Need some building advice

Community
#1

How much to build this thing?
Working on the assumption plywood panels come in 2.4x1.2 sheets.

Rough dimensions are,
2.4W x 3.6L x 3.1H (1.9 to lev1, 1.2 hight of top panels.
Framing idea. I am sure more support braces are needed.
-

Cladding option 1
-

Cladding option 2
To save on cost, the top half of the bottom would be 1/2 sheets. 2.4x0.6m
-

I would expect the post need to be treated.
May not even need to be cemented into ground if made to be self bracing.
Just need a relative flat bit of ground.
Top floor needs to safely hold 200kg. Limit it to 2 people max.
Panels can probably be untreated as it is not in the ground and have a change to dry.
Also if they are not load bearing it will give it the dilapidated look once weathered :stuck_out_tongue:

Council guidelines says, as long as it is smaller then 10m2 no permit is required.
Hight, same distance away from boundary as it is high.

Google sketchup file here if anyone wants it.
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/det…915a1a4c7b127c1

#2

I can’t really advise on the building side, but I’m gonna say that I like the first option best, with plenty of open venerasble space. The more shortcommings something like this has I feel the better it is, rather than becomming pretty much invulnerable once you get up there.

#3

I can comment on the building side. There is a standard code NZS3604, which gives the dimensions of the sizes of timbers required for building houses which would be appropriate to use. I should be able to size this up for you, and mention fixings required etc. If I remember I can sketch it all up for you, or if I forget, most the big timber places like Carter or Placemakers have brochures of how to build a deck, which would give suitable timber sizes.

WRT to treatment - there are different grades of treatment, H3.2 for being exposed to outside weather, H4 for fence posts close to the ground, and H5 for piles that are designed to go into the ground and not rot away. Which sort to use depends on your proposed use.

Is this meant ot be a relocatable structure, or out into the ground at one spot? Is it meant to be able to be taken apart for shifting on a trailer or what?

#4

A few of the SCA groups put together temporary wooden gatehouses either to decorate their campsites, or for wargames:

700×285

#5

Now that is what I am talking about :slight_smile:

#6

If this is for temporary use, or even more permanent, it may be simpler to buy some scaffolding poles and some boards and build it from that. Bonus is that it is easily changeable and transportable.

Maybe NZLARPS should invest in some scaffolding?

For a couple of thousand, you could get two mobile towers, and then buy a number of planks (or if you’re cheap, some fabric) for the ‘walls’.

trademe.co.nz/Browse/SearchR … mAll=False

Here are planks, 50 of them for $2500 delivered
trademe.co.nz/Building-renov … 386959.htm

#7

Now that is an out of the box idea :slight_smile:
wonders if we could get a grant for it :stuck_out_tongue:

#8

That sounds awesome, we could use scaffholding for all sorts, and of course it’s mobile and tough. Nice idea Steve.

#9

Typically the hardest part with these towers isn’t building them, it’s finding somewhere to store the buggers and transporting them to / from events.