Fig. 367 shows the front (inside view), four upright cleats being used and a large opening left for the doorway.
Fig. 367.
First estimate the stock you will require (see Chapter IV.),[30] and try to get dry wood without too many large knots.
You can get along very well for such work as this on the floor, or even the ground, with a couple of boxes for horses, but a bench and horses are a great convenience.
Make the sides first, disregarding the slant for the roof. Take a matched-board and square off one end of it, if it is not already square. Then measure 5' 10"[31] from that end, mark across by the square, and saw the piece off. Use this piece (5' 10" long) as a measure to mark the lengths of enough pieces to make the two sides. If you saw them off as you measure them, one by one, be sure to mark all the lengths by the first piece, and not by the one last sawed, or they will probably, vary in length.
When you put the boards together to form the sides, be sure that the ends are in line. Use the edge of a straight board for a straight-edge to get them in line, or drive them against the side of the room, if that is straight, or temporarily nail a straight-edged board to the floor and keep them driven up squarely against it.
Make sure, also, by testing with the square or by measuring, that each side of the house when made is a rectangle and not a rhomboid, or the whole house will be askew when put together.
When you fit the matched edges be sure to make the joints as tight as you can, but do not pound directly on the tongued and grooved edges with the hammer. Take a short piece of waste boarding, fit it to the tongue or groove wherever you wish to strike, and hit this waste piece with the hammer.
You will see that there is no need of sawing out a square hole for the window, as you can put in short pieces at each side of the window-space.