How We Put Up Our Gazebo: DOs and DON'Ts! - Thrift Diving

[@ThriftDiving]

Use my coupon code THRIFTDIVING to save 13% off non-sale items! No minimum required purchase amount or expiration date on the coupon code, and the code is good for one use per customer. Order this gazebo for your yard here: Sunjoy 11' x 11' Wooden Frame Cedar Gazebo with Hard Top - thriftdiving.com/sunjoy (OPTIONAL but recommended): Mosquito netting plus universal curtains: thriftdiving.com/sunjoy-curtains

[@blueagave1967]

Thank you for this instructional video; I am about to assemble mine, and you were the only one who actually spoke, gave tips and showed how to install it. THUMBS UP FOR THE LADY!!!

[@sabrinahortzog2068]

It looks so peaceful

[@ThriftDiving]

It really is! I didn't show, but there was a solid set of curtains that comes with the mosquito netting, too. That totally blocks out all views and makes it feel like a private room in your yard! I can't wait to use those!

[@ThriftDiving]

NOTE: You definitely should assemble your gazebo standing up to avoid any issues like what we had, which could be dangerous or damage your gazebo. We hadn't ever assembled one before. Hubby thought we should do it upside down; I thought it would be better standing up. (((((insert eye roll here))))))

[@Lasomie]

As it always goes, huh!! 😅

[@Ho11is2Ho11ywood]

You made sure to let everyone know you were right and he was wrong 😆

[@ThriftDiving]

@@Ho11is2Ho11ywood Definitely!!!! LOL. I was adamant that we should set it up RIGHT-SIDE UP, and he was insistent that we should do it upside down. I allowed him to lead and well.......lesson learned: Always listen to your wife. HA!

[@ThriftDiving]

@@Lasomie Feels that way! LOL

[@Ferriscoolerglobal]

That ladder was definitely sturdy, good call

[@ThriftDiving]

I have 2 of them, just in case! LOL. One of them, I absolutely LOVE. It works really well on the stairs, too, because it can easily be adjusted on each leg. :)

[@Ferriscoolerglobal]

@@ThriftDiving yea a backup is definitely not a bad idea to have, and yea I can imagine that does for sure lol

[@JuanHernandez-xu6ws]

Favorite part of the video. Beautiful!!!

[@maryowens9179]

Turned out great. Love it❤ you all did a wonderful job.

[@deniseshort5905]

Great work Serena, glad hubby and sons helped.

[@ThriftDiving]

Hey, Denise! Thank you!

[@victorybeginsinthegarden]

It looks so nice

[@ThriftDiving]

Thank you!! It really turned out nice. I was worried that we wouldn't have space for it in the yard, but it works so well next to the "she shed"!

[@SUN7SHINE25]

Beautiful Beautiful love your gazebo

[@ThriftDiving]

Thank you!!!

[@moneymakingmikeg.9555]

Yoooooooo Serena!!! The boys are getting so big Man!!! It's always nice to see you guys working together. The flipping over part did make me laugh, ain't gonna lie... LOL!! I do wanna say that a family that builds & curses together, stays together forever!!!! If anyone got offended back off!!! We're from da East Coast MoFo's!!! Hoping all is well guys, Dirty Jersey out!!

[@ThriftDiving]

Hey Mike!! OMG, they are freakin' MEN now....I have the smaller feet in the house, and I'm about to be the shortest (and I'm 5'9"!). Hope you're doing well! Racing cars, still??? ;)

[@_JanetLouise]

a great little outdoor space! good for you!!

[@ThriftDiving]

Thank you!! I am hoping to be able to put some landscaping around it so it blends even more nicely into the landscape. I'm thinking some perennials that come back each year.

[@_JanetLouise]

@@ThriftDiving Great Ideas! I love flowers!!

[@ThriftDiving]

​@@_JanetLouise Me too! I just have to find the time. I'd like to create a walkway there, as well.

[@sonicstoryteller]

Serena what a stunning job and your sons have turned into giants how time goes by, hope your well you certainly look amazing as always,, best wishes Phil UK England 👍❤

[@ThriftDiving]

Hey Phil! OMG, I know.....my oldest son if 6'3" and towers over me!! I'm quickly becoming the smallest in the house. LOL

[@AvatarAnt420]

I’ve been watching your channel for a while now and I just love to see the growth! Looks great!

[@ThriftDiving]

Aww, thank you so much, Anthony!!

[@zxloxtyytxolxz5022]

Wow, this is exactly what we need. Great video explaining excellent. Awesome to have teens help, so important teaching moments

[@ThriftDiving]

Yes! Gazebos are great. Adds more living space to your yard. Yards are so wasteful if all we do is look out at the window at them! :) Thank you!

[@katehorrell8732]

Great job. It looks amazing

[@alicetaft1442]

You did a awesome job and it looks so good.

[@Sassyfrass955]

I told you we shouldn't have done it that way!!! Laughed out loud!

[@ThriftDiving]

LOL!!!! Riiiggghhhtt! I tell you, these men don't want to listen to us. We know best! But sometimes we have to let them try it their way just to prove them wrong. LOL

[@bradyobrien810]

Thank you for the video, Great Job !! I decided to buy a Sunjoy Gazebo after viewing your video. Thank you again Serena !!

[@cyndimcl1985]

I'm getting to the video a little late... the gazebo turned out really beautifully!!! I loved seeing the family all working together and frustrated, reminds me of my boys helping us lol!!!! My boys are 14, 12, and 7.

[@ThriftDiving]

Oh, so you know how it goes with kids that age! You should have heard the footage I cut from my middle son (age 14). Things like, "Are you paying me for this? I don't know why I have to work for free." HA!

[@cyndimcl1985]

@Thrift Diving I kinda wish we could have heard it lol!!!! Our middle guy actually works really fast so he can get back to gaming as quickly as possible!!! 🤣

[@lekture]

Nice job! I've built a few the past couple of yrs but the 1st was the most challenging. Building 1 solo tomorrow🙌

[@pman2916]

I'm a new sub, so this is the first video I've watched. I've got to make my way through your other videos to get a clue about you. I watched this and instantly felt like family.

[@ThriftDiving]

Awww, that is so awesome!! Please do watch some other videos and let me know what you think! :) I'm glad you're here.

[@pman2916]

@@ThriftDiving thank you🙏

[@bellaszucs-zagoni9014]

Great video! Have a lot of great conversations in the new gazebo with your family and friends! I also like how you speak about your boys. I am a mom of a 7-year-old boy, and you are so relatable to me! 😊Keep up the good work, Serena!

[@ThriftDiving]

Awww, you are so right about the conversations! Hubby and I were just using it a few nights ago and we brought wine and music and just relaxed! We invited the kids out (2 out of 3 came outside) and it was just so nice being out there with them. Ahhhhh.....May be our new Friday night jam. LOL

[@Christie-gp2cy]

Freat Job! I admire all the DIYers who persevere with these challenging projects. I must admist, however, that you do make it look easier than it really is. One must have sme knowledge of basic carpentry and building before attempting this gazebo. It turned out just beautiful, and kudos to you for your hard work!

[@ThriftDiving]

Thank you, Christie! You may be right, but I think if you can follow instructions, you could do it. I think even if you don't have many carpentry skills, the main thing is that you'd have to have the motivation to try it yourself! :) You could totally do this.

[@ryancam5922]

You are so great. I start to learn from you, I have some projects but they cost a lot of money. Thank you so much

[@amanarunganaikaloo1470]

U Make it So Easy. Thank You From East London England. From All of Us. U Do Need All the Family and Friends. Gladys.

[@TerraTopics]

Oh girl you’re like my mom “fine I’ll do it myself”…… then knows she needs our help. 😂

[@ThriftDiving]

🤣🤣🤣 It's so hard waiting for people to assist! Lol. I would rather just keep moving myself along and then get help at the critical times I need it.

[@jamalaw]

You are such a shero!! I gave up wanting one because of the canvas going bad, but this one is great!!!. I know you'll have more family fun times. ps.. your sons are so handsome.. my gosh i remember when they were little...lol

[@ThriftDiving]

Yesss, no canvas getting stained on this one! And the boys are men now, practically. My oldest is 6'3" and I have to look up to him! My middle son is my height, and the youngest, I only have by a few inches. I can't believe it!!

[@andreawalker7138]

The gazebo turned out great! I hope you can enjoy it for years to come. Thanks for showing us some of the challenging issues you had while building it. (It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who can get confused by unhelpful instructions).

[@ThriftDiving]

Instructions can be painful to follow because you have to follow it soooo closely, and some of the details aren't highlighted (like which direction a board should be--UP? DOWN?). I try to look at the holes and markings in the drawings to know which way it's supposed to go. But I did have to re-do some steps!

[@castercamber]

Excellent video.

[@ThriftDiving]

Glad you liked it!

[@tracyglascoe7219]

Great job Fam!

[@JuanHernandez-xu6ws]

Great educational video

[@petelinster7093]

It looks nice and after a year I hope you have not had a windstorm. I would find a way to wrap the corner posts in stone or block to further anchor it down in the event of big wind event.

[@froop84]

Looks nice, but you should really go for "Einschlaghülsen" as we say in German, to secure your gazebo to the ground. It might be drive-in sleeve in English.

[@ThriftDiving]

I've got it on my list to look for something more robust for securing it to the ground! I'm headed to Home Depot today. This gazebo is rated for 50mph wind speed. We don't have too many high-winds here in Maryland, so I am hoping it will be fine. Thanks for pointing this out!

[@melvinagresham7184]

That looks great and the boys have grown I remember when they was little it has been that long now you have three young men

[@ThriftDiving]

Thank you, Melvina! I know, that are NOT little boys anymore, and it's so sad, yet really cool to see them tower over me! :) They're good kids, just a bit too "entitled" Gen Z'ers.... LOL

[@kimberlycraig9041]

Looks great but would you still do it on grass again if you could do it over? I'm about to build a similar Sunjoy gazebo and I bought some concrete cinder blocks to anchor the posts into (I was planning to put the blocks in a hole so they're flush with the ground. I'll take any insight you can offer. Thanks! :)

[@dmann1209]

TD some body was speaking French when righting the frame....LOL. Upside down was the right call, otherwise a ladder would have complicated the assembly. Finding the stop point on a project is difficult especially when you see the finished product is close at hand. Looks good, my question with your skills you could have made it in your shop? Solid content and yes I would purchase one for my yard. More please!

[@ThriftDiving]

I think that assembling it right-side up would have been safer! 😂 Hubby forgot to tighten one of the posts and that's where the problem happened. Glad everyone was fine and the gazebo didn't break! Last season I did build my own shade canopy on my patio, for a lot less than a manufactured gazebo, that just needed a few fixes to work properly (like making sure the canopy is sloped so it doesn't collect rain on top). But yes, it's possible to make your own, and it's possible to buy a manufactured one like this. Whatever suits your skill level and budget! :)

[@dmann1209]

@@ThriftDiving I will search for that project episode. Building is therapy for me, helps take my mind away from the day to day. Thank you for all that you do

[@ThriftDiving]

@@dmann1209 Here's the video! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYS9qmpmnal-l9E If you make this project, I would recommend either making the front posts shorter so that the canopy doesn't collect water, and also make the upper posts more robust. Use thicker boards. Those two changes should be good!

[@patriciaterry5539]

Inspiring!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@Frosting1000]

There’s a Twitter post that said smth like “i always thought it was patronizing when you were a kid and adults would say you you’re getting so big!! But now that I’m an adult I’m like damn those kids are getting big!!!” And I feel that way after seeing your sons in this video lol

[@ThriftDiving]

LOL!!! I always say, "You never know how quickly time is passing until you look at kids." All of it is true! I know it's so trite to say, but it is quite shocking when you see how quickly a kid has grown. I know for a fact I haven't grown that much all these years. Maybe just outwards. HA!

[@Kt-cn2rq]

🤣 the trying get it right side up was how went with out gazebo sadly the winds took ours down when had bad weather.

[@ThriftDiving]

Oh no!! Sorry to hear that! Did you have a heavy duty one with a hard top?? Thankfully we don't get much bad winds here in Maryland, but I know all it takes is that ONE gust.....

[@Ho11is2Ho11ywood]

😄It isn't assembled correctly if there isn't some cursing and frustration. I love your channel because you don't edit out the mistakes and challenges.

[@ThriftDiving]

LOL, I'm sure if the brand had seen it BEFORE I posted it, they might have wanted me to remove that! LOL. But I like to be as real as possible, and that was as real as it gets. I'm just glad that no one was hurt and that the gazebo wasn't damaged! LOL

[@misled1982]

Imagine having a mom like Serena, having that huge garden and choosing to play video games inside...smh

[@ThriftDiving]

It's ridiculous, isn't it?! 🤣 I will say, though, that my youngest and middle son do love playing soccer and will get out and kick the ball around. My youngest will go to the school behind us and meet his friends to play soccer, too. So at least one is a dedicated athlete. 🤷 You'll see in an upcoming video the gaming computers my middle and oldest son's built!

[@misled1982]

@@ThriftDiving I love your before after! and you better get those big boys of yours to help!! they are so tall now! I remember them from old videos and they GREW UP! LOL We want to seemore of them enjoyng that beautiful back yard now that spring is finally here!

[@ThriftDiving]

@@misled1982 I know, they definitely need to help more now! I tell them that they need to learn how to do things because they're going to be on their own one day. What are they going to do--just call ME??? I think I need to teach them more! And yes, I will show more of my backyard! Right now, it's a hot mess and needs leaves cleaned and pressure washing!!!

[@rickstokes2239]

Without proper concrete footings under the four posts the first good wind storm will take that gazebo for a ride that those little stakes can’t protect against. I’d still consider doing that if this Gazebo is a permanent structure.

[@AndyDuranFitness]

How is the quality of the wood is it real Cedar?

[@gabrielmaroto18]

I am so sad did not get a notification!

[@jesselkitchen236studio6]

Is that enough support in grass, seems a bit light, any thoughts about that please

[@ThriftDiving]

It's been totally fine! I was worried about that, too, but it's been okay. I probably should have put some paver base under that leg, but it's been okay for now! :)

[@goovitoo]

I need a pannel for my 12×10, wind damaged one pannell on the double metal roof, where can i get a single pannel?

[@gerardbrackett5321]

Where you order from

[@thecrazy8888]

No anchors?

[@keketayv1111]

I want to do this, but where I am putting mine is a low tree stump that I have been trying to figure out how to remove it.

[@ThriftDiving]

You should call a landscaping company to come and grind out the stump. Just a warning, it's costly! Like around $250 for a stump. However, did you see the video that I did on building a ground-level deck under the gazebo?? If the stump isn't too high, you might be able to just build over it! kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6DOfXdqmaaljKssi=nRtxi4NZklK6VRdp

[@nikkimorrison8115]

If you happen to find yourself in australia, stop by my place 😅😂 I could use your motivation

[@ThriftDiving]

Awww, I would love to come!! I think it's a 24-hour flight for me. HA! I would come, though!

[@metal_stud_anchors]

Needs a ZeboZAP

[@headon62]

Had my wife watch this to show her that she can wear the pants in the family sometimes like you did lol You were great 👍 Thanks 🙏

[@benjaminkenobi21]

I suppose you know this now.... but dirt will compact with time and moisture, so it's better to use sand or gravel as a base and/or riser for the posts of the gazebo.

[@ThriftDiving]

Yes indeed! I guess we will be figuring that out when it starts leaning to the left. HA!

[@kellyworsleigh5774]

Bet ur husband feels super grateful that his wife can do the honeydo list like a pro and still look like his queen❤😂

[@ThriftDiving]

I think so! He used to tell me that I just need to "hire someone" to do the things I do, until he realized that wasn't ever going to happen for most things I can do myself! But I think he does appreciate that I take care of a lot of things! :)

[@danh7447]

Top down is the first how not to do this !!

[@jayvirgo8175]

😮‍💨😮‍💨

[@AKIYIAKELLY]

🤍

[@eastsidedad716]

Cake

[@darkelf19962002]

I own an assembly company that builds prefabricated gazebos and kids playsets and this video scares me. Please if you do not know what you are doing hire someone that does. It will save you a lot of time and confusion that people like this put out there.

[@ThriftDiving]

Well, sorry to tell you this, but I'm a regular 'ole person doing regular 'ole things, like putting up a gazebo for the first time ever. Literally ever project I do, I don't know what I'm doing, but I tackle it and figure it out and it works out well for me. This is a channel for DIYers who may have never done a certain project, but we figure it out. And I think we figured it out just fine and learned: "Don't assemble it upside down, and here's why." Life is about trial and error. Simple as that. :)

[@sharonharrison4795]

Sounds great in theory until they want to charge more to set it up than the gazebo cost. That's a definite no for me!

[@zo4712]

Not sure what exactly scares you. Yes, she (they) made some mistakes...and fortunately, didn't break anything. The takeaway is they got it done and graciously passed on their lessons learned so anyone attempting to DIY won't make the same mistakes. These things come with instructions so people can build them without having to rely on contractors. There is pride in saying "I did it myself." So move on.

[@nameless4360]

I’ve GYATTT to see the video through