Treehouse Fantasy

It so does! And the detail about 8' being easier to buy pre-cut is also just the kind of info I'm looking for, thanks!

Simpson strong-tie connectors sounds like an excellent tip as well, thanks osso.

I think I'm gonna request a bunch of books from the library next. This is shaping up, though. It'll cost to have the tree cut to where we want it (the trimming yesterday was free courtesy of the electric company -- powerlines) and the lumber will cost and the rest of the materials will cost so don't know how soon we can actually afford to do this... but awfully fun to think about and prepare.

Where you can't see the joists, use pressure treated wood. It's slightly less costly. Personally I'd use redwood or cedar for anything visible and then finish it with gloss spar varnish.

Damn, I do so love a good project!

Oh and two reasons I'd want to do this on the stump rather than building something elsewhere. One is that sozlet just loves climbing/ being high up, and this is on a slope so that while it may be 6 feet (or 8 or 10 or whatever we end up deciding) off the ground, it feels higher yet because the grassy area is another several feet lower from where the trunk starts.

The other is that there simply isn't any other good place for it in the yard -- that's part of why I'm excited about this idea. We currently have a little playhouse on the deck, it's ugly (plastic) and takes up room and I'd like to clear off the deck for other uses, and then the rest of the yard is either a rather steep slope (hard to build on) or the rectangle of grass (which I'd prefer to keep uncluttered).

Speaking of financing, I know both Lowe's and Home Depot have deals where if you spend more than some amount ($200-300, I think) there's no interest and no payments for 12 months.

And if you apply for an HD card, they give you a free gift. They have a pretty nice selection, including power tools.

Now I sound like a commercial! Sorry!

Me too, blacksmithn!

Any guesses at how much the materials would set me back?

Oh, hadn't seen your latest, ties right in though. Good to know.

The price of lumber varies so much from place to place that I couldn't even hazard a guess. Here in Southern Cal., it would easily run me over $300.

Here is a website for a modular treehouse:

Modular Treehouse

Perhaps, soz, you can find some ideas here ? :wink:

Oops!

ModularTreehouse





Spherical Treehouse

Bad news...

We had a tree guy out recently to give us a quote on having the cottonwoods trimmed. We also asked about the giant stump. He was emphatically against the idea of cutting it to about 6 feet and putting a treehouse on top of it. :-( He said that we can drill the tree itself to get an idea of how solid it is, but it will rot from the roots, and there is no way to know what's going on down there. That when it does fall, it'll just keel over at ground level because of rotting from the roots up.

Bummer.

I really liked that idea.

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Now I'm plotting what I can build in that area once the giant tree stump is dealt with, though... or something in between the two live cottonwoods, a true treehouse....

Oh! A SUSPENSION tree house, suspended on cables between the two trees! How cool would that be?

SUPER cool!!!

I'm gonna make something, dagnabbit, if not anytime too soon.

It'd be like being in a ship on the ocean to be in that house with the breezes blowing. I'm really liking this idea, even better than the original one!

Reality is maddening.

I'm with Noddy. I hate reality.

But a suspension treehouse sounds pretty ulitmate.

That does sound extremely cool! Have you seen one yet? I wonder how one would get in and out, but I'm sure there's some way to make this possible. Worst case is you hang a rope-ladder from the house.

I haven't seen one personally, but I found this one when I googled treehouse on cables:



It's a little to modern for my taste, but it shows you what can be done with the right trees, lots of cable and apparently unlimited funds.

So now I know -- wouldn't have worked.

They took down the stump today, and it was just crumbly mush. Live cottonwoods are very strong, with plenty of sap/ moisture -- 15-year-dead cottonwoods are basically balsa wood. No way would it have been strong enough.

Which is a relief in a way since it's gone -- would've kind of sucked to find out we could've done it after all.

Meanwhile, the tree trimmer guys were rhapsodizing about the possibilities of building a treehouse between the two live cottonwoods -- we're doing it sometime, I swear.

For now, I'm focusing my "cool stuff for sozlet to play with" energies on using one of their ropes to make a super-cool swing for sozlet. The way the trimmers have been working is that they threw ropes WAY up there, and shimmied up them (a circus act in our backyard, amazing), and then cut from up in the tree, chainsaw-wielding monkeys. They're not quite done, and one of their ropes is still there. It's hanging from a branch about 50 feet up, and I thought wouldn't it be cool...? And we know it's a good strong junction. I'm going to buy some good rope this weekend, and then ask if we can attach our rope to the end of theirs when they're done, and pull ours through. And then have a 50-foot swing!

It hangs in the middle of the grassy area, plenty of room to maneuver. We can pull it out of the way to mow or whatever. Not sure if I'd want to go with a standard long rectangle of rubber, or something like this:



(Dragon made out of recycled tires.)

Love the idea, though.

Remembering this thread ...

I just got a link to Germany's first tree hut hotel
http://www.kulturinsel.com/baumhaushotel/details-preise.html#c198

(the noted prices are for four persons, including breakfast)