Imagine spending a few uninterrupted moments under your gazebo in Houston while enjoying your morning cup of coffee before starting your day or having a quiet place to hide away when during the summer, the kids are home from school and getting on your last nerve. This dream can be brought to reality by upgrading your backyard with a gazebo. Today in Gazebos 101 for Houston homeowners, Emerson Home Exterior Enhancements, the leading gazebo repair and builders for Houston, Katy, and the surrounding area, will share with you everything you need to know about these outdoors that will add beauty, comfort, and shade to your outdoor living space including:
What is a gazebo?
Gazebo Ideas for Houston
Planning & Design
The Different Types of Gazebo Materials
How to enclose your gazebo.,
Choosing A Gazebo Builder In Houston
Gazebo Ideas For Houston Backyards
What are gazebos?
A gazebo is an outdoor shade structure that resembles an interior room space. Generally speaking, gazebos are not attached to the house and are placed further away in the yard to create a separate private lounge with a roof, floor, and partially open sides, giving you the perfect balance of privacy and openness that only an outdoor room can offer. Gazebos are backyard centerpieces that can be decorated for outdoor celebrations like reunions and weddings. In addition, they can provide a great deal of shade in a sunny yard and fill in an empty landscape from an architectural perspective.
Gazebos come in one of three shapes- hexagonal, octagonal, or oval, with four, six, or eight symmetrical sides. Each shape will provide a shaded room for seating, open-air dining, or relaxation. Suppose you need a different design than the traditional design of a gazebo. In that case, you can always put your creativity to use or hire a custom gazebo builder to add railings, balusters, or screens in your gazebo for privacy. At Enhancements, our team offers building and gazebo repairs in Houston that will give you adequate shade during the dog days of summer and shelter you from the rain.
Outdoor Dining Area – Enjoy outdoor eating from the comfort of your home by having a large enough space to accommodate your picnic table and enough chairs for your family to sit together without feeling as if they are seated on top of each other.
Kitchen – Cooking outdoors can be fun, especially when inviting family and friends! A wooden gazebo can be the perfect outdoor kitchen for your grill, refrigerator, and sink. If you don’t want a complete outdoor kitchen, consider adding a bar area with stools where you can kick back and relax with a few cocktails. After all, it’s 5:00 o’clock somewhere, so why not make somewhere your private backyard oasis?
Hot Tub Cover – Take a break from the daily chores of life and relax in your covered hot tub. Install lights to create a well lite space that can be enjoyed when the sun goes down. A gazebo will prevent unwanted rain and help you maintain your hot tub better.
At-home theater: Didn’t get the media room you’d hoped for when you purchased your home, try something better. Adding super comfortable seating around a large flat-screen TV is one of the most accessible gazebo ideas to enhance outdoor space. This outdoor theater provides a place for you and your family to gather and relax.
Gazebo Design
There are a few things you will want to keep in mind if you are going to be building a gazebo or having one built for you. First, you will want to consider where it will be located and how you intend to use it. For example, would it be more convenient to build it near your house, or do you want your wooden gazebo to be tucked away and, therefore, further away from the home so it’s more secluded? Of course, the location will depend significantly on the size of your lot. The larger the space, the more options you will have available to you. You will also want to consider shade. Each day the sun crosses the sky at a slightly different angle, moving from the high point in summer that causes temperatures to rise to 100 to the low points that bring cooler temperatures. Shadows change accordingly and follow the east-west axis in the summer and point northwest and northeast in the winter; armed with this information, do you want to put your gazebo on the southside where it’s exposed to more sunlight or plan to put it on the northwest side of your lawn to give you less sunlight and therefore make your outdoor structures less hot and more enjoyable. If your design has roof slats, you can modify them by changing the size and orientation of the slat according to your desired shade or sunlight.
Another thing that can impact your gazebo is your Houston HOA rules. Unlike other metropolitan cities, Houston has no zoning laws, but buildings are governed by ordinance codes that address how property can be subdivided. Here are a few things you will need to know:
How close do you need to build the structure to your property line?
How much can a building cover your lawn?
What other restrictions your HOA has regarding gazebos, height, and size
Planning For Your Gazebo
Now that we know the dos and don’ts let’s get creative; make a copy of your home’s original blueprints or use tracing paper to create your sketch. Use a school ruler to set the scale, so you don’t have to do the math drawing of where you want to put your gazebo. Next, sketch your fence, deck, and any other hardscape features that can’t be uprooted and moved. Next, draw a box for the window and door of your home.
Choosing the Right Gazebo Materials
You can use a few materials to construct your gazebo. The most common materials are cedar, pressure traditional pine and vinyl. Of course, no Gazebo 101 Guide for Houston would be complete without mentioning pop-up gazebos that are designed to last a few summers but will be your most affordable option. Canvas or pop-up gazebos have fabric that covers the roof rather than shingles and is secured to metal rather than wood. Since these types of gazebos are lightweight, they are portable, so you can take them on a weekend camping trip or to the beach, where portable shade is a must. But they are easy to tear and have no resale value. If you are concerned with building a wood gazebo in Houston due to maintenance, then either consider adding a stain and sealer every three to five years or going with a vinyl material if you’re looking for a low-maintenance alternative. Vinyl gazebos come in your choice of white or almond; this material is not susceptible to rot or insects. Still, 90% of homeowners choose wood gazebos in Houston. Another consideration is what type of roof you will add to enclose the structure.
Choosing A Roof For Your Gazebo
Asphalt Shingle: The least expensive option is the asphalt shingle. These are similar to the roofs you’ll find on most homes, and you can even choose the color of your shingles to match or compliment your home.
Rubber Slate is an affordable way to capture the elegance of slate shingles in an eco-friendly, easy-to-install product. This material comes from recycled tires and other rubber products combined with elements that enhance its stability and adds color.
Cedar Shake is my favorite roof style for gazebos, as they give the gazebo an elegant, timeless look. Over time exposure to UV rays will turn your cedar into a silvery gray sheen.
Metal: One of the longest-lasting materials is metal. You can choose from ribbed or standing seam metal for your gazebo roof.
Selecting The Right Gazebo flooring
You have three options for the floor of your Gazebo- wood, composite, and PVC. If you are building a gazebo, chances are you’ll also want to use the same floor material you used for the gazebo. If you use wood, then make sure to stain it like the rest of your gazebo to protect it from the outside elements.
Gazebo Kit VS Gazebo Builder In Houston
Another thing you need to decide is if you want to buy a kit or have someone build it for you. There’s no right or wrong answer; it depends on your preferences and budget. Here are the advantages of each option.
It can be assembled on the weekend with a helper.
Saves you money on the cost of hiring a gazebo builder in Houston.
It can be a fun and rewarding project to build yourself.
Professional Gazebo Builder Houston:
Trusted to get the gazebo built accurately, quickly, and beautifully.
Emerson provides a five-year labor warranty and a 10-year structural warranty.
A Convenient, worry-free process.
Higher Resale Value should you sell your home
Cost of Gazebo
The typical cost to have a wood gazebo built in Houston is between $3000- $80000; however, the price depends on various factors, such as the size of the gazebo you are building. Is it going to be a small room for four, or do you want one large enough for an entire wedding party? What type of lumber will you be using, what type of floor and roof have you chosen, and will you be taking this as a do-it-yourself project, or will you be hiring a gazebo builder in Houston? The best way to discover what you will spend is to give our experts a call for a free estimate at (281)545-7740
Houston Gazebo Builders & Repairs
At Emerson Home Exterior Enhancements, we offer construction, refurbishing, and gazebo repairs in Houston. When you work with our team, you can rely on us to streamline the process. We work with you every step of the way, from design to completion and maintenance. We can help you select the correct size of structure for your home and budget, choose the best materials for your needs, and all newly built gazebos come with a ten-year craftsmanship warranty because we believe in standing behind the quality; this is why we also offer a five year gazebo repair warranty that you will not find anywhere in Houston.
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