"janet.bennett" wrote in message
...
My husband is in the process of erecting a pergola in our garden, but I
need
some advice

We have 4 upright posts - measuring 4" x 2" (height about 2 metres)

Have tried looking on the net to get an idea of the height, but can't find
anything.
I would like some help please with the following :

1. I don't want the pergola 2 metres high, but would like to know what
would
be an ideal height?
2 Measurements required here :
a. what height above ground should posts be?
b. how much below ground?

I used 2.4m above ground and 0.9m below. I also found that 6" square oak was
hardly any dearer than pressure treated softwood, so I used that for the
uprights. I probably only needed 4" square for the strength, but, when I
tried some test pieces, they looked wrong.

2. Concreting posts into ground :
a. how many bags of sand and cement do we need ? the ratio ? should
the mixture be on the dry side ?

I didn't concrete, merely surrounded the posts with well-rammed gravel. Once
the top rails and corner braces are in place, the whole structure becomes
quite rigid. Six years later they are still standing firm.

Colin Bignell