Rant: My neighbor told me my new pergola would 'fly away' in a storm

I was putting up a cedar pergola kit in my yard in Springfield last fall when my neighbor Bob came over. He looked at the 4x4 posts I had set in concrete and said, 'You know, with our spring storms, that whole thing's gonna fly away if you don't add diagonal bracing.' I hadn't even thought about side-to-side wobble. I ended up adding two steel braces on each post before the first big wind hit. Has anyone else had a neighbor point out a major flaw in their backyard build?

3 comments

3 Comments

beth_butler754mo ago

Good neighbors are worth their weight in gold.

patricia_rodriguez2mo ago

Yeah, I'd trade mine for a bag of rocks at this point.

dylan_stone334mo ago

How deep did you set those posts in concrete? My uncle in Joplin had a similar setup and a tornado watch last year made him realize his were only 18 inches down. He had to redo the whole foundation.