We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Don Berger, of Chinook, stands in front of a playhouse he built for his great granddaughter, Kenley Tempel, who lives in Joplin. Built in his basement shop, the playhouse will be moved to Joplin when a concrete pad is completed in the spring.
Inside a playhouse he recently completed, Don Berger checks out the fold-out bunk beds he installed. To allow room for playing the beds fold up providing storage space and a bench.
Come spring Kenley Tempel, the two year old great granddaughter of Don and Marilyne Berger, will be getting her new playhouse delivered-from the Berger's garage workshop in Chinook to Kenley's yard in Joplin, Montana. The half year plus project to build the playhouse started when Kenley's parents, Britney and Matt, asked great grandpa Berger, "When are you going to build a playhouse for Kenley?" Berger's response, "I started thinking about building a playhouse." That was last fall and by the end of January the eight by seven playhouse is completed.
Building Kenley's playhouse
Berger said, "When I started the project I had a vague notion of what it would look like, all I really knew was everything had to be on a small scale. First, I had to figure a way to get it from my shop, in the basement of our house, to Joplin." John Pike, who owns a local construction company and is a life long friend of Berger, agreed to loan the use of a trailer to haul the house. Berger added, "I envisioned a square, eight by eight house, but the width of the trailer meant it could be only seven feet wide."
Another fact that determined the dimensions of the playhouse was the height of the shop. Berger explained, "I decided to build the playhouse in my basement shop. I knew it would take most of the winter to complete it and the work would have to be done inside." Berger carefully measured and marked the maximum height, on his shop door, that would allow the playhouse to be slid out and loaded onto the trailer for transport." The inside height of the playhouse is just under six feet.
With the dimensions defined by the building site and hauling considerations, Berger began framing the playhouse. He said, "I never had a drawing or plan. I would think about some aspect that was next in the project, then figure a way to make it work. It was continually a work in progress." Everything had to be scaled down to make the playhouse work for a little girl.
Asked how many hours he put into building the playhouse, Berger just smiled and said, "A lot." For materials he started with spare lumber he had stored in his shop. Wife Marilyne said, "He cleaned out the rafters where he had a lot of wood shoved for storage." Don Berger figures he spent about $2,000 in materials to complete the playhouse.
Berger is no stranger to building things. He worked as a contractor for several years, building a number of houses in the area. He did a lot of the interior work on the house where he and Marilyne live now. He said, "I got some great experience working on our house." He and a partner later opened a home building center (located where the Town Pump in Chinook is now) and they continued to build houses while operating the retail business. He and his partner even built an apartment complex in Chinook.
A few special details
Kenley's new playhouse is not your run of the mill 'built on a Saturday afternoon' affair. One detail of the outside is the color scheme. It's built and painted to match the real house where the Tempel's live. A metal roof gives it the finished look of the most modern building techniques. There's even a door bell to alert when visitors come calling.
The playhouse is wired for electricity with lights and wall plug-ins. A plug-in on the side of the playhouse allows power from the main house to light and heat the new playhouse. Both windows are of the slide type, with screens for summer ventilation. Berger said, "About the only thing left is a screen door, which I'll have to custom make. You can't have a playhouse full of insects during the summer."
For overnight guests Berger devised fold-down beds. Configured like bunk beds, when not in use the beds fold up against the wall, the lower one providing a sitting bench with storage underneath. Great grandmother Marilyne pointed out sleeping pads still have to be made for the beds. Shelves for books and storage adorn each side of the beds where the beds fold up to the wall.
Don Berger says the final stage of the project will be moving the playhouse out of the garage. By putting a step ladder at the front of the house he can sight along the roof line to the mark the limit for height. He said, "I'm pretty sure it will make it." For a little room for removing the playhouse, he didn't attach the final ridge flashing to the roof. When warm weather returns a cement pad will have to be built where the playhouse will be permanently set in Joplin.
Great grandmother Berger and Kenley's grandparents, Tammy and Terry Jones of the Big Flat area, already have plans to make the playhouse welcoming to Kenley and guests. They're working on 'small' accessories that will make the playhouse, well, playable.
Come spring there will likely be a lot of shrieks of delight when Kenley and her friends occupy the new playhouse. Asked if he was planning on taking orders for more playhouses, Berger laughed and said, "I'm guessing this will be the only one I make." Whether Berger ever makes another playhouse or not, Kenley's new playhouse was definitely a labor of love.
