Learning How to Build a Trellis

A trellis can provide a strong and sturdy place for your climbing plants, and it can be a beautiful backdrop to your back deck or patio. Do you want to know how to build a trellis.

It is easy and many homeowners find that adding a trellis adds a little something extra to the outdoor atmosphere.

Instead of going out and purchasing a cheap, imitation plastic trellis, why not build your own with real wood? It is a quick and easy project that will allow you to make your home look more beautiful while giving you a great project to complete.

How to Begin

When you’re wondering how to build a trellis, the first thing you should think about is what type of material you’d like to use during the construction process. Most people choose wood for its durability and classic styling, and there are a number of different wood options you can use in your trellis design.

If you go with wood, make sure that your choice is durable, like pressure-treated wood or even cedar, so that you can keep your lattice work looking its best without a lot of hassle. Your other material options include metals and vinyl, but unless you have worked with materials extensively, you may want to stick with wood, as it’s a bit easier to handle during the construction process.

Simple or Complex

You next have to decide on the overall appearance of your trellis. There are some designs that are extremely complex, requiring hours of work, while others are very simple. Simple designs can be as striking as some of the more complex designs, but the most important thing is to match your project with the overall outdoor design scheme of your home.

Then, take your design to paper. Grab a pencil and a blank sheet of paper and start sketching how you would like your trellis to look. During the design, make sure that you take into consideration how much support your climbing plants will need. Some plants need to have quite a bit of support, while others, like many ivy varieties, merely need something to climb.

When you are working with your design, make sure that you do some measuring. For the initial measurement, take out a tape measure and figure out how high you would like the trellis to be. Don’t feel limited in this area. You can make the lattice work much taller than you need it to be as you go. Then use the tape measure to help you to figure out the distances between all of the crossing points on you design, so that you can analyze the amount of materials you need to purchase.

Finally, a trip to the hardware store, some manual labor, and a close attention to design should help you build the trellis you’ve been dreaming of.

Sum it all Up

With a bit of time and energy and a very few design skills, you can create a beautiful trellis that will add atmosphere for your home and a place to climb for your plants. With a small budget and a weekend, you, too, can discover how to build a trellis.

For more information on building a great looking structure for your backyard or garden, please read these articles:

Building a garden arbor

Vinyl arbors for your garden