PVC & Vinyl Lattice Garden Arch/Trellis

I made a trellis/archway out of bendable pvc and vinyl lattice. The idea was inspired by what I saw another person do using cattle panel. My wife wanted a "gateway" arbor to the side lawn, so I came up with this. The design work I did in my head on the fly, I am not one to sit down and draw things out unless I really have to. A lot of the methods were dictated by the fact that I have only basic tools to work with and no shop space, not even a carport or bench. Total cost was around $50. The design is open to modification to suit your own tastes or needs. Some of the instructions are a little tongue-in-cheek, that's just my sense of humor showing.

Material:

4X8 sheet of vinyl lattice.
Four 10-ft lengths of bendable (key word is BENDABLE) 1/2 inch pvc.
Two 1/2-inch pvc T's.
Two pvc connectors (1/2 inch).
Four pvc 1/2-inch elbows.
Package of 8-inch zip ties.

Tools:

Saw to cut the PVC (I used a hacksaw because it was the easiest one to reach in that cramped shed).
Tape measure.
Marking pen.

Supplies:

PVC primer in the color of your choice (I guess it comes in different colors now; why, I don't know, because you don't see the stuff anyway, but whatever!).

I cut the vinyl lattice lengthwise into 2 pieces, then lashed them end-to-end with zip ties to form about a 14.5-ft length of lattice about 2 ft wide. (This would make about a 7-ft arch.) I cut one of the 10-ft lengths of pvc in half and joined them with the connectors to two of the 10-ft lengths to form two 15-ft lengths. I then cut the 15-ft lengths in the middle and inserted the Ts and about a 1ft 10in piece of pvc between them (this ain't rocket science). The purpose of the cross piece is to keep the vinyl lattice from folding or bowing cross-wise, and also to keep the 15-ft lengths of pvc from sliding as you zip-tie them to the lattice. The elbows go on the ends with two more pieces of pvc to go between them. I did not use the primer on the end pieces.

After the whole thing is zip-tied up, it's pretty much good to go. In this case, it's held in place by the spring tension of the bendable pvc against 6-ft cedar planters. The advantage of this is that it's entirely movable and so easy to make that even I can do it! It can also be modified to suit your own skill level and needs. For instance, I only went with 1/2-inch. If I did it again, I'd probably use 3/4- or 1-inch bendable pvc.

You can find various places online for the pvc, or go to Home Depot, where I got all of the pvc, vinyl lattice, connectors, elbows and primer. I had to ask more than one person at HD about the pvc. The first person tried to tell me that PVC wasn't bendable. I found someone else who understood what I needed and showed me where to find the BENDABLE pvc.





Update: The ends of the arch are now anchored in 2ft cedar planters sitting cross-ways to the 6ft planters forming a "T" one the end. Reason was because the wind picked it up a couple of times and tossed it. Doing it this way anchors it but still keeps it movable.