PVC, Vinyl, or Composite Pergolas?
People are writing and calling wanting Vinyl and Composite Pergolas. People see the beautiful photos on GardenStructure.com and for some reason assume that they are made of maintenance free materials. This is because our pergolas are often solid color stain on wood finishes.
We use an upgraded, good cut of materials — normally red cedar, which cracks little and the knots don’t bleed through the finish. When we pre-finish the materials, the first application on pergolas can last between 5-7 years, at which point you can re-finish and it will look new again. Vinyl materials — poly vinyl chloride, the same as plumbing materials — have a mixed track record.
Early PVC fencing designs didn’t work well; later versions look much better, and there’s usually some metal reinforcement inside the vinyl shell to prevent sagging. PVC arbors often look fine but can be noticeably wobbly under load. The lesson: maintenance-free doesn’t always mean structurally equivalent — know what’s actually holding the structure up before you choose a material based on looks alone.
