In the beginning of my last post, I mentioned that we were working on a project that was taking up a bit of our time. That project has been completed, and this is it.
You may recall that last year we were granted a wish by the Make-a-Wish Foundation. We struggled a bit trying to decide on what to ask for, but eventually decided to ask for a covered pergola for our back porch so that James could spend time outside in the shade and not in the blaring sun. They granted our wish and hired someone to build it.
We were hoping they could have it completed by his birthday party on August 24th, but due to time constraints, they didn’t think they could have it done in time, so they planned to start building it the week after his party. They were able to finish the structure in the fall but didn’t get the roof on until this spring. There were some issues with the roof, but I am happy—and proud—to say that the problem was resolved, and the pergola is complete. Thank you so much Make-a-Wish for building this for us. It is amazing!
Are you ready to see this awesome structure they built for us? Let’s take a look at the process of it being built, the issue we had with the roof, how it was resolved, and what the completed pergola looks like.
This is what our back patio looked like before. The back of the house faces east. The neighbors behind us have a huge cottonwood tree in their backyard and we have a good-sized Maple tree in our backyard which provides some shade. But once it gets to be around 10 am, the back patio gets full sun until about 2:00 in the afternoon.
As I mentioned earlier, trying to get the structure built before James’ birthday party wasn’t feasible, so they scheduled the wood to be delivered the week after the party.
The carpenter came over the same day that the wood was delivered to start getting it trimmed, shaped, notched, and ready to be assembled.
Before he started building, though, he had to prepare the footings for the posts. Because we live in an area where temperatures get well below freezing in winter, the footings had to be a certain depth to get below the frost line. I can’t remember exactly how deep that is. He used an auger to make holes that deep and then filled the holes with concrete.
After the concrete footings were cured, it was time to start building.
And just like that, the structure was complete.
They didn’t get the roof installed until this spring, and here’s where it gets a little bit awkward. We believe the guy that installed the roof did it wrong. How do we know? Well, it rained a couple of days after the roofing panels were installed and it leaked like a sieve. I inspected the roof and did a bit of research and it appeared that the guy really did install it incorrectly. The roof was made up of white corrugated fiberglass panels:
Notice how the panels lay pretty flat on the left side of the picture, and then there’s a gap between the panels towards the middle of the picture and then flatten out again on the right? The panels should be flat all the way across. That was issue number one.
Further inspection of the roof showed other issues. If you refer back to the picture above, do you notice how the roofing panels are wavy and have peaks and valleys? The installer attached the roofing panels to the pergola with screws in the valleys, which is why they leaked. When it rained, the water flowed from the peaks, into the valleys and right through the screw holes. There were also a few spots where he must have misjudged where the wood was underneath the panel, drilled a hole in the panel, realized his mistake, and drilled a new hole…leaving holes in the roof.
After reading a bunch of how-to articles and watching some YouTube videos, I found out that the correct way to install these roofing panels is to screw into the peaks. They even make special washers that are curved to fit the contour of the peaks and have rubber underneath them that act as a seal so that water can’t get into the screw holes.
So, what were we to do? Just accept it as is because it was a gift; or explain the situation to Make-a-Wish and see what our options are to get it fixed. I was always taught that when someone gives you a gift, always smile and say thank you, even if you don’t like it. I mean the original idea was to have a covered pergola so that James could spend time outside in the shade, and the roof did satisfy that goal. We just couldn’t be out there when it was raining because we would get soaked.
I didn’t want to seem like an ungrateful asshole, but I did end up calling our coordinator at Make-a-Wish to explain the situation. She was very apologetic and was willing to work with us to get it fixed. Then I threw her a bit of a curveball. I explained to her that because the contractor screwed the panels on in the wrong place, the panels could not be reused and would need to be replaced. I then I asked her if they would be willing to provide the materials and let me install them. I had watched enough videos and I felt comfortable enough that I could do it. She was a bit hesitant, but eventually said that if I really wanted to do the work, she would be fine with it. I was hoping she would say that…I already had a list of materials that I would need to get the job done right. She said that she would place the order, but I would need to pick it up. Not a problem. I made a stop at Menards on the way home from work on May 20th and picked everything up.
Then came the fun part…taking the old roof off and planning the installation of the new roof.
The pergola is roughly 14 feet by 32 feet. The corrugated roofing panels are 26 inches wide and 8 feet long. Accounting for overlaps, we needed 32 roofing panels to cover the entire pergola. Not a small task, but nothing we couldn’t handle. I really think the first two panels were the hardest. I am a bit OCD, and these first two had to be perfect. The rest of the roof depended on these first two being just right..
After those first two panels were on, then it was just a matter of mounting the remaining thirty panels. It was a long, and tedious process, but we eventually got it done over the course of several weekends. See if you can spot Stacy in the following two pictures…
Like most of my projects, I underestimated the time and the amount of work it would take to put the roof on. If you scroll up to the picture above the last one, you can see how many screws I used to attach the roofing panels. I drilled a pilot hole first, and then put the screw in. It was a very long and tedious process, but I am happy with the end result.
We did get a little bit of rain over the weekend of May 30th, and we noticed a couple of spots where water was dripping through the panels that I had already installed. Fortunately, it was easily fixed by tightening a few screws. I have to say, listening to the rain hitting the roof of the pergola is an amazing, and soothing sound.
Thank you again Make-a-Wish for building this for us. We hope to get many, many years of enjoyment out of it. Sorry if I was a bit of a pain about the roof.
I think one of the next “projects” we’re going to work on is attaching a swing under the pergola for James. Stay tuned for that.
