Dapple Pergola

Our Easy Build plans keep to four cut lengths, no metal hardware to fit and ten simple steps. Maker plans go further for projects that need it: here, 6x6 timbers that take two people to lift, structural hardware to fit, a slab or deck to anchor to, and a canopy of steel panels you order. Every cut is still a square crosscut, and every screw was checked in 3D to land in solid wood.

All three widths, 8 × 10 ft, 10 × 10 ft, 13 × 10 ft: that's the post spacing (93, 124 and 155 inches between the post centers along the beams, 124 inches the other way). With the beam and rafter tails the footprint is 10 × 12, 12 × 12 and 16 × 12 ft. Each width comes with no screens, a back screen, a back and one end, or a back and both ends: twelve versions, each with its own cut list, shopping list, PDF and 3D guide.

From our Metal section, in any of the five patterns, 30 × 60 inches, 14ga steel with a black powder coat: 8 for the 10 × 10 ft canopy and 12 more for a back and two end screens. Order them cut ($399 each, powder coated and shipped flat in 2–3 weeks) and the plan is included; the order box above counts them for the build the model shows. If you have a laser or plasma table, buy the plan and the cut file ($15) instead: one Linear, Breeze or Hex file cuts every panel, while Reed and Stone are drawn fresh for each panel, so each of those needs its own file. Everything else is at Home Depot.

The canopy is flat: rain falls through the pattern and runs off the steel, and leaves collect on it, so sweep it a couple of times a year. A 14ga panel on its two rafters carries a normal snowfall; where snow lies for weeks, order the canopy panels in 12ga (about a third more for the panel, and heavier) and sweep after a heavy fall. Don't walk on the panels.

A concrete patio, a paver patio set on a concrete base, or a deck with a joist under each post. The black Avant post bases take a 5/8-inch wedge anchor into concrete or a 5/8-inch lag screw into a deck frame, and hold the post an inch off the surface so the end grain stays dry. On pavers over sand or on grass, pour a 12-inch concrete footing under each base. Posts set in the ground work too (10-footers, 2 ft deep in concrete), but the plan is drawn for the bases.

The beams sandwich the post tops on 6-inch timber screws, the bases are rated structural hardware, and every rafter is tied to both beams. A screen braces its bay against racking, so the screened versions are stiff. With no screens, in an exposed or windy spot, add a knee brace at each post in the beam direction: a 2x6 about 30 inches long with 45° ends, two 6-inch timber screws into the post and two into the inner beam ply. One extra 2x6 does all four.

Yes. The plan has a second shopping list in pressure-treated pine with a cedar-tone stain: same cuts, same steps, same hardware. The 10 × 10 ft with no screens comes to about $4,035–$4,360 in pine against $4,745–$5,125 in cedar, panels included; most of either number is the panels. The screen frames are pressure-treated pine painted black in both builds.

Yes. The posts are a panel apart on every side, so a screen fits any bay any time: a flat ladder of black 2x4 rails and 2x6 stiles, eight timber screws into the posts, and the panels screw on through their holes. The screen versions are in the plan.

The beams and rafters don't care what holds them up: 4-inch square steel posts with a bolt-on top bracket carry the same sandwich beams. We're drawing that version; when it's in the plan, buyers get it like every other version.

Often, for a pergola over about 100 square feet or attached to the house; it varies by city and HOA. Take the PDF to the counter: it has every dimension and the hardware. We can't check your local rules.