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Always start with this link to see the Order of Operations for the Mansion Style Advent House. That is where you'll have access to links to all of the most current instructions.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Updated Structure and Framing information

In an effort to make it easier and faster to have your own Christmas Advent House, we have invested a great deal of time developing faster and better methods for assembly on our Full Mansion Kit.  These changes have the potential of saving many hours of work.  Following is a list of images showing the new layouts of all of the 1/4" MDF Material that is included in the Full Mansion Kit, as well as their associated numbering.  In general, you'll work through the numbered parts - starting with #1 (ie: 1, 2 &3 all go together, 4, 5 & 6 go together, etc)

This blog post will also work as simplified assembly instructions.  We are working on a short video series that will go into more detail on the exact process of assembling everything in our Full Mansion Kit.  Until then, you are welcome to use the following information.

Please note that most of the pieces are designed to go together only one way so as to avoid confusion.  However, before you get too glue-happy, do a double and triple check to ensure everything is fitting properly.  Once positive - go wild with the glue.  (Just don't glue your fingers together)

And as a matter of reference, each of these pieces are either a top-down view, or a front view.  When removing each part from the block in which it is contained, each piece is facing up.  You may want to make note of this while cutting out all of the pieces.

So - The (simplifed) Assembly:



Start with these 3 pieces, glue together and they become the Floor:



Then, glue these pieces together and they become the Bottom Back.  Attach to the back of the Floor - The tabs should align perfectly:



Next, DON'T GLUE THESE TOGETHER!  These each glue to the floor in this order, and as the glue to the floor, glue to each other using the tabs system.  These are the Walls:



DON'T GLUE THESE TOGETHER!  Add these Soffits pieces in the order of the numbers shown.  Apply to the Walls, and glue each soffit together at the available tabs.



Glue these 3 pieces together to make the Back Top, then fit to the top of the 2 end Walls.  You may want to hold off on gluing this piece into place for a bit until the roof pieces all fit correctly)



Now build the Flat Roof by gluing these pieces together:



After the Flat Roof, glue the middle brace (#25) into the middle, and DRY FIT only the 2 smaller brace pieces.  You'll glue the 2 smaller braces after the roof pieces are in place.



Time for the Angled Roof:  Now it gets a little more challenging - you might want to ask someone for an extra set of hands since these parts don't have all the tabs like the rest of it.  ** I also suggest a minor sanding/cutting adjustment to the top and bottom of these pieces, but I'll explain more about that in the coming video series.



While setting the angled roof pieces, you can get a little bit of help by carefully placing the Flat Roof piece in place.  You'll notice the brace pieces will help prevent the angled roof pieces from falling backwards.



 Now we're down to the Bases.  These pieces go at the bottom of the walls, and cover the front edge of the floor pieces.  These pieces represent the 'Concrete' that the walls are sitting on.




And finally - the Atrium:

You can see how the main atrium pieces (back, top and bottom) go together, and then the 7 vertical braces go between the top and bottom.  Again - this will be explained more in the coming video series.



And that's all of the Structure pieces and where they go - except for the Corbels, which will also be explained a little later.



Keep an eye on this blog for updates about the video series so you can learn how fast and easy it is to build your own Mansion Style Advent House.


Questions?  Please feel free to use the Contact form on our website: www.AdventHousePlans.com