It’s that time of year again. Every big box store in the nation is out there creating gorgeous displays out of DIY gazebo, pergola, and fencing panels and kits.
These kits promise beauty and elegance that’s cheap and easy. They look great in the store. Marketing experts have put hours of thought into figuring out just how to appeal to you.
Unfortunately, when it comes to fences and gazebos, DIY is a trap.
Materials Quality
The materials that you use matter, especially when it comes to withstanding our Milwaukee metro area winters. Cheap, DIY vinyl fence panels are mostly air. Wooden fence panels are often pressure-treated pine, which isn’t much better than particle board when some harsh snowstorm comes barreling down on Mequon or Fox Point.
It’s easy to forget winter under gorgeous skies. But try to think back to just a few weeks ago.
If you end up replacing these cheap materials in a year or two have you really saved any money? After all, our custom built fences, gazebos, and pergolas last around ten years, and sometimes they last even longer.
Safety
Flimsy aluminum DIY pergolas look pretty tempting in their displays. But they’re still flimsy aluminum–stuff that bends or even snaps after it’s submitted to a certain amount of pressure.
Please remember when you’re installing a pergola or a gazebo that you’re installing a structure–something that you’re going to be spending a lot of time standing beneath. Do you really want your family members standing under anything other than professionally installed top notch materials? Or do you want to hope that a few screws and some cheap metal will work out just fine?
There are a lot of fine things to try DIYing. However, unless you’re a certified fence installer it’s probably best to leave fences, gazebos, and pergolas to the experts.
