whacky playhouse.... is it possible to DIY this???

[stolt]

my three girls have outgrown there playhouse so wanted to get another, seen these wonky playhouses that look good, very expensive to what amounts to some wood.


do you reckon something like this is obtainable to the keen DIYer?

[MrV]

Would you have the skills to build a (Normal) shed from scratch ?

If yes then yes you will be able to build one of those

Edited to add have you a link to the site as the better half really likes the purple and I need a better image of it

[Globs]

Easy Peasy.

To work out the shapes you can make one out of cardboard first, then just scale up!

[stolt]

wish i could fin plans to calculate the amount of wood etc, i reckon i could one of these.

trying to find a link and remembered i found this site aswell

http://www.childrensplayhousecompany.com/playhouse...

[stolt]

this is the place...

http://canada.kidscrookedhouse.com/east/gallery.as...

they even have a pdf file of assembly which gives you an idea of the shapes..
http://canada.kidscrookedhouse.com/east/pdf/Crooke...

still got to work out what sort of wood to clad it in and also for the main structure size battening 4x2inch sound overkill???

cedar shingles aswell, i think they make it..

[B160 AVE]

Go for it chum, just take your time, measure twice and cut once, and you should be fine

As for cladding, go for the best you can afford, but shop about. I`m building a shed at the moment, and was about to spend £550 on tanalised TGV, but managed to find a bundle deal from a saw mill, of siberian larch. It`s about a grands worth and I`ve picked it up for £357. Search for John Brash Timber on ebay and have a look at what he`s got.

Best of luck

[98elise]

Its getting things straight that are the dificult bit. Building a wonky shed an painting it would be easy for any idiot.

[herbialfa]

Simples!!!!

Buy yourself a normal shed and I'll come round and put it together for you!

With my DIY skills it will end up looking like that!

[singlecoil]

Actually, speaking as a person involved in woodwork, those are a lot more difficult than they look, and will use a good deal more material than would a similarly sized rectilinear building.

Amongst the problems will be that although you want the walls to be at crazy angles, will still want the edges to meet. I wouldn't tackle something like that without having desinged it in CAD first.

[Bill]

singlecoil said:

I wouldn't tackle something like that without having desinged it in CAD first.

Is CAD just an extra big fag packet?

They look ace but each plank on the side panels must be assymetric too, no? Either that or solid (Would marine ply do? I assume MDF is no good outdoors.) with the grooves cut with a router

[singlecoil]

Bill said:

singlecoil said:

I wouldn't tackle something like that without having desinged it in CAD first.

Is CAD just an extra big fag packet?

They look ace but each plank on the side panels must be assymetric too, no? Either that or solid (Would marine ply do? I assume MDF is no good outdoors.) with the grooves cut with a router

I realise you are joking with the fag packet comment, but for other readers' benefit, the advantage in this case would be in marking the sheets for cutting, the program would work out the angles, diagonals etc which would otherwise require trigonometry and either log tables or a slide rule (if we are being really old fashioned ) Not a problem when it's all done with rectangles

MDF can be bought in outdoor versions (used for sign making etc). Otherwise decent ply with plenty of suitable paint (regularly renewed) would be a good choice.

[stolt]

thanks for the repies, to be honest i didnt think about using ply and then using a router to make the grooves down the side to create that tongue and groove look, and then using edging around the side to set it off.

Actually like that idea of doing that rather than create a panel from battens and then putting planks of wood across them to create a fence like panel.

Will phone a wood yard today but would love a program to be able to work out the amount of wood i need, i wonder if i gave the measurements to a wood yard they could help.

[singlecoil]

stolt said:

Will phone a wood yard today but would love a program to be able to work out the amount of wood i need, i wonder if i gave the measurements to a wood yard they could help.

There you go
http://sketchup.google.com/

and it's free. If you don't feel up to drawing it out yourself, get on the associated forum and you will probably get one of the good guys to draw it up for you for the practice, then you load the model into your program and take off the measurements, areas etc

[stolt]

singlecoil said:

There you go
http://sketchup.google.com/

and it's free. If you don't feel up to drawing it out yourself, get on the associated forum and you will probably get one of the good guys to draw it up for you for the practice, then you load the model into your program and take off the measurements, areas etc

wow, cheers for that, will be something iwill give a go, not sure how good i'll be at it.

Do you think 4x2inc batten its about right or scale it down a bit?

[anonymous-user]

Surely all is required is lots of alcohol before starting? Everything should end up looking nicely wonky by the time you are done(assumimng you still have limbs left).

[stolt]

Dave_ST220 said:

Surely all is required is lots of alcohol before starting? Everything should end up looking nicely wonky by the time you are done(assumimng you still have limbs left).

yeah for once i'm doing a job that actually helps that it isnt straight.... bet i still cock it up though!!!

[Wacky Racer]

It's WACKY btw.......

[CedGTV]

stolt said:

wow, cheers for that, will be something i will give a go, not sure how good I'll be at it.

Do you think 4x2inc batten its about right or scale it down a bit?

I would go with 2x2 TAN stud's for that shed as 4x2 would be overkill.

The cladding in Marine ply and routing grooves route looks the best way, then over clad the window edges with off cuts to form frames. You could clad the roof with mineral felt and maybe stick a top coat of irregular shaped tiles to cap it off.

Post it up when you've done it.

[stolt]

CedGTV said:

I would go with 2x2 TAN stud's for that shed as 4x2 would be overkill.

The cladding in Marine ply and routing grooves route looks the best way, then over clad the window edges with off cuts to form frames. You could clad the roof with mineral felt and maybe stick a top coat of irregular shaped tiles to cap it off.

Post it up when you've done it.

cheers, going to ring a wood store in a bit to see what can be done, perhaps get a email across of the picture of the playhouse so they can see what i mean. I've also checked out the possibility of buyign the cedar shingles for the roof aswell as that really makes it.

[stolt]

This sort of thing
http://www.wickes.co.uk/exterior-wbp-plywood/invt/...
Type: Plywood
Length: 2440mm
Width: 1220mm
Thickness: 9mm

or maybe something like this

http://www.wickes.co.uk/structural-spruce-plywood/...


and this kind of thing for the battening...
http://www.wickes.co.uk/planed-whitewood-pse/invt/...

for the floor would you use the same as for the sides there current playhouse has chipboard which flexi's even with kids in it.