Life Size “Log” Child Playhouse Construction Set From Old Fence Boards

[Frank Pellow]

My 7 year old granddaughter, is very interested in the construction of buildings and, while she and I were sitting in our refurbished garden this week, it struck both of us that she could use the old cedar boards from the fence that I recently tore down to make “forts”, “playhouses” and other such structures. We put together a quick prototype in the shop and it worked.
Here is a photo of a portion of the fence taken earlier this spring before I tore it down:
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The fence is 33 years old and the boards are cedar. They are in reasonably good shape.
I decided to make a “construction kit” of parts that could be put up and torn down at will. The basic idea for the parts comes from my Pan Abode cedar cabin that I assembled on Pellow’s Island thirty one years ago.
Thirty three years has resulted in some wear and tear and there are some cracks, missing knots, and nail holes, so I decided to glue and screw two boards together to make the parts. The boards were planed on one side then glued with waterproof glue and clamped:
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Next the boards were planed on the exterior to a uniform depth (32 mm), to a uniform width (130 mm), and to one of several “standard” lengths. Next, two or four notches (depending on the part) were cut into each part using a jig saw. Depending on the parts, one to three stainless steel screws were inserted. The notches are 38mm wide which gives some play allowing children to easily put them together and take them apart.
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The next step was to fill various holes in the part with Bondo auto body filler then to sand it. I will also round all the edges with round-over bit then paint each board with a couple of coats of spar varnish –but have not yet done so. Here is a photo of a typical part:
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Here are the parts that have been produced so far:
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And here they are assembled into a couple of typical configurations:
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I need to make a LOT more of the parts that have already been designed and Isla and I have to design something for windows, doors, and roofs. Stay tuned!

[Frank Pellow]

Guess who just so happens to be tearing down his old cedar fence this week in preparation for the post hole diggers/setters coming on the 17th?

How wide are those boards Frank?

Can't wait to see what you've got planned for the roof!

Which waterproof Glue did you use? I was wondering if the Gorilla should be brought into play or just the standard wateresistant stuff?

Kevin
Hey Kevin, if you want anyone to take the boards off your hands, I can be there with my trailer in a flash. My supply of boards is dwindling fast. I will be getting more when the rest of the fence comes down in the autumn, but the autumn is a long time to wait for a kid.

The boards are the "standard" dressed 1x6 size.

I didn't use anything fancy for the glue -just Lepage's Outdoor Wood Glue. There are a few screws in each board should the glue fail.

I can't wait to see what Isla and I will plan for the roof either -I have some ideas and I expect she has too, but we have not dicussed them.

[ArtMulder]

Hey Kevin, if you want anyone to take the boards off your hands, I can be there with my trailer in a flash. My supply of boards is dwindling fast. ...

I can't wait to see what Isla and I will plan for the roof either -I have some ideas and I expect she has too, but we have not dicussed them.

Try advertising in Kijiji... maybe someone else has some old cedar fence boards to get rid of?

As for the roof... that's an interesting idea. I'm assuming you are looking for play value, and not serious weather protection. As well, a large solid roof would be too heavy for a 7 year old, and would also darken the interior.

How about something like this... just make a gable board, and put angled notches in it. And then Isla can just slip in the regular wall boards to make a roof, which is still open, light, and airy.
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...art

[Frank Pellow]

Try advertising in Kijiji... maybe someone else has some old cedar fence boards to get rid of?

As for the roof... that's an interesting idea. I'm assuming you are looking for play value, and not serious weather protection. As well, a large solid roof would be too heavy for a 7 year old, and would also darken the interior.

How about something like this... just make a gable board, and put angled notches in it. And then Isla can just slip in the regular wall boards to make a roof, which is still open, light, and airy.

...art
Art, that's a great design :idea: and along the lines of what I was thinking. But, I certainly never got it to the stage that you did. You are quite a whiz with Scetchup!

I agree that being weather tight is not a primary objective for the roof but I might build some light watertight roof panels with small plexiglass skylights that can go over the rafters.

What is Kijiji... ?

[Frank Pellow]

Art, I showed Isla your drawings and she said that they were "neat". We cut a cardboard "prototype" of a top board at the gable ends and tried it out:

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The rafters are the same as the half long logs. I want to minimize the different pieces in the "kit" and these work well for both purposes.

[Frank Pellow]

OK, I have now made two top wall pieces for the gable ends and attached are a couple of pictures of them being tested:

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Thanks again for your help Art.

[Frank Pellow]

The is a little bit to add to the post about the roof.

The gable end pieces are made from overlapping fence pieces in order to obtain the additional width needed.

Also, my next door neighbours gave me some acrylic panels which I will (somehow?) frame to close in the roof should that be wanted:

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[Frank Pellow]

Early this week, my Delta 15 inch 240 volt planer started to trip it’s 20 amp circuit breaker. I am not sure what the problem is and, thanks to Rick Thom, I can put off solving it until later. Rick knew that I wanted to get sufficient parts made this week so that some interesting structures can be built. I am leaving Toronto in a couple of days to go to our camp in Northern Ontario and I want to take the log kit with me. Tuesday morning about 8:30 Rick arrived unannounced with his DeWalt 13 inch portable planer. I made good use of it during the rest of the week:
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I made a lot more of the same parts shown earlier. In addition, Isla and I designed windows and doors. I made two windows and one door frame. Both the window and door frames are the same width and are used in the middle of a wall with the short wall pieces stacked on each side and embedded in the envelope formed by the frame. Below are a couple of pictures showing a window under construction.
First acrylic is installed in slots cut into the frame:
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Then, molding is glued and screwed on all four edges of both side of the frame, forming and envelope that will surround a portion of the adjacent logs:
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The space between the molding is slightly (about 5mm) wider than the logs so that the window can easily be put in place and subsequently removed by children.
The following series of three pictures shows a (very low) wall with a window being built:
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Observe the log above the widow. It does not appear very well in this photo but the log has been decorated by one of my grandchildren –Ethan. I plan to have each of my grandchildren decorate one or two logs. The decorated log has also had one coat of Spar Urethane applied over the drawing. All the logs will eventually have Spar Urethane applied.
A similar approach was used to build a door frame:
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The door frame has a built-in sill that fits over the half log below and rests on the ground. We have yet to design a door. It must be something that a child can easily install into the frame and remove from the frame.

[J.P. Rap]

Lookin good Frank.
A simple frame with a screen should work fine for the door. It would be fairly light.
I had an old door at my old house with self closing hinges on it. Each hinge half had a matching taper that used gravity to close the door. The hinge half on the door had the pin attached and the jamb half just had a hole. You could easily lift the door off the frame if needed. It would be easier for kids to do if you could get one hinge with a longer pin or shorten one pin. They could then align one pin at a time rather than having to get both aligned at the same time.
Sorry, I don't know what they are called as they were on the door already. There was a thread a while back by someone who was looking for some. Try a search if you're interested.

Something like this...

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[Wally in Calgary]

Thanks J.P.

I had not thought about a screen door -thats a good idea.

The hinges you describe would be good -if I can find any. And fixing it so one pin can be installed at a time is a great suggestion.
Frank -- To make it so one at a time is inserted just cut the pin from the top hinge 1/4" lower than it should be. This will allow 1 hinge at a time to engage. Here is a link to some similar hinges that would work.
http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=1&p=40450&cat=3,41241

[Frank Pellow]

Maragret and I are leaving for Pellow's Island north of Hearst Ontario tommorow morning and I just packed all the parts made so far into the trailer:

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They leave a lot of room for my tools and other stuff. There are sufficient parts to construct a small building with two windows, a door and a roof. Sometime in the future, I will make at least as many parts again and then we will be able to make some really interesting structures.

[Frank Pellow]

I am back in Toronto from Pellow's Camp briefly in order to weed the garden and pay some bills but will be returning there at the end of the week. Now that I have internet access again, I will update this story.

I thought that I had manufatured sufficient peices back in Toronto to build something interesting but, when I assembled the part in the play-yard at camp, I found that I had not done so.

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I wanted to have a fuller set for my grandchildren Isla and Ethan when they arrived in August so decided maybe I would build some after I completed last years dock project.

I can tell you that the adult visitors we had at camp for the first week or so were really enthusiastic about the project. Lorna, my sister-in-law, seriously thought that I should market it and was persistent in this assertion. I told Lorna (and others) that at the rate I build things I would quickly go broke and that she or anyone else was quite at liberty to copy my ideas. Also, I used free scrap wood and paying for the wood would, I believe, put the price out of most folks reach.

In the meantime, I made use of one of the windows for about four days. I had forgotten my keys :oops: so had to beaak a kitchen window to get into the main cabin.

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The place in Hearst where I could get new glass was closed for three days, so I (mostly) pluged the gap with one of the windows from the log play set.

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(more to come after I get a bit of work done here)

[Frank Pellow]

I decided to make 9 logs for the log construction kit out of three 16 foot 2x6s from the reserve lumber pile:

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This is the large reserve store of pressure treated spruce wood that I keep on hand for projects that come up from time to time because I want to minimize the trips to town for supplies. Every few years, I get in a large stock of wood on spec. The wood is o good quality and seems to last well in spite of the ad-hoc way in which I store it. The wood that I picked is nice and straight with some small tight knots. It is quite a bit heavier than the cedar but I think that most children should still be able to manage the logs –particularly if they are placed near the bottom of structures and I will encourage that practice. Here are some photos showing some steps taken to prepare the logs:

01) Planing to desired thickness:

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02) Trimming to desired width:

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03) Cutting to desired length:

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04) Cutting notches with jig saw:

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05) Rounding the edges:

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06) Sanding:

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The notches had to be sanded by hand.

07) Painting:

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The paint that I used is so old that it was still sold in 4 litre cans (from the good old days when we succumbed to soft conversion of US gallons for our paint). It has survived freezing and thawing for at least 15 winters but it still works well. I love Tremclad paint!

I also painted the door frame and a few of the cedar pieces green in order to be able to build a house with a green foundation and trim. I tried the logs out and I think that the green foundation looks very good!

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That worked so well that I decided to make a number of different pieces from wood that I salvaged from our old dock. That wood, too, was pressure treated spruce. There was enough scrap to make 15 of the pieces shown in the picture below as well as a few miscellaneous smaller pieces.

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These, too, were painted green.

[Frank Pellow]

On August 3rd, I finally finished sanding the cedar log pieces and getting one coat of spar urethane applied. This was none too soon for Isla and Ethan’s arrival on Saturday. Here I am sanding all the notches by hand:


Here are some freshly varnished parts drying in the sun:

I love the colour variations that one gets with old cedar.

I constructed a typical building for the children to discover upon their arrival and they certainly were surprised:



But, they did not show as much interest as I hoped for. I expected that they would want to tear it down right away and build something else, but they simply looked at what had already been built. Nor did they ask how things worked.

[Frank Pellow]

Wes Bichel on Family Woodworking has pointed out to me that there was an article in a 1952 Mechanics Illustrated magazine that had a log playset similar the one that I just built.



Here is the post from Wes:I was wasting time and came across this site -

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/08/23/plywood-play-planks/?Qwd=./MechanixIllustrated/12-1953/play_planks&Qif=play_planks_0.jpg&Qiv=thumbs&Qis=XL#qdig

HEY, THAT'S FRANK'S PLAYSET!! Though you have surpassed the basics of the article with your attention to detail.

I think that my set is better because:-I used cedar rather than plywood so it will be better outside

-my roof is better

-they don't have windows or a door frameBy the way, there is a LOT of other great stuff :cool: at that site.
Here is the first page of the 1952 Popular Mechanics article:

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[kcarscadden]

There is another similar "log" construction set described in the book "Builder Boards" by Jack McKee. His web site is http://home.earthlink.net/~mchkee/ , which only works sometimes - it appears Earthlink sucks. You can see the book at http://www.amazon.com/Builder-Boards-Construct-Children-Playspace/dp/1884894526/ref=sr_1_2/104-7678653-8359124?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190578610&sr=1-2 and search through the pages.

He describes a set in cedar, then in plywood, with cutting diagrams. He has no windows and doors, but his roof gables and roof pieces are interesting - he puts one side of velcro on the slopes of the gables, then the other side on the roof pieces. There are jigs described to help build everything.

He describes helping a grade 8 class of boys and girls build a set for a local Womencare Shelter.


Keith

[Frank Pellow]

Those 'certain buildings' would be the types of buildings that is currently interested in.




The requirement for the crane are:

It must be possible to operate it from inside a building and it must be able to pick up objects outside the building
It must be possible to reach out from within the building a obtain objects that have been raised up with the plane
It must be possible to rotate the crane on the horizontal plane
It must be possible to move the crane back and forth on the horizontal plane
We started this last March and did not get back to it until last week.

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We got back to the project last week.

The rotation was handled via this small inexpensive piece of “turntable” hardware that I purchased at Lee Valley:
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This was installed on the bottom interior edge of a window frame. On top of it, we screwed a section of 4x4 cedar with a hole drilled in the middle:
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The pole slides back and forth within the hole and the 4x4 provides sufficient stability. The rest of the window frame has been left empty in order to satisfy the need to be able to reach out of the building and grab objects that have been winched up with the crane. Here is the whole thing in operation:
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[Frank Pellow]

14 July 2008 Update: (post 1 of 3):

I need to add pictures to this post. Once I have done so, I will remove this message.

The big project for me this week has been completing a lot of parts for the log construction set. Included in the mix were new types of parts, some modifications to old part types, and a lot of duplicates of some of the old part types.

Last year we simply placed square acrylic sheets on the roof and did not secure them. This bothered both me and the children. The solution we agreed to was to frame each of the sheets making panels and to secure each of the framed panels to the roof with removable dowels. I prepared narrow (1 cm by 6 cm strips) of cedar of the appropriate lengths. Of course, the source of the cedar again was old wood that I had previous “rescued” and stockpiled. In this picture:

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the 1 cm edges of 20 strips are being gang-sanded with a Festool Rotex 150. The strips are wedged between a stopped strip and the end vise on my woodworking bench.

Then I sanded both 6 cm sides of each strip with the Rotex and the ends with a Festool linear sander:

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Observant folks will notice that there is no hose attached to the sanders in the above pictures. Unfortunately, my Festool CT22 vacuum is at Pellow's Camp. Fortunately I could work with the door open. There is a very good chance that my next Festool purchase will be a CT Mini.

I did not attempt to gang-sand the sides or the ends. Each panel required eight strips and I made enough for five panels. I have four acrylic sheets and cut a square of 6mm thick plywood for the fifth panel. Later on I will make at least three more panels using plywood.

The strips are applied with screws and glue along all four edges of both sides of the acrylic (or plywood) squares and they are overlapped at the corners. Here is photo of one partly completed panel:

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As you can see, the strips were painted red before they we used.

I have tried to avoid making special parts but it appeared that a special rafter was need along each edge of the roof. They, too, were painted red in order to make them easy to identify:

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Observe the four holes in the top of the rafter. Small sections of dowel (yet again red) can be loosely fitted into these rafters:

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[Frank Pellow]

14 July 2008 Update: (post 2 of 3):

I need to add pictures to this post. Once I have done so, I will remove this message.

The big project for me this week has been completing a lot of parts for the log construction set. Included in the mix were new types of partsThen the panels (each of which has two holes slightly larger than the diameter of the dowels on one edge) can be positioned over the dowels:

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I hasten to add that the roof is not intended to be leak proof.

Isla, in particular, did not like the fact that the kit had a door frame but no door. This week, I finally got around to making a door. As with all the other parts, it had to be light enough for a child to lift and to place into position. I have attempted to have no parts that an active and intelligent child of age 6 cannot manage. All the cedar wood for the door is 12 mm thick. The construction was very simple as can be seen in this picture:

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The door hinges were somewhat more complicated. I remembered from my summers working on a farm as a teenager that there was some type of hinge that allowed us to simply lift some of the barn doors off their frames, but could not remember any details. Research led me to an ancient type of hinge called a “rat tail hinge”. Such hinges are still available today but they are usually hand forged and quite expensive. Further research led me to rat tail hinges machine made in Italy and sold by Lee Valley for A much less expensive $8 a pair. Here is picture of me experimenting with one of the hinges:

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The trick is to mount the hinges so that you can:
(1) align the lower flag (the part on the door) over the lower rat tail (the part on the frame) first,
(2) lower the door a little bit,
(3) align the upper flag over the upper tat tail
(4) lower the door the rest of the way

Here are pictures of the door beside the frame then mounted on the frame:

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[Frank Pellow]

14 July 2008 Update: (post 3 of 3):

I need to add pictures to this post. Once I have done so, I will remove this message.


Ethan requested some way of building a platform into his structures when he builds things such as forts, ships, and rockets out of the construction kit. I came up with the idea of placing three adjacent notches on the logs on opposite walls and then bridging those notches with three regular half logs used as crosspieces:

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A simple platform part can then be snuggly fitted over the crosspieces:

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I tested the platform by standing on it and attempting to tip it off the crosspieces. I could not do so.

In the photo below, the platform is being used in conjunction with the crane:

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I’m sure that we will thing of additional uses of the three adjacent notches and plan to cut them into many of the older parts. We welcome suggestions about such parts or any other new parts!

Here are two different views of a structure that we built yesterday incorporating the new parts described above as well as a lot of duplicates of some of the older parts:

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I still need to complete many of the parts built this week with auto body filler, sanding, and then either spar urethane or paint.

[Frank Pellow]

September 28, 2008:

Late in 2007, Alan Schwabacher on the Family Woodworking forum suggested: "I think it would be cool if you signed and dated a board, and then have each grandchild who plays with it do the same. After a few decades it could become even more meaningful."

It took me a long time, but today I finally got around to acting upon Alan's suggestion. First of all, I used a "branding iron" (given to me by my wife a few years ago but little used) on each piece:

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Next I burned the name one of my grandchildren into a log (one log for each grandchild) I am going to ask each child to pant something on their log and to sign and date it. Once they have done so, I will cover their art with spar urethane.

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My first grandchild, Christian, died when he was 2.5 months old and I have created a log in his memory and then painted it in a way that is appropriate for me (and, I hope, for his sisters and his parents).

I will post an update with the children's art once they have created it.

[Frank Pellow]

17 October 2008 Update:

As some of you may know, this project "won" the September contest on the Festool Owners group forum. http://festoolownersgroup.com/Smileys/default/smiley.gif My fellow designers (Isla and Ethan) and I are most appreciative of the honour. The advertised prize was a DS 400 or RS 400 sander, but Christian Oltzscher (the head of Festool USA) told me I could substitute another tool if I wished to. Since I already have three Festool sanders and since I recently read the great material on the MFS Multirouting Template by both Jerry Work and Brice Burrell, I decided to take the MFS 700 as our prize. It arrived about an hour ago and I expect to be trying it out on Sunday.

Also, I promised to show pictures of the children's art once they had painted their logs. Two weeks ago, I took the kit the my daughter's house near Ottawa where it will stay for a couple of months. Here is a structure that the girls built where they placed the log dedicated to their deceased brother Christian in a prominent place on the wall:

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Here are the logs finished by all three of my grandaughters:

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