Mum Quoted £2200 For Pergola Builds Her Own For £223
- Jasmine, 29, wanted to build a pergola on a budget
- She went DIY while pregnant and built a 3.3m wide frame in a lean-to style
- Her professional quote was £2200 but she did the job herself for just £223
Sitting outside on a warm evening is ideal if you’re lucky enough to have your own garden. However, the British weather does mean that having decent shelter is always advised.
Buying and fitting a pergola can get expensive if you hire professional landscapers - which is why one mum decided to build her own for a fraction of the price.
Jasmine Gurney, 29 from Biggleswade who is a mum of one and a part-time head of content & social, sharing videos on YouTube as Jasmine Gurney Oh Abode, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘I always wanted to build a pergola in my garden and turn my patio into a usable, sheltered space. I got a couple of quotes from local landscapers, but getting a professional job would have set me back around £2200 for parts and labour.
‘I was considering getting someone in to do it as I was pregnant at the time and wasn't sure I could manage the project, but the quote spurred me into action!
‘Slatted panelling has been super popular over the last few years, with slatted fencing becoming the norm in modern garden design, so I took that concept and applied it to my pergola.
‘I wanted the pergola to be 3.3m wide, in a lean-to style with a sloped roof for water run-off. I researched planning permissions before starting on the project.
‘You do not need planning permission if you’re building within 2 metres of your boundary and the pergola is a maximum of 2.5 metres high. If it’s 2 metres away from your house, it needs to be a maximum of 2 metres high, and if it’s a pitched roof, it can be a maximum of 4 metres high at the tip.
‘You do need permission if you’re in a conservation area, if you’re building down the side of your house right up to your boundary line, your house is listed, it’s above the maximum heights, it covers more than half of your land or if it’s on the front of your house.
‘I picked up all the supplies I needed from my local lumber yard, including the lumber, concrete, screws and paint which totalled £233. I got 4 bags of postcrete mix and a box of M6 100mm coach screws.
‘I already had the paint, which I had used for a previous project. For this size of pergola, you need 2 x 100 by 100 fence posts (3 metres), 2 x 6 by 2 timber (3.6 metres), 3 x 6 by 2 timber (2.5 metres), and 22 x 2 x 1 timber (2.5 metres). All of the timber was exterior grade C16.
‘The tools that I used - and that others will likely need for a similar project - were a tape measure, pencil, speed square, combo drill with hammer setting & Torx/Philips head screw bit, a pocket hole jig set, quick release clamps, mitre or circular saw, 7mm masonry drill and 6mm HSS/wood dowel drill bit, 7mm masonry rawl plugs, 1mm space washers, a ladder, a spade, a meter spirit level, a sander and 120 grit sandpaper, a chop saw, an angle grinder with a diamond tipped blade if you’re cutting patio slabs, a cut end preserver and paintbrush, shed and fence paint and possibly also wood filler.
‘To get started, I marked the height on the wall in pencil and made sure the sides were square with the house. I marked out where the patio needed to be cut so I could dig holes and cement the poles in. Then I marked the screw holes and used a circular saw to cut down the wood.
‘I dug a hole 40 cm deep and ensured it was 3 times the width of the post so there would be 10cm of concrete on each side. I factored in a 5% slope for my slanted roof for water run-off; eventually, I will put a plastic roof on top.
‘I squared off again to ensure the posts would be in the right place, laying out the main frame. I marked the 40cm on the posts so I’d know the level at which to bury them. I cut all the ends and screw ends with timber cut end preserve, as it protects from rot, fungi and blue stain. I ended up covering the full 40cm just to be sure.
‘Then I got the postcrete - using two bags per post - and poured it in the hole. Before I put the post in, I poured a bit in and mixed it with water, to create a concrete base. Then I alternated adding concrete and water. I used a spirit level to ensure the posts were plumb, and I used a piece of wood to keep the post in place while the cement dried.
‘I pre-drilled the holes on the back piece going on the wall, leaving gaps of 30cm along the plate with the two at the end being 15cm from the edges. When I drilled the wood onto the wall I used washers behind it to give it some extra expansion space and help to prevent rot.
‘Then I got the front on, clamping the side pieces. Clamps are great, they’re the second pair of hands you need for a job like this.
‘Because the roof will be at an angle, I drilled in the front piece first - lower than the back piece. However I made the mistake of cutting the side pieces too early, so they weren’t at the right angle. I used wood filler to fix this.
‘Once the frame was secure, I trimmed down the posts and applied the wood end preserver, before sanding all the wood down.
‘I used 21 slats for the roof and treated them before painting them with Cuprinol Ducksback in the shade Silver Copse. I painted them before fixing them to the pergola for convenience. I recommend applying two or three coats. Then the project was basically done.
‘As I was 26 weeks pregnant, it was a little difficult lifting the limber and climbing ladders with my bump getting in the way, but it was up and finished in one day. It's a pretty straightforward project, that anyone can have a go at!
‘If I had to do it again, I would have added the roof straight away as the space still isn't used how I intended it to be. I'm now moving house so will actually get to do it all over again at the new house!’
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘Jasmine has saved thousands by going DIY. There are some great tips in here, such as angling the roof for water run-off and treating the wood to prevent rot. I’m not sure if this should be your first project if you’re new to the world of DIY, but if you’ve done a few projects before or you’ve got someone to help you out then you can save a lot of money by ditching the professionals!’
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