SojagMessina Hard Top Sun Shelter, 12' by 16', Charcoal

A great quality product! Delivery was scheduled with Ceva on their website. Everything went smooth and the boxes were delivered in pristine condition. Sojag packed everything extremely well and efficiently. I didnt have so much as a scratch on any part. They even provided extra hardware.Assembly was not that bad. A corderless drill/driver is a must. I set my Dewalt at a 7 and it perfectly torqued all bolts without stripping. I did it all by myself, with the exception of about 6 bolts in the roof panels that I just couldn't reach to tighten by myself. It took me about 20 hours that I spread out over 3 days, to build the big 12x20 model. The instructions were fine and the YouTube video helped. No issues at all getting things to fit. When the instructions say only hand tighten, listen to them. The toughest was the roof panels. I inserted several Allen wrenches into the holes to get them lined up before putting in the fasteners. This really helped. I also used clamps to hold the panels in place (some are big) as it was tough by myself. I used stainless steel anchors to fasten to my concrete and used black nylon plugs to cover the exposed nuts to give it a finished look.I ordered the optional curtains mostly for shade in the late afternoon, but we didn't like them. They were awkward and kept getting hooked on the mosquito screens. They also were like sitting in a tent and just didn't look as good as the rest of the shelter. I returned them (they were expensive) and ended up getting Coolaroo shades from Sam's Club that worked out perfectly. They look great and let in a little light and breeze, and are very easy to operate. I mounted them without ever having to drill into the metal of the structure by simply using the existing hardware points to fasten some wood using longer bolts. I also ran a set of LED lights with a dimmer that look great.I highly recommend this shelter!!

NOTE: Ceiling fan and string lights installed :)Ok reviewers, I've been looking for buyers that actually installed some lights as well as a ceiling fan. Mind you, I'm not an electrician nor a professional installer. I basically can install ceiling fans like most people can do; just a simple note since I wanted reviewers to feel confident with installing the aforementioned items.NOW FOR THE GAZEBO:I didn't install our 12'x16' my self on our new concrete slab in the corner of our backyard. If you can put the price of installation in your budget, I highly recommend it since my wife and I agree that we can't put a price on our precious time with our family. We didn't mind paying $250 for 2 basic handy men that actually took a total of 10 hours, along with some frustration with a few damaged parts. With my obsessive compulsive personality, I honestly would've gone insane if I tried to install this with another person; again my personal opinion about paying someone for the install.My recommendation: Whether you install the gazebo yourself or not, I highly recommend purchasing "hex bits" size 5/32", for the installer's power drill since manually screwing in over 1 million hex bolts by hand will drive anyone insane. I purchased a 5 pack from eBay so I can simply use my cordless power drill to tighten these bolts every half year or so.We purchased ours on Costco.com for about $2100 including tax and there were a few damaged parts but Costco's online customer service fixed everything for us where the manufacturer shipped us replacement parts with express shipping to Southern California. The structure is quite sturdy and it does get quite windy where we reside(recently up to 40mph winds). We have a nother 30'x15' Alumiwood structure on the other side of our yard and this 12'x16' steel Gazebo doesn't look "cheap" in quality. If I ranked my Alumiwood structure 9/10 for quality and appearance, I would rank this Gazebo 8/10 since there are some minor areas that I am picky about, i.e. visible hex bolts/nuts but they are painted, so not a very big deal to others.STRING LIGHTS(did not come with the gazebo):As you can see, I didn't install LED lights since we wanted the ambient glow appearance of clear glass halogens; similar to the french bistro string lights many restaurants use in their outdoor patio eating areas. They were purchased at Costco as well for about $30 and I think they were about 30 ft long, from the first light to the last, which was way more than long enough for this gazebo. I simply used wire ties/zip ties since toward the mid-section of the roof line had an 1/8" gap for the wire ties to nicely slide through. Also, the gazebo's mosquito curtains/netting was perfect to hide the wires to cover the eye sore of the extension cord, etc.CEILING FAN(was not included):I purchased this "outdoor/indoor" fan from Home Depot with built in LED lights(can't see the bulbs since it's inside a frosted glass enclosure) with 52" fan blades that look like wood but is some sort of poly-carbonate to withstand the weather and to minimize sagging and warping. The fan does not come with a remote so I suggest you purchase one if you desire. You don't have to install a switch for the fan since you can simply use the ceiling fan's "pull chains" to turn on/off the fan and light. I bought a 25' black outdoor extension cord(with 3 outlets( and simply ran it through the roof line with the included 3 hanging hooks on the inside ceiling. I wired tied the extension cord as well and ran it through the edge of the small rain gutters of the gazebo. This was perfect for my install since no one views that particular side of the gazebo since it's tucked in the corner of my backyard. However, if you're gazebo's roof is visible from all sides, the black extension cord does not stand out much. Many of you are more creative than I am so I'm sure you'll figure something out with cable anchors with self-tapping screws to keep the cord straight and taut; just spray paint it dark brown or black so the color blends with the gazebo. I ran the extension cord down the same pillar as the extension cord of my string lights. As mentioned earlier, the bug curtains coincidentally cover my wires(from inside the gazebo) without the hassle of installing a conduit or similar piping for the wires/cords.Oh, to hang the fan, YOU MUST buy a 12" extension rod to avoid the blades from hitting the roof/ceiling since it is angled, similar to a vaulted ceiling. This 12" extension rod is available at most hardware stores and I simply bought mine at Home Depot for about $10. I had to remove the mosquito netting but will cut a hole in the center to the edge and secure it by having someone sew in velcro strips to reinstall the ceiling netting to minimize mosquitos from coming in from the top of the unit. To hang the fan, I simply used a "S-hook" that withstands up to 100 pounds. The S-hook(pictured) simply hangs on the gazebo's welded circular ring in the roofline and the other end of the S-hook(I included pic)is being held by the fan's included horizontal sliding pin at the very top of the rod. This obviously is not a perfect install since many of you may put in an electrical box to hang the fan. I will take more pictures of the fan base since many of you have inquired about this.Updated ceiling fan tip on 5/30/2016:Ok, it's getting warm in Southern California so I suggest putting the ceiling fan's rotational direction to clockwise(while looking up at fan) to suck/pull up the heat and blow it out of the top tier air vent out of the gazebo. It is a lot cooler this way since this gazebo's steel and aluminum roof does trap in a lot of heat. With the fan motor switch in reverse(clockwise) and speed set to hi, the sitting area is considerably cooler than when the fan is blowing the air(hot air) down into the seating area.On the other hand, on cooler evenings where your guests may be a little chilly, I have a fire pit and set the fan to push the air down(counter-clockwise) when looking up towards fan. The fan pushes down the rising heat from the firepit quite nicely where the heat was actually dissipated among the sitting area below.To set the fan rotational direction, there should be a small black sliding switch near the fan motor above the fan blades.Also, I used a black hose clamp to hold the fan base housing from sliding down the rod since it is not mounted to the ceiling. I took a close up pic of this.--End of tips/advice ;)There was one reviewer on Amazon, Roy Wynne, that gave me the idea of the lights with his photos; so thank you for that. Also, there was another reviewer(I can't find her name at this time to give her credit for advice) that recommended a 12" extension rod for the ceiling fan. Well, these 2 reviewers were "dead-on" with their advice; so thank you.I don't write very many reviews but wanted to share my experience since I've learned from so many of you. I will also post more pictures shortly.If you have personal questions, you may email me: [email protected] and have fun,Gene

This is a Excellent product and delivery was great!!