The 21st century is an era of comfort. And comfort in nature, in our case, – is a well-organized private property. Charcoal is hissing, meat is grilling, and there’s a table standing near your grill – that’s all the simple atmosphere of the past century. But this is already a little outdated.
These days various pavilions are really trendy. They can be open, intended for use only in summer, and universal. The latter is a capital structure with a table, kitchen, and even a recreation area. Doors are always open in summer, and if there is bad or cold weather, they can be shut. Recreation in such a place is especially pleasant – everything is thought out to the smallest detail.
So, Grill Gazebo is a pavilion in which there are specially designated places for your grill, table, and chairs, as well as shelving, storage space, sink, and bar counters which make this sheltered place ideal for grilling outside in your backyard. It’s basically like a summer kitchen, but more comfortable and convenient.
History of the Gazebo
Initially, the gazebo was built as a viewing platform, or as a gazebo in the form of a tower, dome or garden house on an elevated location to provide a wide view of the surrounding area. As an Architectural Form, the gazebo is the same age as the history of garden architecture – it is both a Chinese observation pavilion and a summer cottage at the top of the garden slide, mentioned by the 17th-century philosopher Francis Bacon. This name should not be attributed to any garden house, but only to the one that offers distant views in all directions.
Usually, such construction is fully waterproof, with a fireproof roof. The design can be very diverse and represent an enclosed area with windows and doors for private use or for business.
According to grillfaq.com, a good grill gazebo will shelter you from the rain and hot sunlight. This is the best place to have family dinners in summer or spend time on your own, cooking something special from meat, vegetables or seafood, enjoying the view, nature, and fresh air. And at night it can be a perfect place for hang-outs with your friends, especially if you add some string lights and decor.
Why gazebo?
You can treat your guests without leaving the cooking area, thus, keeping everything under control. If you have a grill and you love to cook on it, but still do not define the place, a gazebo will be a great option. You can make it any way you want and place it wherever you want, add your grill to it, conduct electricity, install beautiful lighting and a refrigerator, storage compartments for food and grill tools, and build a bar counter with special pendant shelves for various glasses so that delicious food is consumed in combination with no less delicious beverages.
Much depends on where you place your gazebo. It’s important to stick to certain rules when installing, and then your little paradise will please you for years to come.
Location
There are no specific regulations regarding the design and placement of a gazebo. It is usually located at a spot where there’s a good view of the best parts of the terrain and, if possible, beyond it. It’s perfect if you have flowerbeds, fruit trees, a fountain, alpine slides, and other decorative elements of your area next to it. At the same time, unattractive elements, like garbage cans or household units, should be placed as far away as possible. It is best to locate your gazebo in one corner of the site near the trees which will provide extra shade.
It is necessary to pay attention to the condition of the soil, the land should be dry and not swampy. This will facilitate the construction of the foundation and the entire structure. Special attention should be paid to this if the gazebo is located near the fountain.
And, of course, it is best to place the structure as far away from noise sources as possible, e.g. a road or transformer station.
Shape
There are also no strict restrictions here. A gazebo can be square, rectangular, round, or polygonal (the number of angles is not limited, but usually it’s 6 or 8). Sometimes gazebos’ shapes are quite irregular, with separated cooking, eating, chilling areas, etc. The choice mainly depends on your taste, imagination, and, of course, budget.
Installation of a square or rectangular gazebo will be cheaper than a complex polygonal one – easier installation, less building waste. Gazebos with straight lines are also more convenient because you can easily locate all types of grills, chairs, and tables there. At the same time, there is also more free space in comparison with other types of pavilions.
A gazebo can be light and heavy, but certainly cozy. If desired, you can make it look like a house from a children’s fairy tale, or decorate it with natural materials in the rustic style, or make a pagoda-like roof, etc. It may even change its name due to a special design, e.g. a round gazebo with columns is called “rotunda”; “belvedere” is a name of the structure that has a roof and wide openings that allow you to see surroundings, it usually stands at the end of the garden; and a light, similar to a shelter, the covered structure is called “pavilion”.
However, any gazebo version still has its own mandatory elements.
- Pillars which must be located in every corner of the gazebo (or at a distance of 60″ from each other in a round structure).
- A roof that rests on these pillars.
- Handrails (or balustrade).
It is the handrails and roof that are essential when it comes to creating a uniform landscape space on the spot, allowing to combine your gazebo’s design with other elements and structures in the area (cottage roof, flower arches, etc.)
For the wooden grill gazebo, you also need to coat the lower part of the walls at a height of 35-47″. Metal construction does not require coating.
Dimensions
It would be unpleasant if the thoroughly assembled structure turns out to be too small and doomed to spend most of the time standing alone. The most common range of parameters varies from 5 to 20 square meters. A gazebo of up to 10 square meters can accommodate a dozen guests. And for a family of 3-4 persons (if you don’t plan to invite large groups of people) there will be a small enough area of 5-8 square meters (in the case of a square variant with sides from 86″ to 110″), especially if instead of chairs, benches of 14-16″ width is used. However, it is recommended to have at least 1-2 chairs or an armchair (recliner) in a gazebo, to be able to unwind yourself.
Consider the size and parameters of your plot – the smaller the area around the house, the easier and more elegant the gazebo. A large and massive structure, in this case, will look meaningless. Finally, the entrance to the gazebo should be made from the side of the cottage, so that the way to it was the shortest.
Materials
First of all, the harmony of the appearance of a gazebo with other buildings and elements of the site is important. Therefore, during its construction use details and colors that will not stand out against their background. All these are recommendations, but not obligatory conditions.
Wood and forged metal are universal materials. Gazebos from them are successfully combined with any cottage. Stone structures also look good. Pavillions made of stone and metal are the most durable, but their construction is not cheap. In addition, the metal is heated by the sun. However, anyway, the gazebo must be in the shade of trees from the direct rays of the sun, so this disadvantage is leveled. But it is safer to equip it with a grill and spread open fire inside the structure.
Cover the gazebo with a reinforcement steel mesh. However, the frame itself is better made of metal pipes then. Such a gazebo may look unsightly at first, but the mesh is ideal for the growth of climbing plants.
And yet, wooden gazebos can be considered the most optimal. When using quality hardwood, they will last for at least a decade, creating a sense of coziness and natural immediacy, and they can be constructed independently.
Foundation
The most reliable option is a platform of reinforced concrete with a height of about 6”. However, it’s not always necessary. Lightweight constructions can be placed in the area with paving slabs or bricks. A relatively light wooden arbor is best to be located on a columnar foundation. Just make sure there are no utilities or drainage pipes under it. In fact, it’s best to remove the upper fertile soil layer, so that moisture does not accumulate in it. And in general, to level the site, remove all the bumps and fill up small pits.
Floor
You need to decide what kind of floor your gazebo will have in advance. Most often, there is no floor covering at all. They often simply sprinkle the ground with sand. Foundation columns are installed only to support the walls of a gazebo.
If this is not OK for you, then you can lay wooden boarding joists measuring 2” x 6” or 4” x 6” over the waterproofing layer. They will be able to withstand spans of 78”-118” long. The joists must be placed on the edge to prevent sagging. Boards with a thickness of 0.8”-1.1” are nailed to them, with small gaps that are left to improve floor ventilation and durability.
Another way to build a floor in a gazebo is to use gravel cushions in the soil, concreting the territory, and laying paving slabs on top of the hardened concrete (usually, the same type that the plot’s paths are made of).
Roof
The roof should be combined with the cover of the house. The ideal option is to use the same material for the roof.
Covering the gazebo can be either simple (double-pitched roof) or a more complex – square hip roof or pyramid roof. In addition, the roofs are made in two or three stories, convex or concave shape. There are many options, but all of them are connected, first of all, not with functional, but with design needs. The optimal, fairly simple, and reliable design for a square or rectangular gazebo is a double-pitched roof. The most attractive is the square hip roof coverage. Slopes should be installed at an angle of 15-45 ° horizontally.
As a roofing coating, a variety of materials are used, including metal tile, corrugated board, steel sheets, natural and polymer tiles, etc. However, a metal roof will make excessive noise during the rain, and a tiled roof, apart from being pretty expensive, also requires a thorough strengthening of the entire gazebo design.
For lightweight structures (e.g. metal frame), a practical cellular polycarbonate with a thickness of 0.3”-0.4” is suitable. It will reliably protect you from the rain, which, unfortunately, can’t be said about the sun rays, so opt for the colored variants in particular.
For more massive gazebos from hardwood, it is better to use a soft bituminous tile. This material has a good quality/price ratio, reliably and silently protects you from rainfall, and is easy to cut.
