Playhouse plans

[Hooley Mooley]

Kids want a playhouse in the garden. Ones I have seen on the Internet are out of my price range, so I figured I could build my own! After all, "how difficult can it be?" asks my wife. Does anyone know of any sites that sell (or provide free) plans to build-your-own playhouse? Is it cost effective - I have not priced the timber yet!

Any advice, pitfalls to avoid etc. gratefully received.

Thanks

Andrew

[Rick]

I build one, and I used much bigger timber than the ones you buy, cause mine will last forever.

- there was no price saving

- it will outlast the kids, but should be OK for the grandchildren, if we don't move.

[Andy Jeffries]

I have just built a playhouse for the kid(s - another on the way) and I don't know about cost effective, totalled about £250, but was fun and is a lot better than the ones you can buy from toys 'r' us and the like.

I've put the latest photo of it online at:

Any advice, pitfalls to avoid etc. gratefully received.

Errr, my main mistake in making it was as follows; the whole think is pitched 5 degrees so the water runs off away from the path (i.e. towards the chicken wire fence, neighbours agreed with this). Then when we made the frame for the playhouse, the uprights were set vertical using a spirit level (d'ya see where I'm going with this...).

So, trying to fit a door in to a parallelogram shape wasn't easy :-) Used a couple of shims to line the doors vertically and all is fine.

Interior is 6' x 6', 5' high at the front, 4' at the back. The walls are made of 2x2 exterior wood with 9mm WBP ply covering them (plank effect was routed in at 6" gaps).

The frame is made of 2x2 (in a grid 4 pieces joined to 5 pieces every

2', half/cross/t-lapped joints) and set on about 10 concrete blocks (and a couple upright under the base to stop sliding).

If you've got any questions, I'll happily answer them - I know it's not the best (in fact there are a few ropey areas) but my experiences may be useful to someone.

Cheers,

Andy

(P.S. I also made the little pub garden table/bench out the front of the playhouse, from an old shelving unit no-less!)

[mungoh]

Yup, done that in the past. I made a 2/3rd scale A-frame table as described by Andy out of some old wood. It only takes an hour or two to throw the thing together, so I've made a couple more for family and friends. Young children like the idea of their own table. It also keeps them away from the adult table (you can tell I really adore kids, can't you? :-) so that you can eat in peace!

When you've made the mini picnic table, glue (or even staple) some damp-proof- course plastic to the legs to try and deter dampness creeping up the wooden legs. Once it is painted, it can look quite novel.

Mungo

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

I looked into this and the price of the materials from the timber merchant was more than the cost of buying a ready made kit from B&Q!!

Keep an eye on the classified ads in things like "Loot", perhaps even place a wanted ad.

We eventually found one (which was less than a year old) for a third of the cost of buying an identical new one.

sponix