Trellis (Kioski)

It was a long time coming; about ten years. Ever since we bought this house and experienced sun on the south side, then over several years watched cacti bake and brown in the fierce sun plus reflected heat off of the house walls, I have thought of a trellis.

The fact that it was the front of the house required the trellis to look decent. That by itself was occasion for pause. Criticism from my better half was ever present. Understandably, she didn't want it to look junky. Nor did I. So I discarded the idea of shade fabric.

Then there was an added complexity. In that same area there are two scuppers that drain about half of the roof area. I had already extended them a bit in an attempt to get the water away from the house. The extensions weren't long enough, although they helped. (Funny thing about Tucson. They don't design houses for rain. Go figure.) So somehow, the trellis not only had to serve the function of shade and look good, it also had to take runoff from the scuppers and carry it over another three or four feet.

The design also had to account for wind. That's what we have in Tucson for "bad weather". It's not rain or overcast or cold. It's wind. And we do get wind. There are blasts of wind that tear off tree branches. They even uproot trees. We had a mature palo verde that got toppled across the driveway about seven years ago. That was when I bought an electric chain saw. So whatever I had to build to block sunlight also had to withstand severe wind.

The design went from two vertical posts to four. I had to convince Shari that four pylons of half cinder blocks, filled with cement, with an embedded four-by-four's, were sufficient to hold up a twenty-foot long lattice of one-by-fours. The four cinder block columns were measured and erected, the four posts measured and placed, then packed with cement so strong that they produced small cracks in the blocks. No matter: super glue and caulk. Each foundation was cemented to the raised planted in which they had been dug. You couldn't budge any one of those four posts if you tried.

Then I constructed two channels for the two scuppers. They were made with two-by-fours and lined with plastic fencing. Plastic fencing posts, I figured, are flat and would last forever, but I was worried about weight. Fortunately, after about a couple of short days of labor and erecting the new channels, we got some rain.

The extensions worked on the back-flow as much as the intended front-flow. Too much rain spilled out in back and my intent was to have it run farther out. The design was changed and simplified, and the angle of the dangle increased. Aluminum flashing was bent inside a rectangular tube of one-by-fours.

The scupper extensions up, all I had to do was screw on some fifty-three one-by-four slats and presto! We have partial shade that is noticeable through the resultant temperature decrease!  It will take years for the poor San Pedro cactus to learn that it's okay to be green again, but the trellis helps define and enhance the front of the house.

I can hardly wait for monsoon rains to see how the new scupper extensions work. Of course, I can hardly wait for the monsoon rains, period.

Now for shade on the west side, and to complete the paving and trash enclosure on the east side.

Kioski you ask?  That's what a shade trellis is called in Greek. Greek, you ask? Well, we are planning on catching a lot of Greek sun come September and Shari is taking Greek lessons. Opa!