Octagonal/Hexagonal Summerhouse

[tzartisan]

Hi. Having seen the price of summerhouses I think I am going to have a go at making my own - could be a long summer.

If I want to make it hexagonal or octagonal how on earth do I go about making up the frame and will it be a problem to do a four sided roof.

I plan to clad the outside in shiplap (or cedar if some falls off a lorry) and wanted to insulate and board the inside. Do I need some kind of brethhable waterproof liner under the cladding and if so what is the best type?

Cheers

 

[big-all]

your roof has the same number off segments as your walls unless you want to complicate things and have the top off the wall sections sloping to the roof line

you will need fairly comprihensive diy skills and a table saw plus other woodwork tools

whats your tools and skills level like

 

[^woody^]

My 'shed' is octagonal and in the style of a tiki hut with reed roof and sides

Here is a picture from a few years ago

Untitled

• ^woody^
• 19 Jun 2008
• 2

The base was done with a frame of 3x2 in a "spiders web" fashion. The outer part of the base is decking boards, and the inside is just ply

The round uprights were put in place and then the infill panel frame made from 2x2

The roof was done by spanning rafters to meet at a central point of random height, and then it (and the infill panels) were covered with the cedar boards from the shed it replaced. Then felted and the reed fixed

A mitre saw helps a lot as you just set it to the angles and cut to length.

Otherwise just base it on a circle of your chosen diameter and cut all the timbers to length

Its really easy as you just make all the basic frame and panels and then screw it all together

The glass is perspex fixed into rebated timber and held by just square bead ripped from a larger timber secion.

All joints are sealed with lots of clear silicone

 

[tzartisan]

Thanks both. My skills are intermediate I guess but I do have a good mitre saw etc. I didnt pay attention to maths at school so working out the angles for the cuts is where I have the problems plus the difficulty of attaching uprights to the base.

Do I make the base octagonal or should I have a square base and construct eight panels and join them. If I made correctly angled posts (which sounds like a nightmare) I guess that square panels could be butted up to them?

As its going to be cladded both sides as long as it is secure it doesnt have to be the neatest join in the world?

Your summerhouse looks great woody but I am rather optimistically I think trying to recreate the look of one of those Amdega jobbies without the 10k price tag.