After seeing some of the incredible playhouses at the Barbara Butler site and going over the free playhouse plans that are posted on this site, I decided to build a cool playhouse for my son.
The project is about 80% complete and I wanted to post a picture to document the progress.
I built the skeleton of the structure in my garage. This gave me the opportunity to work on the clubhouse when the weather was less than cooperative. I followed the basic concept that is outlined in our free plan, but built the structure as a panelized unit. Each wall section is a separate unit that is bolted to the others. This makes it possible for one person to build the entire playhouse. After the basic framing was complete I took the walls down and sheathed them with 1″ x 6″ T&G (tongue and groove) pine. Everything is going to be painted so the pine will be protected from the elements.
Doing everything alone isn’t the most ideal method, and also not the safest, but it is possible. I had help from my brother in law and father in law when bringing the wall panels out to the site and assembling the walls on the foundation. My son loves the fact that his uncle and grandfather helped build his new playhouse.
The windows were purchased at 84 Lumber. I had a bit of a hard time locating what I wanted (at the right price) and happened to come across these ‘shed windows‘ or ‘garage windows‘ for about $33.00 each. This playhouse will double as a storage shed during the winter, so making sure it is weather tight is a priority.
We were going to do something creative with the roof material, but instead decided to use a simple shingle to match our house. It is a 30 year architectural shingle. We could have gone with a cheaper shingle, but we only spent about $10 more to use an architectural shingle and it was a match with our house.
There will be a front porch added to the structure using salvaged lumber from a past play structure (a bus). The wood will also make up the railing and the bridge that leads out to the building.
I will post an update once the project is complete.
[…] on rainy days. The shed is essentially a series of panels that are then assembled. I build a playhouse with my son many years ago with this technique. It took up one side of the garage for a couple of weeks, but […]