Monday 21 December 2015

Draw A Pergola Board Design

Pergola in a shaded garden.


A pergola is a type of garden feature that follows a pathway. The pergola is a series of posts with connecting cross members and beams to other posts. Often a pergola will have a series of wood cross beams and the larger of these beams have decorative edges. The shape of the decorative edge is distinctive and the edge treatment is often specifically designed for the individual garden. Does this Spark an idea?


Instructions


1. Measure the width of the board you are using that will have the decorative edge treatment. Usually this board or beam is at least 6 inches wide and it may go up to 12 inches wide. When designing the edge treatment, consider the length of the span as well. A long span with large beam should have a design that is scaled to a large beam.


2. Mark the width of the beam on the graph paper. A 6 inch wide beam will be 3 inches long on the graph paper. Draw two heavy lines across the paper indicating the width of the beam.


3. Measure the overhang of the beam. A 6 inch beam will overhang the post or support beam by the length of the design plus several inches. Calculate your design length by using your beam width measurement away from the end of the beam. A 6 inch wide beam can support a design 6 inches deep plus 2 to 4 inches. Draw a vertical line from your top beam line to your bottom beam line to indicate the end of the beam.


4. Measure away from that line the width of your beam and make a light line. Your actual design could be longer or shorter so this is simply a guideline.


5. Measure from the top to the bottom line and divide your measurement by 3 or 4. Draw horizontal lines at these marks. Use the same measurement away from the end of the beam and make vertical marks. Typically the top section of the pergola beam will be the longest and the bottom section will be the shortest. The design will angle back toward the post between these two points.


6. Draw with your pencil and compass diagonal, vertical, horizontal and circular lines working from the top outside corner back toward the post. You will quickly see how most designs use a step shape to create the angle. Place tracing paper over your base beam shape and freehand alternative shapes such as a curve with teeth along the bottom edge. Be creative and think about motifs that already exist in your garden. If you have a sun sculpture you might want to include a sun shape.


7. Create drawings with drilled holes, notches and lines inside the beam. These piercings are common to some Southwestern designs. Often you will discover a shape that you return to several times. This may be an S curve paired with right angles at either end or part of a star shape. Develop the design until the shape looks the way you want it to look.


8. Draw your finished shape at full size and tape the drawing to a similar sized board to see how it looks on the board. This will also help you determine the amount of overhang you want for each board.

Tags: away from, beam will, edge treatment, your beam, away from beam, back toward, back toward post