# Forum Home Renovation Pergolas, Gazebos, Strombellas & Rotundas  Fixing Pergola to house without joist hangers

## crashworx

Hi,  
I'm in the process of designing a pergola which will go over a deck area. 
On one side the pergola will attach to the home and on the other it will be supported by timber posts. 
I'm looking to use 140x42 joist in a hardwood or treated pine. 
The standard pergola designs i can see involves attaching a ledger board to the brick work and then using joist hangers to fix the joists to the board. However, i hate the look of joist hangers. 
Is there another way that is relatively simple ?  
I thought about "checking out" the joists and the ledger board so that they would interlock and i could then fix them down with a screw bolt from the top, however I'm not sure if this effects the span of the josts and would make the pergola unsafe. 
Any thoughts or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

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## SilentButDeadly

Skew nails.  Bolted metal angle.  Decorative plates... 
There's plenty of ways to do it.  It's just that joist hangers or boots are faster and require much less imagination!  
I like these. Got a welder?

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## justonething

You could attach a runner to the ledger board, in fact and it can be bolted through the ledger and into the brick work. The joists can then sit on the runner. You need to block the joists though.

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## crashworx

> You could attach a runner to the ledger board, in fact and it can be bolted through the ledger and into the brick work. The joists can then sit on the runner. You need to block the joists though.

  Any chance you could draw a simple picture to illustrate this...

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## toooldforthis

check ledger
nail rafters to ledger from (what will be hidden side) back side of ledger
attach ledger to wall with dyna bolts etc 
of course you will need to support rafters when attaching ledger to wall 
or check ledger and skew nail rafters to ledger attached to wall

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## justonething



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## Micky013

Can't you just get some solid skews in and leave it at that? That's what I'm gonna do. I can't stand the look of hangers and additional timer even though I know it's wrong not to have the support.  
Our pergola has been up for over 30 years fixed with skews to fascia - it's under cover so no issue of rot.  
Dunno - it's a tricky one

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## crashworx

Thanks very much for that, makes sense now. 
Can i ask, how is that different to checking in the ledger ? would this provide more support ?

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## toooldforthis

traditionally check outs help support the rafter and stop it from twisting.
hangers replicate this functionality, but agree look ugly.

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