Long gone are the days of throwing an old sheet over a table and pretending it's a cubby. Shirl and Rebecca create a 'shop cubbyhouse' complete with shutters and front counter. Not only will it be the perfect play house, it will be built to work for parents as well — suitably constructed with a set of castors, the cubby can be wheeled to any location that suits.
Floor
1 Cut two panels of 15mm ply into 1.5m x 650mm rectangles.
2 Cut 75mm x 35mm pine to fit the perimeter of the floor. The floor will have a finished size of 1.3m x 1.5m.
3 Screw framework together.
4 Screw ply flooring on top of framework.
5 Fix casters to the bottom of the framework.
Side walls
1 Cut two top and two bottom plates at 1.3m.
2 Cut 8 studs at 1.230m.
3 Mark on plates where window studs will sit and nail studs into place.
4 Screw bottom of window sill at 600mm off floor and top of sill at 950mm from floor.
5 Repeat this for both side walls.
Back wall
1 Cut top and bottom plates at a length of 1350mm.
2 Cut 4 studs at 1.230m.
3 Space studs evenly and fix them to the top and bottom plates to create the back wall frame.
4 This wall will fit between the two side walls.
Standing walls
1 Stand walls up and as you work your way around fix each wall together at the corners with either nails or screws.
Front wall
1 The front wall is the same as the back in size, but because of the shop front the stud placement will need to be altered to accommodate the shutters and door.
2 After fixing the top and bottom plates with corner studs, mark the centre and fix another stud.
3 Fix a nogging in the right-hand side opening at a height of 640mm. This will be the support for the serving ledge/shop counter.
4 Construct a door frame out of the 75mm x 35mm pine. This should be measured and cut to finish level with the shop counter noggin (a height of 640mm). The door will later be clad with 'Weathertex'.
5 Attach frame with 100mm butt hinges.
6 For the openings above the door and shop counter ledge cut the ply to size and attach each 'shutter' with 100mm strap hinges.
The roof
A gable roof is constructed with the use of Pythagoras' Theorem (a² + b² = c²). This is the way of calculating the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle when the lengths of the other two sides are known.
NB: the hypotenuse (c) is the longest side of the triangle and is opposite to the right angle.
1 After establishing the rise (a) and the run (b) use Pythagoras' Theorem to work out the length of the rafter (c). (Our rafter length worked out at 807mm).
2 Mark out rafter length with carpenter's square and buttons on the 90mm x 45mm pine — there will be 8 rafters in total. Allow an extra 200mm for an overhang for each rafter (As per our length of 807mm our total rafter length was 1007mm).
3 As in diagram below, cut 'birdsmouth notch' (807mm down from top) in each rafter to allow them to fit snugly on top of the battens.
4 Cut 120mm x 20mm pine ridge to a length of 1300mm. On both sides of the ridge,mark even spaces as to where rafters will be nailed.
5 Nail the two front end rafters (both left and right hand sides) onto the top plate and repeat this at the back. Be sure to leave a gap for the ridge piece.
6 With the help of a friend slide the ridge piece in between the rafters and fix in place with nails. Fix remaining rafters in place.
7 Plum cut four blocks of leftover 45mm x 90mm pine to pack in between the facia and the first rafter (this will give slight advantage for water-proofing later)
8 Starting 100mm from the ridge, evenly space and fix battens on each side of the gabled roof. These will give us fixing for the roof sheets.
9 Cut roof sheets to length with snips and screw down with 50mm roof screws.
10 Screw roof cap into place. The roof cap makes the roof water proof.
Side Windows
1 Construct side window frames using 20mm x 125mm Maple. The two square frames (each made of 4 lengths of Maple) should be measured, cut and fixed together so that they fit snugly into the 600mm x 600mm window opening in the side wall frames.
NB: The window should sit flush on the inside of the house wall leaving enough frame protruding on the exterior of the wall to butt the cladding up to. The architrave will then cover the join and finish off the window.
2 To install Poly Carb perspex run a 20mm x 20mm bead around inside of reveal and then cut Poly Carb with saw to fit opening. Run another set of beading to hold the perspex in place and to waterproof the window.
Cladding
1 Cut Weathertex cladding to size.
2 Attach the cladding starting at the bottom and working to the top, overlapping each board to provide waterproofing.
3 Once you reach the top plate height at the gable ends cut some smaller trimming studs from off-cuts to fill the gap between gable rafter and plate. Fix cladding to studs.
4 Clad door frame.
NB: The Weathertex material is pre-primed, so only a top coat of paint is necessary.
Fit out
1 Create shelves out of 15mm ply off-cuts. Screw 'L-brackets' to the wall and fix shelving onto brackets.
Finishing off
Paint in desired colours.
Floor
Side wall
Front wall
Roof
Cubby house
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