The Most Useful Expert Advice When Building An Outdoor Playhouse

Building an outdoor playhouse can be very rewarding for both you and your child, especially when the playhouse has been completed.  You will feel great pride in completing an amazing play structure and at the same time it’ll make you feel happy to have built a playhouse that your child will absolutely love and be able to play in for many years into the future.

Coming from a person who has build several wooden playhouses over the years, what expert advice can be give to the person who is building their own outdoor playhouse for the first time?  The most useful thing to know when building an outdoor play house is to check your local building codes before you begin to build anything.

This is especially true if you are considering adding a concrete building pad for the playhouse.  Concrete increases the non-drainage or impervious surface area on your property, which is something that your zoning office wants you to minimize with any new building structure. 

Most municipalities have a defined allowable single-family residential impervious surface rules that are based on a property’s lot size.  An impervious surface refers to the percentage of a lot covered by surfaces such as buildings, patios and driveway concrete that prevent or alter the flow and absorption of rain and snow.

In many areas, the residential property owners are limited to 25 percent impervious coverage. In some cases, older homes can be grandfathered in, but cannot exceed their existing percentage.

Usually, to be able to extend impervious surfacing beyond the minimum percentage, a homeowner must obtain a conditional use permit or a variance from the city.  

There have been stories reported where owners have been forced to remove concrete or structures because they did not adhere to the local building code.  You certainly do not want to find out the hard way on how tough or vigilant your local authorities are on enforcing the impervious surface area rules.

Don’t get into situations where you may or may not be following your local building codes.  Don’t just assume what the codes are in your area.  A simple call to the local zoning office will clarify whether your proposed concrete platform for your outdoor playhouse will be following building codes.  Once you know the building code requirements, you can figure out whether your specific property lot size falls within those requirements.

Following and adhering to the local building codes is one less thing that you need to worry about when building the children’s playhouse.  You can now focus on completing the outdoor playhouse so you can see how thrilled your child will be when they open the door and start playing in it!