Wow, 6x6 posts! I'm surprised you didn't use 6x whatever beams. Guess you've
got a lot of exposed endgrain! The posts are more than enough to support the
load, but you might want to seal that endgrain somehow. Copper? End grain
sealer? Tom
(Dennis) wrote:
I just finished building a pergola using 6x6 posts. There are six 6x6
posts, which support six 2x8 beams,which support ten 2x6 rafters. On
top of the rafters are 100 2x2's.

I noticed when I bought the posts that they had some minor splits,
which I figured were normal. Now that all of the wood is assembled on
top of the posts, the split on one of the posts has opened to 1/4"
wide x 40" long. It doesn't go completely through the wood. It's
about 2 inches deep.

Should this post be replaced or is it OK to bear the weight?