How to Build a Garden Arbor

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Our backyard garden transformation is moving along. A little bit slower on some of it but impressively good on other components of it 🙂 My hubby had surprised me with building a garden arbor in a day! I thought it would be a project for a couple of weekends but here we are. With a new beautiful feature in our backyard! Here we are sharing how to build a garden arbor in a day 🙂

In my previous post I was asking for your thoughts on whether to purchase a pre-made garden arch or build it ourselves from scratch. However, when we went to a store to get the one we were thinking of, it was not available.

Soooo,

We decided to build it 🙂 Yaaay!

I am so glad we did! It has added so much charm to the backyard! Well… as you can see the area is still a bit messy but you will need to take my word it looks nice already 😉

We have used this Better Homes & Gardens post as a starting point for our design. Of course, we have adapted it to our needs and size but they deserve a credit for the tutorial!

The materials list there is very helpful. Because we have made a few changes to the design of the arbor, our list is a little bit different.

List of Materials

Thank you to the Abbotsford Home Depot branch for supporting the project.

Cedar lumber:

4 – 12-foot 2x4s: cut off 2 feet of each of them to make 4 pieces of 10ft (3m) [A] and 4 pieces of 2ft (60cm) [B] lumber
4 – 8-foot (2.4m) 1x4s [C]
5 – 8-foot (2.4m) 2x2s: cut into 7 pieces of 3ft (90cm) [D], 2 pieces of 2.5ft [E], and 10 pieces of 2ft (60cm) [F]

Hardware:

~30 3-inch deck screws
~30 2-inch deck screws
~ fifty 6d galvanized nails
4 concrete mix bags
mixed size rocks (we have lots of them in our garden)

Instructions

Dig 4 holes 20-30 inches deep at the 6ft (1.8m) width and 2ft (60cm) depth.

One by one set the 2x4s posts [A] in each of them and add the concrete mix to each hole adding rocks.

Make sure to check with a leveler to keep them vertical! This is very important!

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My hubby temporary added 2 2x2s and 2 2x4s pieces between them to stabilize the posts.

Add 1x4s [C] at the desired height using a leveler.

We found clamps very helpful to keep the 1x4s in place during the assembly. These are very similar to the ones we use.

Cut pieces [B] at 45 degrees on both sides and add them to the posts as shown below. This will help to reinforce the structure.

Add pieces [E] between the 1x4s. They will be used to attach 2×2 pieces [D].

Add 2×2 pieces [F] between the 2x4s building a “ladder” for the plants to climb on.

Ignore the mess around it 🙂 We will be adding a raised bed there this weekend. The New Dawn climbing rose will be going in on one side and the white and red clematises on the other 🙂

And,

DONE!

You can paint or stain it if you wish but I like it just like that! Cedar is a great material to use for the outdoor projects and will last for many years without paint. We may change our mind and stain it sometime this summer if we have time though 😉

I am so happy with the result and so proud of my Man! I honestly did not think we would be able to finish it in a day!

What do you think? Do you agree it was the right choice to do this DIY? As always, we will be happy to see your comments below 🙂

Check out other Challenge participants’ posts here.

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How to Build a Garden Arbor – YTC Spring 2018