Building a Playhouse: How to Design a Playhouse for Your Children

Before you can build a playhouse for your children, you obviously need a plan. Without a plan, you’ll stumble, make random cuts, and waste your time and money on improperly cut lumber. But how and where do you get a design and plan?

Let’s face it, most of us are normal boys or girls without an architecture degree, right? So how do we design and build a playhouse?

One way to get your creative juices flowing is to study other playhouses. Whether online or in person, look at and study as many playhouse designs as you can. If you are lucky enough to see some in person, bring a tape measure and physically measure the height and width. Feel how big a playhouse should be and how big you want yours to be.

As a general rule of thumb, a medium-sized playhouse should be 50-100 square feet in size. Walls need not be more than 6 feet high, as most children are 4-4-1 / 2 feet tall.

If you are a novice carpenter, keep the design simple. A simple square or rectangle is the safest bet. Don’t try to be fancy with an overly elaborate design. You can get bogged down in the middle and give up. Better to keep it simple and complete it.

Design your playhouse with a gable roof. A gable roof is the easiest to build and still looks good on a simple structure. The roof pitch or angle should be 1 to 2. In other words, for every 12 “, the rise should be 6”. This makes it easier to calculate the height of the ridge.

For sheathing, use horizontally turned T-111 plywood. This gives the impression of overlapping coating, but is faster and cheaper. When using this method, keep the wall length 8 ‘or less, as plywood sheathing comes in that length standard.

Build a front door with thicker plywood or 1×6 boards. You can get some basic strap hinges from a hardware store to allow it to move. If you design the walls 6 ‘high, make the door 5′ or 5’-6 “high.

Do not try to use a normal doorknob for the playhouse door. They are made for a standard door that is thicker than the door you are going to build. Just use a hasp or slide bolt. Or you can choose not to use any controllers!

Finally, design your playhouse with some windows. Make them about 18 “squares, as it will look better relative to the rest of the playhouse.

So you need to see other playhouses and take notes. Draw your ideas on a blank piece of paper. I like to use graph paper with 1/4 “squares. Spend some time adjusting and perfecting your design. Once you get it the way you want it, you’re ready to start building!

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