Today was an exciting day at the Homestead. Frankly, I was torn as to what was more exciting; the fact that we were to install the pergola or the fact that it didn't rain. Well, it did rain a bit but only near 6:00 this evening and only for a short while. True to predicted alterations in weather patterns as a greater part of global warming, this is now our second year in New England of soggy late spring/early summer weather. It is quite strange, really. There are times when the downpours are actually hard to fathom. The rain comes straight down in torrents as one might see in a Costa Rican rain forest. For the last three weeks we have scarcely seen the sun. Today, finally, after many days of rain and dashing in and out of the garage to paint, we got a sunny day for the moment I have been waiting for! The pergola!
For those of you following along, you will recall the evolution of the back of the house. Here are a couple of run-up shots showing the back of the house.

By late last Fall we had the back of the house framed, covered with vapor barrier and some of the windows in. For those of you who have a keen eye you may notice the two small windows to the right of the chimney on the second floor of the house which have since been swapped out for a large picture window. Note the deck is not even in yet.

An early evening shot from a week or so later with the deck now in place. Note the two windows now removed in the master bedroom with a new rough opening for the picture window.

30 degrees F in late November, one day prior to finishing the siding. Note the large expanse of space from deck level to the eaves.

Mid-spring, the back fully painted and final site work ready to start.

A partial shot with the gutter now in place. You can see that most everything is now done. All that is left is for detail work and the stairs/railings for the porch. Now comes time for the pergola. The problem we ran into was endless rain. At long last we got a short break. I went to work cutting and priming all the pergola components.

My drawings called for a pergola across the back main face of the house. I have always liked pergolas but the point of this one is two-fold. First, the back of the house is our South facing side which receives the brunt of the sun year round. It also is exposed to the elements. While the three doors to the living room (to the left of the column in the drawing above) are sheltered under a cantilever, the two french doors to the kitchen are subjected to heavy abuse from the elements. The pergola, with slats in place on top, will help provide a bit of shade as well as some protection from the rain and show. Secondly, the back facade is fairly tall and wide making it appear a bit imposing. The pergola will serve to cut the space and reduce the impact of all the siding.

From the side you can see the pergola extending past the edge of the 4' wide deck from the kitchen. The pergola is to be supported by two main carrying beams on two 4x4 columns. The design changed a bit as I went to work cutting parts but the concept remained the same for the most part.
The two 2x8 carrying beams cut and fully primed/painted lie on the main section of deck awaiting installation.
Three of the 18 5'-6" / 1.67 m "runners" which will attach butt-end to the house with the tapered cut end extending out over the edge of the deck over where the stairs will be.
Here we can see the two supporting columns in place with the carriages for the stairs starting to go into place.
After helping to lift the carrying beams into place I step back for a photo. Next come the runners which will be attached to a 5/4x6 board on the house which went in when we were putting up the siding in the fall.
The first two runners in place anchor the carrying beams firmly in place. All that is left now are the other 16 runners.



The runners are all in place now and the carriages for the stairs are going in as well. This main stair will corner at the cut in the deck and the last step will meet on a common landing near ground level.
Early evening (yes, it rained again just as we finished putting in the pergola) a great shot of the pergola "corridor" as seen from the living room door. What a great difference! Such a nice framing of the space and a wee bit of shelter as well.
A few days later, the stairs are complete. The site needs work but that will start this Thursday as we begin to move around a bunch of dirt. By then the retaining wall (just out of the photo to the right) should be done. This will allow us to smooth out dirt around the back giving a nice flat area at the base of the stairs for a stone patio with table and chairs. We will lattice the under side of the deck and sides of stairs as well. Once the grass seed is in and the ground is level, the back yard will really come into its own. Stephen Kiss, my stone wall guy and ground's keeping expert is building the wall and will be bush-hogging the back yard late this week.
With the deck and stairs to the right, here is the wall under construction. The ground to the right of the wall will be filled in to about 6" / 15cm below the top of the wall and the ground to the left will be about 18" / 45cm lower. Such a modest load means that this heavy yet non-reinforced typical New England stone wall can shoulder the load of holding up a level back yard.

Here one can get a better feel for the finished height of the wall. The ground will be topped-up on the left side in the photo.
Here is one last shot showing the stairs mostly complete. Barring rain we will be grading the back this Thursday! An update will follow as this will mostly conclude the site work for the house and leave only odds and ends to do on the outside.