‘Daddy, can we have a playhouse please?’

[Noggsy]

The littlest Noggsy’s are 4 and 6 and asked for a playhouse during lockdown. The brief was;
A - it had to be on stilts.
B - it had to have a balance beam.
After weeks of drawings and ringing round places which were shut, or barely open, I got the wood and began...

The uprights are screwed to the concrete fence supports and are treated 2x4.

I concreted two further uprights on either side, for a total of 6;

 

[Trevanion]

You're in Australia, right?

 

[Noggsy]

Hmmm, I’m not sure how to turn the images the right way up. That’s not how they appear in my phone gallery.

Anyway...

I used a 15 degree slope at the top of the uprights to take the roof boards and made a support on either side and a double one for the middle;

Before adding the roof boards, which were treated loglap from Travis Perkins;

I had a bit of a nightmare with the loglap, in that around 10 of the 30 boards (5.7m lengths I think) had huge and multiple knots in them. I tried to get them replaced, but couldn’t get hold of them for weeks and simply persevered, even though it meant some holes, where there oughtn’t to be holes! The worst were reserved for the walls, but I was a bit naive when they arrived and should have checked them more thoroughly before I accepted them. Oh well, you live and learn.

The kids were more excited being able to climb around on the frame and I think they would have preferred it to stay as it was here;

 

[Noggsy]

I was slightly interrupted by two weeks in beautiful Scotland;

Before getting back to it. Walls next;

Then floor, which I gave a coat of varnish, after trying, and failing, to get the kids to keep their muddy shoes off my, I mean err, their beautiful new floor;

I’ve left the front open at the moment, as that’s what they’ve asked for, but I think that’s going to get cold fairly soon. I over-ordered on the floorboards, so I’m thinking of making the front wall split in the middle and fold inwards. That will let the light in when open and keep out some of the cold when closed. I put 90mm insulation board down before I put the floodboards in, but neglected to take a photo.

I’ve added a rustic (free) balustrade at the front, a balance-beam to the left (which came off and old bench, and has handy dog-holes in it, should they ever need them) and I’ve just finished some monkey bars, which are propped up with the off cut from the balustrade. Working out how to support the other end is tomorrow’s job;

 

[Noggsy]

You're in Australia, right?

I’m really sorry about the images, I’ve had a look and can’t see how to change them so far. I’ll keep looking though.

 

[Blackswanwood]

That looks great Noggsy

 

[owen]

Nice project, love all the sideways and upside down pics too they made me laugh

 

[Stanleymonkey]

Lucky kids

 

[AndyT]

Super project!

And when the kids have outgrown it, cut off the legs for an instant extra workshop!

 

[doctor Bob]

That's great. the kids will love it. I did a similar for my boy 15 years ago. Just a heads up, you do need planning permission for a platform over 300mm high, just keep on the good side of your neighbours and you'll be fine.

 

[Noggsy]

That's great. the kids will love it. I did a similar for my boy 15 years ago. Just a heads up, you do need planning permission for a platform over 300mm high, just keep on the good side of your neighbours and you'll be fine.

Thanks Bob, I didn’t realise that. Fortunately, I’ve got great relationships with neighbours on both sides.
Andy - an excellent idea!

 

[Dovetail]

I love the looks of that playhouse. Those kids will love it.

 

[Noggsy]

I love the looks of that playhouse. Those kids will love it.

Thanks Angie. Any ideas how to right the images?

 

[Dovetail]

I'll look into it. It has a good bit to do with how the photo was taken, but I think I can get them fix to be in proper orientation.

 

[Dovetail]

I think they are all right side up now.

 

[Noggsy]

Thanks Angie, they seem to be. Could I have done that? Adding images is much easier than before, but there needs to be an easy way to manipulate them (unless I’ve missed something).

 

[Dovetail]

I actually copied and saved them to my laptop. Opened in paint, then rotated and saved the new version. Edited the post to add the images next to the old ones, then went to the bottom and deleted the upside down, sideways images, and saved.

 

[MikeK]

Thanks Angie, they seem to be. Could I have done that? Adding images is much easier than before, but there needs to be an easy way to manipulate them (unless I’ve missed something).

Are you using an iPhone? The image rotation seems to be common when posting images from iPhones directly to the Internet. The images always display correctly on the phone and when you upload them to your computer, but the orientation metadata in the EXIF seems to be stripped out during the upload to a website. The only way I know of to ensure the images display correctly is to upload them onto your computer first, open them in any image viewer, and save them. Then upload them to the website.

 

[Noggsy]

Thanks both. That seems like a lot of effort. Surely there should be a function in the forum software to simply rotate the picture? Thinking about it, there is an edit function in the photos app on an iPhone, so if it’s the metadata, perhaps rotating and saving it might work? I’ll try it next time.

 

[Daniel2]

Good job done ...

ATB,
Daniel