Not enough instructions or pics anymore in GL

[Just One More]

I'm working on my third Westville. I don't remember the other two having such scant instructions. It took over an hour to figure out the porch pieces. No pics at all to go by, just schematic numbers. I got it all figured out finally, after many checks on the other two houses, and stuck it on the porch held together with masking tape and clothes pins before gluing. After gluing I sanded it like crazy too but when I painted it, it still looked fuzzy. The wood doesn't seem as nice on some of the pieces either. If this had been my very first house I'd have been in tears on my way to the dumpster. It looks OK now but I'll sand it more when it's really dry. If the Westville is this hard now without illustrations to help, I can't even imagine trying a Beacon Hill. Even having built the two others, the porch was never this difficult. The rest should be much easier.

[havanaholly]

I don't remember many pictures from the Westville intructions. If I ever get to build another one, just for me, one of the ways I want to bash it ts to make a bigger, screened porch.

[Just One More]

Someone here mentioned a screened in porch which would be nice. I like the Westville porch and all three now I've put a slanted roof instead of the balcony. My first Westville porch posts were a little thinner and were straight all the way up. I really like how the posts fit into the holes instead of just gluing them to the floor. So much sturdier.

[Blondie]

You should write to the general customer service email address to query about the directions. Maybe GL will add in more photos? Who knows?

I will say that the Beacon Hill directions do have quite a few photos -- at least mine do. I still need to check on here about certain elements though.

[Selkie]

Being the visual learner that I am, I always want more pictures and diagrams than words.

[Just One More]

Me too. Showing how the hundreds of pieces go together might be a bit much to provide but the porch has three long pieces for each post plus all the rest of it. They are all similar looking. I think it's the most difficult part of the whole house. It's not something you can hide if you mess it up. Some of the trim was not in good shape either with the plys separating. I had to paint a lot of the trim pieces before sanding so the paint would keep the pieces from further separating.

[Roxxie2]

I have to have pictures! Often I use the picture on the box instead of the written instructions because the just confuse the heck out of me!

I fake it a lot also.......

[KathieB]

I fake it a lot also.......

Hush! Don't give away all of our secrets!

[southernfried01]

I'm building my first house, a Fairfield, and it's been challenging to do with the photos provided. Not only are there not enough photos, but they are dark and hard to see. If I put a piece of white paper behind the sheet I'm looking at and shine a bright light on the page, it helps, but I would be doing so much better if I had one more photo per phase, and some of the phases don't have a photo at all.

Lots of playing with pieces to see how the heck they fit together.

[havanaholly]

diagrams might be of more help than photos. I read over the instructioins sheet three times before beginning, and then at least twice whilst building the rightside out Fairfield. When I built the inside out version I also did a couple of disassemblies.