My family got this to cover the back patio for an event coming up. My parents haven't really had a chance to jump through the paperwork hoops to build a permanent one, so we wanted a quick, inexpensive, and temporary solution. The price was right on this one. Even though the instructions say that you
should be able to build this with 2 people in 40 minutes, it took us 3 people and 60 minutes. But that was probably because my mom is a very thorough person - she double-checks everything. But really, it was not that difficult if you are good at following picture instructions, which we are. My mom took notes on a bunch of the pages. The pictures are a little fuzzy, but readable. Also, I would recommend two ladders so two people can work on the canopy at the same time. The package was very heavy - definitely needs to be carried by two strong people. Every part was labeled with letters so you knew which parts to use in the instructions. For step one, the top frame piece shown is the middle cross piece of the top frame. The bottom one shows what the end frame piece looks like. You need to build two of these. You need a long space to do step 2. We worked our way from one end to the other. When you put the cover on in step 3, make sure the seams with the eyelets are on the inside of the frame. It's a big canopy so you wanna get that right. Also, make sure you put the legs in one of the long sides like in the picture. We tried doing one of the short ends first. But that takes way more hands than we had. As you are putting the legs on, make sure the holes on the bottom of the legs are facing outside. that's where the canopy leg covers will attach. On step 5, my mom had us work from one short end to the other. So we attached the top of the canopy on one end and worked out way to the other end. My mom made sure the tubes in the joints were pushed in all the way as we went along. By the time we got to the other short end, the canopy was getting pretty tight. We had read some of the reviews about the canopy tearing, so my mom used her fists and a handful of gathered canopy material to firmly pull the canopy over each end corner. Then we pulled down all of the leg covers and attached the metal clips to the second or third hole at the bottom of the leg. We also put the feet on so the bottoms of the legs would not get bent or warped or dig into the concrete. The tight canopy really helps keep the frame together well. When we were done, it looked good! It has been up for a week now and is holding strong. If we decide to keep it up for another couple months, I think we will get canopy weights because the winds around here can get really strong. If we keep it up longer, my mom talked about drilling holes where the tubes go into the joints and bolting them together. Definitely a great buy!
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Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2017 by Scarlet Fury Scarlet Fury
