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Building a Treehouse |
| By Tim Snyder  Watch an eight-year-old monkeying around in a tree, and you'll have no doubt about the theory of evolution. We humans are hard-wired to love trees—to crave the risk of just reaching the next branch, and the peace at the top among swaying branches and rustling leaves. Build your kids a treehouse and, lucky you, you'll get to be a kid again for a few days, too.
Making a treehouse can be just as much fun as having one, and it's an ideal family project. In the pages to come, you'll find the 10 treehouse tips we've plucked from folks who are experts in this kind of lofty enterprise. Keep these tips in mind, and you're sure to have a great treehouse adventure. |
 Ten Tips for Treehouse Builders
1. Small is beautiful. You've probably heard about tree mansions—grandiose structures equipped with all the comforts (and costs) of earthbound residences. But a cozy crow's-nest design will do just fine, and you and the kids can build it in a weekend or two.
2. Keep the roof simple. A shed-style roof is easier to build than a gabled roof. Easier still is a tarp held taut by ropes and bungee cords, perhaps supported by a simple wood or pipe frame. But easiest of all is no roof, so your Huck Finn can lie there and look up at the stars.
 3. Salvaged material is cool. It's a treehouse tradition to use building materials that don't come straight from the lumberyard. Collect used boards, windows, road signs and other artifacts to add character to your creation. Remove nails, screws and hardware from secondhand lumber.
Remember, however, that for supporting members—posts, joists, braces and other weight-bearing timbers—it's best to use pressure-treated lumber. Treated wood will resist decay and retain its strength over time. (See tip 7, below, about handling this kind of wood safely.) Frame the floor structure for your treehouse just the way you'd frame an elevated deck—with joists and braces, as shown in the drawings. (You may want to have a look at our articles on deck framing techniques and deck hardware.) |
 4. Posts make great tree trunks. The tree doesn't have to support the house—not all of it, anyway. If suitable trees are in short supply, get your treehouse up to leaf level by sinking pressure-treated 4-by-4 or 6-by-6 posts in the ground. These are ideal when you can anchor only one corner of your treehouse to a tree. In fact, because of its stability and strength, the combination of tree and post framing may be the best design strategy of all.
Dig a hole at least 30 inches deep for each post. Mix yourself some concrete, following the directions on the bag. Tamp about 6 inches of gravel into the base of the hole, drop in the post, and then pour in enough concrete to fill the hole. Have helpers hold the post plumb while you poke and prod the concrete with a stick to drive out air bubbles (known in the trade as "rodding"). The concrete should slope away from the post on all sides to shed rain. |
 5. Be kind to trees. When it's time to drive fasteners into tree trunks or branches, remember two things. First, the fewer fasteners, the better. Second, screws hold better than nails, so you need fewer of them. And if you want to revise or dismantle your structure, you can easily remove them. Use lag bolts (also called lag screws) with 3/8- or 1/2-inch diameters. Make sure they're long enough to extend at least 3 inches into the wood beneath the bark. Drill a pilot hole for each screw, and put a large washer beneath its hex head.
Space your joists and floorboards so that trunks and branches have room to move and grow. Use galvanized deck nails to fasten framing members together. If you use cables to support parts of the structure, don't wrap the cable around branches. This can literally strangle the tree. Instead, drill a pilot hole, install a heavy-duty screw eye, and attach the cable to that.
6. Keep it fun, and give the kids a say in the planning and the work. It's truly a family effort when everybody participates and everyone has responsibilities—right down to making the lemonade. Adults may get things done faster and better, but if the kids have a chance to cooperate in the construction, they'll enjoy the treehouse all the more—and they'll remember the experience all their lives.
7. Make it safe. Be sure your design includes a good strong railing, and avoid rope ladders—they can be difficult and dangerous to climb. Instead, build your own ladder from 2-by lumber, as shown in the drawing. Wear protective goggles when you're using tools, and don't forget that kids need supervision when hammering, cutting or drilling.
Everybody—kids and grown-ups—needs to wash carefully after handling pressure-treated lumber, and wear gloves, protective glasses and dust masks when cutting it or cleaning up its sawdust. Don't burn it, either—the preservatives it contains are toxins. Pick up nails, screws, scraps and other construction debris that accumulates as you're building. Send scraps of pressure-treated lumber to the dump. |
| 8. Use cordless tools. If you've got 'em, use 'em. Otherwise, if ever there was a perfect excuse to buy a cordless drill/driver or a cordless circular saw, this is it. With lots of boards to cut, holes to drill and screws to drive, you'll find everything more convenient—safer, too—if you're not tangled in a web of power cords.
9. Build below, install aloft. Set up a pair of sawhorses at the site, and do as much cutting, drilling and assembling as possible on the ground, where it's safer and easier to work. Install a hefty pulley in the tree or on the treehouse platform, and lift subassemblies—such as beams, balusters and rails—into position. Be sure your equipment is strong enough to hold the loads you want to lift, and get everyone's attention with a loud "Heads up!" when you start the hoist. If your pulley system should slip, everybody needs to get out of the way fast.
With a heavy-duty pulley or block-and-tackle setup, you can hoist almost anything up into your tree. You can even use the rig to hold one end of a long board in place while someone else pounds some nails in to anchor it. After the project's done, your young treehouse dwellers may find that an ordinary clothesline pulley is a real treat—and it's a sure bet they'll keep it active.
 10. Round edges and soften corners. Use a block plane or sandpaper to chamfer sharp edges that folks may contact regularly. Don't leave exposed board ends and ladder rungs square-cut. Instead, cut rounded corners with a jigsaw. These friendly touches will translate into fewer scrapes and cuts as your treehouse becomes a pirate ship, a secret fort—or even a peaceful open-air reading room.
Tim Snyder, writer, photographer and carpenter, was a senior editor at Fine Homebuilding magazine and executive editor of American Woodworker magazine. With TV personality Norm Abram, Snyder coauthored two books in the best-selling New Yankee Workshop series. He's also written books on deck design and furniture making.
Tools
Gloves
Post-hole digger
Framing hammer
Digging bar
Tamper
25-foot tape measure
Combination square
Safety glasses
Dust mask
Cordless drill/driver
Cordless circular saw
Jigsaw
Plumb bob and line
Line level
Carpenter's level
Torpedo level
Wrench
Shovel
Extension ladder
Heavy-duty pulley or loft wheel
Random orbit sander
Replacement sanding discs
Block plane
Materials
Tarp or canvas (for roof)
Bungee cords
Metal or strong plastic pipes for canvas roof support
Lumber for framing and decking
Framing hardware
Plywood for roofs, floors and walls
Roll roofing or shingles
Lag bolts, 3/8- or 1/2-inch by 3-inch or more
Washers
Metal cable
Eye bolt
Heavy clothesline or rope
Galvanized nails and screws
Assorted sandpaper |
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