Timeline for How can I reduce flex/sway in my pergola?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 8, 2020 at 11:34 | answer | added | Sunny Side Up | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 15:11 | comment | added | Sunny Side Up | Thank you for all the comments and what feels like, vote of confidence, lol. I will attempt to do the notched knee braces. Hopefully youre right and it's not as hard as I'm thinking. I'll report back once everything is actually up and secured. Hopefully my next post will be to tell everyone they were right and the sway is gone. :-) | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 14:14 | comment | added | FreeMan | Additionally, adding cable stays could be dangerous. Sure, someone could turn a tight corner around a post and bump into a wooden knee brace, but there would be less damage than someone clothes-lining himself on a nearly invisible cable. | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 14:13 | comment | added | FreeMan | Nice work for a first big project! I agree that finishing up the knee bracing in both directions should remove the sway. To reinforce the knee brace joints, you might consider a flat plate with holes that will attach to the post and the bottom of the knee brace with lag bolts from each side or carriage bolts all the way through. The make 'em in fancy black finish so they look nice. | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 14:03 | comment | added | isherwood | It's not as difficult as you might think to notch the braces. Run a circular saw set to depth from the sides, full depth from the ends, and finish from the ends with a hand or reciprocating saw. Full bracing, properly fastened, should solve your problem almost entirely. | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 14:02 | comment | added | Sunny Side Up | It kinda sways a little in both directions, but, referencing the main picture, more significantly left to right (i guess because the braces are missing in that direction) | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:56 | answer | added | Ecnerwal | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:51 | comment | added | SteveSh | Which way is it swaying? Referencing your first picture, is it moving in and out of the page (in the same direction as the diagonal bracing), or side to side? | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:49 | comment | added | Sunny Side Up | The reason one direction has knee braces and not the other is because the beams are notched into posts, the knee braces for that direction are going to be considerably more difficult to construct since they also need to be notched. So, I'm trying to understand if it's worth adding those knee braces , or, should i just add some X tension cables instead? I'm unsure. | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:48 | comment | added | Sunny Side Up | I'm not finished attaching the knee braces yet. the bottoms will either get lag bolts or through bolted. The pergola is still "under construction" You'll notice one side of the center posts at the top is also not through bolted yet.. still working on it. | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:35 | comment | added | isherwood | Also, are the diagonals really only fastened at the bottom with small screws? They're normally attached with large lags or carriage bolts. | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:33 | history | edited | isherwood | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
edited title
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| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:32 | comment | added | isherwood | Looks great, but why is there diagonal bracing in one direction and not the other? Which direction is unstable? I would not add any more metal hardware. That won't solve your problem and tarnishes the appearance. | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:31 | review | First posts | |||
| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:59 | |||||
| Jul 14, 2020 at 13:25 | history | asked | Sunny Side Up | CC BY-SA 4.0 |