How to add support for passionfruit trellis?

[jegan]

Hi. I have a passion fruit trellis at the end of the driveway that I didn’t factor in the weight it would be supporting. It is presently held up with wire and thin timber posts. How can I support it further without having to take it down and destroy the vine and before it collapses. It is approx 3 metres.

[JacobZ]

Hi @jegan,

Unfortunately, that timber, which appears to be a fence rail, is nowhere near the calibre needed to span that distance, let alone carry weight. The obvious solution is to add a post to the middle of the span, but, being over a pathway, I imagine you wouldn't want to install a post in the middle of the pathway.

So, to span that distance, you would need to use a larger timber, such as some 190x45 H3 Pine Framing, so the 190mm side sits vertically. You would also need to install a post of a suitable size to attach this timber to. A 100x100 H4 post is what I would recommend. I recommend you concrete it into the ground to a depth of at least 600mm with a 300mm cylinder of concrete around it.

If you installed the new post next to the old one, then installed a new angle bracket next to the old one, then lifted the timber up into place while the vine is in place, fixed everything off, then removed the old timber, you could do so without removing the vine.

I would suggest attaching the timber to the post using 2 x 170mm Hot Dip Galvanised Cup Head Bolts.

I would also rotate the bracket on your wall so that the horizontal leg sits on top of the attachment points. I would then use 2 x 100mm batten screws up through the bottom of the timber to hold it in place.

Allow me to tag @Dave-1 and @Nailbag to see how they would do it.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Jacob

[Nailbag]

Hi @jegan 

The advice @JacobZ is essentially how I would approach the solution. But I would make it a priority whilst there are few leaves on the vine and you can see through the branches in order to thread the new timbers through. Don't under-estimate the long term weight of the vine on the timbers and support brackets. Go heavy now as it will be very difficult down the track.

The photos below are of a similar scenario but as you can see the timbers were already very sturdy when the support structure was first built. But years of neglect and they are bursting at the seams. Now I have been given the task to fix it.

Nailbag

[Dave-1]

Good morning @jegan 

Replacing the posts and strengthing the rails are both a high priority, I would even put in a temporary post in the middle (just wedge a piece of timber in the middle) to make it lesss likely that it will fail.

@JacobZ 's suggestions are spot on, I would definently over engineer it as weight of the vine would be up there in the kg's.

Dave