Gazebo or parasol?

andrew-b

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Ebe_Scrooge

We've got a 3m x 3m gazebo that we bought from Asda many years ago, cost us £20 and is still going strong. Places like Wilko are great for things like this.

My dad made his own ( permanent ) gazebo. Bought a load of rough-sawn timber from Jewsons or Travis Perkins or similar, used a power plane to get it all nice and smooth, treated it and built the structure. Took quite a long time, and he is pretty handy at the old woodwork skills, but he enjoyed making it and I think it cost about £60 or £70 all in - apparently the rough-sawn timber is much cheaper than ready-prepared. If you've got the time to do it, it's not particularly difficult if you have basic DIY skills, and you can do it really quite cheaply.

Ebe_Scrooge

Yep - like so many DIY tasks, not particularly difficult, but just time-consuming. I'd go for one of the "tent-poles-with-a-canvas-cover" jobbies from Asda, Tesco, Wilko, Lidl, etc etc - cheap 'n' cheerful.

In answer to your original question, a gazebo is better than a parasol if you've got more than about 3 or 4 people trying to shelter under it, and the simpler ones don't take long to put up and take down. Ours also has guy ropes, like a tent, which make it much more stable. If you get one that doesn't have guys attached, you should be able to improvise with some bits of string if needs be :-)

bryanb

andrew-b wrote: »

We got an Argos 3m x 3m gazebo last night in the end. £30 but happy with it so far.

Says it's showerproof rather than waterproof so i'm considering getting some Nikwax "Tent & Gear Solarproof" ..which looks like it should make it more waterproof plus add UV blocking. Anyone used this? It's about £8 for 500ml from Milletts.

Andy

I can recommend using Thompsons water seal on canvas. It's much cheaper, & colourless. I know it's designed for bricks but it works brilliantly. Also good for w/proof clothing.

Ebe_Scrooge

Nice story ! Sounds a bit like our old one from Asda, that has stood up to numerous soakings, gales, and TLC given to it by the kids :-) And at the end of the day, when it does finally give up the ghost, I'm not going to complain for the 20 or 30 quid that it cost.

Regarding waterproofing, bear in mind that any of these cheap gazebos are designed to be "shower resistant", not properly waterproof like a tent would be - to make them properly waterproof would push the price up considerably. I know that's why you were probably asking about adding some waterproofing earlier on.