Originally posted by: flot
That looks great, nice job! Any tips for someone looking to do the same?
1. Paint it before assembly.
2. Shop around at different lumber yards for the wood. The prices vary A LOT. We tried two lumber yards, Lowers, and Home Depot. One of the lumber yards was really expensive, and the other was half the price of the rest. Also most will do decorative wood cuts on the end for like $5 an end, which was definitely worth it over having to cut it yourself.
3. If you dont have the footings installed already, get the brackets which raise the bottom of the posts off the ground to help prevent rot.
4. It was tricky getting the hanger's located on the ledger board for the two end rafters so that they would come out perpendicular to the header boards. We ended up using two tape measures across the diagonals to make sure that the posts were square with the end rafters. There might be a better way to do this but I didnt know of one.
5. Once you get the posts standing straight up (using a level), we nailed in one of the rafters first, followed by one of the headers, followed by the rafter on the other side. The rest of the assemble was pretty easy after this part. You may want to use some temporary cross-bracing while nailing in the first rafter and header, it was a little tricky holding the posts straight up while hammering on them.
6. Drilling into the stucco was a total PITA even with a masonry bit. If you have a hammer drill available, I think that would help a lot.
7. Make sure to counter-sink the holes in the ledger board so that they dont interfere with the rafter hangers.
8. We also raised up the facia boards slightly using composite shims to give them a tighter fit.