Pergolas & Patio Covers

Pergola, patio cover, or something in between

A pergola is an open structure — rafters with gaps, dappled shade, a frame for a vine. A patio cover is solid, and it turns the space underneath into somewhere you can leave furniture and eat lunch in August.

Between them sits the option most people actually want: a substantially covered structure with a solid section over the seating and an open section elsewhere, or a louvered roof that opens and closes. We build all of it.

The engineering is not trivial

A pergola looks like a simple thing and is not. It has to carry its own considerable weight, wind uplift, and — for a solid cover — the load of whatever roofing goes on it. Attached structures also transfer that load into the house, at a ledger, with the same flashing and water-resistive barrier issues as a deck ledger. A patio cover ledger that was surface-screwed to stucco with no flashing will find its way into the wall.

Freestanding structures avoid the house connection entirely but need real footings, because the whole lateral load goes into the posts and the ground. Bolting posts to an existing slab is usually not adequate on its own.

Permits and coverage

Attached patio covers and most pergolas of any size need a permit in the City of Los Angeles. On hillside lots there is an additional consideration: structures more than six feet above natural grade count toward the lot coverage cap under the Baseline Hillside Ordinance, and a covered structure counts more heavily than an open deck in most people's coverage arithmetic.

We handle the drawings and the permit process. If you are near a coverage limit we will tell you before we design something you cannot build.

Fire zones

If you are in a fire hazard severity zone, a patio cover attached to the house is a projection, and projections are regulated. Solid roofing on a covered structure falls under roof assembly requirements. Los Angeles now applies the Class A roof assembly requirement in both High and Very High fire hazard severity zones, not Very High alone — worth checking if you have been working from an older assumption about your zone.

Material

Cedar and redwood for open pergolas, where the material is visible and the loads are moderate. Douglas fir for larger structural members. Hardwood where it needs to match a hardwood deck below it. Steel where the span makes wood impractical, or where somebody wants a thinner profile than timber can give.

We also build the things that go with them — integrated lighting, fans, privacy screens, and the electrical rough-in done before the ceiling closes rather than surface-mounted afterwards.

Call (818) 345-2866.