[CNYWOODS]

The kids finally got me to start brainstorming a 2 story single tree treehouse. I've skimmed a few books and looked around the google. But one question I can't find an answer to- the tree will run through the center of the house and up the roof. My concern/question would be can i attach the roof to the tree as well? I can design it both ways, but not sure if its best to let it float for when the tree stretches and sways in the wind.

 

[minuteman62-64]

I'm not a tree house builder, but do have some training in structures.

Seems to me you are asking for problems if you have a ridged structure with both the deck and the roof fastened to the tree. As you note, the tree is going to move when the wind blows. The higher up you go, the more movement. So, you risk having the tree trying to move the roof a greater distance than it would try and move the floor.

Might not be enough movement to matter. But, just to be safe, I'd let the tree pass through the roof with a wide enough opening to account for wind movement.

Alternatively, you could fasten the floor and the roof to the tree and leave a gap between the roof and the walls - so the roof would float above the walls.

 

[jharris2]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...38691&qsubts=1370585474655&q=tree+house+cable

 

[CNYWOODS]

Thanks minute, me thinks I like the idea of a floating roof.

Jharris- not sure where that link was taking me

 

[Steve Neul]

The kids finally got me to start brainstorming a 2 story single tree treehouse. I've skimmed a few books and looked around the google. But one question I can't find an answer to- the tree will run through the center of the house and up the roof. My concern/question would be can i attach the roof to the tree as well? I can design it both ways, but not sure if its best to let it float for when the tree stretches and sways in the wind.

I built this tree house when I was about 13 from scavanged materials. It was two levels with a stairway leading from one level to another. Doing it again knowing better now I think I would construct a box around the trunk giving the trunk room to grow and bridge the gap between the trunk and the box with a rubber membrane and attach the roof to that. Everything moves in a tree house so you have to allow for that. The tree is important too. This treehouse would never been possible in a different tree. It was a gynko tree and the limbs were so fexible you couldn't break them.

 

[jharris2]

Thanks minute, me thinks I like the idea of a floating roof.

Jharris- not sure where that link was taking me

I was suggesting that you use steel cable to suspend the treehouse from the tree rather than use any kind of rigid connection.

 

[jharris2]

Wow Steve,

That tree house is incredible!

The urge to build starts early yes?

We built "forts" in the foothills of the Sandia mountains out of salvaged materials but never anything that majestic.

 

[Steve Neul]

Wow Steve,

That tree house is incredible!

The urge to build starts early yes?

We built "forts" in the foothills of the Sandia mountains out of salvaged materials but never anything that majestic.

Looking back I don't know how that treehouse came to be. Somebody should have stopped it before it got that far. It was built about 20' from the street on a vacant lot that didn't belong to my family. Its a wonder the owner of the property (town mayor) didn't stop it or the electric company or especially my parents. It's a wonder my dad didn't get sued but eventually the city stepped in and I took it down myself. A different time I guess where people didn't look for any excuse to sue. As of last summer the tree was still there and in good condition. The treehouse didn't hurt it.

 

[jharris2]

Looking back I don't know how that treehouse came to be. Somebody should have stopped it before it got that far...

***Yeah Steve, As an adult with a youthful history of broken bones, road rash and countless sutures I would never climb that puppy.

***But if I put myself back to the day, that project looks like the stairway to heaven.

***The climb put you beyond the reach of of adult interference. A place to dream, contemplate the heavens and assert youthful independence. Huck and Tom?

It was built about 20' from the street on a vacant lot that didn't belong to my family. Its a wonder the owner of the property (town mayor) didn't stop it or the electric company or especially my parents.

***God bless 'em all. A boy needs something like this in order to realize that through hard work, determination and single mindedness we can make our dreams come true.

***I'm sure that you boys had a laser focus and at the end of the day you laid in your beds, exhausted and going over the next days work.

It's a wonder my dad didn't get sued but eventually the city stepped in and I took it down myself. A different time I guess where people didn't look for any excuse to sue. As of last summer the tree was still there and in good condition. The treehouse didn't hurt it.

***We now live in such a litigious society. Very sad that its unlikely that today's youth will never experience the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction you were allowed as a child.

***As an aside, I have saved your photo and plan to print it and make a rustic frame that reflects its meaning.

***It speaks to me in a visceral way that takes me back to bygone days.

***Whenever anyone asks about it I'll tell them that it was built by a kid named Steve who believed he could reach the stars.

***Thank you for posting this story

****

 

[Steve Neul]

****

That's some pretty poetic comments. It's interesting you should mention Tom and Huck. The town was one Samuel Clemens knew well. It's at the conjunction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, Cairo, Illinois.

 

[jharris2]

That's some pretty poetic comments....

Laughing (eek!) Like I said, that photo really struck a chord with me.

It got me thinking about my boyhood friends and our adventures.

Life is simple as a child and anything is possible.

 

[Midwest Millworks]

I built my first tree house when I was 11. That was also the first time I used a circular saw. I had to use it when my dad was at work. Power tools were off limits to me at that time. I remember being scared to death the first time I operated that old Black and Decker saw all by myself. I can't believe I was never injured.

To answer the OP's question, the tree needs room to move and grow. Without seeing the plans it is a hard question to answer.

Mike Darr

 

[Midwest Millworks]

I built this tree house when I was about 13 from scavanged materials. It was two levels with a stairway leading from one level to another. Doing it again knowing better now I think I would construct a box around the trunk giving the trunk room to grow and bridge the gap between the trunk and the box with a rubber membrane and attach the roof to that. Everything moves in a tree house so you have to allow for that. The tree is important too. This treehouse would never been possible in a different tree. It was a gynko tree and the limbs were so fexible you couldn't break them.

Steve, that is a very cool tree house. It brings back some very good childhood memories of mine. I wish I had pictures of the ones I built. On one hand I wish my kids could have the same experiences that we did as kids, and on the other hand I'm glad they can't. I don't understand how we didn't get hurt doing the things we did.

Mike Darr