A Saulte to you Googlers

Saint Patrick's Day, a mild, sunny one. My hit counter is as imperfect as they come, but it does give a general idea of what is drawing traffic to the blog, WIDFIPOTP.

On sunny days, people want to put up gazebos.

On St Patrick's Day, people appear to wish to know what time the beer can be sold in the Offo, and what time in the pub.

So, let's raise a glass in the gazebo today for a 323% increase in visitor traffic, searching for "gazebo instructions" or "opening hours Saint Patrick's Day."

I write about other things too. No, really. I do.

Hope you had as fine a day as I had.

B&Q Gazebo instructions

Quite a few visitors have been finding the Blog by searching for "B&Q Gazebo instructions", so I thought I would post the actual instructions for erecting the gazebo here. I hope they are of help to you.

These instructions are for the "Deluxe Gazebo" which comes in either green or in cream. As mine has been put up and taken down a few times, the parts do not look like new and you'll see an odd scrape or piece of rust in my pictures that shouldn't be on your new parts.

You need to do this assembly out on the lawn, unless you have a cavernous dwelling. I know that sounds like the warnings on the barbeques not to use them indoors. But this model gazebo covers a surprisingly large area. The gazebo can be assembled by one person. But it is better if a second person helps. In addition to the parts which came in the box, I recommend having some low-tac sellotape or masking tape handy.

1. Open the box and sort out the poles.
The roof bars (or rafters, if you prefer) and legs are made of tubular mild steel and when first packaged come in coloured bags so that you can easily select the correct one for assembly. If you are like me, however, over time you will probably lose the bags, or stuff everything into one bag, mix them up, or generally succumb to human nature and not bother to sort out the pieces before you store the disassembled gazebo for the winter.

When bought new, the poles are also number coded. Look for a sticker on one end with a number printed on it. If you can't find a sticker, think of them as "thin", "fat", and "fat with holes"...!

The poles are numbered 1, 1A, 2, 2A, 3 & 4. Sort them into numbered piles.

1 = A thin pole with a socket on each end (or two "female" ends). It looks like a plain pipe at first glance.

1A = A thin pole with a plug, or "male" end and a socket, or "female" end. It looks like a pipe that has been narrrowed on one end. The majority of the pipe is the same diameter as Part 1.

2 = A fat pole with a socket, or "female" on each end. It is a bigger-diameter version of Part 1.

2A = A fat pole with a "male" end on each end of the pipe. It is the only type of pipe with this configuration.

3 = a fat pole with a "male" end and a "female" end, a bigger diameter verson of Part 1A.

4 = A fat pole with a number of holes drilled near one end. It has two "female" ends.

2. Locate the four, plastic corners.
You should find four plastic parts which look like these. These are the parts with the sockets into which the roof bars fit before they are joined into the tops of the legs. You will notice that three of the sockets in each piece are narrow diameter. One of the sockets in each piece is a larger diameter.

You should note that in all cases, the "female" end of the poles are put into these plastic sockets.

If you turn these parts over, you will see that three of the sockets are embossed with the numbers "2", "1" & "2".

3. Assemble the roof struts: Take one of the plastic, corner pieces and put one of the Part 2 bars into the socket embossed with a matching number 2. Give it a little twist to make sure it is solidly home. Insert one of the Part 1 bars into the socket marked with the number 1. Finally place the next Part 2 bar into the socket marked with a number 2. Leave the larger socket empty for the moment. The result looks like this.

Next, insert a 2A pipe into the end of the Part 2 pipe that you earlier attached to the corner. The idea is to lengthen the pipes to double their previous length. Repeat for the other Part 2 pipe. Insert a 1A pipe into the Part 1 pipe. The result looks like the picture to the left.

Go to one of the 2A partially assembled pipes lying on the ground and add a Part 2 pipe to it. You should now have three pipes joining together to form one side of a square. You have now completed one side of the square of which a side of the gazebo is made.

Add a plastic corner socket piece to the end of the Part 2 pipe you just added, ensuring you are placing the pipe into the socket marked "2".

The result is the image, (right).

Continue adding pipes around the perimeter of the square, joining them at the corners with the corner pieces. Only when the surrounding square has been assembled should you add the final three Part 1 and Part 1A poles.

All eight Part 1 and Part 1A poles will point towards the place where the central hub, or apex of the roof, will be. Add this last of all. Making sure each pole is tightly home in the hub, place a little sellotape around the socket to hold it in place. Move down to each of the joints between the poles and wrap a little tape around these as well. The poles tend to come loose as the framework is moved or lifted, and it is easier to tape the joints now rather than when the it has risen into the air and a pole has popped out.

Hub/Apex piece
You should now have a reasonably secure pyramid like the photo.

4. Put on the legs: The legs are made up of the Part 3 poles joined to the Part 4 poles. However, it is handiest if you just pop the Part 3 poles into their plastic corner sockets for now and leave the Part 4 poles aside for the moment. Note that the Part 3 poles should stand with the male part facing down.

With the Part 3 poles in place, you should now see a skeletal gazebo standing on four short legs. It is time to put the polyester cover over the skeleton!

5. Put on the polyester cover: Take the cover out of its bag and unwrap it. It looks like a large square with four long tails on each corner. At this stage, this large square needs to go on top of the framework and the long tail-pieces need to dangle down at each corner.

Lightly drape the cover on one side of your square, ensuring that the D-rings from which the guy wires are tied are located roughly at the corners of the side of the square you are working from. Now duck inside the framework and pull the cover over your head until the square ventilation piece is over the apex of the rafter poles. Be careful when pulling the cover, because it has trailing ropes and some metal parts. Don't hit yourself in the face or eyes.

Pull the cover tight so that each D-ring comes to rest at each corner. In pulling the cover tight, the framework underneath becomes more rigid. Your cover should now lose most of its creases. On the underside, tie the cover to the horizontal bars using the velcro strips sewn there.

Next, add the final Part 4 poles to the Part 3 poles, ensuring that the ends with the drilled holes in each Part 4 rests on the ground. You may tilt the gazebo over to insert the poles. It's a good idea to do this with another person standing by, as the legs may drop out again as you work around the gazebo. Fit the four plastic feet to the bottom of the Part 4 poles.

Each of the long, trailing parts of the polyester cover has a metal hook and another D-ring. The metal hook is used to anchor the cover tightly to the bottom of each leg. You should also use the D-ring to anchor the cover to the foot. The foot has four plastic hooks on it for this purpose. Remember too to use the velcro strips on the inside of the cover to join the trailing ends to the vertical poles of the legs.

Use the mild steel stay-pins included in the pack to anchor the gazebo to the ground by its guy wires. Also anchor each foot to the ground in the same way. Your gazebo is now completed.

6. Optional Siding: B&Q also sells siding for gazebos. You should choose the correct type of siding to match the model gazebo you own. The siding is simply added to the horizontal bars like a shower curtain, hanging from plastic hooks provided, and secured to the vertical poles using velco strips. One of the sides has plastic windows to allow in light. The image shows two sides fitted, one of which has windows.

Well, that's it! If you have and questions or comments, please add them in the Comments section.