"The anchors have been working out extremely well — to the point it's almost scary."

- Rob L.

Rob’s goal was to raise the pergola above ground, avoid wood-soil contact, and keep the structure level and rigid — even under wind pressure from solar panels.

To do this, he used:

• Bricks as elevated footing bases, adhered together with landscape block adhesive

  
  

• Deck Foot Anchors driven into the ground with the flat load plate secured to the top of the brick footings

  
  

• L brackets and cement anchor bolts to secure the posts directly through the plate and into the cement blocks

  
  

• 6x6 posts (hollow at the base, solid at the top for bolting joists and rafters)

  
  

Rob’s install goes far beyond your average weekend pergola build. While most pergolas are designed to withstand winds up to 100 mph when secured with basic bottom L brackets on concrete, Rob engineered his structure to handle significantly more — especially considering the added uplift forces from solar panels mounted on the roof.

To reach that level of stability, Rob combined several smart strategies:

• Four bottom L brackets per post instead of two — doubling the connection points between post and footing for improved lateral and vertical resistance

  
  

• Heavy-duty self-tapping cement anchor bolts driven through the metal base plates and into the cement blocks

• Deck Foot Anchors with Flat Plates acting as deep ground anchors, securing the entire block stack from beneath

Rob integrated bifacial solar panels on top of the pergola to allow filtered light through while generating energy.

Underground wiring was pre-planned and installed during the build — a smart move that showcases the versatility of the Deck Foot Anchor system for more advanced projects.