Okay I have the urge to build a cool tree house... there is just something about it that puts a smile on my face!

Of course this is for my kids....

If you google tree houses there are some awesome ones out there.

I have never built one before but securing it to the tree is my main concern. After sketching out the plan with my kids I want to get started in two week but I still don't know the best way to actually hook it to the tree.

The 4x4's to the ground will be easy.

Has anyone done a project like this before? I picture this more like a fort in the tree, more of a strong hold than a house. I have three boys so there won't be tea parties, more like a place to fight off zombie invasions :)

man i got to see if my mom still has the pictures of the complex my friends and i built. It started off as 1 tree fort in these woods behid myhouse and after it was done 3 years later, it covered 4 trees and had 3 rooms and walkways. HEHE it made the news even.

First suggestion I would make is to check local ordinances regarding the construction project, which is how some communities see your proposed tree house.

We had a guy in the Twin Cities area who had a great tree and decided to put together a nice retreat up there, and he was forced to remove it for not getting the proper permits beforehand. There may be no requirements at all where you live, but better safe than to have the kids upset with you for losing their fort.

As to anchoring options, you may be able to contact some of those whose work shows up when googling tree houses, and magazines like Family Handyman might also be good.

Have fun with it; I remember fondly the hours spent in tree forts, although ours were for the most part pretty dangerous bits of wood and nails put together by us kids with no adult involvement.

man i got to see if my mom still has the pictures of the complex my friends and i built. It started off as 1 tree fort in these woods behid myhouse and after it was done 3 years later, it covered 4 trees and had 3 rooms and walkways. HEHE it made the news even.

Sweet! If you find the pictures, please post.

Okay I will check on any ordinances :)

Pointers:

The most important thing is support. You have a structure that is 8+ feet off the ground, where kids will be running around and rolling around. I always go overboard on supports because I am terrified i would get hurt or get someone else hurt. Plus if you are creative you can use the supports for other purposes, decrative or functional.

The way up. Do not use the classic wood hammered into the tree. 1 its bad for the tree, depending on your enviroment it can cause fungus and other fun problems that can harm the tree, and secondly over repeateduse the nails will slip. I would suggest a rope ladder, they make ones that are "weather tested" which i would suggest. I had the advantage of a old twisted oak that had knots in it that made a natural ladder. A fixed ladder is also an option if you are in a windy enviroment.

If you are putting a roof on it, spend the few extra dollars and get a little bit of tar paper, some shingles and do a actual roof. Keeping moisture out as best you can always help. If it is an open structure then you need to cover it all in Thompsons Water Seal or a similar product. Even pressure treated wood can benefit from it, and if you dont like the color of wood, and/or want the fort to look different they make water seal that is colored now. The fort in my backyard (free standing) i used a red/maroon water seal.

Bugs, this can be a real big problem depending on where you live. I in florida have spiders so i have this stuff called Demon i spray my yard and fort with.

That is awesome Bise. I wish you luck on this project. Your boys are very lucky to have such a caring, proactive dad. Our world needs more parents like that.

Thanks Cados ! This will be fun... we (me and the boys) sat around the dining room table and sketched out what we were going to do.... all three have different ideas on what they want but today while we were out at the prospective tree two neighbor hood kids came over eager to help build it too LOL !

It will be a fun project :)

The 'Tom Sawyer' method may work wonders at getting other dads in the neighborhood involved. :rolleyes:

Probably obvious, but make sure you consult a tree doctor before you start to build. Termites and various diseases can quickly turn a tree into a big problem, better to know beforehand that the tree is safe.

A neighbor's treehouse fell on their house back when I was in middle school.

A neighbor's treehouse fell on their house back when I was in middle school.

Could have been a selling point.....

Look, a little playhouse on the roof, how quaint!

FYI I got the wood delivered today and construction is underway! it is about 9 feet off the ground which is pretty damn high now that it is actually up there :)

Everytime I read the topic of this post I get Dro In the Wind stuck in my head :heart :eek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy8V8w0Wm0s :D

Well I bascially finished the "phase 1" of the tree house on Sunday.... 3 days of working and a little touch up on Sunday... The kids love it!

I am working on the "lookout" on top this weekend after the wedding we are having at our house :) (family member wedding).

It wasn't too hard to build and came out a little better than even I expected..... :)

My youngins are fighting off many a Nazi and Zombie over the last four days :)

My youngins are fighting off many a Nazi and Zombie over the last four days :)


OMG, Ann Coulter has been found!


Glad to hear the kids have some time to play in it before snow comes, and that it turned out to be a fun project.

My youngins are fighting off many a Nazi and Zombie over the last four days :)

With G.W. in the fray as well?

it is about 9 feet off the ground

Are you kidding me? you raising men or little girls? a fall from 9 ft. is a boo-boo, time to go for phase 2. 20 ft. is a "walk it off" response. 30 ft. warrants an is it broken query. No! "walk it off"!

haha!

Pics! Pics!

Are you kidding me? you raising men or little girls? a fall from 9 ft. is a boo-boo, time to go for phase 2. 20 ft. is a "walk it off" response. 30 ft. warrants an is it broken query. No! "walk it off"!Not that there wasn't a time in my life where I would have said the same thing, but after several years of work in an industry where safety is paramount, my mindset is a bit different. According to OSHA, anything over 6' requires a safety system. A man died last spring from a fall off an 8' ladder. All it takes is landing wrong.

If the kids are happy at 9', leave it at 9'. Just my two cents.

but after several years of work in an industry where safety is paramount, my mindset is a bit different.

In other words your getting old? :devil

Was posted as a funny. Kids are amazing in thier unbreakableness. pretty sure every one of us as adult males can look back on our childhood with utter awe that we managed to survive it. really it all sounded like a good idea at the time.

In other words your getting old? :devil

Was posted as a funny. Kids are amazing in thier unbreakableness. pretty sure every one of us as adult males can look back on our childhood with utter awe that we managed to survive it. really it all sounded like a good idea at the time.

I think along those lines every time I see a kid on a bicycle with helmet and knee pads and elbow and wrist pads......it is almost scary that people are so frightened of getting an 'owie' these days.

I will never forget taking my Schwinn 'Stingray' down the South 50th St hill at full speed and hitting some sand, losing control, and sliding and tumbling for almost a full block getting scraped and bruised all over. We did not have all the fancy safety equipment in those days, and likely would have disdained it if it existed anyways. What a great learning experience that was. :rolleyes:

But seriously, if kids are raised to be always over-cautious of avoiding the chance of being hurt, are they really going to be having any fun interacting with the world around them?

I remember getting one of those thin yellow foam pads, placing it under my treehouse, which was maybe 7' or 8', and jumping off. In hindsight, I can already feel my knees hurting from impact, so it probably is an age thing.

Should I ever have kids, I intent to allow them to bruise themselves, break bones, run into walls, and learn the hard way not to play with wild animals or touch hot metal. Fall safety just always jumps to mind too quickly.

I spend too much time on controlbooth.com, where I've been chastised for my own jokes about safety. Can I blame that, and dodge the old-bullet, even if that does ring true?

I think along those lines every time I see a kid on a bicycle with helmet and knee pads and elbow and wrist pads......it is almost scary that people are so frightened of getting an 'owie' these days.



Funny when I was riding my bicycle last week, working out, I was wondering if the police would pull me over, because I wasn't wearing a helmet.....

Kids' bones are a lot harder to break, and they're less likely to get seriously injured in those sorts of tumbles, because the lithification process in your bones isn't complete until about age 20; kids really are 'rubberier' (and more flexible as well thanks to looser ligaments due to lectin production). Add that to the fact that there's less total mass going into those collisions vs tissue integrity and the result is toddlers who pull those full speed flying wipeouts (or my spectacular scooter/gravel/car collision at age 9) and just look a little confused for a moment, get up, look around to see if anyone noticed, and cry (or not, depending ;) ), while we'd end up with a sprain, a break, or at least a whole lot of pain...

And where are the undoubtedly ultra-cool pictures!?!

Regards,
Nydia

Schwinn 'Stingray'

Banana Seats FTW!

Well yesterday I got the trap door with the barrel bolt lock on it.... Kids like that feature :)


Next is the "look out" which will be on top of the current structure. I'm still trying to figure a way to do it so the kids can get in it but not out of it. It is pretty damn high.

As luck would have it two of my buddies from work happen to be building or just recently finished tree houses for their kids. One of them used decking planks as the flooring which would have been much easier to do had I thought of that.

The 3/4 inch plywood I used was very heavy (treated wood) to lift and I ended up having to cut one piece in half to get it up to the roof of the current house. I was by myself and just couldn't lift it past the edge without getting a corner hooked or stuck under something.

Anyway, after the 'lookout' is done I plan to build a walkway to the next tree and make some sort of platform on that tree to give the treehouse more of a spread out and playable area.

Banana Seats FTW!

Anyway, after the 'lookout' is done I plan to build a walkway to the next tree and make some sort of platform on that tree to give the treehouse more of a spread out and playable area.

Keep in mind sir, trees sway and they dont necessarily sway at the same time/direction. Perhaps a rope bridge of sorts to compensate for this?

I was thinking about making some sort of draw bridge. The distance is about 10-12 feet. With a small platform on the current tree house and a decent platform on the new tree the distance between the two would be reduced to 6-8 feet.

It would also keep the two trees moving independently of each other.... Plus it would be really cool. I'm trying to figure out how to make a counter weight so the kids could lift and lower it without too much difficulty.