Preparing Your Wooden Garden Gazebo For Winter
A cedar-shingle-roofed garden gazebo with canvas side panels, ready for winter
Top Tips on How to make your wooden garden building winter-ready
Owning a luxury garden gazebo is a great way to maximise the use of your garden on those long, warm summer months. Making use of outdoor areas increases living space as well your enjoyment of the garden, and a bespoke wooden garden building is a guaranteed way of adding pleasure and value to your garden and property.
A winter-ready thatched garden gazebo with canvas side panels and windows
But how should you care for your gazebo come the winter months, when rain, wind and frost arrive? Below, we explore our top advice on how to care for your wooden garden buildings over winter.
With over 20 years’ experience building, maintaining and refurbishing luxury garden buildings Chiltern Garden Buildings have amassed a huge wealth of skills and advice on how to look after wooden garden structures throughout the winter season.
The best ways of protecting your Wooden Gazebo in Winter
Add canvas side panels - Adding canvas side panels to your gazebo will help to keep out the worst of the bad weather once the winter rain, wind, snow and frost set in. By keeping the weather out you’ll be giving the timber structure the best possible chance of staying dry and rot-free for years to come. Be sure to regularly aerate your gazebo to avoid any build up of damp and condensation. It would be a good idea to leave one or two of the canvases partly open to allow air to flow freely through the structure.
Remove cushions - Although not essential, storing cushions in a garage or shed over the winter months would be a good idea to ensure that they are not exposed to the constant dampness of the winter air. The cushions will be fine left out in the gazebo for spring, summer and autumn.
Garden building maintenance - In order to keep your gazebo in tip-top condition it is important to maintain your timber structure. To refurbish your building, begin by giving the timber a light sanding, ensuring to remove any dirt, dust and debris, paying particular attention to the floorboards and the building threshold. Complete the process by applying a quality wood preservative. This process will not only maintain the building’s appearance but will give the structure long-lasting protection from the elements. By carrying out garden building maintenance every 2-3 years, your building will last for decades.
Maintain surrounding plants - Keep encroaching shrubs and overhanging trees in check by pruning them regularly to keep them away from your gazebo walls and roof. Avoid allowing plants and shrubs to grow up against your wooden gazebo’s sides and roof - this could encourage moisture ingress, encouraging creeping plants to find their way inside, or cause damage from falling branches.