# Forum Home Renovation Pergolas, Gazebos, Strombellas & Rotundas  General question about bolt size

## stevo27

Just wondering how you determine the size of the bolts for the basic structure. Not so much the length but the guage (?)   
Cheers

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## Marc

Easy, 10mm for the very small stuff, 16 mm for the very big stuff, and 12 mm for everything else.

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## phild01

> Easy, 10mm for the very small stuff, 16 mm for the very big stuff, and 12 mm for everything else.

  Your idea of small might be big to someone else :Biggrin:

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## Marc

10 mm is puny. You have to turn the nut carefully not to strip it. barely worth it. Go 12 for everything ...  :Smilie:

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## Moondog55

> 10 mm is puny. You have to turn the nut carefully not to strip it. barely worth it. Go 12 for everything ...

  What if the load is in shear tho?
If you are using brackets it's easy; you use the bolt that fits in the hole, most of those are a 12mm hole so you use a 12mm bolt.
Easy answer is to go a size bigger than the minimum that will do the job, seeing as a bugle is the same strength as a 10mm MS bolt then I'd have to agree with Marc that the reasonable size is a 12mm minimum  *"I'd have to agree with Marc  " *    Did I just say that??

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## phild01

How long is a piece of string, depends what is being done.  10mm is acceptable for certain things but with whatever you are doing, usually there are specs available to be followed.

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## Marc

Always blaming a big boy.   :Rofl5:

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