Weatherproof Your Backyard Pergola With A Beautiful Floral DIY

Yup, that's definitely another raindrop on the page of the book you're reading. Time to pack up, taking your reading material, freshly prepared iced tea, and lounge pillows inside with you. Your pergola-covered patio won't be usable until the sun comes out again. If you're looking for a budget-friendly way to DIY a patio enclosure that's guaranteed to keep the rain off you, your book pages, and that pricey outdoor furniture while not looking, well, cheap, this project has you covered. Get yourself enough bamboo trellises threaded through with artificial flowering vines to cover the entire roof of your pergola. Top that with transparent polycarbonate roofing sheets secured in place with a nail gun and adhesive. A super simple DIY project that's super effective at letting light through and keeping the rain away.

Sure, you could simply cover the pergola with the polycarbonate sheets. But why go for the boring, practical option when you can add a touch of unique beauty with just one more (super easy, in our humble opinion) step in the process. It's also one of the prettiest ways to shade your patio. You'll get a dappled effect as the sunlight filters through the faux foliage covering the bamboo trellising. That dappling also creates much-needed shade in the warm summer months and light in the dark winter months, while most, if not all, polycarbonate sheeting has built-in UV protection. This project is a win-win (we could probably add another win to that, too) if you're concerned about aesthetics, practicality, and saving a buck or two by doing the project yourself instead of hiring a contractor.

Measure your pergola roof before shopping for the artificial flower trellis. Amazon sells a 70.87 x 9.84 inch real-wood expandable trellis covered in green leaves and white blooms for just over $20. Walmart sells telescopic timber fences adorned with orange-red, pink, or red roses for about $14 to $18 each. Happy to skip the blooms? The faux lemon leaf Primrue 30 x 98 inch wood trellis is giving Amalfi Coast; it sells for almost $130 at Wayfair. Polycarbonate sheet comes in a range of sizes, so do your research to work out the least wastage before you buy. Get a 14-pack of 2 x 1 foot, 0.16 inch thick polycarbonate greenhouse panels for just under $34 on Amazon. Lowe's sells a range of brands, including Sunlite, Polymershapes, and Plaskolite. Sunlite 0.31 inch thick, 48 x 24 inch UV-protective polycarbonate roofing panels, for example, will set you back almost $81 per sheet.

Silicone sealants are the industry standard for bonding (and, of course, sealing) two polycarbonate roofing sheets. For example, Charley's Greenhouse & Garden in Mount Vernon, WA, sells a 10 ounce tube of Sikasil-N Plus silicone sealant for just over $14. Use an online calculator — like the one offered by Sunshine Supply — to work out how many tubes to buy. Tools-wise, all you really need is a caulking gun (for applying the silicone sealant), a nail gun and nails to secure the sheets to the pergola, and a ladder to get up onto the frame. It's advisable to wear safety goggles when working with a silicon sealant and nail guns.

If you were lucky, you were able to buy the trellis panels and the polycarbonate sheet in the exact sizes you needed to fit your pergola roof. If not, cut them to size using a circular saw. (In some cases, you may be able to contract or expand the trellis evenly to fit the area you need to cover.) Using your ladder, lay the faux flower trellising over the pergola roof. You don't want any gaps between the individual trellises or the look won't be believably natural. Once that's securely in place, lay the first polycarbonate sheet over the pergola roof, nailing it to the beams. Arm your caulking gun with a tube of silicone sealant and apply some to the adjoining edge, then lay the next sheet down. Nail the second sheet in place as the glue works its bonding magic. Repeat this process until the entire pergola is covered.

If you're not a fan of the synthetic flora, you can buy the criss-cross bamboo trellising by itself and grow a real vine over it. Climbing plants you should grow on your property — and, specifically, over your pergola — include jasmine (Jasminum), bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spectabilis), and American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens), among many others. You'll need at least two plants for at least two pergola posts; you can add some string to encourage them to twine upwards. Start the vines in planters situated at the base of each pergola post. Or, if your pergola is bordered by garden beds, plant the vines directly into the ground.