Gazebo Screen & Clear Vinyl in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension

Gazebos in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension

In Villeray and Parc-Extension, the duplexes and triplexes of the 1920s to 1950s keep their yards at the back, along the lane: short rectangles, often paved or in slabs, hemmed in by fences. The gazebo, where there is one, is a small store-bought model chosen to fit the width of the lot, or a pergola closed in with panels and set against the shed. The way to that yard is by the lane or through the ground-floor unit, never up the outside staircase on the front, and a long panel is steered through carefully between the bins and the bicycles.

Saint-Michel, built after the war, gives its plexes wider lots and deeper rear balconies: the store-bought gazebo there is a more common size, set at the back of the yard or on a ground-level deck, and the ground-floor patio door opens straight onto it. Clear vinyl is common there because the gazebo serves as an extension of the kitchen as soon as the air cools. Those yards get the afternoon sun with little in the way, and the wind from the open lanes takes them side-on rather than head-on: it is the panels on that side that work, not the whole gazebo.

Screens and vinyl: what gives out in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension

A small store-bought gazebo in a plex yard wears out through the panels exposed to traffic: mesh torn at the corner that rubs the walkway or the lane gate, spline out, aluminum frame shoved out of square. The clear vinyl (MICA film), put up in the fall and often left until the following summer, yellows on the south side and splits at a corner once the cold has stiffened it. In Saint-Michel, the big panels sag in the middle and the vinyl slaps in the wind of the open yard. A paved yard is a workbench: the panel lies flat at the foot of the structure, a warped frame is straightened there, and vinyl and mesh are both redone on the spot, with nothing carried through the unit. The structure stays standing.

Structure and access in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension

A store-bought gazebo panel is often more than two metres long: in Villeray and Parc-Extension it does not go up a spiral staircase and does not turn in a one-metre passage — so it is rebuilt in the yard itself, laid flat, or in the lane. When the yard is paved and level, the work happens at the foot of the structure. On a plex, the ground-floor occupant has to be warned, since access often runs through their unit. In Saint-Michel, the wider yard and the ground-level deck give room to lay everything out. In every case the aluminum or steel structure stays up: only the panels come out of it.

Wind, sun, insects: choosing in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension

A treeless plex yard takes the afternoon sun head-on, and clear vinyl left up from one season to the next yellows on the exposed side while the other stays clear. Wind moves through the open lanes and hits the Saint-Michel gazebos from the side: vinyl pulled tight, frame straight. Insects come from the green lanes and the planters: standard fibreglass does the job, and a tighter weave is only worth it beside a heavily planted yard. A lane cat that climbs the low panels makes the case for pet-resistant mesh.