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Attaching Arbor / Trellis to house Ledger

Matthiasi | Posted in Construction Techniques on July 29, 2010 03:10am

We’re in the midst of doing a house Reno of a 35 year old split-level. Location is in the Okanagan Valley, BC. Climate is fairly warm/dry summers (like northern CA or AZ), with dry, somewhat cold winters. We don’t have a huge amount of rainfall / snow.

House exterior finish is 3/4″x8″ vertical channel siding.

I’m planning on building an arbor / trellis out of 2×8 Douglas Fir to visually loosen up a 17ft high wall. It will be placed above a couple of windows and a door and will be around 20ft long.  I’m looking on attaching a 2×8 ledger to the house using through bolts through the rimjoist. (siding will be removed in this area). The pieces of the arbor / trellis will be ‘sticking out’ around 40″ from the ledger board, hence there will be a considerable moment-arm trying to twist them down. I do not want to use Simpson hangers or similar to attach them to the ledger. Douglas Fir 2×3 ‘s will be attached on top to provide the sunscreen and a place for the vines to grow.

The free ends of the 2×8’s will be cross drilled to enable a 1 1/4″ pipe to be inserted through them, which will be supported by cables attached to the house framing to keep the whole thing from sagging. As such, I don’t think just scewing them from the back of the ledger into the end-grain would be a good idea.

I will be applying waterproofing membrane between the ledger and the house felt-paper, as well as around the cable attachment pieces, and adding an aluminum drip-edge above the ledger.

Does anybody have a good ideas (or a detail) re fastening the individual 40″ pieces to the ledger board? Remember, I don’t want to have any fasteners showing.

Thanks

Matt

Reply

Replies

  1. rdesigns | Jul 29, 2010 04:47pm | #1

    The fairly massive 2 x 8's must be more for visual impact than for needed strength, since 40" is not much of a span, and the loading from winter snow will be small, even if the vines tend to accumulate snow.

    So, why not cut a stopped dado pocket into the ledger for each of the 40" pieces--stop the dado about 2" up from the bottom edge of the ledger. This will give adequate material to support the 40" pcs, and will prevent them from twisting where they meet the ledger.

    Each of the 40" pcs would have a short notch cut at their bottom corner to clear the stop. Fasten them with 8d gal. finish nails toe-nailed, or screw thru the back side of ledger.

    Alternatively, you could build the dado-style arrangement by first nailing a narrow (2") ledger to the bottom of the main ledger, then create a "dado" by fastening short blocks of 2 x 6 between the 40" 2 x 8's. Nail thru the side on the ends of the 40" pcs into the end of the 2 x 6 block so that each successive block covers the nail heads in the 40" pc.

  2. Matthiasi | Aug 01, 2010 03:21pm | #2

    Thanks for the hint. I'll give this a go on a small scale to see how it works in with the design.

    I don't really want to fasten them from behind, as it would mean removing the ledger if I want to get at the hidden screws.

    By toenailing/screwing, I'll have visible fasteners unless I hide them behind plugs.

    Any other ideas out there?

  3. Clewless1 | Aug 06, 2010 10:18am | #3

    I knew a guy once who took some standard nailing/framing products and had them copper coated ... looked great. But you could take the concept of using some standard steel shape to tie things together and make a nice element of structure w/ it. You could have them powder coated or otherwise painted and use lag bolts to tie it together. Just thinking a bit outside the box ... maybe it will trigger yet another idea.

    1. rdesigns | Aug 06, 2010 12:53pm | #4

      Turning needed structural elements into decorative elements used to be a standard approach, with very pleasing results, but it's hardly ever done these days. It can be overdone, as in Victorian architecture, but I think it can be very nice.

      1. Clewless1 | Aug 06, 2010 09:09pm | #5

        Time and place in space for just about everything I say. I'm usually one for showing the structure off a bit rather than hiding it. Let the structure speak for itself. Go to great lengths to make something look like something it isn't? eh ... let it make a statement. Again each has a place, but often it makes sense to let it be.

  4. Matthiasi | Aug 07, 2010 05:58pm | #6

    Sorry guys, the visible structure must be wood. No visible metal allowed. Just took delivery of the 2x8 (actual) rough lumber- select grade. Looks great.

    Will attach the ledger to the house with throughbolts as discussed. Am presently looking at using a galvanized steel bracket (similar to the bedframe / post attachment fittings) to attach the 2x8 arbor pieces to the ledger.  This is attached in a routed groove on the end and attached to a mating piece hidden behind a shallow dado. No fasteners showing and each piece can be simply slid up and out from the ledger if required.

    Now to see how this looks and works by doing a mockup.

    1. DanH | Aug 07, 2010 06:16pm | #7

      You might look at old-fashioned screen hangers.

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