Rowlinson Balmoral Arbour

It looks to me as though this pergola has been stored in a damp place for some time because all the screws on the seating area are rusted to the wood and every screwed area is stained and unsightly. The wooden slats are showing signs of damp storage too. I am really unhappy with the quality of the pre sale pergola. Today we find that one of the main supports is split right through, we have to wood glue and use a clamp because the builders have to finsih tomorrow. I have a really shoddy product which may have been OK when it was made but now is second hand and by the looks of it 2 years old.

Not very well packed, sterling board not very strong, glad I had my own supply of screws as due to design change according to plans some of the supplied screws were not long enough. Appart from that very pleased with the product.

The arbour looks lovely, but it was hard to erect. It was very heavy and wood quite rough. The seat doesn't quite fit together and the middle leg was too short. I will need to sand, fill and paint to make it look a better quality. Lots of work!

We had our Arbour delivered two weeks ago, which was packed very securely. The quality was good, we had repeatedly read the bad reviews but decided to take a chance and was glad we did as this is an excellent product and found it easy to build. As long as you read the instructions carefully and swap parts around to fit, eg the side roof parts are only made to fit on one particular side. Common sense is all that's needed and we erected it in two days, we are now giving it a coat of Sadlin before being placed in its final position. It looks lovely for a small cost.

Absolute nightmare to put together. No pre drilled holes, parts didnt fit together nicely (as pictured). some important parts were all bent out of shape which threw off the balance of the entire thing and made it look cheap and rubbish. Last problem was that you could not get drills/screwdrivers would not fit in the slats of the back so had to put screws in at an angle (not very nice looking) Looked decent enough when we finally put it together but it was a nightmare putting it together with all the mis-shaped wood. Not happy with it atall!!

Ordered this as had seemed to have good reputation and from reviews and picture seemed reasonable build quality, unfortunately could not have been more wrong. Realised there may be an issue when the delivery driver asked if we wanted to inspect the item before he unloaded it from the van!!! First it was green not natural as expected, it was damaged and as the driver pointed out, the pallet it was strapped to was better quality than the item itself, delivery was refused and item sent straight back.Amazon were First Class in refunding the cost cannot fault them 5* for customer service.

Definitely impressed with Amazon’s in-room viewer which was pretty accurate, see comparison photo.It took1 hour to unpack and move the pallet, check instructions, order pieces and split up screws.2.5 hours to build two halves on my own.2.5 hours to bring it together at middle section with help.2 hours to put roof rafters and roof on with help.We could have done it quicker if we had 2 drills, one for drilling and one for screwing. We had to waste a lot of time changing drill bit/screw bit over and over again because there are no pilot holes.As others have said, the middle post is definitely too short. This is a major issue because you need the post to take your weight when seated. When I read the reviews I assumed somehow folks had gone wrong and they must have placed the seat too high, but we checked and rechecked and everything was right, the post just isn’t long enough. We used a piece of the pallet it came in which was actually a perfect width, so we only needed to saw it to size, then screwed 2 pieces together to make it thicker and stronger. It matches the colour of the rest of the wood so you’d never know it had been a problem.We found the middle seat slats easier once ribbons were cut and put on individually. Cut them off one at a time though so you don’t forget the order. At first the slats didn’t reach, but once we unscrewed the seats (as per instructions) and pushed the whole thing into place, they fit.Others have commented that the trellis sections are very difficult to screw down because the drill doesn’t fit between the trellis. This is true, but if you pre drill, then screw as far as possible with the drill, we were able to hand screw most of them into a tidy position.We needed extra long drill bits for the roof rafters, plus it said it needed 3mm diameter but we needed 4mm. I purchased these drill bits which worked for us and I wish we’d had from the beginning as we had to stop and wait for delivery. https://amzn.eu/d/0TvefiYI would also strongly recommend buying extra 40mm screws, as some of the recommended screws were just too long and poked out. This might have been due to our inexperience and incorrect angling, but without pilot holes you can only do your best. We found it easier to use shorter screws in places.We found it easier to keep the middle roof rafters screwed at the top, but unscrewed at the lowest point to keep them adjustable, and then work the roof sections into position. We also screwed the two centre pieces into one piece, which did make it vulnerable in the moment, but it kept it in line and we could see how it fit before securing. We then drilled the roof rafters down with a single screw each at the front support.It’s definitely a very tricky build. I’m a decent flat packer, with average tools, and I found this tricky but not impossible. I’d read many reviews across many sites, and there is a lot of negativity. I agree with others that the lack of pilot holes makes this build harder than it should be. Pilot holes help you know that you’re doing things right.I was mentally prepared for this to be a difficult one. I’d read it took one couple 10 hours, so I’m pleased we did it quicker, but 8 still felt like a lot. We were very lucky we had good weather.It was hard, we did have to think carefully at each stage, think ahead where we could and check that things made sense. We did panic a little at times when the middle section didn’t easily fit together (it did once someone pulled together while the other drilled). We also found the roof section tricky, when we put up the first side section it didn’t fit which made us panic a bit, but after repositioning a roof rafters and some wiggling and pushing we realised it did fit.Now completed, we’re happy with it, however there are a few points that should be mentioned around quality.The Rowlinson plaque looks like it should be shiny. It’s already aged. Some screws that were already in the panels have clearly been weathered and started rusting. The wood may not have been dried well because in two separate places I got sticky sap on my hands while holding. Only time will tell if this becomes a bigger problem like warping/cracking. We bought this in early April, I bet it was put in the pallet last year and overwintered with a little exposure, causing some areas to look more aged than you’d expect for a ‘new’ product. If you’re buying later in the year this might not be a problem for you.For the price we paid I’m happy. We did shop around before purchasing.

On arrival it came in a giant wooden crate which took a wee while to get into x i then had to take piece by piece to back garden all pieces where present and correct.On construction the first bits went together fine and easy enough although with all the rain took us weeks. When it got to adding the centre pedestal and backing the pieces did not fit they were not long enough to reach the other sides so we had to compromise which left it looking a bit out of sorts i found this strange as the sizing corresponded to the instruction so no idea as to why these pieces wouldn't fit correctly!Got to the top part and we couldn't get the screws to go through equally couldn't get the screws to come back out once drilled partially into the wood so our arbour is left sitting with no roof and two screws hanging out of it not the look we wanted per se. That aside it looks nice once built or partly built. Will need to hire a tradesman to finish the roof.