This is a small project to illustrate on how you can build a small wood house. The origin of this house design can be found in a small village of "Mund", famous for its Safran. The village is located in the canton of Wallis in Switzerland. The locals call it a Spycher and it was used to save food - the four stones that carry the structure were actually of great importance keeping the mices from the good local cheese and meat. Have fun if you decide to build one...

Step 1: Understand the Dimensions

The dimensions of the structure is as follow: Height: 35cm, Width: 25cm, depth: 20cm. The width and depth of each log changes slightly, so there is no aligned ending. The wood logs used in my example have each a height of 2.2cm and a width of 1.2cm. For the whole house I used a total of 50 wood logs, each having a different length to replicate the originin design of the house

Step 2: Cut the Wood Logs and the Kerfs

The wood logs are cut and numbered - you can basically cut all wood logs prior to putting them together. In order not to be confused, we recommed to number each of the logs with their pairs. I used a simple padsaw for the kerfs. The debth of each kerfs must allow the next level of logs to be aligned without creating any wholes

Step 3: Create "special" Wood Logs

In order to integarte the three doors, you must have shorter wood logs. In the second picture you see the short wood logs for the two top doors. Each of the door has a width of 5.5cm and a height of 9cm. Don't get confused with the second picture, we haven't integrated the lowever door yet.

Important!!! Make sure that the lowever right log is long enough for the stairs that will be added towards the end

Step 4: Starting the Glueing Process

Once you have prepared all the wood logs, you can start glueing them by using simple wood glue. Clamps help in the process

Step 5: Add the Doors

I used small hinges to fix the doors. The door size is based on the available space you created with the wood logs. Make sure it closes completely. I added a small floor, so when you open the door on the second level, there is a real surface

Step 6: Grow the Structure

With each layer the house structure grows. For the top, cut the wood logs in angle of approximately 30 degrees. The angle needs to be identical on both sides to position the roof.

Step 7: Add the Roof and the Frames

In order to have a solid structure, position two logs inclinded inside the stucture. this will be used to strengthen the rood. The roof can be created with flat wood sticks - glue them together and only cut it as a while. The position of the roof is illustrated in the picture. We used screws to fix the structure. Add frames to the doors to have the same layout as the original and add handles

Step 8: Create the Stairs

Create the stairs and the walking platform and glue it to the overall structure

Step 9: Start Painting and Adding the Roof

The painting was done with wood stain walnut. The roof stones are made of shale and might not be available everywhere. We however opted for this kind of stone to closely imitate the original. The stones were fixed with hot glue on by one starting at the bottom

Step 10: Finalize the Structure

Finalize the structure by adding the front stairs as well as the four pillars with the larger shale to support the entire structure. We hope you have fun creating an original Walliser Spycher - any questions, feel free to ask!