I Built a DIY Playhouse. Is it worth it?
Published January 29, 2022 · 6:31 · 145,941 views
About This Video
The playhouse assembler quoted $500. Van wants to know: how many hours of labor will it take to save that $500, and how much per hour will he end up paying himself? He pulled out 200 staples. The kit requires six 2x6 base slats sold separately. The Home Depot trip involved an ATM chip failure, a bank withdrawal, a second Home Depot trip. Two hours before a single piece was assembled.
The wood split despite pre-drilling, which makes him crazy. The door faced the wrong way. The laser-cut pieces do not actually fit into each other. A shipped board was cracked and glued at the factory, requiring a mending plate. The roofing nails couldn't be hammered because there was no clearance, so Van had to make a little tool. Six minutes of everything going slightly wrong, and the video is a cost-benefit analysis where the benefit is not the playhouse but the education in welding clamps, 11R vice grips, and the patience to fix manufactured garbage that was not built to last.
Transcript
the playhouse assembler said he would charge us $500 to assemble our playhouse how long do you think it would
take me to do it how many hours of my labor will it take to save me 500 bucks and how much per hour will I end
up paying myself to do this job must have pulled out 200 of these or so so I don't think this is very fair
but you have to buy separate from this expensive kit you have to buy Six 2x 2x six for the base to put the platform on
buying base slats Home Depot nightmare wherein my ATM card chip wouldn't work so I had to go to the bank to make a
cash withdrawal then go back to Home Depot refine my lumber then drive back home 2 hours I split the wood which
makes me crazy cuz I pre-drilled I think the key to doing this yourself are these welding clamps and they're 11R vice
grips definitely need one of these [Music] so [Applause] this so I put this thing together facing the wrong way so the door is facing the
street I need the door to face this way I got to turn this whole Contraption around it just doesn't it's like it it's like in a
perfect world yes these were perfect laser cut see this is supposed to fit into here but it's like it just doesn't
and it's like a take it apart pull the back cut the groove out so now it fits nicely see I cut that out so the wood they use is very poor
quality this wood shipped it was split and then they you can see they glued it right there and so now I have to do a
mending plate right here so that this doesn't break so that's a little steel that should maybe secure this crack a little
bit we'll see this is the wrong piece the directions don't really indicate that this is a different type of wood so I I
use this and it's supposed to be this so I have to I have to swap [Music] it these are the roofing [Applause]
nails but I can't you know get a hammer on them so I have to make a little tool all right [Music] no tolerance still doesn't
shut I smashed my head on the rafter uh kids already moved in but still have to do the trim the door doesn't shut
properly um The Glass isn't put in correctly it's just push pins more trim more trim more trim trim trim and I
still got to tack the last piece of the roof felt onto the roof probably 3 and a half more hours of [Music]
work I mean there's no way this kid's getting a security deposit back on this one so probably I'll break even
following is a paid promotion I learned to fix things by taking things apart when I was a little kid this is a soda stream I made out of
a soda stream in 2017 I was reminded of my soda stream when it came time to make this ad for my Kickstarter for this channel unabated
is a startup focused on reusing and repurposing old electronics in order to extend the life of our devices their
first product is the kit that gives you everything you need to turn your broken device into exploded wall art the kit
comes with tools and instructions on how to take your device apart and mount it to the kit you need zero technical
ability to make these they've got kits for for all the major devices you can choose from a dark kit or a light kit choose from a
physical or digital delivery this would be pretty fun to do with a kid I bet thank you unbrick starter Link in the description this week on the patreon a live stream answering your questions the link is right there
Products & Tools Mentioned
- Vice-Grips 11R uses — specific model of locking pliers used
- Home Depot mentions — hardware store for materials
- Unfabricate mentions — sponsor