Pergolas in Bethel, OH

Bethel (ZIP 45106) is far enough into the country that the wildlife around a structure is part of the picture. On a pergola one insect does more damage than everything else put together. It is worth knowing which one, and what keeps it off, before the wood is ordered.

What the frame gives a Bethel household is shade in an open yard where little else casts any. Under it a table stops being a hot spot by two in the afternoon. It also marks one part of a big back yard as the part people sit in. On a country lot that counts for as much as the shade.

Carpenter bees bore into bare softwood, and they pick the underside of horizontal pieces with clear air beneath. That is a description of a pergola. They do not eat the wood. They tunnel into it to nest. Each hole is round, about half an inch across, and goes in an inch before turning along the grain. They come back to the same wood year after year, and each generation extends the same tunnels. A rafter with three holes has a network in it a decade later.

What keeps them off is the finish. Bare and weathered softwood is what they choose, and a painted, stained or sealed face is far less attractive. The undersides are where they work, so every face is finished before the frame is put together. That is the same discipline the top edges need for water. On a frame that already has holes we fill them and make the surface good. The members are finished after that, so the next season starts on something different. A piece with a real network through it gets swapped, one rafter at a time.