A Little House

[Bigmet]

...My wife grew up in a house very similar to this one. If this was built in Britain, the occupants would freeze to death in the first winter...

Cue the Monty Python 'Four Yorkshiremen' sketch: "Nay lad, we lived in shoebox in't middle o' road..."

[Phred]

Bigmet wrote:
Cue the Monty Python 'Four Yorkshiremen' sketch: "Nay lad, we lived in shoebox in't middle o' road..."

Ahem. So here it is with the basic roof structure in place and the planking finished on the side walls. As I predicted, the front steps have had to come off to avoid them breaking off while I mess about with things. I forgot to say in my previous post that two bits of a bamboo slat, painted white underneath, serve as soffits along the back and front walls. This provides a place for me to attach the gutters and a bit more surface area to glue the roof trusses on.

Tomorrow the purlins!

[Phred]

I've well and truly over-engineered the roof structure so as to afford maximum support for the corrugated cardboard roofing sheets. This should stop the cardboard playing up when I paint it and give the roof some resilience to little hands.

The underside of the verandah roof:

The top of the verandah roof with 'gutter' attached.

Now for a coffee while I figure out some verandah posts that won't break too easily.

[Bigmet]

Only of potential interest to those under twenty. In two or more generation's time this will be toted along to the Oz version of 'The Repair Shop'* by one of your descendants, because 'the cat sat on it' or whatever.

*In case this isn't on Ozradar yet: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08l581p

(I could watch Steve Fletcher all day restoring clock mechanisms, likewise Lucia Scallisi dealing with paintings.)

[Phred]

Hi Bigmet.
The Repair Shop was very popular over here for a little while (loved it) but seems to have disappeared from our screens now. Actually, I was just thinking that this build is rather like one of those 'reality' TV shows as the granddaughter in question has her 10th birthday coming up and I'm rushing to have the Little House ready in time. Time is running out! Will he beat the deadline?!?

Here is the verandah roof glued on with some folded cardboard for flashing and the gutters trimmed to length.
For the verandah posts, I settled on some bamboo slats laminated together and ground down with the old Sonic brand belt & disc sander. The posts are slightly oversized but they're rock solid.

The sander is a wonderfully versatile tool but there is a gap in the support table around the sanding belt which makes working on very small parts difficult. To make things easier I have cut a slot in a piece of MDF and attached it with a couple of bulldog clips. Now I can get little bits right up close to the sanding face.

Next: The house roof sheeting goes on! Will it fit???

[Bigmet]

Of course it will!

Side note on 'The Repair Shop' location. It's on the site of an open air museum which has re-erected 'rescued' vernacular buildings from the later middle ages. (The late founder started it after seeing three C14th houses torched in quick succession, I think in the 1950s.) Quite facinating, we managed a return visit this year, last outing to this location was in 1980. Among other things they have a preserved C19th furniture maker's shipping container - very obviously the prototype of the first UK railway containers of the late 1920s.
https://www.wealddown.co.uk/

[Phred]

Thanks for the link, Bigmet. Pity we didn't know that was there when we were passing through Sussex in 2013. Then again, we were busy trying to find our way to Highclere Castle (Hampshire) as Downton Abbey was my wife's favourite TV show. Never did find it.

Barge boards and roof completed with bamboo rods for capping and downpipes.
When most houses of this vintage were built, the downpipes either emptied into a water tank or simply spilled out over the ground. After the street outside this house was bitumised, complete with fancy kerb & channeling, the downpipes were redirected underground to the street. This was not compulsory for existing houses (and impossible when the building was lower than the street) but it saved most of the flooding in the yard.

The stairs are back on and posts/rails attached. As predicted, an old sofa has appeared on the verandah. I'll leave the verandah rails off so that little fingers can get in to pose the furniture and people. A lot of these verandahs didn't have rails anyway.

A quick cuppa and then I'll start on the outside laundry.

[Phred]

The laundry:
If there was enough headroom, the laundry facilities would generally be placed under the house. Since this house has short stumps, the laundry will be in a shed in the back yard.

Here is the first wall with a door in it:

Two walls will be clad in timber slats for maximum ventilation while the other two sides will be clad in FAC sheets to give some protection from the elements. The door is 'hinged' on sewing pins. Oversized slats, I know, but nice and solid for playing with.

I'll have to remember to add some interior detail before I close it in. My wife is calling for the PC so that she can do the online grocery shopping, so I'll withdraw to the garage and continue making little laundry bits.

[Bigmet]

Let me guess, most such houses also had a workshop shed in the yard, constructed by an occupant?

But more essential yet, what about the augean stable, bog, crapper, dunny, ejector seat, farthole, guffery, hole, jakes, little room, marsh, necessary, outside, privy, release, swamp, thunderbox, unmentionable, wallow?

[Phred]

Bigmet wrote:
Let me guess, most such houses also had a workshop shed in the yard, constructed by an occupant?

Indeed they did, as well as chicken coops, aviaries, shade houses, kennels, catteries and anything else they could think of. I suppose there must have been some permit or other required, but I don't remember anyone ever applying for one.

Bigmet wrote:
But more essential yet, what about the augean stable, bog, crapper, dunny, ejector seat, farthole, guffery, hole, jakes, little room, marsh, necessary, outside, privy, release, swamp, thunderbox, unmentionable, wallow?

Guess what will be built right after the laundry?

A piece of timber venetian blind will be cut to shape to serve as a floor. I measured the brace for the door, got the angles right, then glued it on wrong way round.

Phred's Law:
A 50% chance of getting it right
= A 90% chance of getting it wrong

But such a brace is not without precedent! In the old TV show, The Wackers, the backyard gate was braced backwards just like that. Anyway, the kids won't mind.

The concrete laundry tub is there awaiting fittings. A double tub! Such luxury!

Here is the tub fitted with a nice new swivelly tap. The old washing machine is cobbled together from various bits found in the 'handy one day' box. In the background, the laundry now has a shelf with some random bits on/under it. The rusty tub under the shelf is the old boiling 'copper' for getting the whites properly white.

A quick coffee and then I'll crack on with the remaining walls and the roof.

[Phred]

And that's the laundry finished.

Onward to the dunny.

[Dad-1]

What a brilliant little project.

Geoff T.

[Phred]

Cheers,Geoff!
How is The North Circular going? I've been watching for updates.

[Dad-1]

Hi Phred,

Been on holiday, plus after the dear ladies cataract job I needed
to make certain that 7 lots of eye drops went in each day for 4
weeks, It sort of upset my routine. I had more domestic work to do !

Geoff T

[Bigmet]

...Onward to the dunny ...

The occupants must be desperate by now, worn out their digging stick, trowel, whatever...