Crafting a timber gazebo is one of the simplest do-it-yourself jobs one can ever undertake. A gazebo adds a certain charm to an otherwise boring garden. It can be used for various purposes such as holding parties, bird watching or just simply relaxing with a book. It also acts as a protection against the forces of nature. There are various shapes that one could look at but all of these can be installed with a similar process.

Flooring: For creating a floor for your gazebo you can either make a concrete mixture and fix tiles or lay wood on it, or simply use the land as a floor. Any of the floor designs will look beautiful.

For making a concrete floor, you need to clean and level the ground. Next, mix a basic mixture of concrete by following the instructions on the bag and lay it on the clean and flat ground.

Footing: For crafting a timber gazebo, a basic plan is needed. For an octagonal gazebo, get five equal length poles, 80″ or 85″ and then make an asterisk symbol in the middle of the floor and make sure they all intersect. Each of these posts should make a 45 degree angle. Now fix this together firmly and then mark the points made by the ends of your asterisk.

Posting: You should have a basic structure in place by now. Get eight poles of 14″ each. These should be of the same material, preferably wood and should be of the same width and shape. Now dig 2″ deep holes in the positions which you marked in the last step.

With the help of a friend, install these poles one by one in the holes and then fill them with concrete mixture and sand. Let these dry for a day or two.

Ceiling: After the concrete has dried, check whether all the posts are of similar length. Then to create the roof use 8 poles of 4×4 lumbers around 40″ in length. You need to nail these on the top of your structure. After nailing, fix it with metal strips to prevent movements in the structure. Secure all the posts tightly and cut any rough edges.

Bracing: To provide additional support to your gazebo you need to put braces on it. For bracing you’ll need 16 equal poles of cured wood. Nail them to the structural poles and the head beams, forming a trident like shape. Precaution should be taken to secure these firmly.

The Top: For crafting a timber gazebo according to this plan, you’ll need another set of 8 timber poles of around 74″ each and a small piece of wood to serve as the hub. Nail these poles to the hub maintaining a 45 degree angle.

You should have an octagonal cone like structure. Now with some help get this structure on the top of your fixed poles in such a way that every pole will coincide. Secure these poles. Alternatively you can fix each pole at one time and then finally nail them to the hub.

Roof: For this you need to measure the triangles created by each side of the octagon and then cut slightly larger plywood pieces. Fix these from the inside and shingle them and your gazebo is ready.

Polishing: Clean your gazebo and apply varnish. Cover all the open cracks and create your own chill zone.