When deciding on whether to erect a gazebo at your home, often the biggest question is whether to build it yourself or to buy one. Which option is right for your needs and abilities?
What You Buy vs. What You Build
If purchasing a gazebo, you'll have many material and design options, such as wood, cedar, plastic and vinyl, usually built into an octagon, oval or rectangular shape.
When you build a gazebo, you get to make it whichever shape you would like. This also gives you more latitude in what you use for materials and how big or small you make it. In other words, it can be custom-built to your specifications on all levels.
Advantages and Disadvantages
A major advantage of building your own gazebo is that you can build one that completely matches your yard, landscaping and home to provide a unifying theme. You will also be able to add small details and customizations.
A disadvantage of taking on this task is that it takes a good deal of time and usually ends up being more expensive. A pre-fabricated gazebo is dropped off at your home with little to no assembly required. There are also some that come with the materials and instructions to allow you put it together.
Materials You Will Need If Doing It Yourself
Outside of all the specified cuts of wood you will need the following items.
- common nails of various sizes
- Roofing nails
- 8-inch joist hangers - single
- 6-inch joist hangers - single
- adjustable post anchors
- 8-inch joist hangers- double
- Gazebo ties
- Stair angles
- Premixed concrete
- Framing anchors
With these materials, your chosen wood or vinyl and some careful planning, you can soon have your own custom-built gazebo.
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Questions of a Do It Yourself nature should be submitted to our
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