Pergola Day 10 & 11 - Posts Are Up & Joists Are Finished

This post combines a couple of days together. We finished routing the posts and installing the wires. First I feed the wire through the back of the post to the front and tie it off.

This photo shows the wiring for the lights running from the base of the post down to where the wire crosses over the center of the post to the frontside where the fixture will be mounted.

Here is a closeup of where the wire turns 90 degrees and goes through the post to the other side. You can see the tiny nails I used to hold the wire in place.

After applying and sanding the wood putty, I repainted the posts. Now the wiring is discretely hidden inside the posts.

Michelle finished painting the joists on Day 11. They are now ready for installation, along with the two posts on the ground to the right.

We were able to finish installing all five posts. It was harder than I thought. I learned the hard way that the best way to install the posts was to place them in the existing brackets, use a level to make sure they were standing up correctly, and then tracing holes where the bolts go prior to installing the post. 

Of course I didn't do this...I thought I would be smart by using the old posts as templates for the new ones and tracing the existing holes onto the new boards. What that doesn't take into consideration is the slight variations that exist between the old 4x6 posts and new 4x6 posts. This led to a lot of minor adjustments on 3 of the 5 posts. They eventually went in though.

This post bolted into the existing brackets correctly the first time. It was the only one of the four to do so.

The top of this post has a bundle of wire that will eventually be used to power the ceiling lights on the pergola.

Here is a close up of one of the posts with the wiring exposed for the light fixtures that will eventually be installed.

Next step? Install the first beam. Hopefully that happens tomorrow!