Gazebo advice

[Simon Lewis]

that "Australian" standard you mention is a British standard number...

 

It's CPAI-84 - quoted in the Costco unit. That's perhaps one I probably wouldn't go for as spares do not appear to be available. The idea wrt cooking is for two sides to be off when cooking but to be able to enclose the food and cooking gear at other times.

When used to shelter mixing desks, sources of heat and CO shouldn't be a problem!

[Junior8]

that "Australian" standard you mention is a British standard number...

 

No, no gazebo has a fire rating relevant to deliberately cooking inside it - whether they're made from a plastic/synthetic material or old-school canvas none of them will survive prolonged exposure to heat as you would get with cooking; you might get away with a griddle/burner against an open side but if you are wanting to BBQ then at the very least you need to expect smoke damage and low-level melting no matter what brand you choose.

 

This not entirely true. I can think of many hot food workers who routinely use pop up stalls. Indeed I spent a not altogether comfortable hour or two trying to help some novice Belgian Waffle workers sort themselves out at an event a few years ago when a gale blew up. I'm not saying I'd recommend it - in my view if you want to work hot food you should really have a trailer but in some sites they aren't allowed especially town centres. I certainly wouldn't want a BBQ in one but bain maries, hotplates and the like are frequently seen. For preference in these circumstances though I'd use a Zapp Umbrella. You just have to go to a good UK based stall manufacturer and tell them exactly what you want and what you want to do and if they expressly tell you not to use it for hot food darned well don't. The key thing to remember is that no temporary structure is designed as a refuge. The big problem with the waffle workers was that despite my instructions they would not take the side sheets off and lower the stall to half its height then get the hell out of it. When pop ups first came out there were some very dubious claims made for wind resistance - these days the firm is quite likely to say not for use in extreme weather conditions. In actual fact with the side sheets on things can get quite hairy in quite low winds and even if the things stays put the stresses can do serious damage to cheap imported frames. For endurance start with the Tectonics Fast Frame and work down...Incidentally Tectonics do guarantee performance to BS7837

Edited February 20, 2017 by Junior8

[TomHoward]

For ratchet strapping these things down are marquee pegs & a lump hammer the best option? Or are those screw in anchors worthwhile?

[ImagineerTom]

Proper screw stakes (not the dog leash ones) are amazing, marquee pegs are great to. It's more to do with technique - ideally you want the guy rope as close to 45drgrees from the vertical as you can, then the stake needs to go in to the ground so the strap is pulling at a right angle to the direction of the stake. Get this optimum condition and you'll have an anchor point that'll take a few hundred kg no problem. The more your angles deviate from this the less effective you are; in the worst configuration (vertical guy ropes or pulling at the same angle as the stake direction) and you'd be luckey to have something that could hold even 10kg

[Yorkie]

For ratchet strapping these things down are marquee pegs & a lump hammer the best option? Or are those screw in anchors worthwhile?

 

I used to site manage a kids camp atop a cliff 100 yards from the north sea. For small lightweight structures we had far more success with ratchet straps and 18" dog corkscrews than 2' marquee stakes. Whether that's dependent on ground type I'm not sure. The corkscrews take longer to put in the ground, on the flip side they reduce transport weight a lot

[Simon Lewis]

Thanks for all the supplier suggestions.... quite a few I had not heard of!

 

Thanks too for the salutory advice on securing the gazebo and fire safety.... I have taken note!

 

Simon

[Dave m]

My local pub landlord built a thatched BBQ in the back garden.

It didn't last long

[bruce]

4 years on, any updates?

 

I'm looking for something fairly basic - it's mainly for a couple of family events rather than any commercial/event use, although who knows what it might get used for afterwards!

 

Maybe a 3x3 or a 3x4.5.

 

Any recommendations for current suppliers?

[Junior8]

Same as 2107

Category 1 Not cheap but you won't have to buy twice

City B

Instant Marquees

Category 2Top of the range

Tectonics

Edited July 10, 2021 by Junior8

[ImagineerTom]

I’m not aware of any technological changes to the pop-up market so all the previous advice stands. Buy a £30 from Argos and treat it as disposable or buy a £700 one from a premium manufacturer that will last you multiple seasons. Both options are made significantly stronger with good quality stakes / guy ropes but will ultimately always been a very weak structure when compared to even the flimsiest of traditional marquee structures.

[sunray]

I'm not aware of any technological changes to the pop-up market so all the previous advice stands. Buy a £30 from Argos and treat it as disposable or buy a £700 one from a premium manufacturer that will last you multiple seasons. Both options are made significantly stronger with good quality stakes / guy ropes but will ultimately always been a very weak structure when compared to even the flimsiest of traditional marquee structures.

I agree with everything you say, however the most important thing is to learn how to use the things. I purchased my first from B&Q before my first grandson was born 2005, it was 3mx3m with vertical legs, I used it for every outdoor event for over 10 years. It survived the hottest sun, the haeviest down pours, some totally scary winds where I've watched colemans perfect hemispherical shape doing what a ball does naturally, that is rolling across fields doing lots of damage (including puncturing a car door) before crumpling into the usual sorry looking pile of debris against a hedge. I've seen B&Q and Agro specials do the same, I've seen them fly clean over a motorway dropping random legs as they fly. The thing I could never understand is gazebo users standing laughing as others flew away and rather than sort theirs out they wait until it too does a Mary Poppins in the park. My cheap special and I watched maybe 100 other gazebos die in some spectacular ways until the plasticised fabric started disintegrating, first it was the stitching holding on the velcro fixings then the leg panels and finally the roof gave way in the rain.

 

 

My solution? Return to B&Q to buy another 3mx3m gazebo which turned out to be 2.4mx2.4m with sloping legs to 3m and incredibly flimsy. I got one from Wilkinsons and there are so many short poles (40 in 10 different design/sizes compared to the original of 28 in 5 sizes) that I reverted back to the original frame but had to trim a little off the length of 8 poles. It's done 3 seasons without showing any signs of failure yet.

I'm under no misaprehensions, I know it's cheap crap but it does the biz and if handled and erected correctly they do last well and that actually applies to quality versions too.

My secret? I drive 25x25mm angle vertically into the ground for each leg and another similar stake for the guys. Simple really.

 

Oh and for heavens sake don't get conned into buying those pathetic plastic things to fill with a pint or two of water and particularly the moulded lumps of concrete to hang on the guys, They don't half do a lot of damage as they flail around as they follow the big white kite. I won't get started on the crackpot pop-up things that need 8 people.