2 story club house plans?

Question

i am planing to build a club house out of 2 x 4's and ply wood

I am thinking 8 x 8 for 1st floor second 2 and 8ft high walls both story's is this a very good idea and does any 1 have any ideas to level out the ground i am only 13 so i cant use to much **** but i'm going to sleep/eat/ect. in it so kinda live in it so i have alot of privicy all i need is some help with uideas

Answer 1

Here are a bunch of ideas:  

http://www.mitre10.com.au/DIY-Central/Mi...

http://pages.areaguides.com/ubuild/FortP...

http://plansnow.com/playhous.html

http://bend.craigslist.org/bab/751424337...

There are a lot of ways to level the ground.  One is to get a shovel and start scraping off the ground until it's level.  You can use a carpenter's level to see if the ground is level as you work.  The advantage of this is it saves a lot of materials, but the disadvantage is that it's a lot of work, and the floor might be a real mess in bad weather.  For only 8' by 8' it might not take too long.  (If the ground isn't too far off level to start with and if there aren't a lot of rocks or tree roots.)

A second way to level things is to build the clubhouse on four 4x4 posts.  Dig four holes at least 2' deep and put the posts in them.  It would help to have some concrete here, but you can get away with just burying them with dirt.  Then nail some 2x6s (better than 2x4s for a floor) to the 4x4 posts so they are all level.  That's the floor level for your first story.  Add more 2x4s or 2x6s between the 2x6s you nailed to the posts to make a good floor and put some plywood on top of that to stand on.  This is the way some decks are built.  Find a deck in your neighborhood that you can see under and check out how it's built.

Another way is to use some masonry rubble--sometimes you can find them around building sites or in vacant lots, etc.  Stack up some blocks, bricks, etc in four piles and then use a board and a level to determine if they are all the same height.  Then build a floor on them by laying 2x6 boards on edge from one pile to the others to make a square--be sure to nail the ends of the 2x6s to each other so they stay put.  Then fill in the square to make a floor like I described above.  A lot of old houses were built this way--it's called "post and pier" construction.  Newer houses are built this way, too, but they don't use rubble anymore.  You can even use old pressure-treated scraps instead of masonry rubble to put on the ground.  If you live in a place where the ground freezes, though, your clubhouse might not last through the winter, so that's a big disadvantage of this method.  You could make the piers stronger by using some mortar to put them together.  If you have an adult who can help you use mortar it might be a good way to build a level clubhouse.

For more clubhouse plans Google for "playhouse plans" or "play house plans."  I know playhouse doesn't sound as cool as a clubhouse but that's what they call them when they make the plans.  Once you build it you can call it a clubhouse, instead.

For ideas of how to put your clubhouse together you could also visit Home Depot or Menard's or some other lumber place.  A lot of times they have garden sheds that you can go into.  Look around inside those and notice how they are put together.

Other ideas:  8' high walls are very good, but you might consider making your walls 7' high instead because it will be easier to make them strong and it will be easier to build them.  7' should still give you plenty of room without hitting your head.

For the walls I would try to use at least five 2x4s on each side of the house.  They will be about two feet apart.  I know that seems like a lot (it means you will need at least 32 2x4s for the walls) but it will make your clubhouse strong enough to last for a few years and will make sure it doesn't fall and hurt you.  

I would also use about four or five 2x4s for the rafters (the part that holds up the roof), and I'd slant them a little bit so the rain runs off one side of the plywood.  If your roof is flat, the rain will end up inside.

1/2" thick plywood is great for the outside of the clubhouse, including the roof.  Be sure to use plenty of nails because the plywood helps hold the house together, so it needs to be attached to the 2x4s really well.

Building a clubhouse is a cool idea. I hope you succeed at it!