Treehouse

  I didn’t want to build a tree house.  I know this is hard to believe after looking at the results.  A playhouse on the ground is what I wanted to build.   A playhouse would have made a great place to store tools, lawnmower and snowblower after the kids have outgrown it. The kids asked for 2 years to have me build them a tree-house.  I finally gave in….and to be honest…I’m glad I did.

The tree I picked doesn’t look like it would support much weight.  This presented a little bit of an engineering task to figure out how I was going to build something that was both functional, cool looking and strong.  The complexity is compounded as I had a limited budget and didn’t want to spend any money on the project.  In fact…the only item I purchased was a case of deck screws , , some lag and regular bolts.

                           

The building material consisted of pallets, wood salvaged from some old decks and a hedge cover.  We have cleanup week here where the town picks up items that are not a part of our regular garbage collection.   Usually the items are bulky…such as used lumber.   A lot of items exchange hands that week as people go around and pick items that they find useful. People would pick up and drop off items… it is fun to watch my pile grow and shrink through the week.  It is amazing what people will recycle. The pallets were procured from the local hardware store.  I did them a favor by picking them up as they would have to pay to have them land filled.

Beech logs where used to support the the structure.  My neighbor gave us the slide.  The steps are overhanging into the neighbor’s yard.  He said it was OK.

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The windows are kitchen cabinet doors.  I managed to find them at the restore.

The best part is how the branches actually goes through the tree-house.  Here is a view of me constructing the second floor.

We found a birds nest in the tree as well.

Here are 2 happy kids.  The tree-house is a big hit with all their friends.

The tree-house is a work in progress.  I will post more pictures as we keep adding.

My wife and I also figured out what we are going to do with the tree house when the kids outgrow it.  We are going to put a bistro set on the on the top deck.  This is the perfect spot to sit with a fantastic view up and down the street.