Gazebo roofing ideas

[Roly]

We have a small quadrant shaped gazebo in the corner of the garden.

The previous owners used some plastic perforated sheeting ( maybe greenhouse shading ) stapled over the roof bearers to provide gentle shade, but the combined effects of weathering and being stomped upon by a rather portly cat have combined to make some large holes in it and it now needs replacing.

What sort of material would readers suggest we use instead ?

We're sort of inclined to use rolls of reed screening, but wonder about how long it might last if used in that way.

The bearers are about 8 feet long, pretty well all touching at the one end and fanning out so that the seven of them are a maximum of 2 feet apart at the other end. They are horizontal.

[Andy Hall]

I used cedar shakes for a garden building that I constructed last year. You can get details from

are installed in a similar way to slates but you can easily cut and shape to follow an unusual profile.

is one source of supply in the UK. You can either lay them to a stright line at the bottom or to a more random arrangement as in the photo.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[N. Thornton]

Reed thatch lasts around 50 years. Maybe you could add a cover at the peak to protect the upmost reed ends. I'm guessing whole reeds would fare much better than halved reed.

Regards, NT

[Roly]

I love the look of those cedar shakes and have kept details on file in case I can use them elsewhere, but for the gazebo, we're looking for something that isn't a solid roof - just some light shading, so a perforated or slatted material is what's needed. It also needs to look right when fitted on a quadrant shaped flat roof.

We're sure there must be an excellent idea, but can't come up with anything better than the reed screen stuff on rather flimsy looking rolls.