How To Use The 3D Oak Pergola Designer

Bays

The number of bays refer to the gaps between the upright posts. As standard, a one bay gazebo is 3 metres wide by 3 metres deep, measured from the outside of one post to the outside of another, so the overall footprint. For each bay you add, it increases the width of the overall footprint by another three metres. Every oak pergola is made bespoke from scratch, so the sizes here are just examples. If you have specific requirements get in touch for a quotation. Any measurement can be altered: height, width, length, the distances between the posts etc.

Thickness

The thickness refers to the cross-section size of the upright posts, and the main beams, or 'top plates' running horizontally. The larger in size your pergola, the thicker you would normally have the posts to keep it looking proportioned. However, you will achieve a "chunky" look by choosing thick posts on a small pergola, or a more "elegant" look by choosing thinner posts on a larger pergola.

The slats across the top, or 'crossmembers' usually stay the same at around 75 x 150mm regardless of the thickness you choose for your posts.

Profile

The profile refers to the style of the ends of the main horizontal beams, or 'top plates'. Square is standard, without any shaping, often chosen for a minimalist look. Chamfered and Rounded are often chosen to give a more modern look to the pergola, and customers that chose the Ornate profile say it appealed to them with a more traditional Eastern styling.

Footings

Because of their weight, our Oak Pergolas don't need to be bolted or fixed to the floor. The two most common options for where the posts meet the floor are:

a) drill metal rods (a centimetre or half an inch or so in diameter) into your base, drill into the bottom of the posts and rest them onto the protruding metal bar. Oak, being extremely hard-celled, will quite happily sit on top of these metal rods so you can leave around a half an inch gap under the posts to keep them off the ground.

b) We can provide white reconstituted stone 'feet', called staddle stones. They are 23 centimetres tall and already have a metal bar protruding around an inch out of the top. Again, you just drill the bottoms of the posts and sit them on top.

Another option is to have the pergola posts provided longer if you wish to cement them into the ground. This option is sometimes specified by designers of structures going into public places.

If you have any questions about any aspect of our Oak Pergolas, call us on 01889 597283 or send a message through our contact page.

Expertly Crafted Oak Garden Pergolas

Oak Timber Structures provides ready-to-assemble solid oak pergola frames.

The solid, high quality oak used in their construction gives our pergolas strength, durability and beauty. Supplied untreated, you are free to apply any wood stains or preservatives to the oak that you like, or you can leave the pergola untreated for the oak to turn the classic weathered silver look over a number of years.

These oak pergolas are provided flat-packed in kit form for you or your builder to put together.

All of the woodwork is already done, so most people hire general builders to construct them, rather than carpenters. Because of the weight of the oak, people will usually hire one or more Genie Lifts to hold the oak in place while constructing the gazebo. (The above link is to a generic Genie Lift. Please check the heaviest piece of your pergola with us to make sure you hire a strong enough lift.)

Some people like to attach their choice of fabric to keep the sun off. Many people like climbing and trailing plants to grow up and over their pergolas, giving natural shade underneath.

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We've put together a booklet of detailed answers to our most commonly asked questions. A perfect in-depth read about buying your oak structure from us.

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How Your Oak Pergola Will Arrive

Your pergola will arrive in kit form packaged like the following:

Oak Pergolas in All Shapes and Sizes

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Customisation

Each pergola is expertly crafted for you using traditional mortise and tenon joinery methods. This means that each one is special to you, and any of our standard sizes below can be altered to your exact requirements. They don't even need to be rectangular. You can have trapezium shaped or even one curved around corners. Whatever you need, we can build it for you.

Overall Size

The standard oak pergolas in the designer above supplied in 1, 2, 3 or 4 'bay' sizes, with each bay measuring 3 x 3 metres, or you can now specify your own exact sizes.

The standard height of our pergolas, depending on the thickness of the oak you choose, is between 2.55m and 2.6m, with a clearance height of 2.3m. This is worked out from taking the post height (2.3m), adding on the thickness of the oak you choose, so 150, 175 or 200mm (because we make the horizontal 'top plates' the same thickness as the posts) and then add another 100mm for the amount the 150mm cross members sit on top (they are notched in by 50mm). So, for a pergola with 175mm posts and top plates, you would have 2.3m (post height) + 0.175m (top plate thickness) + 0.1m (cross members after notching) = 2.575m.

Don't forget though, everything we make is bespoke, so if you'd like a lower clearance height, that's no problem.

Sizes of the Components

The thick, upright beams are available in 150 x 150, 175 x 175 and 200 x 200 millimetres and the members across the top are 150 x 75 millimetres.

Recommended Fixings

It is recommended that you use one screw on the end of each cross member to hold it to the frame. It is important that you use stainless steel or galvanised screws, as the acidity of the oak will quickly corrode iron and leave black streaks down your pergola.

End Styles

There are four standard choices of end-style for the cross members:

	Square end
	Chamfered end
	Rounded end
	Ornate end

Receive our detailed PDF

We've put together a booklet of detailed answers to our most commonly asked questions. A perfect in-depth read about buying your oak structure from us.

Click here for our booklet

How To Order Your Oak Framed Pergola

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Ordering from Oak Timber Structures is straightforward. Nevertheless, our team is on hand to help throughout the process. Here are the simple steps to order a bespoke oak pergola:

1. First, create the oak pergola using the designer or send drawings to contact@oaktimberstructures.co.uk.
2. For online orders, click ‘Add to Basket’.
3. Navigate to your shopping basket where you can checkout securely online. We accept all major credit cards excluding American Express (as image). If you run into any checkout issues, please contact us using the online chat or call us and we’ll talk you through the process. Alternatively, you can order over the phone.
4. We then produce technical drawings for you to sign off and gain approval from a structural engineer if needed. CAD drawings take between 2-3 working days to produce.
5. If you are unhappy with an aspect of the drawings, we encourage you to call and seek advice from our helpful and friendly staff. They’ll revise the drawings accordingly and send them back to you for re-approval.
6. Once signed off, we add your structure to the production queue and create it according to the stated lead times. During this time, many people use the approved drawings to get their groundwork in place if required.
7. Our skilled team assembles the oak pergola to make sure there are no issues. This also allows us to code all components for seamless assembly. We then dismantle the pergola and organise it into transportable kit form.
8. If you're running behind schedule, we're happy to store your structure for up to 4 weeks at no extra charge. Please note that we limit storage to 4 weeks. As green oak dries, it shrinks. Shrinkage is normal. In fact, our skilled staff prepares your structure for shrinkage to fuse joints, making them tighter and more robust. Yet, after 4 weeks, joints can become misaligned and harder to assemble, so it's important to limit storage time.
9. We schedule delivery by liaising with you once your bespoke oak pergola is complete.