I once again was able to press last year’s scaffolding platforms into service. By resting them on the 2×6 ties, they turned what would be a monster pain in the ass into a relatively easy project. As each rafter has gone in, the “floating” beam in the middle moves less and less. It is really helping to stiffen up the structure.
Work platform #1 in place
8 rafters done!
Today was fairly productive, considering that multiple lumber yard visits were made in the morning. The overall shape of the playhouse is now apparent, as all the beams are in place. I tacked on an old piece of decking in lieu of a rafter, so that we could see the roof line. It is quite exciting to see this come to life. Ginger, of course, still says it’s not a playhouse (no doors!).
Fresh cedar from Mr. Plywood
A post waiting for a beam
Lower beams in place
Not hard to imagine it anymore!
A few hours here and there led to some decent progress this weekend. First, I trenched a path for the drain pipe that would later be buried under the playhouse. This is actually a long overdue project, as our patio roof drains a ton of water, which would tend to want to flow right around the patio and towards the house. We’ve had a semi-functional temp solution going for the last 5 years, but this is the first time we’ve actually taken charge of the drainage. We will extend the pipe as we rework our landscape in the side yard, but already we can see a huge difference in how muddy the playhouse area is.
Also, Chloe and I finished the structure of the deck. Because the pier blocks do not give much lateral support to the posts, I added much more bracing and blocking than might normally be done on such a small deck. This is the first free-standing deck I have ever built, as all the others have attached to a house or porch. I would now recommend that anybody building something like this not use pier blocks as their foundation. The lack of side-to-side strength coupled with our minimalistic design (joists nailed between posts instead of the more typical method of bolting through them) has made it a real challenge to make the playhouse feel solid. The last thing I did that helped quite a bit was to run countersunk lag screws through the top of the perimeter joists at an angle down into the posts. I am confident that once the deck boards go on and we are able to add some angle bracing to the posts, it will all work out just fine. But, if we could go back to the planning stage, I would have poured my own footings and used the more heavy duty post anchors. Another option would have been to sink longer posts directly into concrete, but I’ve seen too many such non-pressure-treated posts eventually rot out.
Next weekend I’ll start planing down some cedar and hopefully get the deck finished! On another note, we decided to take the word playhouse literally and leave the front entirely open, so the girls can use it as a stage. We will install a curtain that they can use to close the front whenever and however they want. It’s another idea that helps make it “theirs” while keeping it useful for us after they’ve tired of it 
Drain pipe ran under the playhouse
Corner bracing and center joist
Joists and blocking
Another baby step, but that’s more than I usually accomplish on a weeknight. Last night Chloe was all pumped about “working on the playhouse,” so I agreed to head outside with her and Ginger. I managed to add in the final piece of the perimeter structure…the 4×6 pressure treated beam that we dug out of the yard back in 2005. If you look closely in this post, you can see the 4×6 terracing the side yard before we regraded it. The hunk of wood is now acting as the rear joist in their playhouse.
Inching closer
Last night I had a little time and was able to set the 4th post. Chloe helped me get everything lined up by holding the tape measure and the square. We got the diagonal measurements within 1/4″, so I’m quite happy about that. Later today I’ll dump some concrete around the pier block so that we can build the rest of the structure next weekend.
Looks just like a poster bed
Stephanie had encouraged me for awhile to get prints made of some of my pictures, so that we could hang them up in the house. A couple of months ago we finally sat down and decided which ones to use. As often happens, Stephanie added a minor constraint to the project (such as squashing my desire to use the free, white mattes that came with the frames), I complicate matters by balking once I find out what a custom color matte would cost at a frame shop, and then she solves the problem by finding a $3 can of spray paint that is pretty similar to our ceiling color. If you ever need to change the color of a matte, we found that they take spray paint very well. It is so much cheaper than buying a custom matte, and using a stock frame was, of course, a fraction of the cost of custom framing.
Here are the pictures we have up in the dining room. The one on the left is a section of Portland skyline at night, and the one on the right is of the crane sculptures at the Portland Japanese Garden:
Portland skyline as seen from grain elevators
Crane sculptures at Portland Japanese Gardens
Here are the pictures in the living room. All four are from the Japanese Garden.
Portland Japanese Garden pictures
Since the pictures are hard to make out in the room shots, if you are curious, here are the actual pictures that we used:
Click to continue »
It was challenging to find a place to put the heat duct in the front bedroom. The flex duct was routed along the front of the house, but a duct there would likely be blocked by a bed. So, we decided to raise the duct up on the wall by framing a little corner of the closet.
Closet framing continues.
We had a couple of areas upstairs that were completely sealed off. I don’t think that’s ever a good idea, since you can’t get in to check on things. Like the piles of raccoon poop that we found in this area. After screening off the entry points, we started framing out walls for a closet. Why close the space off and waste it?
Part of our upstairs plan was to add a 1/2 bath, since it would make things much easier on everyone in the house. To do this, we removed the original bedroom wall (see left pic), moved it further back and built a new wall that integrated with the existing wall of the main room. Nothing has been plumbed yet, but the plan is to run the pipes up through the unused stairwell in the back of the house.
