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We just brought home an arbor for the yard. It is not exactly the way we think it needs to be. See the photos below. It has two horizontal 'feet' so I think it was designed to sit ontop of a surface?? Of course I can't see how it could possibly do that. We put it together and left it sitting on the lawn for just a few hours over the weekend and the wind blew it right over. Of course it needs to be anchored into the ground. But the bottom with that horizontal bar, is attached by lap joint to the arbor. We want to convert it to whatever it needs to be to be installed in the ground. We have a few ideas and would love some input on what will be the best way to do it.
We could just remove the horizontal bar, dig 4 holes and install 4 stakes and attach the arbor by bolt from the lap joint to the stakes in the ground. [Our son thinks that lap joint would not be strong enough and will snap off]. We could keep the horizontal bar on, install it below ground level and just use a metal loop on each end of the horizontal bars, hammer it over the horizontal piece into the ground. Seems like an inadequate solution and the horizontal piece will rot under ground. WE could cut off the lap joint, have a flush bottom on each of 4 posts and dig in 4 wooden stakes into the ground and attach the arbor to them. This would make the arbor shorter, and not sure I want to do that. OR we could use copper pipe in the ground, with one end flattened and attach that to the bottom of the arbor, either leaving the lap joint as is, or cutting it flush.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks :-)
I am sorry, but I am not really understanding your suggestion. I did go to the website you suggested but wasn't able to find any info on that stand off base. I did see photos of brackets, so I am assuming that is what you are talking about. Are you suggesting I stake the arbor somehow, or attach a metal bracket to the bottom of each leg of the arbor and attach that to a post in the ground? I am not an experienced handyperson at all, so I am not familiar with terms.
I am not planning on using any cement. This will be placed in a garden hopefully just dug into the soil. When you say 'leg extensions', I am imagining that you mean, buy a metal bracket, take a 4x4 piece of wood and attach the wood to the leg of the arbor with the bracket and then dig holes for the then 'extended' leg? Is that right? I would not like to see any metal bracket at the base of each leg either.
If you can clarify what you mean I would appreciate it. thanks :-)
If you do not want to use a cement footing then the simpsom tie is a mute point.
You'll probably have to use one of those arrow head post bases ,
- looks like a square cube that the bottom of the post sits in and a long stake that is shaped like an arrow that gets pounded into the ground .
This is a sub par professional installation that I have no experience with.
Prairie Moon, I just found your thread. I realize three weeks have passed since your last post, so perhaps you've already decided how to anchor your arbor and are busy enjoying it. If not -- I think you should reconsider the idea of concrete footings in the ground. As deviant_deziner said, it would hold the wooden arbor up off the ground and protect it from rotting. Have you finished the project yet?
Yes, we did get our arbor anchored. We are fighting many deadlines for varied projects in the yard and I had a vine growing in my front yard, that was too much for the front of the house and was waiting for the arbor so it could be moved. Three years I have been planning the move. [g] We had initially wanted to design and build our own, with posts dug into the ground. I was shopping somewhere early in the spring and saw this arbor for sale at half price and made the decision that the vine was getting moved this year and not waiting for the perfect, long term solution.
So, it may not be the best long term solution, but it suits my needs at this moment. We simply layed it on top of a thick layer of bark mulch with cardboard under it, leveled it, then used stainless steel anchors we found at home depot to anchor it. We used two on each leg. They were really impressive anchors. We had just erected a canopy over a patio that had included metal anchors and rope to anchor it, which gave us the idea. The anchors included with the canopy were a joke. So we found much superior ones at Home Depot. They were inexpensive too. About $15. for all four, and we tied the arbor to the anchors, wrapping the cord around the uprights twice and burying the anchors under a thick layer of mulch.
It isn't ideal but I have the arbor up and the vine moved just before all that rain we just had. We feel it is secure enough and will work out fine for the season and hopefully not have to go through any severe hurricanes and have to test it. If it doesn't hold up to this, it will not be that big a deal. Maybe at some point we will do a more long term solution. I am also planning on putting a layer of gravel under each leg, to keep it off the soil/mulch and hopefully extend it's life.
So thank you both for your suggestions and just wanted you to know how it all worked out.
