Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Dormer Frame Design Done!

Okay.  This should be the final design for the dormer framing.  I just need to make some drawings for quick reference as I build it.


Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Dormer Framing ... Still!

Geez!  Designing this dormer framing is taking way longer than I thought.  Tonight I rethought the framing for the very tiny dormer walls.  I even included very tiny top plates for the walls, and I wonder if they are even necessary  since the walls are so small.  Then I had to do a lot of work to figure out the design for the valley rafters, which I was missing last night.  Tomorrow I need to add the dormer trusses, and I should be done.


Monday, November 28, 2011

Dormer Framing

I stayed up tonight to finalize the dormer framing design, but I didn't figure it out.  Here's what I came up with so far.  I don't like it because the dormer roof is not well supported at one corner.  I'll have to figure this out tomorrow.


Sunday, November 27, 2011

Playhouse End Trusses

I finished installing the Simpson brackets.  Then I added some studs to reinforce the end trusses.  Rene took this pic of me working on the west end truss.  The second picture I am posting just for fun as all the trusses are starting to resemble a tunnel from this angle.




Saturday, November 26, 2011

More Trusses!

I worked very late Friday night to make four more trusses.  So here is a pic of the playhouse with a total of eight trusses.  I still need to finish securing the trusses with Simpson brackets.  I installed some brackets, which are visible in the second picture, but I ran out of time to install all of them.  The next step will be to install two or three more trusses for the east end of the playhouse, which will have a dormer roof over the loft.



Thursday, November 24, 2011

Playhouse Tarp On!

Here are pics of the playhouse wearing its new tarp roof.  I was a little concerned as we put it on, because it started getting windy.  I really don't want the tarp to blow away as we live right next to a freeway.  Originally, I was hoping to tack down the tarp with nails running through grommet holes in the tarp.  But that didn't work out.  So I had to use the staple gun, which will make it a pain to remove the tarp later.



Playhouse Roof Progress!

This posting counts for Wednesday, November 23rd.  I finally feel like I made progress with the playhouse!  The weather forecast was for rain on Thursday, so I was really driven to put some kind of cover over the structure to stop rain water from pooling on the floor again.  I needed to put up the bare minimum of four trusses, to put a tarp cover over the top.  Ele stayed up past midnight with me to help me put up the trusses, and she took these pictures. I'm pretty stressed about all this building stuff right now.  This would be a lot more fun, if I didn't have a full time job.  Props to Ele for putting up with me and helping me so late a night.  Most other wives would have told their husbands to take a hike and gone to sleep.





Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Playhouse Roof

Well I tried to get movin' today, but I didn't get very far.  I ended up going to Home Depot three times today!  I definitely was not a model of efficiency.  The biggest problem was that I discovered the Simpson mending plates I wanted to use to build my roof trusses had the warning not to use them for trusses engraved right on the  parts.  So I couldn't ignore that warning.  I saw the sheds Home Depot sells are built with these plates for their roof trusses, so I thought they were safe to use.  Now my plan is to fabricate my own truss connections out of plywood, which was the reason for Home Depot trip #2 today.  Now I will need to spend more time than I expected making the plywood connections.  So by the end of today, I only cut pieces for my truss template, and I still have to connect the pieces.  Here's the roof plan I made, which I thought would give me a running start on the roof.  But oh well ...


Monday, November 21, 2011

Playhouse South Wall Done!

Well at least the south wall is done enough for me to finally start working on the roof.  And not a moment too soon as the forecast is for rain on Thursday.  I gotta get movin'!


Sunday, November 20, 2011

Playhouse South Wall vs. Rain

I really hate winter right now.  The days are shorter and it's raining a lot.  A corner of the playhouse floor has been accumulating rain water, so today I was bailing out water with my dust pan like I was on a sinking ship.  This past summer was really hot, but now I miss it!  So with all the rain delays, I only had time to finish cleaning up my rough cut of the south wall door, install a bunch more screws, and do the rough cuts for the bottom windows.


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Playhouse Progress

Today I spent several hours installing more screws and cutting out windows.  I finally finished the south wall and  made some progress with the north wall.  Here are pictures of the completed south wall and of me working on the north wall.



Sunday, November 13, 2011

Playhouse South Wall

This weekend was dominated by Renee's soccer tournament, which took away from my playhouse construction time.  I only had time to work a little on the north wall and put OSB plywood panels up on the south wall.  The sun goes down at 5:30 now, so I had to take this picture in the dark.


Sunday, November 6, 2011

Playhouse West to North

Today I cut the opening for the French doors in the west wall.  Of course, it took longer than I thought.  Then I got the OSB panels up for the north wall before it got really dark.  I still have to fully screw down the panels to the studs and cut out two window openings.  Thanks to day light savings time, the sun sets earlier now, so I will have virtually no sun light to work on the playhouse after work.



Saturday, November 5, 2011

Playhouse West Wall

Today I had just enough time to mount the plywood for the west wall before the rain set in.  I still have to cut out the big opening for the French doors.