Customer Reviews for Gazebo Penguin Florence Solarium 12 ft. x 12 ft. in Slate

Was very happy with this gazebo for years, until roof failed after hail storm. Worked with insurance to help solve the problem, but roof was poorly designed and expect it will fail again. Would NOT recommend this product, as the roof has failed, and will again. Would recommend a metal roofed product!

The gazebo was on site when we purchased our Park Model trailer and was a major reason why we made this purchase. After only 2 days of taking possession we had a hale storm. The roof now looks like Swiss Cheese (see pic.). In hind sight, I should have realized that Polycarbonate is a really stupid roof material. After speaking to the manufacturer they must have figured that out too because they now have a metal roof option. The cost to replace the roof panels is $1247.76 plus tax, shipping and installation. This could cost me half the cost of a new unit! And may only last till the next storm! Hopefully I'll make some money back from the metal scrap value. Please don't waste you money on this product.

Materials quality was good over all. Please lose the Phillips screws, or at least improve the quality of the heads - I substituted Torx screws where I could. Either parts P & Q were mislabeled, or the instructions were wrong, but look at the layout of the rafters & you can figure out the right part quickly. The studs on part M (top cap) were no where near long enough to go through part N (central hub) - I had to replace them with some spare carriage bolts. You'll want more than one helper to get the initial rafters up: it's a bit of a challenge. It's good to have a helper to put the doors in. But once you get an angled side up, one person can do most everything else.

i purchased this item 1 yr ago the first shipment was torn up very bad shippers. then i got another one. its nice. however .my plastic roof has been getting small holes in it and i meed to replace it. trying to find a company that supplies the plastic pieces.

So far, so good. Very impressed with the effortless steps to purchase, and get shipped. Be sure to have somebody around to help with delivery. It will come on a Semi Truck, with 4 boxes wrapped onto a double pallet. 4 foot x 100” footprint. 500+ pounds. Driver used a pallet jack to slide off the truck, and lift gate to get to the ground. He wheeled it to a spot on the driveway, and once unwrapped, we could manually slide each box into our garage. The directions were straight forward. 1 person can set up most of the gazebo, but having a second person around is best. Be sure to have level surface, that makes a big difference. Love the window material, accidentally let an aluminum beam fall ... direct blow, and thought it would puncture the material. Barely a scratch as the soft window material deformed, but did not puncture. Regular plastic or vinyl would have torn open. Very light and tough 8 mm tinted polycarbonate roof panels are easy to install, but the second person really comes in handy for this step. Screens are nice as well. Pleased so far, and hope to get many years of enjoyment from the gazebo. Would recommend to others! If possible, I will amend review in a few years ... to let you know how it holds up to Minnesota rain, hail, snow, heat, etc.

Cannot rate item never received it. Delivery was scheduled and cancelled 5 times. After that I cancelled my order

Not very good about replacement parts, gave all kinds of pictures, but stuck with parts that don’t fit my gazebo because of international shipping!

Easy to put together until it came to the edging at the bottoms of the roof panels. Needed three screw holes to exactly match up and if you accidentally had the top rails slightly off, it created major later problems. 1/4 time of rest of structure and 3/4 on the edging. Solved with self-tapping screws, which created their own holes.

Over all I was pretty happy with the gazebo. I ended up short a few screws and had to finish the cuts on two of the aluminum framework for the ceiling panels. It took me three days to get it built but they were shortened days because of strong winds.

Too many of 1 part, too few of another. Engineering could be better. But turned out very nice addition to our property.

I love it very nicely made Makes my back yard look like a oasis

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

The gazebo has only been up for two weeks and last night we had a huge storm with hail and Highwinds I sat in the gazebo throughout the entire storm and it held up beautifully very impressed with his product

A friend purchased this exact model, so I had experience putting it together and knew what finished product would be.Best help I can give someone is to stage everything out, the 3 of us put together in 4 hrs, the only thing we have not done yet is stud into patio and caulk.Excellent value !

You will need lots of patience, people and ladders. The instructions are vague at best. A lot of the holes don't line up. Once it's all assembled, the best you can, it appears to be sturdy and solid. We were very impressed by the temperature difference when we started installing the roof panels. All in all I think it will suit our needs. Time will tell how durable it will be after a heavy rain, wind or snow.

I'm worried about wind! only good for 38 mph? would like to purchase one but dont think it will hold up. opinions?

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

We purchased our Gazebo in late December, and it was erected January 12-13th, by a superb contractor! Although prairie winter is not the time for assembly, we are thoroughly enjoying our shelter from the elements. As a group of seniors, it is great to be able to get fresh air daily, out of the wind and snow. The structure is sturdy and well anchored, and our group is greatly satisfied.

I bought this about a month ago, The shipping was within the estimated time for arrival, it took 3 of us to put it together and it went very well. My only issue with this was that I found the fasteners to be poor quality and would strip out easily, the corner caps for the edges in the final step were just angle pieces, they don't fit exactly and I would think on and angled corner the caps could have been built to match the angles. Over all I am d quite happy with the Solarium. I built it around my hot tub to stay out of the wind and weather in southern Alberta and seems to be holing up just find to the heavy winds we get!!

I have this solarium set-up for just over 4 months. When I got it, on 2 panels the holes are larger than the screws holding the screen in. Yesterday, I noticed light coming in from 2 bottom panels. The plastic piece is cracked on the bottom right between the horizontal and vertical screws holding in. I think the wind is making it vibrate and that is how it cracked where the 2 screws connect. One another panel the plastic piece is bulging in between the top and middle screw as well as between the middle and bottom screw.

Went together very well, smooth surface is best no leaks at all very happy with the product.

Very bad with returns

It went up with little to no problems. Looks great!

I bought this gazebo 13 months ago and it has done well through an Alberta winter,.but last weak we had a small hail storm with pea sized hail and it put holes in the the roof. I can't understand why they would use a paper thin roof that small hail can punch holes in it I called Gazebo penguin and now the want a lot of money to replace the roof with the same paper thin plastic roof. Why would spend a lot o money only to have the same problem happen when the next small hail storm comes through. I would have not bought this gazebo if i knew that the roof was so weak.I think the have to improve the roof material to something that is not paper thin.

We bought and assembled this gazebo approx. 6 weeks ago. It was easier to put it up than we had entisipated. It toke my husband and myself 1 day to put it together. We are very pleased with it this far, we have had a few rains since and it stayed all dry inside.

We are enjoying our Solarium, looks great, friends "love" it!! Instructions were fair, but true... 8 hrs and two person project!

Not set up yet won't get set up till late April or early May

Very nice product,it's a bit of a pain to put together but it's worth it. Need at least two people