Tea House Construction Plans

Constructions:

For safety reasons this structure should only be attempted by people with sound carpentry skills.

Materials

We suggest taking this fact sheet to a timber yard to buy timber cut to size. Our teahouse was painted with a mix of white, tinted with Dulux ‘Rosey’, 3:1 (3 parts white: 1 part ‘Rosey’). The trim was a tint using one part white with one part Dulux ‘Horizon Blue’ (1:1).

Base:

Construct base of teahouse using 90x45mm treated pine timber
Nail or screw frame 1350x1350mm square
Add two 90x45mm joists
Fix four 90x90x200mm pine legs to frame

Floor:

Using decking or 12mm ply (1350x1350mm) to cover frame on one side.

Walls:

Construct two stud walls (sides) 40x40mm pink primed battens and build as per floor frame.

Construct front and rear of teahouse to dimensions shown on diagram in same way as previous walls. This allows for door entry and/or window.

Roof:

Cut five rafters for each side of roof out of 40x40mm pink primed timber. Measure and cut birds mouth in each rafter (see diagram). After cutting one rafter use it as a template for others. Use 140x19mm pink primed ridge beam between the tops of the rafters for fixing tops of rafters.

Assemble:

Square up rear and front and side panels and nail or screw to floor. Once panels are fixed proceed with roof rafters, fixing to the top of wall frame and ridge beam.
Once wall frames and roof frames are assembled, nail roof battens to rafters (3 on each side will do).
At this point 12mm exterior grade ply can be attached to all sides including roof.
(NB: Cut windows and doors into ply as required before attaching to frame.)

Once fixed the ply will brace all frames and the structure will be quite rigid.
Attach a 90x19mm pink primed architrave around windows and door.
After all ply is attached, using 140x19mm pink primed timber, attach fascia to rear and front of roof.

Roof thatching:

Thatch can then be attached to roof, overlapping thatch starting from bottom of roof to ridge. Simply nail each row of thatch to ply as you go. Remember to hammer flat any nails that pass all the way through roof ply.

Paint and decorate.

For thatching, call African Thatch (08) 9255 4466 for your nearest supplier.