Playhouse Part II

After a few more weeks of work the playhouse is ready for kids.  It is painted to match the house; the fascia and siding are the same paint.  The light brown color is the house soffit color and the dark brown matches the exterior of the house windows and doors.

The swingset, pullup bar, and fireman's pole are schedule 40 galvanized pipe, which I found wholesale in town in 21 foot lengths (2" inside diameter for swingset).  For the swingset I used a commercial fitting (green piece on the end) to connect them, plus a floor flange on the other side.  One more swing coming.  The ends are sunk into concrete which has rebar drilled into the underlying stone, like the playhouse itself.

I found some great rock climbing holds online that included the T bracket, 30 for $30.  The back wall has 1" plywood under the Hardie board so it is plenty sturdy.  The pull-up bar is 1" inside diameter pipe.

The inside black areas are primed, sanded plywood with chalkboard paint applied.

The fireman's pole is also 1" inside diameter pipe.  I spent a lot of time looking at the BarbaraButler.com website for ideas.  One thing they do is leave 1/2" around closing doors so that if the door slams on little fingers there is no injury.  I installed my doors with the same type of spacing around them and spring loaded hinges to keep them shut.

Upstairs there is a bench across one wall and a moveable work bench for building projects.

To access the upstairs, rather than putting in a tall ladder I put a platform a few feet below the scuttle hole.  That way if anyone falls through the hole it will not be a long drop.

A few more small touches to add but overall it is ready for the kids.

The Railing

Now that we are living in the house we've started working on more of the outside.  One of the first projects to tackle was the lack of railing between the patio and the pool. (I removed the rotten existing planter boxes during the demolition phase of construction.)

Dad suggested we fill in the existing steps to the pool to give us more patio space.  (We'll build new steps to the pool at the end of the patio when we replace the pool deck.)  Here's the form being created...

And the poured concrete...

We like the look of the cable rail systems - wood posts and stainless rails seem a good match for our transitional home.  After researching online I settled on the Feeney brand and emailed a picture of my plans (below) and the existing patio to a helpful representative to verify my order.

We ordered 10 strands of 1/8" stainless steel in 55' lengths.  The wood choice is cedar to match the ceilings and because redwood was 4x the price. 

We spent a lot of time researching how to attach the posts to the concrete and decided that expoxy and threaded bolts were the best solution.  Using a 9/16" rotary hammer drill we put two 4 1/2" holes into the concrete for each post.  We used a grinder to cut bolts from 10' lengths of 1/2" all thread pipe.  Here they are attached with two part concrete epoxy from our local Fastenal store.

Note also that the posts are in the above picture and the bottoms are stained with Duckback transparent stain and sealer in canyon brown to protect the cedar.


Attaching the posts to the wall was easy after *precisely* measuring each bolt location on each post.  Remarkably they all aligned nicely.  We used a string and level throughout as any deviance from level, straight lines would  be visible in the finished product.

To attach the 2"x4" braces between posts we used a Kreg system and stainless screws my Dad bought for the task.  This is the same system used by cabinet makers and worked great.  It allows you to drill an angled pilot hole for each screw, which provides a strong and hidden bond between perpendicularly joined wood.

We put on two coats of Duckback stain everywhere and attached 5/4" x 6" decking as the top of the railing.  We used PL400 adhesive and wood screws (screwed from underneath so as not to be visible) to attach the railing.  The Feeney system used 316 stainless throughout and came with protectors so the cable would not bite into the wood at the angle from the steps.  Drilling 10 holes in every post and cross brace for the wire to pass through took some time as we did it manually (no drill press).  We measured every hole carefully on both sides of each post and drilled from each side to ensure a straight line.

Installing the 10 strands of cable took less than an hour - that was the easiest part of the project.  Here are a couple of pics of the completed fence. 

 

Now we have to decide how to cover our patio - flagstone, travertine, concrete resurfacing????

The Rising

We moved in last week but it has been hectic.  Lots of pics of the house, but for now a break to show the weekend project - a playhouse for the kids.  After searching craigslist, costco, and the internet for options, I was inspired by the outrageously priced playhouses at www.barbarabutler.com.  Most of the designs I liked were 6'x6' squares with 4"x4" corner posts.  I decided to make my own.

First step, the foundation.  Pour the footings for the base, set up batten boards, and run string lines to create a perfectly square foundation.  In the foreground are Simpson  post bases which were bolted to the footings with concrete anchors. 

Next up bring back James and Skip from the house framing to build the frame.  James and Skip required a site visit before the weekend to discuss the project (finish a Bud Light 12 pack).  We upsized the Barbara Butler playhouses with 16 foot 6"x6" posts and an 8 foot square base.

Pressure treated 2"x8" bands with 2"x6" joists on hangers.

The roof will be the same pitch and overhang as the house.  We'll also mirror the fascia with Hardie board.

Lots of workers helping...

The view from the top.

And the completed roof:

Next up will be floor decking, walls, railings, and accessories - monkey bars, swings, slide, fire pole, rock wall, picnic table, etc.