As a prototype, and for a bit of fun , the process has been applied to rebuilding a lean-to wash house and toilet, common as part of the early New Zealand houses. Most of these have been demolished as these facilities moved inside but some of these remain and have often been converted into storage and garden sheds.

Deconstructing the building was also an opportunity to investigate the building methods and design in 1890’s.

The wood was in very poor repair (it had not been painted for fifty years) but most of the cladding still had a thick layer of undercoat and the rimu timber was salvageable. So that I could manage the project over evenings and weekends, I predrilled screw holes in the boards before I took them off. This meant I could quickly put them back once I had removed the nails and cleaned up the timber. This also meant I did not change the original character of the building. After a few months I had the building to a state I could take in down in the morning and then rebuild it in the evening. Unfortunately the framing timber was in such poor repair I was faced with having to rebuild it from scratch.

For the moment it is back together again waiting for the total rebuild with new framing and panels. While the panels are not the size of those in a house the exercise illustrated the steps and the process.

I plan to do a video of the deconstruction and construction an put this on the website – should get a few laughs.

A bit of good luck really, since when it is rebuilt it will be a good example of the UpDown system.

Click here sometime soon to see the photographic collage.