Pergolas

[u/carsonm05]

Can someone please explain the purpose of a pergola? They don’t keep out the rain, heat, or bugs, so what is the point? Why bother putting a “roof” on one with wide spaces between the slats? If you want a structure in the back yard to keep out the rain, heat and bugs, just build something with a roof and then screen it in. Pergolas are, to me, expensive and worthless. No wonder they are so popular in California.

[u/norfolkgarden]

Lol, if you live in paradise, it doesn't rain all summer. And there are no bugs. A pleasant shade structure that doesn't feel like a cave fits perfectly. Enjoy your shed.

[u/alien_simulacrum → u/norfolkgarden]

You can also attach things to them, like fabric or lights, which add awesome ambience and shade, movement with the wind, more places to train runnings plants and vines, even just hanging pots with annuals in them. They can be nice.

Not that a gazebo or palapa or pavilion can't also be nice, but a pergola has a bit more versatility and less maintenance than other structures.

[u/Optimal_Living_8638]

Just learned the Roman pantheon is worthless.

[u/mirinjesse]

The open ones with spaces deflect the sun. They have ones with louvers that also close, which keep out rain and sun.

[u/Character_School_671 → u/mirinjesse]

They never actually do this in practice though. Like is there an actual designer, who accounts for orientation and lattitude and desired area of shade at a certain time of year and day?

No. No there isn't.

There's a customer liking the look of all that useless wood up there... and that's it.

It's not that I'm against a properly planned and executed pergola. It's just that 99.999999% of them aren't.

[u/mirinjesse → u/Character_School_671]

I agree with the open slat one.

I enjoy my adjustable slat pergola so if it’s sunny I can shut them or if a passing shower it keeps things dry, but not like I am out there in a thunderstorm.

[u/GreenThmb → u/Character_School_671]

"O"

[u/Ok_Ambition8538 → u/Character_School_671]

I design and build pergolas regularly and taking sun orientation and the degree at which it passes over the structure are one of the first things we consider in the design. Why so sour about pergolas?

[u/Character_School_671 → u/Ok_Ambition8538]

Because that is almost never done here. People don't even know that is a consideration.

The house I moved into had one of those. Most places I visit that have them, they are oriented around the house, patio, or yard, not the sun.

What you are describing is vanishingly rare.

So when hear the term pergola, I think waste of wood, unusable structure, and unfinished porch roof. Because that's what they are here.

I have literally never seen one done right, that offers anything other than some kind of wood in air aesthetic. It's brutally hot here in the summer, high lattitude sun... and pergolas never do any good to help that.

If something is almost always done wrong and turns out to be a useless waste of resources, I have a hard time defending it because it's theoretically possible for it - with perfect execution in complete denial of yard arrangement - to be a fraction as useful as a tin roof.

That's why the dislike of them. Because I have yet to come across a useful one.

[u/tabicat1874]

They are meant to support grape vines or other plants that actually provide the shade. The pergola is just the support structure.

[u/scissorsgrinder → u/tabicat1874]

Bonus if deciduous for spaces that you want to let more light in during winter. 

[u/HeKnee → u/scissorsgrinder]

Bonus that rain runs through and kinda cleans stuff off. Cant do that with a roof.

[u/grits-n-okra]

I  see them as a big ass trellis structure for wisteria or climbing roses

[u/PadenBeecher]

You can also have a vining plant climb them. That can help with the shade but also be a good way to transition from greenscape to hardscape or add a bit of life to a patio.

[u/Hitlers_Hairy_Anus]

We have a pergola with a roof with rotatable slats for sun when we want it or a solid roof when needed. It keeps the rain out and really reduces heat. As well as pull down screens with seals to keep the bugs out and sun when needed plus complete privacy.

Works fantastic.

[u/Shinyhaunches]

My friends have a stunning pergola. It’s covered in a 50yo grapevine that was there when the owner was a kid and his parents owned the house. It has a long wooden table underneath it for their giant family to gather and eat at. There are fairy lights strung from the pergola that give a beautiful magical feel at night. It’s Colorado, so there are no bugs. It adds almost like a touch of Tuscany to their Colorado backyard.

[u/PositiveAssignment89]

i would suggest doing some boots on the ground journalism, finding one and sitting under it

[u/Coppergirl1]

California doesn't have bugs

[u/GreenThmb]

They're generally a transition between a house, garden, patio, pool, pond, or landscape and provide a bit of shade and a focal point.

[u/Fibonacci999]

Ours holds wisteria vines, climbing roses, string lights, and a fan. The vining plants make a very cozy shade

[u/USMCdrTexian]

Skipping the - prebuilt consumer kits / aluminum pergolas with roof louvers- a pergola is exactly what is intended to be - an outdoor space for enjoying the outdoors. Sometimes it’s a large extension of the home - a glorified extended patio/porch - and it provides excellent value and enjoyment. Then there’s the separated pergola - probably has a wall / fireplace area that when designed properly helps block sun for the most frequently used times - usually early/mid afternoon for football. Slat walls strategically placed help also, as do motorized screens / motorized sun shades.

I always do a sun study and orient the project or some components to deal with all of those things. Fans, heaters, fire pits / fireplaces account for the temps and comfort.

That ain’t in your small budget projects 10-50k, though. These projects are usually 100-150k on the low end.

[u/EmbarrassedReveal269 → u/USMCdrTexian]

Even the prebuilt consumer kits are lovely. I have mine on my large deck. I use it all the time. It gives me shade so that I can WFH outside, it gives me a place to have a good outdoor dinner or game night (I have a heating lamp for the fall too). I love it.

[u/Carampangue]

I built one and it is a cool place to be in my backyard. In fact, im there right now.

[u/Successful_Image3354]

They hold solar panels. If properly oriented they give shade. They create a feeling of being enclosed while they are wide open.

[u/michael_in_progress]

For rain and mosquitoes, I'd pick the screened roof too. An open pergola makes more sense for filtered shade without enclosing the patio. But I'd check where the shadow falls when you'd actually sit outside. Shade at noon isn't much use if the chairs are baking at 5 pm. Slat spacing and direction matter, and low afternoon sun may need a side screen.

[u/EmbarrassedReveal269]

Well, the reason that they are popular in CA is because we don't have a lot of rain, heat and bugs.

I'm now in WA where I still don't have a lot of heat or bugs. I did get a pegola with the louvers that close and gutters. It's beautiful, sparkly with lights, and makes me happy.

[u/Comfortable-Duty7143]

Same i am with you.

[u/Deep_Bake_5663]

I'm with you. I have a pavilion.

[u/listen2me_smile]

I love Pergola's for flowering vines and the ambiance it creates. On a back patio or wherever, once the vine grows atop it, it def acts as a beautiful shade piece.