Replies

1. 
   ulfreq | Jan 30, 2010 08:14am | #1

   Ben,

   I just recently completed a dollhouse for my daughter and was faced with the same challenge. I found the following site very useful:

   http://www.blocklayer.com/roof/RoofEng.aspx

   Hope this helps you.

   Best Regards,

   ulfreq

2. 
   billy5151 | Jan 30, 2010 08:17am | #2

   Ben,

   Hi, to answer your question simply, you could use a 45 degree angle. That keeps everything nice and simple. The pitch of the roof will be alittle steep (12/12 in carpenter terms). But easily set up for most tools (if you don't like that idea, then we have to discuss math and stuff like that). Are you going to hinge the ridge for access to the upstairs? As I've gotten older my body does not like for me to do full scale building anymore, everything hurts these days. So I've been building doll houses. It's a nice hobby and keeps the math fresh in my old head.

   One more thing, you could also buy a dollhouse kit and you and your daughter could have a great time assembling it together. I'm working on one for my grandaughter at the moment.

   Anyway enjoy the project with your daughter, they grow up way to fast. And post pics as you go along.

   Bill D.

   Quality Wood Chips

   "If I can turn it into sawdust, I can handle it"

1. 
   benphillips | Jan 30, 2010 11:37am | #3

   Thank you both for your help. I am probably going a little smaller scale than most dollhouses. My daughter likes the Calico Critters from England. I will post pics as I go along.

   Ben Phillips

3. 
   489tad | Feb 02, 2010 09:21am | #5

   Ben,

   A few years back I built three doll houses. I purchased plans from dollhousedesign.com. The plan was the Mary Kay house. It has a hip roof, dormer and a two story bow wall (?). All the information to make the cuts were included. I've looked for the plans at home but can't find them. The web site is still up. I hope this helps.

   Dan

1. 
   WillGeorge | Feb 02, 2010 11:51am | #6

   Last week I finished a Doll House kit from 'RealGoodToys'. I was given the job because I do 'things' for family?

   A nice kit but not everything fit that well. Just OK, but NOT exact fit.... The Plywood was a bit under 3/8 inch and the finished house could hold up a tank on top of it!

   I have made many doll houses in the past. For all my daughters and for my four grandaughters. Also, for many of the little girls in my neighborhood (with parents premission)..

   I have looked, but I do not seem to have the old plan or I would send to you. I 'think' it was from a very old Popular Mechanics Mag.

   Made of all thin plywood with pine trim.

   I would think 1/4 inch floor underlament Ply would work if you get the good stuff where the layers are glued together well.... The last time I looked, the imported, very good, Plywood was very expensive!

   Floor Underlamement worked for me....

   A router and a guide can make all the roof shingles in a day.. Verses gluing up uncounted little peices of wood...

   I would think it all depends on how 'fancy' you want to make it!

4. 
   TomHigby | Feb 02, 2010 05:28pm | #7

   A doll-house that I made as a copy of one seen in a gift shop about 45 years ago, I think is the best design for real play.The floor is a 32" circle of plywood with a center hole, mounted on a turn-table of crossed 1" x 4"s with four ball type casters. There are crossed walls 8" tall and one short stub wall, and doors open between the "rooms".

   This has seen extreme use by four children and five grand-children. It has been wonderful! Along with it I made furniture of high simplicity and rugged durability.

   Tom

1. 
   billy5151 | Feb 03, 2010 12:47pm | #10

   You have any pictures you'd
   You have any pictures you'd like to share?? Sounds like a neat design.

   Bill D.

5. 
   RalphBarker | Feb 03, 2010 11:28am | #8

   For additional inspiration, take a look at the work of William Robertson:

   https://www.finewoodworking.com/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignArticle.aspx?id=31688

6. 
   PSeverin | Feb 03, 2010 12:02pm | #9

   Here is a temporary link to a picture of some of the doll houses we made. http://senduit.com/f4d383 It will only last a week. As you will see the houses had a simple form one room wide and stacked up two three and four stories. They were sized to get the most out of a sheet of plywood. The handle at the top divides the attic into two rooms with a doorway cut between. The floors were set into dados in the sides so they were built like miniature cabinets. But at that time 1/4" plywood was actually 1/4"

   The handle is useful to move them about and when a series of these was stacked front to back, they suddenly seemed like clay ridge tiles I had seen the summer before in England.

   They were all painted, by hand at first and latter, like these with spray gun and silk screened. The insides are wall papered with book end papers and printed paper windows pasted in the appropriate places. These are mostly the dull latex colors. When we sprayed oil paint there were rich blues, reds, green and yellow.

   People buying them said why didn't you cut out the windows and I thought the answer obvious...people wouldn't pay for them...and besides, doll houses are mostly to be used with imagination. But if you're doing this for yourself, why not?

   Peter

1. 
   Karla2 | May 27, 2010 06:49am | #11

   How can I build a dollhouse using blueprints/plans from home con

   As the question asks,

   How can I build a dollhouse using blueprints from home construction books?

   I have a few blueprints from online and a book that I would like to build dollhouses from, the only problem is I don't know how to do it. What scale should I use? How do I know what size to make things and what shape. How do I know which room goes where? What materials will I need to use? 

   Any advice you can give me would be helpful! 

7. 
   bduffin104 | May 27, 2010 08:37am | #12

   Depends on roof "pitch"

   Ben,

   A good framing square or the new fangled "speed" square comes with all the roof angle information built into them.  Roof angles or pitches are usually referred to in number if inches of slope per 12 inches of run, such as 5 in 12 or 9 in 12 and so on.

   5 in 12  common rafters have a plumb cut of 22.5 degrees. 5 in 12 hip and valley rafter are cut using the square held at 5 in 17.

   12 in 12 is 45 degrees.

   First decide how steep your roof pitch is going to be, on a doll house steep is probably what you want to get some dormers or an attic. I'd go with 12 in 12 which would keep your calculations simpler.

   As an old carpenter, I like 6 in 12 or lower because you can still walk on those. Some of the youngsters can still walk a 9 in 12 but that's where I start using toe boards or some sort of scaffolding.

8. 
   PSeverin | May 27, 2010 11:20am | #13

   Years ago I made 500 doll houses. My older sister said you make them, I'll paint them and we'll make a fortune. We made them but the fortune remains illusive... My advise is that 1/2" plywood (except for the base) seems too heavy to me. And although it's easiest to use a 45 degree roof with a gable end, just like on real houses the roof could get very high. If you decide on a hip roof have fun with the math of cuts at the hips or model them in Sketch-up. If there was someway to attach a photo I'd post a shot of a few of the ones left over when we closed my parents estate. Peter

   
1. 
   RalphBarker | Jan 30, 2010 02:49pm | #4

   There are several threads discussing how to include images inline within replies using HTML code and external image hosts, but you could also initiate a new thread ("Dollhouse pics"?) here, or in the Gallery, to upload photos to the FWW site.