Home Sweet Treehouse

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

A magnificent old oak tree next to their California home, already host to chirping birds, chattering squirrels and teeming insect life cried out for a treehouse. Together, we built a house of 100 square feet (9 square meters) boasting electrical circuits, a custom-made ladder, a deck and a hand-built Dutch door. The oak grows right up through the roof and out of one windows. I had to invent "tree gaskets" made of clear vinyl and rubber stamping as a way of sealing out the extremes of weather.

Work began with the "consultation phase," which consisted of the children climbing the tree. After thinking hard about what they wanted, Laura, 5, and Brian, 2, had lots of ideas and definite preferences. They asked for the en trance to be on the east, and their favorite curved branch to be "furniture" inside the house. They hoped the ladder would retract, and that they would be able to climb the tree from deck to roof. Additionally, they wanted a flat roof to allow for future expansion to a second floor, where we planned a spiral slide and a fireman's pole from the upper level to the deck.

The design and placement evolved through a natural sequence of events. We built the deck first. Then we walked it, measured it and thought about it, until the exact place and shape for the house grew from our combined imaginations. Larry helped carry recycled California redwood timbers up the hill and into the tree. Stephanie inspired the whole project. For my part, I was very careful to maintain the health of the tree and to keep our enthusiasm rooted in practicality.

The light fixtures, the electrical parts, the windows, the structural beams, the wood trim, much of the hardware and other features were all salvaged from contractors' demolition debris and spare parts. The house was built of painted plywood over a frame of 2-by-4 beams. We also used batt insulation and composition roll roofing.

For the access stair/ladder we made handrails from recycled copper piping and fittings. The base structure is balanced in the bottom notch of the oak tree, and the extremities of the deck and the house are hung with adjustable cables from heavy branches above.

To prevent the tree from being chafed we put rubber hosepipe over cables. We also ensured that no nails or bolts would penetrate the wood of the tree.

After the deck and house were completed, I was concerned there might be too much wind sway, since the weight of the house was held by the branches. I therefore added two long posts, resting on pier blocks on the ground beneath, to support the heavy end of the deck. The entire structure is adjustable by bolts, allowing for tree growth and settling.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print