Why don't you just go with a tire swing, soz?
Or hire a chainsaw artisan and carve the tree into my image.
That would be so friggin cool!
gustavratzenhofer wrote:Why don't you just go with a tire swing, soz?
And later, when the kid becomes a snotty teen as they are wont to do, a gallows.
There is a person in town that built a "stump house". He had a rather large oak tree cut down and there was about 6 inches of the stump protruding from the ground and the girth of the tree was considerable, but not worthy of his ultimate endeavor.
Anyway, he built a tree house for his kid. Just nailed this square edifice to the trunk. Looked like something from the "treehouse from hell". (does anyone remember that tv series?)
Whenever I drive by his house I honk the horn on my truck, point to the treehouse, and start laughing.
Several times he has raced towards my truck and shook his fist in a menacing manner.
Also, use screws and bolts, as blacksmithn proposed. They grip much better.
If you left it tall enough, you could still suspend it from the ground, with cables running up to the top.
Balsa is a hardwood?! The stuff they make model airplanes out of, that you can cut with scissors? (I guess that could just be a function of how thinly it's cut... hmmm.)
Anyway, what got this whole train of thought going is that we had tree trimmers out here today, they did part but not all of the job of trimming the cottonwoods. (They are the ones we'll eventually have chop down the stump, probably.) Anyway, they did an amazing clean-up job (I was convinced that my fern grove would be squooshed, but it's untouched, thank you thank you tree guys), but left behind two sections of a large branch (about 10" diameter). I poked and prodded them and the wood looks good! Seems pine-ish, certainly a lot of substance to it, not obviously soft at all.
Wikipedia says balsa is a hardwood, and cottonwood is too. This is encouraging:
Quote:The wood is coarse and of fairly low value, used for pallet boxes, shipping crates and similar, where a coarse but cheap and strong wood is suitable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottonwood
After some more reading on cottonwood, I'm inclined to believe that it's something on the order of pine as well. According to Wikipedia, it's wood is coarse but strong, used for pallets and shipping crates. I'd still consult the arborist, but it sounds like a good bet for a treehouse to me.
Hmm. Great minds think alike, I see...
:-D
I found this, too:
http://www.woodmagazine.com/wood/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/wood/story/data/cottonwood.xml&catref=wd12
Ooh, I'm getting excited! 'Course, once we cut it down it'll probably turn out to be rotted and filled with raccoon poop...
Thump the cottonwood stub before cutting, just in case you have neighbors in residence.
More than 50 years ago, the nenghbors had a decaying oak tree removed and I can still remember the flying squirrel parents trying to save their babies.
Aw, that's sad.
Will thump.
E.G. likes this idea, too, which certainly ups the likelihood of it happening.
OK, so to logistics:
Say that the stump turns out to be solid and sound. What is the best way for me to build and attach a 9' X 9' square platform? (Doesn't have to be exactly that size if another size would work better, I think a minimum of 6'X6' and a max of 10'X10'.)
I'd suggest long lag bolts through 2x6 joists right into the stump. That'd be the way I'd do it, anyway.
Check.
What about the support problem I mentioned in the first post? Would the notch/ overlap/ grid thing work? How would you make a 9'x9' grid sit on a 3' diameter stump and have sufficient support all the way around?
I don't think that would work. Notching means weakening, however incrementally. I'd make a box around the stump of doubled-up 2x6 nailed together and then lag bolt that to the stump. Then hang the rest of your joists from that secured "box" using metal joist hangers and screws or bolts.
Now we're talkin'!
That's just what I'm looking for, thanks so much.
That makes a lot of sense.
I have a lot of tree house articles, but, still packed.
What I remember first is that many of them secure the platform not only by bolting key joists to the trunk. but they also brace from the outer edges of the platform back down to the trunk - it ends up looking like a bunch of triangles holding the house up. I'm a fan of using Simpson Strong-Tie connectors wherever I can too. They don't cost all that much (well, not nothing either) and help keep things sturdy.
A room with a view in the yard is a nice idea, but it doesn't absolutely have to be hung on to a tree....
I've been thinking of how to describe this in words.
Think of the grid as a giant H with the stump in the center of the crossmember. The crossmember itself is double 2x6 bolted to the stump on each side of the stump. Each side of the H is a 2x6x9' (or however long you want it, personally I'd go 8' because you can readily buy that length precut) bolted to the crossmember (I'd also suggest metal angle brackets for greater security there, but I'm an overkill kinda guy). Now close the top and bottom of the H with 2x6 and you've got the box into which you can secure the remaining joists.
Does that make any sense?
