If you are in the market for something that will change the appearance of your backyard and give you more seating for guests, then you should consider purchasing a pergola. Pergolas are open aired structures that use beams to support a light roof over the central area. The roof is made of even spaced slats that block some of the sun’s harshest rays, but still allow you to experience being outdoors. Pergolas are a great way to give your backyard a facelift, and they are very easy to purchase online. When you shop for a pergola online there are three things that you need to keep in mind.
Placement
The first thing that you need to consider is the placement of the pergola. Is it going to be connected to the home or the porch, or is the pergola going to be a freestanding structure somewhere in the yard? This question is vital because you will be buying a pergola kit, and the parts needed for a connected pergola are different from the ones you will need if the pergola is going to be freestanding. Talk about where you want the pergola to be place with your family and come to a decision before you get too involved in the purchasing process.
Installation
Next you need to think about how you are going to get the pergola installed. Yes, pergolas come in kits that you can build on your own, but if you do not have experience with that level of construction, trying to build the pergola on your own is a very bad idea. If the pergola is a freestanding structure, it is especially important that you get some help installing the kit. A pergola that is freestanding needs to have a solid foundation and the columns that hold the roof need to be put into the ground in such a way that they will stay grounded and straight. Even a small mistake during the installation can have a devastating impact once the pergola is complete. Often the company that sells you the pergola will have some local installers ready to take care of the project for you, so you need to make it a point to ask about the installation during the purchasing process.
Delivery
Once you have the pergola purchased, and you know how it is going to be installed, you need to think about how you are going to get it delivered. Pergolas are probably larger than anything else you have ordered online, so you may be surprised to find out that UPS or FedEx will not be bringing the kit to your doorstep. Most pergolas are delivered on large semi-trucks and the drivers of those trucks are not allowed to help customers unload their items because of insurance regulations. You need to be prepared in advance to have a lifter or unloader of some kind on hand to get your pergola off the truck and into your yard. If you do not have access to one, you can have the pergola kit offloaded at the truck yard, but be prepared to pay a price for having someone else do the work.
You can really change the appearance of your backyard with a well built and well designed pergola, but you need to take the right steps during the purchasing and delivery processes if you want to have a good experience. By taking a little extra time to prepare you will be able to get the pergola that you want, have it delivered right to your door and have it installed with very little additional effort on your part.
I am Jamie Mullins, and my family recently got to buy pergola kits for our backyard. We were not all that prepared when we first started the process, but we used www.vinyl-pergola-kits.com to find the right pergola for us, and they answered all of the questions that we had about the process. I wrote this article so people will know what they need to do if they plan on buying a pergola and how to make the experience a good one.