Children’s cubby house using recycled pa...

Arcc

A cubby house that has been made almost entirely of stripped down pallets and cladded with a fibre cement sheeting. The entire project cost about $40 for screws. Everything else I was able to source for free.

Materials

5 x plywood topped pallets 2440x2440

2 x rhs steel posts 65x65mm Monument 3000mm

3 x bags of concrete

9x paving stones 500x500 (to keep the bottom pallet's timber off the damp ground to reduce chance of rotting.)

6x standard chep sized pallets (for the walkway decking)

6 x fibre cement stucco sheets 2040x1200

3 x Corri sheets Monument 4000m

1 x ampelite polycarb corri 4000m

**mix of screw types which includes bugle headed screws for structural binding, phillips/square headed for decking areas,. Hex head screws 51mm for corri roofing, and polycarb cutting screws for polycarb sheet..

Tools

https://www.bunnings.com.au/dewalt-18v-3-speed-cordless-impact-driver-skin-only_p0570805

https://www.bunnings.com.au/ryobi-18v-one-184mm-mitre-saw-skin-only_p0135634

https://www.bunnings.com.au/makita-260mm-10-1-4-1500w-table-saw-mlt100n_p0118523

https://www.bunnings.com.au/ryobi-18v-one-hp-brushless-jigsaw-tool-only_p0291678

https://www.bunnings.com.au/ryobi-300w-random-orbital-sander-ros300-s_p6210549

https://www.bunnings.com.au/ryobi-800w-variable-speed-belt-sander_p6210386

Steps

Step 1

Laid the 9 pavers on the ground as a base to build upon.

Step 2

Laid the bottom pallet on top of pavers.

Step 3

Stripped down the ribs from the underside of the 4 pallets that will make up the walls, however I made sure that the top and bottom ribs remained intact to allow easier mounting to form the central box structure. Sank 2x 3000mm posts into the ground 500mm deep, and concreted in place.

Step 4

Cut windows and doorways into the pallet walls and built walkway that snakes its way through the cubbyhouse from stripped down pallet wood.

Step 5

Mounted the two slides (a small slide mounted to the front and a larger slide mounted to the balcony.)

Step 6

Installed the corri roof sheets (while it was pouring rain which was sooooooo much fun...NOT).

Step 7

Built sandpit and used faux floorboard offcuts to cover the interior floor before filling it with sand.

Step 8

Used merbau offcuts (from another project) to floor the outer section of the lower section (outside the sandpit area).

Step 9

Added timber trimming to the windows and doors to clean up the cut (sharp) plywood edges before painting the cubbyhouse, and attaching climbing anchors for the climbing wall.

JacobZ

Hi @Arcc,

It's truly incredible what you've achieved with a few tools, a majority of free materials and a bit of know-how.

To create such a fantastic place for your family to imagine, play and grow is remarkable on such a small budget.

I particularly like the rock-climbing wall; I wish I had one when I was a boy.

Congratulations on a wonderful project that I'm sure will be loved for many years ahead.

Thank you for sharing your project.

Jacob