Pergola for my Neighbor

Part of the joy of living in a good neighborhood is sharing life’s little moments and dreams for the future with the people who live next to you.  In this story, our next door neighbor was dreaming of having more shade on her deck, which is exposed to direct sunlight because it faces south towards our garage.  However, she was rethinking her dream after getting a bid from a contractor with an unfathomable price tag.  Since I had the tools and the time, I offered to lend my abilities to help her build one on her own.

The plans we used are from book by The Family Handyman.

Page from The Family Handyman Home Improvement, 2012 Hardcover Book, Published by Readers Digest

Not sure about building permits, I drew up individualized plans and she submitted for approval.  The city said since the pergola would not be directly connected to the home, we did not need a permit.

Note: The distance between the posts is actually 12×12, as shown on the plans from the magazine. And the beams and rafters are actually 16’ in length. We revised the plans during assembly to better fit the size of the deck and the location of the joists.

The materials consisted of cedar lumber, aluminum flashing, bolts and screws.  Pretty simple.  They were delivered right to my driveway between our houses.

Not pictured: Four 16’ long 2x10s (they were special order and took a week and a half to arrive)

The first step was to cut decorative ends on the rafters and beams.  My arm was TIRED after that, because I can’t remember making so many cuts with a jigsaw before.

My neighbor stained the wood before assembly.

The beams are the heaviest part of this project.  Each one is made from two special order 2×10 boards.  The plans call for 1/2” plywood between the two boards, so when assembled, it would sit perfectly atop a 4×4 post (which is really 3.5” x 3.5”).  Flashing is added to protect the plywood from water damage.

The posts sit right on the deck, but are solid because they are directly over joists.

The single hardest part was lifting the beams onto the posts.  At least two people are needed and we’d recommend going slow.  Cladding goes on both sides of the posts and beams for strength.  We added one side of the cladding beforehand lifting the beam so it had support while we secured it in place.  Even more support comes from the 4×4 supports mounted on the four corners.  Finally, we lifted the rafters up one at a time and screwed them into place from holes drilled above.

Once the pergola itself was done, we put up lattice and worked on a few cosmetic things on the deck and built-in bench.

Add some more stain and wait for a sunny beautiful day, and we have an after photo:

Thanks for reading!

Undermounting a Sink in a Butcher Block Countertop

The original countertop on our basement wet bar had the sink top-mounted.  We always knew when we renovated the bar, we wanted to mount it beneath the counter.  In an effort to save money, we decided to re-use the old sink.

We considered a few different ideas for the basement bar, including concrete, but always came back to butcher block.  For a time, we even thought about building our own, but Lowe’s made the decision easy, when it started selling an 8′ butcher block countertop for $240.

Since we spent so much money on the counter, I was extremely cautious with my plan for cutting the hole for the sink.  My plan was to use a 4 1/2″ hole saw for the corners and cut out the area between the holes with a straight router bit.  I did a trial-run on a piece of plywood.

Since the plywood test went well, I took it to the next step and carefully marked my measurements on the countertop itself, and started to drill.

The holes were NOT easy to drill.  Since the wood is 2+ inches thick, it took at least 7 minutes per hole, and I went through 2 fully charged batteries.  My next challenge was finding the right router bit, since the one I used to cut the plywood was not going to be long enough to make it through the butcher block.

As you can tell by my amazing tape job above, this was not the right tool for the job.  When I bought it, I didn’t realize my router could not handle a 1/2″ drive bit.  My router only has a 1/4″ collet.

I couldn’t find what I needed in any stores, so went online and ordered a 3″ long straight cut router bit with a 1/4″ attachment.  After waiting 2 weeks for the piece to arrive, I was ready to get back to work and didn’t waste any time getting back to work:

Everything was going GREAT.  The new bit was cutting so fast and I thought “this is going to be done in no time!”  Then this happened:

My fancy new $11 router bit snapped.  Here’s a photo of where it broke, and a comparison to how much longer it is than my other straight bit:

I continued the process with the smaller bit.  From the beginning, I knew it was an option to use the shorter tool, and just flip the countertop over and finish from the other side.  But I was worried about the 2 cuts not perfectly lining up.  But I was ready to be done, so cut very carefully and spent a lot of time sanding the edges.

The next step was to cut holes in the stainless steel sink, both for the mounting screws, and also a hole in the middle for the new faucet.  I put oil on the steel before cutting with special drill bits meant to drill through steel.

Proper ventilation because the oil put off some smoke when it got hot!

We put silicon caulk between the sink and the butcher block before carefully making sure it was aligned, drilling holes and driving in screws.  The rest of the plumbing process was straightforward.  We’re happy with how it looks!

Click here to see the rest of this project.