This is how I did it. I first glued the porch roof and soffit on the dollhouse. I figured it would be easier to push the posts into the soffit openings than trying to slide them into it. If you put the soffit and fascia together first, you will have to slide the tips of the posts into these openings. After the porch roof and soffit were glued to the dollhouse, I began siding the entire porch area. It's easiest to do this now.
I used Aleene’s Quick Grab glue. Now this is a water based glue, so it will warp your siding. You can use a non water based glue for this but there will be fumes. This Aleene’s glue is extra tacky so it doesn’t drip and it does grab quickly so your siding won't slide down as your working.
I’m using this glue instead of hot glue this time around, because I’m siding before putting on the components. I don’t want the hot glue to bulk up the siding underneath and give me a problem with components and trim laying flat against it. Also since components will be glued over the siding, I want to make sure the siding is glued down with a good glue so nothing comes off in the future. If you still wish to use hot glue for your siding, use the high temp setting to ensure that it bonds well to the wood.
Remember, that this is birch veneer siding. It is very thin and no matter how flat it lies against your wall, you will see natural waves and inconsistencies between each strip. This is not anything you did wrong, it is just the nature of birch veneer.
The process went just as quickly with this glue as it would have with hot glue. You just have to keep in mind that your siding will warp. Don’t worry. Once the glue is completely dry and the moisture from it is completely evaporated from the wood veneer, it will lay flat again, against the dollhouse. I didn’t even have to hold it flat or anything for this process to happen. I only used clips or masking tape on the edges that wanted to lift up completely. Everything else I left alone and in no time, it was flat again.
The very small area that’s between the door opening and the left wall does not need siding. The door trim completely covers this area. Continue siding over the entryway.
The corners look rough right now but they will be covered with the vertical corner trim. It's so much easier to side now so all of the components and trim will have a nice clean look. Don’t worry about getting the siding perfectly even with the window and door openings because all of this will be covered with their trim. While the siding dried, I worked on the porch posts. You just laminate the pieces together so they form a three dimensional post. I clamped them with binder clips.
After they are dry, I painted the bottom half of the posts and then I slid in the painted caps. I will paint the tops afterwards. I opt to do it this way because it's always easier to slide unfinished wood than wood with two coats of paint on it. I pre-assembled the fascia. I painted the siding and porch floor. I also painted the roof top and glued on its trim. I used the binder clips once again as clamps.
It is very easy to paint siding while on the wall when the components are not yet in place. If you side after your components are already in, you should paint your siding before installation so you do not get wall paint on your components.
The porch posts were dry by this time and fully assembled except for the bottom trim. I like gluing those once the posts are on. This is because I can see how the posts fit against the floor and so their will be no gaps between them and the bottom floor.
A note on the bottom posts trim. Supposedly the instructions say there are narrow ones and wide ones. Well, there aren’t. They are all the same size squares. I measured and double checked them myself. So you won't be able to create perfect cubes with them. They will have notches on every corner like the vertical trim will have.
I glued the porch posts on and I was right. It was very easy to insert the bottoms into the porch floor holes and then press the tops into the soffit openings. I had to snap them in place because they fit in there tightly. Can you imagine trying to slide them in there with the fascia in the way? It would have been very hard to do. Once that was done, I glued on the fascia assembly over everything and it went on without a problem. I clamped it all with clamps and masking tape.
While that dried, I glued on the porch foundation.
