Patio: Nearly done! <pics>

[meltdown75]

Nice job Dr. P!!! :beer:

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: fossilburner
looks great. how is the pergola attached to your house?

It's not
I mitered it to match the angle of the slope of the roof. It actually just sets there. The 2x8 joists aren't attached to anything, actually, except the 1x2's running across the very top. That back room is a sunroom that was added to the house about 7 years ago - before we owned the house. The shingles seem inferior to the rest of the house and seem to be wearing out sooner. I'm just going to keep a close eye on it to see if it shifts even an eighth of an inch. If so, I can lag bolt it to the roof with some thin lag bolts & seal around the joists. It supported my weight just fine. I'll still probably end up lag bolting it to the roof, but with those shingles having only about 5 years or so of life left in them, and with plans to put in 2 sunroofs 6 or so feet from the ends of the joists, I decided to just leave them for now, as long as they don't cause any trouble. There's a lot of weight there; it's not going anywhere from the wind.

Everything looks great on your DIY project... this worries me though, do you really trust your family under something that may come down?

Simpson makes brackets exclusively for that, I suggest you pick some up and install them right away.

The other option, would have been to attach the cover to the other wall (is that your garage?) and project from that wall, at least you would have been attaching to something with some more strength to it than a sunroom. That would put your posts in an odd spot probably.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Gothgar
Everything looks great on your DIY project... this worries me though, do you really trust your family under something that may come down?

Simpson makes brackets exclusively for that, I suggest you pick some up and install them right away.

The other option, would have been to attach the cover to the other wall (is that your garage?) and project from that wall, at least you would have been attaching to something with some more strength to it than a sunroom. That would put your posts in an odd spot probably.

I won't say I don't agree with you and greenman. As far as load bearing, they are almost even with the load bearing wall at the point they touch the roof (about 6 inches from being directly above it). I really can see no reason for them to ever move, and almost no reason to have any effect on the roof they sit on, except for possibly quicker wear if linear expansion with temperature is an issue at all. They'd all have to move as a single unit, and where they go over the two 2x8's, there are metal anchors there; they're just setting inside the anchors (I was out of stainless steel screws) - but the anchors are attached, and together with the 1x2's, prevent any sort of lateral movement or twisting. Since the 2x8's are cantilevered, that also takes off some of the load from the roof. But, as I mentioned - the roof isn't like brand new. If it was, I'd have already more permanently attached it. But, when I put in the skylights above the kitchen in a couple weeks, there's a pretty good chance that I'll reshingle that section of roof. If I don't, I'll probably put a couple lag bolts through the 2x8's into the joists in the roof below. (Which are either 2x8's or 2x6's; not 2x4 trusses.) Til then though, short of a tornado, it's not going anywhere.

 

[JulesMaximus]

:thumbsup: Looks good!

I built a patio cover on the back of my house a number of years ago. I used 2x2's to line the top of the cover and put down a sun screen under the 2x2's. Our patio faces west so we get all that hot afternoon sun but the patio cover makes a huge difference in keeping the kitchen and familyroom cool.

 

[JulesMaximus]

BTW-You live about 60 miles away from where I used to live...some 18 years ago.