The Last Wall & Roof Design for the Play Fort - ORC Week 5

This week was week 5 of the One Room Challenge. This week we continued with the framing of the play fort walls. I dragged my feet a bit on the last of the three walls as I was flip flopping on the design, ordering siding and doing research on how to build a roof.

The Last Wall

Initially, I had planned to build this wall almost symmetrical to the other side wall, with a door opening and a window. As this last wall would have a slide exiting from the door way, the design options I was considering were to build a window in the wall or build a second entryway accesible by a rock wall. I opted to go with the latter since I assumed the boys would have so much fun sliding down the slide that they’d want a quick way to get back up on the platform without running to the other side of the fort to take the stairs.

Wall Siding

This week, I picked out the wall siding and paint color for the playfort. At first, I had wanted to go with T1-11 wood paneling and apply a charcoal stain, however in the few days between deciding on the siding and actually placing my order, the price at Lowe’s for a 4x8 sheet of siding number went from $41/sheet to $79.99/sheet! My mind almost exploded when I saw this, but that‘s been the story or Covid lumber pricing unfortunately. Rather than pay the money, I decided to pivot and instead ordered LP smart siding panels which was $54/sheet (still expensive but better than $79.99). I also picked up a gallon of Sherwin Williams Iron Ore to paint the panels.

Roof Prep

While this week wasn’t an intense building week, I did manage to do a lot of research on roof designs and how to build them. I’ve been really into minimalist Scandinavian house design lately. I love the simple, modern and clean look. Here are some photos I’ve found that have given me inspiration for roof design.

To give this playfort the look and feel of a Scandinavian house, my plan will be to go with a steep gabled roof with minimal overhang. I’ve been watching hours of you tube videos to understand how to build this type of roof. Typical Scandinavian roofs have a steeper pitch roof. A roof pitch of 12/12 is common for this type of roof. The pitch is the rise of the roof (height from the top of the walls to the top of the roof), over the run (the width of your of the house. For my play house, I’m looking at doing a 12/12 or a 9/12 pitch. A 9/12 pitch roof is less steep than a 12/12 roof. The main consideration I’m taking into account on which pitch roof I go with is the overall height of the structure. A 12/12 pitch for my playhouse would mean the height of the roof above the walls would be 4ft, adding that to the 5ft walls and the 4 ft platform would mean the total height of the structure would be 13ft off the ground. I’m sure I’d be able to build a sound structure, but my concern is the sight lines from our main house of seeing such a tall structure through the trees.

Apart from the pitch, another design element I’ve been trying to decide on is the rafter overhang. Typical Scandinavian design roofs have minimal to no overhang. The overhang is the amount the rafter sticks out past the side walls. I’ve read that overhangs are important to bring the water when it rains away from the house so it doesn’t directly down the side of your walls and ruin your siding. At the moment I am leaning towards a slight overhang.

This concludes week 5 for me of the One Room Challenge. I’m not going to lie, the thought of finishing this epic outdoor boy zone, let alone this play Fort in 3 weeks is looking like a pipe dream for me me at the moment. It feels like there is still so much to do. Thank you for sticking with me this far!

~Ruth aka The Ruthless Maker ~