Playhouse - WIP - FINISHED!

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gidon

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19 Mar 2003
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West Dartmoor, Devon, UK
Ok it's not exactly fine furniture but with mounting pressure from my wife I finally set to work on making a Playhouse for the children.
Having never built anything like this I found a design in a book we both quite liked and I've used this as a basis for the design and to give me some tips on how a structure like this is built. It's good practice - I am planning to build a new woodworking shed shortly ;).

Here's the story so far:

£100 worth of wood - would have cost even more if I'd bought shiplap or feather edged stuff. As it was just bought B&Q value cladding which I'm hoping will be ok as long as I point the tonge upwards.
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Floor built - tongue and groove floorboards screwed to some joists:
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Very handy tool I dug out for screwing together the wall frames:
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Walls built:
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Gable ends (?). Knew my GCSE trigonmetry would be useful! Must remember next time though to take account of the wood thickness doh! Still got there in the end:
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Everything ready to go in its final position:
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Walls installed:
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I've started on the roof and am probably going to use felt unless anyone has any other ideas. It's pretty wet here on the edge of Dartmoor!

It's all held together with screws. I'll still have to nail on cladding, fit the window, make and fit a stable door - like the book's tip of using a piano hinge to avoid trapping little fingers. And then add some decorative trim and paint.

I was planning to give a sealing coat of some stuff I've used for some new facia boards - Cuprinol Wood Preserver. And then some painting to finish. What do you reckon? Guess it's safe to use for children - can't find any info on that? I hate finishing so want the quickest method that will give decent protection from the elements and look nice. Did consider the shed spray you can buy - but want it to look like a wendy house.

Any comments, advice, criticisms welcome :).

Cheers

Gidon
 
nice one, Gidon...my little girl would love that in the garden, alas its not big enough.
and the playhouse looks bigger than my workshop....so maybe I would love that in my garden :lol:
 
Yes - it is a little on the large side (5x4")! But I don't want them growing out of it. And they could sleep in it too. Plus my plan is to chuck all the toys cluttering the living room in to it!
Of course I haven't excluded using it for woodworking too :).
Cheers
Gidon
 
I envy you - I really wanted to build one for my daughter, but simply have too much else on. So we went ahead and bought one, custom made with a 7' x 5' base.

Yours looks to be coming on well, and you'll be saving a shedload (sorry!!) of money doing it yourself - ours came in at over £400.

Had I made one, I was going to clad the sides before assembly - did you consider doing it that way?

I'd also be interested to hear about paint finishes as ours (or should I say, my daughter's) is just done with clear preservative so far. We'd like to paint it too.

One tip on the doors. Ours is made with a 1.5cm gap either side of the doors to prevent little fingers getting caught. A soft piece of plastic is attached either side of the doorframe to stop the rain getting in. Not sure if I've explained that clearly - I could maybe take a photo if any interest.

Look forward to seeing the end result. No doubt the huge smiles in the faces of your children will make it a very satisfying project :)

Dave
 
Thanks Dave.
I'm going to try and clad it as is - using a nail gun. I was originally planning to disassemble it for cladding (after building the roof), but it was more fun having to buy another nailgun for the purpose ;). If it doesn't work out the nail gun will go back, I'll unscrew and get the good 'ole hammer out!
Yes would love a couple of pics - I think I get what you mean - but nice to see how it's done if not too much trouble.
Yes will let you know how we end up painting it.
My older boy is so excited it's untrue. It's very sweet. He keeps wanting to help - but tricky finding jobs (well real ones ;)) for a two year old!
Cheers
Gidon
 
Looking good Gideon - Playhouse is on my list of projects, though it's most likely not until next summer for me. Keep posting the pictures - It's great to see the work in progress.

Cheers.
 
Looking really good Gidon, the kids are going to love it. I love that little right angle clamp too, where did you get it?
 
That's looking lovely, Gidon. If you want a painted finish that's quite quick, this Woodshield by Sadolin sounds good and you can use wood preservative underneath it http://www.sadolin.co.uk/homeowner/prod ... escription

I've bought some but haven't tried it yet, so can't speak from experience, but I like their wood preservatives which I've used successfully.

Cheers :wink:

Paul
 
That is nice Gidon. I love this sort of work myself and enjoy building outdoor structures. I am sure your children will love it for many years to come. :wink:
 
Thanks guys will try and keep the pics coming.
Tony - think I got the clamp from Axminster (few quid) - hold on ... here it is. Found it wasn't quite accurate enough for what I'd bought it for but perfect for knocking together these frames quickly.
Thanks Paul - that stuff sounds good - I'll look out for it. Any idea what the wood preservative actually is? It seems like a sort of lightweight fast drying oil of sort. Like finishing oil or danish oil but lighter (in viscosity)?
Mailee - know what you mean! It's good fun - and it comes together pretty quickly.
Cheers
Gidon
 
gidon":150msp5k said:
Any idea what the wood preservative actually is? It seems like a sort of lightweight fast drying oil of sort. Like finishing oil or danish oil but lighter (in viscosity)?

Not sure, Gidon, but there are PDF product data sheets on that site for all their products, so they might tell you what you want to know. A lot of their stuff is now water-based, so would be quite safe for children.

Cheers :wink:

Paul
 
Looks good :D

What about using those felt shingles for the roof ?

Dunno how much it would cost for a roof that size, but would give it a tad more class.

Chris.
 
It looks really good.

Reminds me of the Wendy house I built a few years ago back in Israel. The worst part was the shingles - it was a hot & humid summer :oops: . The fun part was dis-assembling one of those solar garden lights, and fitting it in.

Anyway, I am sure your children would love it.

Eyal

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Thanks Paul - will take a look.
Chris - that sounds a great idea. Is it difficult to do?
Eyal - that's fantastic! What did you use to clad it - I like it. And I'm getting more interested in those shingles! Looks way better than what I was planning. Lovely work on your website too. Where you from in Israel?
Cheers
Gidon
 
gidon":31rsb6lk said:
Yes would love a couple of pics - I think I get what you mean - but nice to see how it's done if not too much trouble.
Will see what I can do - probably be the weekend now that the evenings are getting dark earlier.

Dave
 
I am not sure what I used for cladding - if I remember correctly it was treated pine, which comes with a profile of a shallow arc.

The shingles are Bitumen Roofing Shingles. I saw that Wickes (and others) sell them. Their price is £0.84 per shingle size 1000 X 336 mm. As the shingles overlap each other, you actually cover with each shingle only half of its size, so you end up using about 6 shingles per square meter (about 0.6 shingle per square feet).

When I am in Israel, I live in a small village in the centre of the country, not far from Netanya.

Eyal
 
Been some progress - I'm getting there and at least my eager children can now stamp around in it!

Where I left of ...
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Roof sections and ridge pole (?) finished. Made a right meal of cutting out the triangular section for that! Cladding with the tongue pointing upwards ...
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Very happy that my mitre saw goes to 60 degrees! And the laser very handy for lining things up :).
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Cladding finished. OSB screwed to roof sections. I decided to go with felt shingles which should look good. But spent a small fortune on the OSB, underlay and shingles!
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Felt underlay on. Folding on the corners.
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Fittting shingle detailing strip around edges.
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Next I need to finish the shingle edging, lay the tiles, make and fit the door, fit the window, fit trim and finish.

It's good fun - I'm enjoying it. Just wish I had more time to finish it in one go!

Cheers

Gidon
 
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