You’ve likely seen pergolas before. These structures are sometimes attached to peoples’ homes or garages, but they can also be free-standing.
If you’ve never lived in a house that has a pergola, you might not know much about them. Even if you think they look neat, you might not be sure what these structures are used for.
What is the purpose of a pergola? Is a pergola used for shade, or is it simply something that people build for aesthetic purposes?
Continue reading to get more information about pergolas. Once you’ve read everything, you’ll have a much better understanding of what these structures are used for.
What Is the Point of a Pergola?
There are several reasons why people choose to build pergolas. Since there’s more than one reason why these structures are built, it makes sense to go over them all so you can decide if you’re interested in placing one on your property.
1 – Providing Shade
One of the main reasons why people build pergolas and place them on their properties has to do with shade. You might want to have some more shade in your yard so you can sit outside when it’s sunny.
A pergola is different from something like a gazebo. Pergolas have slatted roofs that create a bit of shade, but the sun can still get through.
There are gaps between the wood slats on the roof. You can attach a shade cloth to the pergola and use it when you want more shade.
Most of the time, the pergola will just provide a little bit of shade. It makes things cooler and nicer without completely blocking out the sun.
2 – It’s Used as a Sitting Area
Typically, people like to utilize pergolas as little sitting areas. In the past, it was common for pergolas to be placed in the middle of gardens.
These would provide people with a place to sit and admire the garden. People still use pergolas like this today, but it’s more common to have a pergola in place of a deck or a patio.
No matter what, it’s easy to see that pergolas give you a nice area where you can sit and entertain company. You can invite people over for lunch and enjoy eating out in the garden on a nice day.
It makes it easier to take in the beauty of your yard, and you can enjoy the weather when it’s nice outside. Your pergola will likely be a spot where you’ll spend plenty of time in the spring and summer months.
People commonly buy nice garden or patio furniture and place it underneath the pergola. You can create a very satisfying sitting area if you choose to install a pergola on your property.
3 – Adding to the Aesthetic Beauty of Your Property
It’s not unusual for people to add pergolas to their properties for purely aesthetic purposes. Sometimes people just think that pergolas look nice, and they believe that they will add something to the landscape.
In the past, it was very common for pergolas to be used mostly for aesthetic reasons. A pergola would be placed in the middle of a garden walkway.
Sometimes the pergola would become a part of the garden as people would have vines and other such climbing plants grow on them. It’s still common for people to grow ivy, grapes, and other such plants on their pergolas.
Having a pergola built and placed on your property can make everything look nicer. If the pergola matches your home, it might add to the overall visual appeal of the property.
Will a Pergola Make My House Dark?
A pergola might make your house a bit darker. This all depends on where the pergola is positioned.
Sometimes pergolas are built as structures that attach directly to your house. If your pergola is attached to the house, it might obstruct some of the windows on your home.
This isn’t necessarily a problem, but it could make portions of the house seem darker than usual. So you won’t get as much natural sunlight through those windows that are right by the pergola.
If this is a problem, you might want to consider attaching a pergola to your garage or building a free-standing pergola. Of course, not everyone sees this as an issue, and some will be fine with the house being a bit darker on one side.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are several reasons why people choose to buy pergolas. They can provide you with shade and make it nicer to sit outside.
You can admire your yard and all of the plants in your garden. People love to create sitting areas underneath their pergolas, and these structures also add aesthetic appeal to their properties.
If you think that pergolas are nice, you shouldn’t hesitate to have one built. It could make it so you can enjoy your yard that much more when the weather is nice and warm.
Decide whether a pergola is right for you, and then move forward. You can build one yourself, or you can choose to have a professional design and install a custom pergola for you.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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