Eapele Pergola Kit Corner Brackets for 4x4(3.5inchx3.5inch) Wood Posts, Powder Coated Steel Made, 3-Way 90°Angle for Hunting Blind, Deer Stand

Hope to write the kind of review, with photos, we wish we had before buying this pergola kit... When we were looking at pergola kits, detailed information on how to secure the base for a deck as hard to come by. So we added photos and bit more info to hopefully help you in your product decision. If we tried to attach the pergola base to the 8 inch (2 feet deep) cement footings at the corners of our 10 x 12 foot deck, the mental brackets would be below the deck and it would be a bit more work to cut the decking around them. We didn't want to do that. We decided to create a 4 inch block at each corner of the deck (our deck uses 2 x 8 in joists). See photo. We had to replace the 3/8 x 2 inch screws that came with this kit with 3/8 x 5 inch screws in order to attach the base to the 4 inch blocks plus the 1 inch of Trex. Attaching the base only to the Trex decking would have made the whole pergola too unstable. Just the 4 x 4's with no additional weight is a lot of weight, and we plan to use this with a sun shade. We are building another pergola with wood on top and will use 8 x 8 for that - the 4x4s really do not hold a lot of weight. We do intend to add corner wood bracing at the top to make the pergola even more sturdy - there is still a bit of flex even with all the screws in. The guys helping us assemble this pergola with the Eapele Pergola Kit chose to construct the top while it was on the ground - versus assembling each piece up top. This worked out really well, but requires at least 3 people (one needs to be tall enough to lift it over the top of the 4x4s. Added photos to show this. We didn't attach the side screws at the base of the 4x4s until the end so we had some flexibility putting the top of the pergola on. This was a critical step as it enabled a little wiggle room in placing on the top. The welds on this Eapele Pergola Kit held up really well - the metal did bend a bit when we screwed in the top screws, but that didn't impact the structural integrity. In hindsight - maybe we should have added washers to every screw? That might be overkill, but it would further protect the structure if we were in a really wet environment. We are in a very dry climate. We looked at so many kits and chose this kit because the welding seemed sturdy, it was on sale at the time (about half as much as similar kits), it came with all the bolts (although we did not end up using any of the bolts for the base!), and the thickness of the metal looked good. We're super happy with the quality and will update this if there is significant rust or failure in the future. We also love that the pergola is already made to accommodate a solar shade with the holes ready for the hooks. Hope this review and the photos help you decide if this is the right pergola kit for you.

Good quality and easy to use.

Worked great! Bult a small porch with items all set in good and looks great, wonderful product.

These are sturdy and well made. They have just enough space for the 4x4s to easily slip into the brackets. I did have to grind down the a little bit of the corners of the 4x4s for them to slide all the way in due to the welds in the corners of the bracket getting in the way. I also took off one star because the included lag bolts did not match the finish of the brackets (the bolts were silver). I had to buy black lag bolts to match. This might not be an issue for everyone. Overall I am please considering the price I paid.

Very good and worked perfectly!