Chapter 7

Making It Your Own

You’ve built your clubhouse! Now you might be hanging out and thinking, “This could look better. What could we do to make this place look more like we want it?” Well, you can fix up your clubhouse in a thousand different ways. The following pages suggest how you can decorate it on the outside and the inside, as well as fix up the outdoor space with a clubhouse garden or patio.

Fixing up can be a never-ending process for your clubhouse, simply because it’s so much fun. Your results will depend on what materials you find and how creative you want to be. Once the door is on and your clubhouse is “closed up,” as house builders say, you’ll probably want to finish the outside first. This is an important step if uptight parents or neighbors have to look at it. You’ll also feel proud of how great it will look, and a good-looking clubhouse will command respect; other kids will less likely trash it.

Project

Trimming and Painting the Outside

If you haven’t done so already, add some 1×3 or 1×4 trim boards around your windows and doors and on the wall corners. On the corners, extend the trim boards ¹⁄₂" below the bottom of the sheathing boards covering your clubhouse. This will help later when you put on finish siding. The trim boards cover all those little gaps you might have left and give the place a finished look. Now your clubhouse is ready for painting or adding siding of some kind.

The easiest way to decorate the outside is simply to paint it. One gallon of house paint should cover the outside of the Classic Clubhouse. If you have more than one paint color, play with ideas such as painting the trim boards a different color than the walls or painting one side a different color than the other. You’re the designer.

Use water-based paint only. Water-based paints are labeled “latex,” “latex enamel,” or “acrylic-latex.” The label might also say “flat,” “eggshell,” “satin,” “semi-gloss,” or “gloss.” These terms indicate the texture of the paint when it’s dry: Flat is really dull, gloss is really shiny, satin and semi-gloss are in between, and eggshell has the texture of, you guessed it, eggshells.

Painting is pretty easy, but it does take some practice to do it well. To start, get a good-quality paintbrush about 2¹⁄₂" to 3" wide for painting the walls. Also get a 1¹⁄₂"-wide angled brush called a beveled cutting brush for painting edges; a beveled brush is especially helpful where two colors meet or you have to paint against the glass on a window.

Painting tools

Avoid Oil Paints

If a well-meaning friend or neighbor gives you oil-based paint or, worse, auto-body or other industrial paints for your clubhouse, don’t use them! They are poisonous and they need toxic solvents to clean the brushes.

How to Paint

1. Step 1. Pry open a can of paint with a flat-head screwdriver or a paint can opener. Stir the paint thoroughly with a clean stick. If the can is more than half full, pour some paint into a smaller paint pot, to about half full or less, then put the lid back on the paint can. A smaller paint pot is easier to handle, and if it spills, you won’t lose all your paint.
2. Step 2. Dip your brush into the pot, and smack a little off on the inside of the pot so it won’t drip.
3. Step 3. Brush the paint onto the wall with a few long strokes to cover the wood, then work the brush into all the little cracks and holes, especially if the wood is old or rough.
4. Step 4. Reload your brush, and use long strokes over what you just covered. That will help make an even, smooth coat of paint with no drips or bare spots.
5. Step 5. Keep going. Eventually you’ll find the right balance between too much and not enough paint on your brush, and you’ll also find the best way to get the paint on the wall without dripping. As with most things, painting will get easier the more you practice.
6. Step 6. When you’re done painting, dump the leftover paint back in the paint can, then brush all the paint remaining on the sides of the paint pot into the paint can. Reseal the paint can by tapping the lid firmly with your hammer or the side of a 2×4 block.
7. Step 7. To clean up, fill the paint pot with warm water with a little dish soap, and stick your brush in it for an hour or more to help soak out the paint. Later, rinse the brush in warm water until the water running through it comes out clear — then you’ll know your brush is clean. Tap the brush or use a rag to get out the excess water. If the brush came wrapped in a cardboard folder, put it back in the folder to keep the bristles straight. Rinse out the paint pot, and you’re done.

Project

Installing Siding

If you have the itch to keep building, you might get lucky and find (or be able to buy) some shingles, clapboards, car siding, board-and-batten, or other wood siding for your clubhouse. These are the safest and easiest kinds of siding to put up, requiring only hand tools. Finish siding can make your clubhouse look very good indeed.

I don’t recommend vinyl siding (that plastic stuff you see on newer houses everywhere in America) because special tools are needed to work with it. The same goes for any siding made of aluminum, steel, fiber-cement board, or heavy plywood siding, such as T1-11.

Siding styles for a clubhouse

Siding with Shingles

Shingles have been used to cover houses for hundreds of years. They are thin, tapered strips of wood (usually cedar) about 16" long and from 2" to 10" wide. The thicker bottom end of a shingle is called the butt. Shingles are graded like lumber from no. 1 to no. 3 and are sold in bundles. I recommend no. 3 or “backup” shingles for their low cost and wide availability. Shingles are quite easy to put on, and after a while, you’ll understand the logic of how they shed water. You will need your hammer, a 1-pound box of 3d galvanized box nails, a utility knife, and a handsaw.

Housewrap

Most builders put tar paper or, nowadays, a special white plastic called “housewrap” on house walls before nailing on the siding, which helps keep the inside dry. Shingles, clapboards, or other siding will do a good job by themselves, especially for a clubhouse, so it is your choice on that one. If you have tar paper (not the mineral-coated kind) left over from your roof, save money and use that.

How to Shingle

1. Step 1. To start, temporarily nail or prop up a straight board at the bottom of the wall so the top of the board is ¹⁄₂" below the bottom of the sheathing boards. This will be your guide for nailing the first two rows, or courses, of shingles. (I’m assuming you’ve put the trim boards on the corners by now because the shingles will be nailed up against the trim board edges.)
2. Step 2. Load up your nail apron with 3d nails.
3. Step 3. Grab a wide shingle and set it on your guide board and against the corner trim board.
4. Step 4. Drive a nail about 7" above the bottom of the shingle and ³⁄₄" in from each shingle edge. No matter how wide the shingle is, use only two nails per shingle.
5. Step 5. Add more shingles, mixing narrow and wide ones in a random pattern, as shown in the drawing above.
6. Step 6. As you nail the second course of shingles over the first one, stagger the shingles by keeping the vertical joints or cracks between shingles at least 1" away from those on the row of shingles beneath.
7. Step 7. Continue nailing both rows all the way to the other end of the wall, as shown in the drawing on above.
8. Step 8. When you get to the far end, set the last shingle against the trim board, and mark its top and bottom with your pencil so you can cut it to fit.
9. Step 9. Get out your utility knife. Set the edge of a straight piece of wood on the shingle at the two marks, and pull your knife along the piece of wood to cut the shingle. This works well until you hit a knot; if this happens, use your saw to cut the shingle. Be careful with the knife — it is sharp!
10. Step 10. Next, measure up from the bottom of both trim boards, and make pencil marks every 6" (6", 12", 18", 24", and so on). This will mark the exposure of your shingles. House builders will call this “6 inches to the weather.” These marks will tell you where the bottoms of every row of shingles will be.
11. Step 11. Start the next row of shingles at the corner board. Line up the bottom of a shingle with the mark you made on the corner board, check the vertical edge to make sure it is not over the crack between the shingles below, and nail it in. Add more shingles in the same way.

Keeping Courses Straight

To keep your rows of shingles straight, there are two methods:

Guide block. For short walls, and most clubhouses, you can use a guide block. This is an easy-to-make piece of ³⁄₄"-thick wood with a 6"-long notch cut into one side. Simply hold the block so the notch is hooked on a shingle you have already nailed in, then set the shingle you want to nail on the top of the block. Remove the block and nail in your shingle.

Chalk line. For long walls, you can use a chalk line, which is a long string with a little hook at the end that is kept inside a “chalk box” filled with bright blue or red chalk. Hook the string to a small nail (or have a helper hold it) at the exposure marks on both ends of the shingle row, and pull it tight. Then pull the string straight out from the middle of the wall and let it snap back; the chalk leaves a line that is your guide for aligning the bottoms of the shingles.

How to Shingle around a Window

When you get to a window, you’ll have to trim the shingles to fit around it.

1. Step 1. Set the first shingle to be cut over the window trim, and hold it steady while you mark where it needs to be cut.
   
2. Step 2. On your sawhorse, first cut across the grain of the shingle with your saw. Then switch to a utility knife to cut with the grain, as before. This lessens the chance of splitting the shingle.
3. Step 3. Nail the shingle in place.
4. Step 4. Cut the remaining short shingles that go under the window to the same length with your saw. If these are shorter than 4", use a trim board instead. The same method applies when you get to the top of your wall.

If you goof while installing a shingle, you can use your crowbar to pry off the shingle. Pound the short leg of the crowbar under the shingle at the nail head and then pry. You might lose part of the shingle (they split easily), but the middle might still be good enough to reuse.

Siding with Clapboard or Beveled Siding

Clapboard, which is also called beveled siding, is somewhat easier and faster to put on than shingles. Clapboards are set against the corner trim boards, just as shingles. They are usually 6" or 8" wide, about ¹⁄₂" thick at the butt (the bottom edge), and beveled, or tapered, to about ¹⁄₈" thick at the top edge. The 6"-wide clapboards are better for the scale of a clubhouse.

The standard exposure of wood to weather for 6"-wide clapboard is 4¹⁄₂". Some clapboard styles have a special ledge, or “rabbet,” in the back that guides your exposure for you. If not, make a guide block that is set for a 4¹⁄₂" exposure, as described on page 110.

A Note on Scale

In architecture, scale is the idea of using the right-size objects or patterns to fit a certain size of building. A smaller-size clubhouse needs smaller-size doors and windows, as well as small-patterned finishes like shingles and skinny clapboards, to give it the right scale.

How to Put Up Clapboards

Putting up clapboards takes a lot of nailing, so put on your nail apron and load it up with 6d galvanized box nails.

Plain or rabbeted siding

Putting up clapboards

1. Step 1. Set a long, straight clapboard at the bottom of the sheathing. Have a friend help hold it there. If one end overlaps the corner trim board, use a pencil to mark the point where the clapboard meets the inside edge of the trim board. Then take the clapboard to your sawhorses, draw a cut line at the mark using your square, and saw off the scrap. (Alternatively, instead of using a pencil, you can draw, or score, the cut line with your utility knife to help guide your saw for a clean cut.)
2. Step 2. Bring the clapboard back to the wall, and set it against the sheathing so that it overhangs the bottom of the sheathing by ¹⁄₂". Have a friend help you hold it while you tack it in place with a nail or two.
3. Step 3. Drive a nail every 16" to 24" along the board, about 1" up from the butt. If you can, drive the nails into the studs beneath the sheathing, so they won’t poke through on the inside. When you get to the end of a clapboard, drive a nail 1" to 2" from the end. And as you work, keep each clapboard end at least 6" away from a joint in any adjoining course.
4. Step 4. When you’ve finished the first row, or course, of clapboard, it’s time to mark the location of the remaining courses on the corner trim boards, so you can align the clapboards evenly. For 6"-wide clapboards, 4¹⁄₂" of each course is exposed. Measuring up from the bottom of the corner trim boards, mark the courses, at 4¹⁄₂", 9", 13¹⁄₂", and so on, to set the bottom edge (or butt) of the clapboards. Then make a guide block similar to the one for shingles, but set for 4¹⁄₂" of exposure instead of 6" (see page 110).
5. Step 5. Set each clapboard to the marks on the corner trim boards, and, using your guide block, nail it in.

How to Install Clapboard Around a Window

When you get to the bottom of a window, you’ll have to cut away some wood to fit around the window trim boards. This isn’t difficult, but it takes some patience.

1. Step 1. Set the clapboard over the window trim, as shown below, and use a pencil to mark the part that needs to be cut out.
   
2. Step 2. On your sawhorses, saw the vertical edges of the notch to the corners.
   

   Cut out the scrap

3. Step 3. To cut along the horizontal line, get your hammer and a chisel. Use a clamp or have a friend hold down the clapboard. Hold the chisel’s cutting edge on the line, with the flat side to the good part of your board, and hit it hard enough with your hammer to cut through the wood. Keep chiseling along the horizontal line until the scrap breaks off. Watch the grain of the wood so your cut doesn’t break into the good part. If it starts to do that, go to the other end and chisel the other way.
4. Step 4. If you are cutting out a long piece, use your handsaw to finish the job once you have some room. You can also use your utility knife and a long steel ruler to cut through it if the wood is thin enough and there are no knots.

How to Install Clapboard at the Top of a Wall

When you get to the top of the wall, you can simply stop. If there is a gap between the last clapboard and the roof overhang, cover it with a trim board. The remaining clapboard left over from your starter strip might fit up there if you’re lucky. If the top of the wall is slanted, you’ll have to cut the clapboard to fit:

Clapboarding Against a Slanted Roofline

1. Step 1. Mark the ends of the clapboards where they overlap the trim board at the roof.
2. Step 2. Connect the marks with a cut line, and saw off the scrap.

If the roof overhangs too far to mark the clapboard, measure from the point where the clapboard hits the overhang to the same point of the clapboard below. Then draw a line between the marks and saw off the scrap. If you need to carve off a bit more wood, try using your utility knife.

Siding with Car Siding

Named for their original use for lining the inside walls of railway cars, pine car-siding boards are ³⁄₄" thick and 6" or 8" wide, and they are tongue-and-grooved for a tight fit. Car siding boards usually have V-grooves on one side and are smooth and flat on the other.

As I mentioned in chapter 5, car siding is strong enough to use as sheathing and finish siding, and it is relatively inexpensive. If you have to buy sheathing and you like the look of car siding as a finish siding, save time and money by just using car siding. Use it smooth side up for a strong floor and roof as well.

How to Install Car Siding

To install car siding as sheathing and finish siding, you’ll cover one wall at a time, while leaving the brace boards up on the other walls. For strong walls, measure and cut each board so its ends are set over studs.

1. Step 1. Start the first board ¹⁄₂" below the bottom of the floor joists for all the walls (see the drawing on facing page). Making sure the tongue is at the top of the board, have a friend help hold the board, and nail it in with 6d or 8d galvanized box nails. Use at least two nails at each end of the board and two nails over each stud.
   
2. Step 2. Fit the groove of the second board firmly over the tongue of the first one. If they don’t join tightly, look in the groove for anything stuck in there. If they still resist joining, use a scrap of wood as a hammer block and pound the boards together (see the drawing below left). Then nail the second board in place.
3. Step 3. Continue nailing on boards as described above. When you get to a door or window opening, measure and cut the boards carefully so you can nail them tightly and neatly against the framing. You can be less careful on the corners because the corner trim boards will cover up any small gaps.
4. Step 4. When you get to the top of the wall, measure the space needed for the last board, mark the board with your pencil and a long straightedge (a long, straight board will do), and then rip it with your saw. To “rip” means to saw a board along its length. This can take a while, so use clamps or have a friend help hold the board steady and also help you saw it.
5. Step 5. When all the car siding is nailed on, install the trim boards on the corners and around the windows as you would with rough sheathing.

Siding with Board-and-Batten

Board-and-batten, or board-and-bat as it’s sometimes called, is another style of siding that can double as sheathing. This method uses plain, wide, ³⁄₄"-thick boards installed vertically. The joints between the boards are then covered with narrow boards or strips about 1¹⁄₂" wide, called battens or bats.

Old shed, barn, and fence boards — or any boards wider than 5" — will work well for board-and-batten. For battens, use 1×2 furring strips.

How to Install Board-and-Batten

1. Cut the boards and bats long enough so they reach from the top plate to ¹⁄₂" below the bottom of the floor joists. Save any short boards for under the windows or over the door. For slanted walls, cut the tops of the boards at the same angle as the roof. To do this, hold the board in place and mark the angled edge of the roofline on the board with your pencil. Use your square to draw the cut line, then saw off the scrap.
   
2. Step 1. Add a 2×4 block horizontally between each pair of studs, halfway between the top and bottom plates. These will strengthen the board-and-bat wall.
3. Step 2. Starting at a corner, nail the boards to the middle blocks and the plates, using three 8d galvanized box nails at each end and two in the middle. If a board rests over a stud, nail it into the stud every 16" or so. Use your level to check the boards once in a while to make sure they are plumb; they can get crooked.
4. Step 3. When the walls are covered with boards, nail on all your trim boards on the corners and around the door and windows before you nail on the bats. You can use extra bats as trim boards if they are wide enough.
   

   Board-and-Bat Siding: Trim and Battens

5. Step 4. Nail on a top trim board where the wall meets the underside of the roof.
6. Step 5. Nail on all the vertical bats with 4d galvanized box nails, spacing the nails every 16".

Project

Fixing Up the Inside

As you fix up the outside, you’re probably thinking of ways to fix up the inside as well. Your results will again depend on what materials you’ll find and also how “houselike” you want your clubhouse to be. You can be creative with wallpaper, curtains, pictures, posters, signs, paneling, and, of course, paint. Garage sales are great places to find clubhouse-size tables, cabinets, chairs, knickknack shelves, pictures, fancy light fixtures, and whatever else might work.

Paneling the Inside Walls

If you want to finish the inside of your clubhouse with some kind of paneling, you will need to add some 2×4s, called nailers, to the inside corners so that you have something to nail the paneling to. Find or cut some 2×4 blocks about 12" long, and nail them against the corner studs, as shown in the drawing below. Then cut a new stud the same length as the one in the corner and nail that in. Now you have a surface on which to nail the outer edge of your paneling.

Nailer studs for inside corners

Painting the Inside

A good way to start is to paint your inside walls. You can paint them all the same color or as many different colors as you can acquire. You can mark up a wall with graffiti or paint a comic character, a superhero, or a mural. This is your place to experiment! For a cavelike den, use dark colors. If you don’t like the results, you can always repaint. For more on how to paint, see page 107.

If you don’t want to bother putting up paneling to paint, you can always just paint the studs and rough inside wood of your sheathing.

Paneling Options

For paneling your walls, I recommend using anything made of wood. Thin boards that fit together tongue-and-groove style, called bead boards, are good for paneling, but any smooth boards will do. Many styles of interior wall paneling are made of thin fiberboard or plywood covered with printed designs or painted, but this stuff can be expensive, as well as difficult to put up. A far cheaper alternative is ¹⁄₄"-thick OSB, whose finished side is smooth enough to paint or apply wallpaper.

You can also use drywall, otherwise known as wallboard, gypsum board, or Sheetrock, but it is heavy to lift, requires plastering skills to finish, and can get moldy if your clubhouse is in a shady or damp place. If you still want to use drywall, see page 212.

Wallpapering

If the interior paneling is ugly, you can paint it or cover it with wallpaper. Someone in your neighborhood might have some old wallpaper to give you, or you might be able to pick some up cheap at a rummage sale or a recycled building materials store.

If you want to try wallpapering, set up a table or some wide, clean boards on your sawhorses for cutting and gluing the paper, if necessary. You’ll need a tape measure, scissors, a pencil, a long ruler, a level, a plastic tray and bucket for holding water, a wallpaper spreader (which is a wide, stiff brush), a clean rag, a utility knife, and a sponge. Check to see if your wallpaper is preglued (it will say on the label). If it’s not, you’ll also need wallpaper paste and a 4"-wide or wider brush for applying the paste.

Wallpaper is always hung vertically, and it’s amazing how it can transform a room. Be patient with it, and take your time. (And see the step-by-step instructions on the next page.)

Wallpapering tools & supplies

How to Install Wallpaper

1. Step 1. Measure the distance from the floor to the ceiling of the wall you want to paper, and add an extra 4" for trimming the wallpaper.
2. Step 2. With scissors, cut to size enough pieces of wallpaper to cover the wall.
3. Step 3. Using your pencil, a level, and a long ruler, draw a vertical line on the wall near the corner, which will be an edge mark for your first sheet of wallpaper. Or simply use the wall corner itself as your edge guide.
4. Step 4. If your wallpaper is preglued, fill a long, plastic tray (available at paint stores) with water. Soak the back of the wallpaper in the water, then put it up on the wall, being aware that some designs need to be right side up and match on the edges.
5. Step 5. If the paper is not preglued, mix wallpaper paste according to the instructions. Spread your wallpaper sheet facedown on the table, then paste the back of the paper using the big paste brush. Hold the sheet up to the wall and stick it on.
6. Step 6. If you have a wallpaper spreader, use it to smooth out the paper on the wall. A soft, clean rag will work as well.
7. Step 7. Tuck the ends of the paper neatly against the floor, the ceiling, and into the corners with a ruler or a paint-stirring stick. Then, with a sharp utility knife, cut away the extra paper from the top and bottom. The glue or paste can be messy but washes off easily; use a damp sponge to mop up the excess.
8. Step 8. When the first sheet is up, trimmed, and cleaned off, hold up the next one to match the design’s edges, if necessary, then put it up the same way. Continue until all sheets are hung.

Finishing the Floor

Once you have finished painting, paneling, or papering the walls, you can finish your floor. If you have a smooth floor such as OSB, you can paint it by applying a base coat or primer coat on the raw wood, then a finish coat. Although water-based primers are the best for raw wood, you can save money and use almost any flat latex paint for a base coat. Don’t use glossy paint for a base coat because the finish coat might not stick well to it. For a durable finish coat, use “porch and floor” acrylic enamel over the primer. Mix up colors and create designs if you want.

If your floor is made of rough boards, cover it with carpet scraps or an area rug. If the carpet is too big, measure the floor with your tape measure, then use your utility knife and a straight board to cut off the extra carpet. It can be tough to cut, so flip the carpet over and cut through the backing. Be patient and cut several times if necessary. Carpet pieces can be stuck to the floor with carpet tape or with old-fashioned carpet nails.

Now you’re ready to move in!

Project

Landscaping the Clubhouse Area

Another way to score points with those in power and to have fun with gardening and such is to fix up the ground or yard in front of your clubhouse. Some ideas:

• Make a walkway out from the door with bricks or stone pavers.
• Build a trellis.
• Build a rock garden with rocks, driftwood, and a variety of plants.
• Put in a pumpkin or veggie patch.
• Plant flowers, bushes, or trees.

Someone you know might have some old bricks or other pavers you can use. Your parents or neighbors might have seeds, geranium cuttings, iris bulbs, or other plants from their gardens that you can use. Fair warning: Don’t dig up anyone’s plants without asking first.

Laying a Brick Step

A simple brick step in front of your doorway is a good start. Find or buy bricks, colored concrete paver blocks, or even flat stones. You’ll also need some plain, dry sand to help hold these in place. Other supplies and tools needed for laying brick or pavers include a tape measure, string, some wooden stakes about 12" long, a shovel, a garden trowel, a short 2×4 or 1×4, a rubber mallet, and an old broom. You might also need a wheelbarrow to remove the dirt you dig up and to bring in the sand.

Common landscape pavers

It’s easy to build a brick step or walk in front of your clubhouse door. If you need a higher step to your door, you can set a row of three or four large stones, concrete blocks, or concrete cinder blocks at the door, in addition to your walkway.

How to Lay a Brick Step

1. Step 1. Measure a 2-foot by 3-foot (or larger) rectangle, using stakes and strings to mark the edges. To avoid having to cut bricks or pavers, you can first lay out your bricks to the shape you want as a “dry run.” Then mark its corners with stakes, and remove all the bricks.
2. Step 2. In your marked-out rectangle, dig out the grass and loose dirt to about 3" down, depending on the thickness of your pavers.
3. Step 3. Remove the stakes and string as you dig, since they have done their job.
4. Step 4. Next, dump in some sand and spread it out so it is about 1" deep. Use a short 2×4 or 1×4 to spread the sand and make it flat and even. This will be the base that you’ll lay your bricks on.
5. Step 5. Lay down the bricks or pavers snugly together. If you use bricks, the patterns known as basket weave or running bond work well (see the drawing below). Running bond allows you to use broken bricks as well as whole ones.
   

   Two patterns for brickwork

6. Step 6. Tap the bricks or pavers with a rubber mallet or the end of your hammer handle to set them evenly with their neighbors. You can also tamp them down with the edge of the short board you used for spreading the sand.
7. Step 7. When you’ve laid the bricks where you want them, sprinkle some dry sand all over the bricks, and sweep it back and forth with a broom to settle it into the cracks. Pack sand or soil up against the outside edges of your new step, and you’re done.

How to Lay a Raised Brick Step

If the step needs to be a bit higher off the ground, add a frame of 2×4s around the edge to hold the bricks together. Here’s how:

1. Step 1. Scrape away weeds and loose dirt.
2. Step 2. Lay your bricks out in a “dry run” as described on page 125, then measure the short sides of the rectangle.
3. Step 3. Cut two 2×4s 1" longer than the measurement.
4. Step 4. Set these alongside the outside edge of the bricks, then measure the long sides plus the thickness of your two short 2×4s.
5. Step 5. Cut two more 2×4s the length of those measurements.
6. Step 6. Nail the 2×4s together with 12d or 16d nails to make a frame.
7. Step 7. Place the frame around your bricks; it should fit fine.
8. Step 8. Next, drive in some 12"-long 1×2 or 1×3 stakes against the 2×4s, and nail them to the 2×4s with some galvanized 6d nails to hold the frame in place.
9. Step 9. Remove the bricks from the frame, then fill the inside of the frame to within 2" of the top with sand.
10. Step 10. Replace the bricks, and gently tamp them down.
11. Step 11. Sprinkle some dry sand all over the bricks, and sweep it back and forth to settle it into the cracks and alongside the frame. You’re done!

Building a Patio Trellis

A patio trellis provides a nice, shady spot next to your clubhouse. All you need is a trellis frame and something to cover it with. For a trellis 8 feet wide, you’ll need the following:

Patio Trellis Materials

Posts

• 2 2×4s or 4×4s, 8 feet long, pressure-treated

Beam

• 1 2×6, 8 feet long

Nailer

• 1 2×4, 8 feet long

Crosspieces

• 9 2×2 furring strips, 8 feet long

Nails

• 1 pound 12d or 16d galvanized box nails

Two Trellis Ideas

Patio Options

For a larger brick patio for your clubhouse, you can use the same method as you did to build the brick step. As an estimating guide, you’ll need about six bricks for every square foot of patio.

You can also cover the ground with a layer of wood chips or small stones, called pea gravel, which is used in garden walkways. Prepare the ground as you would for a brick patio, then put down a layer of landscape fabric, a tough, weed-barrier cloth that is sold in rolls at garden-supply centers. Use bricks, stones, or boards for the edges, then fill the patio area with gravel or wood chips. Place stepping-stones in the chips or gravel for a walkway, if you desire.

However, if the ground drops off and you want a level patio, a wooden deck may be your best choice. Refer to the room-addition section in chapter 6, and build your deck as a stand-alone floor, without walls. Use cedar or pressure-treated pine posts, beams, and deck boards for a long-lasting deck.

How to Build a Trellis

1. Step 1. Measure 6 feet out from each front corner of your clubhouse, and drive a stake in the ground. The stakes should be 8 feet apart. Check the positions of the stakes by measuring the diagonals, or the distance from each corner of the clubhouse to the opposite stake, which should be 10 feet. Next, measure 16" in from each stake, toward the other stake; these spots mark your post holes (see the drawing below).
   

   Starting a trellis

2. Step 2. Dig the holes about 2 feet deep. Drop in the posts and tamp dirt firmly around each one, while a friend uses a level to make sure each post is plumb.
3. Step 3. To mark the locations for your 2×2 trellis crosspieces, lay an 8-foot 2×6 and an 8-foot 2×4 side by side on your sawhorses. With your tape measure and pencil, make a centerline mark every 12" along the top edge of both boards. You should have seven marks, plus the ends, for the nine trellis crosspieces. Set the 2×6 aside.
4. Step 4. Turn the 2×4 flat, then pound a 12d or 16d galvanized box nail every foot or so almost all the way through the wide face of the 2×4, to get it ready to nail into the clubhouse.
5. Step 5. Have a friend or two hold the 2×4 against the clubhouse, with the mark edge facing up, well below the roof overhang but high enough overhead so no one will bang his or her head on the trellis, while you check it with your level. Once it’s level, drive in the nails you have started while your helpers hold the board in place.
6. Step 6. Get the 2×6, and make a mark across it 16" in from each end. Hold it up to the posts to make sure the marks are centered over the posts.
7. Step 7. Put the 2×6 back on the sawhorses, and pound in three or four 12d galvanized box nails almost all the way through it, along each of the two lines.
8. Step 8. Ask your friend to help hold the beam up to the posts. (For a good-looking trellis, the 2×6 should either be level with or lower than the 2×4 on the clubhouse. This beam can be quite low if it’s not over a walkway.) Standing on a stepladder, pound one of the nails into a post, then move the ladder to the next post.
9. Step 9. Place your level on top of the beam, and slide the beam up or down until it is level. While your friend holds the beam steady, nail all the nails into the second post, then do the same into the first post. Be patient: The whole thing will wiggle a lot, but try to get the nails all the way in. If some get bent, nail in more. Hit ’em harder!

1. Step 10. Decide whether you want to leave the trellis crosspieces the full 8 feet long or trim them shorter; it’s your choice. Using a ladder, set a 2×2 over a centerline mark on the 2×4 nailed to the clubhouse and on the beam you just put up. Nail the 2×2 to the 2×4 with a single 8d or 12d galvanized box nail but not yet into the beam. You might have to toenail it into the clubhouse wall if the roof is in the way.
   

   Putting up the trellis beam

2. Step 11. Repeat this with the other 2×2 pieces, nailing them only into the 2×4.
3. Step 12. Next, check the posts to see if they are still plumb. If so, nail the 2×2 nearest the post into the top of the 2×6 beam on the centerline mark.
4. Step 13. Do this again near the other post, then nail the rest of the 2×2s into the beam over the centerline marks, each with a single 8d or 12d galvanized box nail.

How to Build a Trellis off the Roof

If you have a smaller clubhouse, you can attach a good-looking trellis to the top of the roof, as shown in the drawing below. Here’s how:

A trellis off the roof

1. Step 1. Mark a 6-foot-long 2×4 and a 2×6 with centerline marks every 12".
2. Step 2. Measure 6 feet out from the front of the clubhouse, and put in the two posts as described on page 128.
3. Step 3. Set the beam lower than the roof height, but keep adequate headroom where people will walk. Have a friend help you level it and nail it to the posts.
4. Step 4. On your sawhorses, drive six or more 8d or 12d galvanized nails almost through the marked-up 2×4.
5. Step 5. Lay the 2×4 flat on the top edge of the clubhouse roof, and drive in the nails. It might bounce a bit, so be patient.
6. Step 6. Set your trellis pieces (you’ll need seven this time). Nail them first into the 2×4 on the roof, then into the beam after the posts have been plumbed, as described above. This trellis method can also be used on any other clubhouse.

Finishing Your Trellis

Split-bamboo fencing will work great to cover your trellis and give you lots of shade. It is lightweight and inexpensive, and it holds up to the weather. Another good covering is a piece of canvas, burlap, or other sturdy fabric. Staple or tack it down well so the wind won’t wreck it. To add some plants, you can use strings to train vines to grow up to the trellis. The trellis will also look fine with nothing at all.

Now you can set up a chair under your trellis, relax, and think about what kind of garden you might like to have.

Building a Rock Garden

If there are rocks or fieldstones nearby, you can use them for the edge of your patio, for around a garden, or for creating a miniature mountain. Driftwood works well, too. Set the rocks where you want them, then plant some perennials, which are flowering plants that keep growing over several years.

Time to relax. Get cold drinks or hot chocolates for yourself and your friends while you sit back and look over all you’ve done. Pretty cool, huh? Now you can finally enjoy what you have . . . until other ideas emerge.