Building Outdoor Structures - Build Like A Pro Series
Design and Build Beautiful Garden Structures, Including Gazebos, Gates, Fences, Arbors, Pergolas and Trellises

Expert advice from start to finish

Like the idea of a lovely pergola, charming picket fence, or inviting garden gate gracing your yard? Now imagine your added satisfaction if they were built with your own two hands.

Building Outdoor Structures leads you from start to finish through 10 projects -- from choosing the right woods and tools to measuring with dead-on accuracy to using finishes that will stand up to the elements. Build your outdoor structures...and delight your family and visitors with an enchanting garden for years to come.

Add a lot of personality, value and enjoyment to your property for little time and expense!

• Projects perfect for every yard size and skill level...
• Build arbors, pergolas, trellises
• Make and install gates and fences
• Design a Victorian gazebo
• Construct sturdy retaining walls
• Create paths, borders, steps
• Beautify your garden with raised beds
• Follow crystal-clear, step-by-step instructions that leave nothing to chance including all you need to know before you start a structure
• See what to do and how each project's phase should look with more than 300 photos and drawings
• Grasp the basics with chapters devoted to tools, woods and other materials, and techniques -- frame and pole construction, timber framing, finishing
• Special sidebars highlight Pro Tips, Trade Secrets, What Can Go Wrong (but hopefully won't because you'll know what to avoid!)
• Design Options at the end of each project inspire your creativity with different variations on the structure's theme
• Part of Taunton's Build Like a Pro book series

"I began building wooden structures for our family garden 20 years ago. Carpentry eventually became my career. Though my enjoyment of woodworking has evolved as my skills and tools have grown, I have rarely again experienced the thrill of seeing those early garden structures pop up in the landscape." -Scott McBride

About the Author

Scott McBride is a professional carpenter and ardent gardener. He is a contributing editor of Fine Homebuilding magazine and the owner of McBride Carpentry & Millwork in Sperryville, Virginia, where he also lives, enjoying his garden and its structures!

Soft-cover, 9-3/16" x 10-7/8", 192 pages, with 235 full-color photos and 80 drawings  Published 2007

ISBN: 978-1-56158-939-5