TIMBER PERGOLA, PAVILIONS, TRELLISES AND ARBORS Hi, I am Mark with Western Timber Frame™. Today, we are going to talk about how to patch extreme checking in timbers when that occurs. This is just a cosmetic fix for checking, if it is an extreme case. When you have checking it can occur over the first year of having your timber product. If that happens you will want to wait for at least a year before applying this technique. The reason why is that when timbers check they dry faster on the outside than they do on the inside and they open up and crack. That is the natural process of timber. As it dries the rest of the way through the center the gap can actually close back up a little [...]

[/fusion_builder_column] We use an innovative massive mortised dovetail joint connection system we call The Dovetail Difference™ throughout our timber construction process, creating very strong rigid joints. On the test pictured above it didn’t give until over 11,000 lbs.! We are often asked about weathering or maintenance on our timber frame pergola, arbor, gazebo and pavilion kits. People want something that easy and stress-free; which is why some have been attracted to vinyl pergolas advertising as a "low cost", "low maintenance" product. Here I will show the veritable costs and upkeep of an aluminum reinforced vinyl pergola kit compared to a solid wood, timber frame pergola kit, a permanent outdoor shade structure from Western Timber Frame™. Our timber frame kits we ship out daily, throughout North America range from 2,500 to 11,000 lbs. (and often larger on commercial or large custom projects). We [...]