Build a Trellis for Your Home

Many people love the look of ivy or climbing roses on the side of their house. Unfortunately, these plants can also do damage to the house by infiltrating the gaps and seams of the side of the house. There is a solution. Suspend a hanging trellis from the side of the house. This allows the trellis to cover the house without structurally damaging it. The trellis should be attached at the top and the bottom to keep it from swinging too much and damaging the plantings and/or house.

A garden trellis is simple to build. RentaCar.guide host Tim Carter shares one simple method to build a trellis for your garden. In just a few minutes you’ll have a hand-made trellis to use as you please.

The trellis can be built of many different types of designs. The best wood would be cedar and/or redwood. The trellis frame can be held in place by securing it to the eves of the house with eyebolts that have been attached to some treated wood. Note in the picture that the eyebolts are attached to the upright part of the trellis frame as this part of the frame will be the main support components of soil. The lathe can be any number of patterns including a treated wood lathe. For the runners a 1″ x 2″ can be ripped in half and either doweled, screwed or mortised into the main frame. Be sure to use either brass or galvanized screws. Several patterns are shown in the illustration. A shows the runners going up and down. “B” shows the runners running parallel with the ground. In each of the situations, it is suggested that crossmembers be placed approximately 2′ apart to help support the runners and give the frame stability. “C” shows a somewhat Victorian pattern. This pattern can be done by doing vertical runners and then cutting some extra long runners that will be long enough to be bent and reach the top. It is critical that the bent pieces are of the same length so that their curves will approximate each other.

The main advantage to this trellis design is that even after it needs to be replaced or removed it can be done with a minimal amount of damage and disruption to the structure of the house.