If you have a screened or open gazebo why not close it in to extend its use in early spring or late fall? This photo shows an example of a gazebo enclosed in our 20 mil clear material to form a transparent curtain to protect the occupants and furniture from the elements. Since this will let in lots of light you could also use this as a greenhouse to start vegetables or other annuals in the spring while protecting them from the frost.
If you want increased privacy, you could finish some of the sides in solid 18 oz vinyl while using clear vinyl where you want to have a view. You could even enclose the gazebo entirely in solid vinyl and use clear material to add windows to let in some light.
In this installation we installed a heavy duty zipper to allow access through one of the sides. Please be advised that the raw material comes in 54 inch widths so there will need to be at least one seam in most applications. You can see the seam running horizontally in the photo in the photo above and vertically in the photo below.
It may not be necessary to enclose all four sizes of your gazebo. If your gazebo is exposed to winds it can make it unpleasant to sit out even if the actual temperature is favourable. In this example our customer only closed in the two sides of their gazebo that are exposed to the prevailing winds and this served to improve the temperature under the gazebo considerably.
This customer did not want to have to drill holes or attach fasteners directly onto their gazebo so they used straps to hang the cover. When sizing your tarp you should try to make the height such that the tarp will hang just slightly off the ground to avoid wear from dragging back and forth over an abrasive ground surface.
Our solid vinyl material is a lot stronger than the clear material because it has an internal scrim which the clear does not have. If your gazebo will be exposed to high winds you might consider covering it in 18 oz vinyl instead of the 20 mil clear. In such a case, you will probably want to add windows like the one shown here in order to provide viability to the outside and also to let some light in.
To see examples of solid and mesh covers please visit our gazebo side panels page.
