Adding a Gazebo to Your Yard

Every homeowner may have a different reason for putting a gazebo in their backyard. They can work as a kind of covered patio area that allows you to enjoy the natural setting of your yard away from your house. If you have a gardening interest, a gazebo can act as a permanent structure that helps define the garden (known as a garden bone). For general landscaping purposes, a gazebo will serve as a more beautifying object than a patio or deck. A deck gazebo can add the feeling of elegance to your deck installation. For outdoor parties, they will give you a covered area to set up a buffet table or an extra gathering area for guests. They are also perfect for more formal events like weddings or receptions after religious ceremonies. Gazebos are beautiful, functional, romantic, and can be valuable home improvement for a number of different occasions.

Gazebo Builders
Hiring a gazebo builder is the best way to ensure you get exactly what you want and need from your gazebo. You probably don't realize just how many options you have for your gazebo installation. A gazebo builder will be able to help advise you on the place, size and kind of gazebo that's right for you.

Placing Your Gazebo
You might think you want to place your gazebo in the middle of your yard for decorative balance but, the best place for a gazebo is usually near other landscaping features. This can include more than just gardens. Gazebos work especially nice near water, whether you want to enjoy the trickling sound of your outdoor pond or watch the kids in your backyard pool.

Gazebo Size
The size of your gazebo is usually a combination of decorative balance, budget, and purpose. A smaller gazebo will be more intimate but may reduce the options for its use when you have guests over to your home. A larger gazebo will allow more people to enjoy the structure but can also overwhelm your backyard landscaping and your pockets. Gazebo builders will have seen every size gazebo for every type and size of your yard. Sometimes it's hard to imagine how a gazebo will look until it's built without an experienced eye to help guide you.

Wood, Aluminum, and Vinyl
Wood gazebo installations are the most traditional and still the most popular. Given that a large part of a gazebo's appeal is the warmth and elegance it brings to a landscape, wood is hard to beat for a building material. It's not cheap, but usually not prohibitively expensive, either. The thing that most often keeps a homeowner from choosing wood is the maintenance. You'll need to watch out for rot, termites, and other wood-damaging pests. Like any wood installation, the wood must be pressure-treated, finished, and resealed every year or two.

Aluminum gazebo installations do away with much of this maintenance. As wood-graining techniques continue to improve, an aluminum gazebo begins to make more and more sense. Even with low-maintenance aluminum, a gazebo will not be indestructible without proper design and installation. Make sure your gazebo meets the building requirements for wind storms and other local weathering conditions.

Vinyl gazebos are a nice compromise between aluminum and wood. Vinyl has similar maintenance-free qualities to aluminum and may provide a better texture than aluminum. Price can vary but shouldn't be any more expensive than a typical wood gazebo. Homeowners may tend to opt for the all-out elegance of wood or the all-out strength of aluminum, which may explain why vinyl isn't more popular. Still, this material may be the right fit for you and can make for a fabulous home improvement installation.