Painting pergolas is tedious work . . . especially since the people who originally painted it didn’t do a good job of prepping it.
When I went to scrape off the loose paint, I found a few boards were rotting away. I don’t think the joints were properly caulked, so moisture got trapped between two of the support beams, and since they rested on a flat board, the water didn’t have many places to drain … so it didn’t.
So, rather than take the thing apart — which would basically mean replacing it all, I executed repairs, stripped as much of the old paint as I could, recaulked everything, and I’m now ready to prime and paint.
What was meant to be a one or two day job, got longer because people can’t be bothered to do a good job. Really, it was a half-assed effort and I’m now having to put the other half-ass in. Plus, I don’t think they primed the pressure treated wood (or it was still too wet) so lots of the paint was loose. If I were to give advice to someone who built a pergola, it would be to either leave the natural wood or stain it. You can paint it, but then every two years or so, touch it up before the paint starts to peel, otherwise you’ll have a messy and tedious job on your hand.

So, I’m tired, don’t feel like writing, don’t feel like doing a proper post . . . so I played around with the above photo.