Amish Country GazebosReviews of amishgazebos.com

Very good product. Assembly was not too difficult. Package instructions could be better but between the on-line manual and the instructions that came with the package, assembly was straightforward. The trim around the bottom of the post did not anchor to the post as shown in the instruction but other than that everything fit fairly well.

The construction took a little longer than anticipated. Part of the problem was the instructions - they are not detailed. Fortunately our maintenance men have worked in construction and carpentry and they could figure out what was required. Placing the shingles was a little tricky also. More detail here may be required. The 1.5" strip on the cupola did not work - it kept splitting, but another way was found.

The gazebo looks wonderful. I had no trouble at all with the ordering or delivery process. I did expect to hear from one of the brothers. All my contact was done with a very young person. My husband is in construction which helped with the building of the gazebo. I think if you have no experience it would have been challenging. He constructed it with only himself and one other person. More would have made the job easier, especially the roof. I would have liked a lock on the door. All the parts are well made. My only issue was with the windows which are made of a heavy plastic. My son referred to it as Saran Wrap. I'm really concerned that if someone knocks a chair into it or if something happens from the outside it will rip. One window arrived bent but we did not contact the sellers. Otherwise it is beautiful.

We ordered a 12x16 pavilion and elected to assemble it ourselves. The finished product looks very good with some minor fit issues which caused some gapping of the finish pieces at the top of the columns. while i could attribute some of this to our error we did have proof of some fabrication issues as we had to modify one of the columns because the 2x6's were not joined properly. This involved cutting the screws, clamping and re-screwing the three boards. Lastly, the company suggests a 6 hour completion time. This may be for the smallest size and the time is qualified by the fact that this may be the consumers first attempt at such an assembly. Regardless, this number is so far off it should be revised. You will not finish this in a day with two people and it your first go at this specific model. The instructions are not all that clear and going back to revise your work is likely. Suffice to say you shouldn't screw everything down tight until you know you can assemble parts later in the process, especially the roof plates and rafters. I am happy with the finished result but not sure i would self-assemble again and as i recall paying Amish Country to do it negated any price savings you might have versus your local gazebo/shed dealer.

Overall I am very pleased with the shopping experience, price, fast delivery, and the quality of the structure. I rate it with 4-1/4 stars - it would have been five stars, except for the items mentioned below. The time estimate by the manufacturer for assembly of the gazebo is very optimistic. It would take 2 experienced carpenters to assemble it in the quoted time. However, the instructions were pretty easy to follow, except for the roofing section. I had to call customer support to clarify some ambiguities. They were easy to reach, very courteous and knowledgeable. Regarding the use of the supplied 2-1/2" screws to fasten the plywood sheathing: These screws are way too thick and long for that purpose. You would have to angle them very, very carefully in order not to split the 2x4 roof rafters, especially if you want to space them 6-8" apart. I ended up buying my own 1-5/8" wood (decking type) screws that worked very well. The same applies to fastening the cornices to the sheathing and roof rafter ends. The 2-1/2" screws would split the cornices and sheathing panels badly. Applying 1-1/2" ridge pieces to the cupola roof: The instructions tell you to use the 1" supplied roofing nails. That's ridiculous. It would work mechanically, but would look pretty bad. I ended up buying 3/4" copper plated nails with an 1/8" head. They are barely visible and will blend in nicely once the copper oxydises to a green color. I also caulked the ridge joints before applying the ridge pieces to the cupola, which was not mentioned in the instructions. One roof rafter was slightly bowed, which made it somewhat challenging to fasten the sheathing to it. I ended up using a ratchet strap to straighten it enough to make it fit. Dietmar Kuehn

The pavilion has a quality look and feel. It has met our expectations. We are not experienced carpenters but chose to put it together ourselves. The instructions estimated that two men could assemble the product in one day. For us this estimate was wildly inaccurate. We did spend a lot of time scratching our heads over the instructions. More detailed instructions with more intermediate stage photos would have been helpful. We needed many full weekends to complete the project. I believe that two experienced carpenters who had already put the same kit together several times would still have a hard time completing the project in a day. The kit was well designed. All the parts came with the shipment and everything fit as it should. We did find some of the large screws very difficult to drive. Our minor assembly errors were well tolerated and we are very happy with the end product.

The experience of purchase thru delivery was Hassel free. Everyone involved from beginning to end was cooperative, intelligent and extremely easy to deal with.

The square-headed screws did not work well at all. A normal drill would just strip them. I had to go out and buy $80 worth of star-headed screws and those worked fine.