Custom Designed, Custom Built
Oak Oriental Garden Bridge
The Simple Story:
A beautiful garden bridge for a gorgeous, beautifully landscaped setting. Sounds simple, but this was not. The client wanted an oriental style bridge. That was approached through many, many, many plans and sketches. FInally, we found a design that was liked and chosen. Lots or arcs, oriental touches, made out of oak to stand up to the outside elements. All of the arcs involved were difficult to produce. Wood is normally straight and replicating arcs called for lots of work but it can be done. The base is made of 2x oak material and very strong. The walkway steps - we made them relatively narrow to add to the oriental flavor of the piece. Posts and handrails are sandwiches of three 1x oak boards glued and screwed together.
The bridge received 7 to 8 coats of marine varnish (wiped on, rather than brushed to avoid drips and brush marks) to allow it's outdoor usage. Even with all that marine varnish - any piece put outdoors will deteriorate quickly. I recommend that it be recoated every 3 or maximum of 4 months to keep the finish good.
Completed Bridge In Final Setting
Once completed and delivered to the client, the bridge set into a small rock creek which is beautiful and drains water from the home in rainy periods. The lower base is submerged into a brick pathway and the rock creek itself and thus, the lower base structure is not visible.
The garden bridge turned out fantastic! Lots of hand work which took an awfully long time to make but like many good things - worth the effort!
For more details and additional photos, click the "Whole Story".
Completed Bridge In Final Setting:
 Completed Bridge In Final Setting |
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 Completed Bridge In Final Setting |
Completed Bridge In Final Setting |
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 Completed Bridge In Final Setting |
