This is an article to provide you a complete knowledge that you require to make your own gazebo at your house. It is little complex to make your own wooden gazebo, it requires a little skill, some tools and materials to make your idea stand in front of you. As any other construction, your DIY gazebo requires right selection of plan according to your need, material, and right wood working technique. Buying a gazebo kit or hiring any profession for the work is always an option,but if your pocket restricts you then diy gazebo is best for you.
Selecting the right design for your gazebo is very challenging, as you will find soo many alternative. Here is a piece of advice for you, note down all your requirements, budgets and desired feature and then start the selection process. After this, next step should be selection of material and the tools you’ll need, and don’t forget the woodwork techniques that are required for this task. To make you gazebo last long buy lumber designed for outdoor use(cedar lumber,pine,etc.).
GAZEBO ON THE GROUND
Use batter board and strings to lay out the gazebo in a professional manner. Take 4×4 wooden posts for gazebo, make some concrete footing and insert metal anchor for support. Align the posts properly and insert the screws, otherwise gazebo won’t look symmetric. Before building component, select the lumber with great care,as to make sure it is straight and without damage.
To build a gazebo you’ll need the following:
- 8′ long 4×4 wooden posts.
- 3″,6″ long nails/screws.
- Tube forms.
- 2×6 wooden boards.
- 2×2 balusters.
- Cement, sand, gravel.
- 2-1/2″ screws.
TOOLS :
- safety gloves, glasses.
- hammer, circular saw, spirit level, carpentry pencil.
- powder mixer.
- ladder, post-hole digger .
HANDS ON WORK
To start with, select the location and layout the wooden gazebo. For proper work, we recommend you make some batter boards(2×4). Adjust the strings and measure the diagonals of the square and make them perfectly equal, by which all the four sides of the gazebo will be equal and at right angle.
After basic formation on the location of your gazebo, now it’s time to dig holes for the concrete foundation. The holes will be 3′ (8″ below the frost line). Apply a 4″ thick gravel layer and compact it thoroughly. Now place tube in the holes with concrete and place the metal anchors. Give 48 hours to the concrete to dry and the install the posts into the place. During installation of posts, make sure they are aligned to one another and perfectly plumbed, use 2×4 wooden board to brace and then drive in the screws, in order to build a rigid structure.
Floor construction is an important step of gazebo construction, therefore precise judgement and attention is very much needed for that. Start with perimeter joist and the middle joist. Attach the perimeter joist with the posts by 4″ screws. Provide the height by spirit level, now anchor the perimeter beam using metal hangers or corner brackets.
By this time your base will be getting a shape, now you have to the joist(2×6) into position by metal hangers. Joist should be placed having an equal distance of 16″ in between and use spirit level to make sure that they are perfectly horizontal, otherwise your deck won’t be perfect flat. Beam selection should be done with great care, making sure lumber is in good condition and perfectly straight. After this it’s time to attach the decking boards(use 2×4 boards). Take a circular saw to cut the board and 2-1/2″ screws to fix them. You need to drill pilot holes in deck boards to place the screw. To avoid wood splitting,drill the pilot holes at least 1/2″ from the deck. To obtain a consistency, you should place the nail in between boards.
It’s time to build the top . Use 2×4 board to make top plates of your gazebo and take 4″ screw to fasten them. If your idea includes a nice frieze, then you should place the top plate on top of your post. Make the hub of roof, cut the corner of the post(3″ long 4×4 post), in order to get a octagon. Now place the hub on the top of a 9′-10″ post.
Building rafters will be the next step, build the rafters and anchor them into the place with the help of screws. You should drive in screws trough rafter into the hub at one end and on the other end attach the rafter to the top plates. Before inserting the screws through rafter drill pilot holes to prevent wood splitting. Your rafters should be placed equally spaced on all four sides of your wooden gazebo. After you are all set with your rafters and hubs placed into place, it’s time to put the roofing sheets over them. We recommend you to take 3/4 plywood in most of the cases to get the job done properly, there are some situations in which you can attach 1×6 wooden boards to the rafter. Use tongue and groove joints in plywood sheets to properly secure them and attach them to rafter with 2″ screws.
Installing roofing paper over the roofing sheets and draining caps will be the next step, after which installation of asphalt shingles, wooden shingles or metal shingles have to be done to protect the gazebo from rain. Start installing the roofing paper from bottom toward the top. Subsequently, place ridge cap shingles and cut of the ridges from the regular shingles.
Afterwards, build the rail of the wooden gazebo, it’s not a complex job to do. You should install the 2×4 bottom rails firstly, about 4″ above the flooring of the gazebo. Secure the bottom using metal brackets, after that align and level them properly. Most importantly, leave a panel opened as an entrance.
Subsequently, place a 2×2 nailing cleat between the posts to hold balustrade. Usually the balusters are 30″ high, however you can adjust their height as per your wish. After that a 2×4 top rail is to be placed over the balusters. Secure the balusters to the bottom rail by toe nailing them, or screw the bottom plate directly to balusters. Certainly, use spirit level to plumb the balusters.
This is the time to sand your wooden gazebo with medium-grit sandpaper and coating it with protective paint, certainly to avoid water damage. Most importantly fill the gap with wood putty before sanding, to achieve a pleasant look.
