How to Build a Frame for a Club House
What young child hasn't dreamed of having a place to call his own? A fort to launch water balloons out of during the summer and a safe, warm haven to daydream of living by his wits on the Alaskan tundra during the winter--a clubhouse is the perfect arena for small imaginations to run free and dreams to be defined by early childhood memories. With a minimal investment of time and money, you can provide your children with hours of enjoyment with his very own clubhouse. Here is how to design and build only the main frame of the club house, so that you can design the "house" part based on your individual needs. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Decide where your clubhouse will be placed and if it will be free-standing, post-mounted or tree-mounted. If you have a large tree in your backyard, this may be a good way to use some wasted space (or save some yard space). There are not many differences construction-wise in the three types of clubhouses.
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Design your clubhouses subflooring. If you are mounting your house in the trees, decide where the tree limbs will best be used to support the floor, as well as provide ample space inside the club house itself. See the diagram.
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Assemble the subflooring. Make sure there there is a maximum of 2 feet between floor joists. It is best to build the entire floor unit first, before you begin nailing on support beams.
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Brace any areas of stress, such as steps or areas of floor without a support directly underneath. The manner, material, angle of the brace is not as important as there actually being a brace there. For tree houses, make sure to at least have a 30-degree angle between the tree and the brace so that at least the majority of the load will be taken by the top of the brace and not the middle.
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Lay down the flooring on top of your now-complete subflooring and attach with the screws. In the case of a tree house or post-mounted house, now is the time to fashion a permanent ladder up to your clubhouse floor using 2 by 4s or by building a staircase. Otherwise, your clubhouse floor is ready to accept framing for rooms and/or roofing. You are now well on your way to completing a well-constructed, long-lasting clubhouse.
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Tips & Warnings
Many home improvement stores sell prepackaged clubhouse kits that homeowners with less time or carpentry skills can put together in an afternoon.
If you are building a tree-mounted clubhouse, build railings along the edges of the platforms and do not build the platform more than 8 feet off the ground.
Resources
- Photo Credit www.eazybuild.com
