One thing became clear while building an addition on to the house a few years ago. The arbor we built eleven years prior had seen better days. Technically it is a pergola, but we have always called it an arbor. It had succumbed to the pressure of the trumpet vine pulling it in one direction and rotting posts giving way in another.
I wasn’t sure what to do for a covered area at the back door, but as the addition began to take shape so did the idea for making the arbor larger and creating a wrap-around effect. Each arbor we’ve built has gotten significantly larger and more elaborate, and this one is fitting true to form. As this one will be the first built by professionals, it will be super sturdy and have better architectural details. It’s somewhat nerve wracking to convey your vision to someone else to build and stand back and let them do the work, but I took pencil to hand and sketched my idea for the builders. It will begin with rebuilding the existing arbor, but extending the rafters towards the addition to cover the area that used to be a planter bed behind the farm bell, which was relocated. This will make an alcove for a larger potting bench. Next, a new arbor would be built over the new concrete pad. A section of it will be covered with a greenhouse-grade polycarbonate roof to allow light to shine through yet provide cover for coming and going.
The project manager whom I had worked with many times before got my concept and drew up my sketches for the builders. It was unusual in that there were two levels. A brick walk where the original arbor was and the new concrete pad outside the door which joined to form an L with a step. I wanted two separate structures one stepping up from the other, following the hardscape.
The guys had set all of the posts and then cut the tops off. But they cut them too short! They cut them all to the height of the lower level, so the upper level had the rafters too low. They had to cut them down and dig out the concrete and start again. But they still didn’t get it right. They made one structure rather than the two and didn’t position the posts the way I indicated in my drawings for where the farm bell stood. I wanted a large opening with no posts for the farm bell area and a small section with posts next to it.
In the end, it turned out great and out of all of the work they had done on this 100+ year old house, they said this was the toughest project! Okay. I would’ve thought having to dynamite boulders to build the addition would’ve made the top of the list.
