[NiNe O]

I am about to finish this thing within the next week.

 

[woodworkbykirk]

and???????

 

[md2lgyk]

The title of your thread indicates you'd like opinions. I think the deck is as ugly as a mud fence, but that's just my opinion. Can't tell from the picture if it's built correctly.

 

[NiNe O]

Damn. What do you find ugly about it?

 

[oh'mike]

Looks good from here------opinions are ---well, opinions---

 

[NiNe O]

It was a tough design, the old deck had a pretty big cherry tree in the middle of it but the original builder/previous homeowner didn't give the tree enough room to grow and eventually the deck choke off the tree and it died before I bought this place. Well, I wanted to get some shade back on the deck do I decided to build this pergola. However, with 2.5' overhangs on the house, I decided to center post build this thing.

 

[Fix'n it]

i think that is a darned nice looking deck.

can i have your fire wood ?

 

[kwikfishron]

I think it looks OK, defiantly unique. What I don’t like are the centered post, there is no way to brace those sections in the other direction. Structurally that’s a poor design imo.

 

[woodworkbykirk]

way too top heavy and the pergol is far too overpowering takes away from the house itself..
its should accent it not dominate it

 

[NiNe O]

it is, I am thinking of incoporating a bar and some other built-in things to support the outsides and removing the angle supports to the posts. It's become a challenge.

 

[joecaption]

May want to concider changing those supports to something that looks more like this.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...587C19EDFE50D099D72A43394280AEACF6C&first=868

Some wider 2X's cut out with a bandsaw or jig saw and cleaned up with a belt sander would be needed. Then it would be an area of interest not a sore thumb.
With the arch you would also gain a small amout of head room as you move around on the deck.

 

[NiNe O]

Thanks Joe. That's a great idea.

 

[kwikfishron]

Thanks Joe. That's a great idea.

That still isn’t going to help with lateral support in your situation. Those things are going to move big time in high winds.

 

[joecaption]

Looks like you may have just attached the rafters to the post by just bolting them to the sides of the post.
Would have been far better to have cut out the sides an 1-1/2 so the rafters where resting on the post. It makes a big differance in how stable it is doing it that way.
Right now you have a pivit point.

 

[NiNe O]

That still isn’t going to help with lateral support in your situation. Those things are going to move big time in high winds.

Actually, we've had 50+ mph winds, doesn't move a bit. We won't see anything stronger than that.

 

[md2lgyk]

Damn. What do you find ugly about it?

Its appearance, mostly. I'm pretty much a traditionalist (live in a log house I built myself). I think your deck looks like some antenna array on the space station.