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13 yr old Playhouse needs?

tonibun

Wise Old Thumper
The floor has rotted but it doesn't leak. Is it possible to put a new floor in - I would buy a new Playhouse but can't find anyone who will deliver to IOW :( Also the roof of one of my other Playhouses is a bit iffy.
 
Mike is probably the best one to help here - his DIY skills are legendary. But my thoughts are that yes it should be more than possible to put a new floor in. I would imagine that it is a chip board type floor - so you could look at thinks like loft boards from the local B&Q or similar type of shop. Loft boards will be strong enough and might fit on the existing slats.
 
Roofs are easier: couple of sheets of OSB (I call it chipboard but it isn't: all sorts of sheet materials here) cut to size. The 12mm stuff is fine, it's what we've got on pur playhouse, but I'd match with whatever's existing (depth). You CAN pop thin sheets of plywood over the top as a quick fix but I wouldn't, you'll save yourself time and money doing it proerly :) You should be able to remove the roof beam and reuse it, otherwise get another of the same size :thumb:

Floors: yes, possible. Loft boards or similar are a good idea, but I dunno how waterproof they'd be as chipboard is REALLY good at soaking up water: even the water-resistant stuff wouldn't be good enough outside. I know ours is solid wood fitted together in a big sheet like floorboards. So maybe standard floorboards? You'd need to treat them to stop them rotting, and you'll probably want to get new bearers to avoid rot transference etc. To do it, get the boards cut to size and fit them together, then add bearers and edging strips (same as bearers but all the way round the edge). Treat it as a big sheet using whatever you'd normally use (we used oil-based stuff because it's under lino), all surfaces at least two coats. Remove the walls of the playhouse and lift off the old floor, make sure your bearers line up with your existing bricks/whatever: you might not have this but our garden is very wet so the bearers aren't directly on the floor, they're on bricks to improve airflow. Once the floor's in place and level, put the walls back together :)

None of these jobs are really possible with one person though, and the floor is quite technical and requires quite a lot of time and patience. Even the roof you need one person to hold it in place while the other one screws it in place! Felting is easy by comparison :lol: Even I can do that on my own!
 
Roofs are easier: couple of sheets of OSB (I call it chipboard but it isn't: all sorts of sheet materials here) cut to size. The 12mm stuff is fine, it's what we've got on pur playhouse, but I'd match with whatever's existing (depth). You CAN pop thin sheets of plywood over the top as a quick fix but I wouldn't, you'll save yourself time and money doing it proerly :) You should be able to remove the roof beam and reuse it, otherwise get another of the same size :thumb:

Floors: yes, possible. Loft boards or similar are a good idea, but I dunno how waterproof they'd be as chipboard is REALLY good at soaking up water: even the water-resistant stuff wouldn't be good enough outside. I know ours is solid wood fitted together in a big sheet like floorboards. So maybe standard floorboards? You'd need to treat them to stop them rotting, and you'll probably want to get new bearers to avoid rot transference etc. To do it, get the boards cut to size and fit them together, then add bearers and edging strips (same as bearers but all the way round the edge). Treat it as a big sheet using whatever you'd normally use (we used oil-based stuff because it's under lino), all surfaces at least two coats. Remove the walls of the playhouse and lift off the old floor, make sure your bearers line up with your existing bricks/whatever: you might not have this but our garden is very wet so the bearers aren't directly on the floor, they're on bricks to improve airflow. Once the floor's in place and level, put the walls back together :)

None of these jobs are really possible with one person though, and the floor is quite technical and requires quite a lot of time and patience. Even the roof you need one person to hold it in place while the other one screws it in place! Felting is easy by comparison :lol: Even I can do that on my own!

Yes, I've done felting on a playhouse. The floor sounds rather complicated especially as I haven't got a man onboard.
 
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