entrance visible from a distance and can warmly invite visitors in you house. No matter what design or color your house or commercial structure has, adding a walkway pergola to it will still look perfect.
Sometimes this type of structure is also added to connect a building to another structure of to the street, add shade to the path, enhance the view, or magnify the main entrance point in open spaces. This type of pergola also helps people remember the place easily. The structure is a good guide to some hidden areas in your house where family and friends can hangout.
Pergola roofs
In building a pergola the roof is very important because it defines the specific type of pergola you’re going to build. The roof is also important because it will also hold the plant above the ground, which is the usual purpose of most pergolas.
As a permanent architectural piece in a garden, pergola designs have evolved in the past few centuries making them more appropriate for environmental designs and gardens. The pergolas have slowly evolved from their famous stone and brick posts of 19’the century to latest wood designs of the 21’st century. The biggest plus point of wooden pergolas is their affordability, which is also the reason for their increasing popularity in modern garden designs. But as stone and brick are weather resistant, hardwoods such as Coast Redwood and Western Redcedar are mostly used instead to match with the pergolas made using stone and brick.
Normally, pergolas are used as an arbor for vines, but now they are increasingly being used as a structure to protect from direct sunlight and rain. A traditional pergola can be easily transformed into a modern style by simply replacing the roofing with transparent materials. There are so many options in transparent materials that can be used as roofing such as glass panels, complete-transparent covers, and Plexiglas sheets. Plexiglas sheets are best if you want protection from sun without heating the sitting area of your pergola. Complete-transparent covers work well if you want to keep traditional style of pergola but still want it to provide protection from rain.
Other type of roofing materials commonly used in pergolas includes metal sheets, which are most durable and permanent roofing material. You can also use fabric deck pergola covers which also help in extending the life of your outdoor furniture. Fabric deck covering protect or reduce direct ultraviolet rays and also extend the life of you outdoor furniture.
Where to build outdoor pergolas
The positioning of pergola depends on the way your house is designed and the direction your main living areas face. It’s best to construct covered pergola on the west facing side of your house because sun always sets in the west, but that isn’t always the most viable or practical solution.
If your family spends most of the time in living room, kitchen, or family room, it makes sense to add a patio feature off these rooms to somehow increase the size of your entertaining area. By incorporating the same features and flooring in outdoor area as you have indoors, you can create an illusion of the living area flowing through from inside to outside. This also makes the whole area look much larger and inviting.
Check out the different pergolas built right here in middle Tennessee: https://cswoodcraft.com/pergolas/