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OK, here we go again.
I know, I know, where do I find these crazy jobs? I dunno. They find me.
Got to build a tree house.
Imagine a tree in the deep woods with a 30″ diameter trunk. I gotta put a 12′ x 12′ deck around it about twelve feet up the straight trunk. The deck will eventually be held in place by a cable system from above to be designed on site. (That’ll be fun). But first, I gotta get the deck up there with no perminent source of support and without bracing back to the tree. We don’t want to penetrate the tree with any fasteners if we can avoid it.
My first thought is setting some temporary 4×4’s braced with kickers back to the ground and then build to those to be removed later.
The builder wants me to build the deck around the base of the tree and lift the whole thing up. I’m not sure I’m smart enough to make that happen safely.
I bought the Stiles book on tree house building (suggested to me here, I might add, in the rope bridge thread…..thank you very much), and have gotten some good methods there, but nothing I’m comfortable with yet for this particular tree house.
Keep in mind you can’t drive to the site, the ground is way uneven, and there is no electrical. The 8 acres is dead center in the middle of Dallas by White Rock Lake, but you might as well be in the boonies.
Also, the deck will someday (soon I hope) be hanging from all four corners. Is there a deck layout other than the conventional that would lend itself to that?
Here we go again. Please fax all drawings to (214) 358-2203. That’s the fax# at my shop. It’s not my line, it’s the draftmans’ line, so take it easy on his machine.
Thanks,
Ed.
Replies
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OK, here we go again.
I know, I know, where do I find these crazy jobs? I dunno. They find me.
Got to build a tree house.
Imagine a tree in the deep woods with a 30" diameter trunk. I gotta put a 12' x 12' deck around it about twelve feet up the straight trunk. The deck will eventually be held in place by a cable system from above to be designed on site. (That'll be fun). But first, I gotta get the deck up there with no perminent source of support and without bracing back to the tree. We don't want to penetrate the tree with any fasteners if we can avoid it.
My first thought is setting some temporary 4x4's braced with kickers back to the ground and then build to those to be removed later.
The builder wants me to build the deck around the base of the tree and lift the whole thing up. I'm not sure I'm smart enough to make that happen safely.
I bought the Stiles book on tree house building (suggested to me here, I might add, in the rope bridge thread.....thank you very much), and have gotten some good methods there, but nothing I'm comfortable with yet for this particular tree house.
Keep in mind you can't drive to the site, the ground is way uneven, and there is no electrical. The 8 acres is dead center in the middle of Dallas by White Rock Lake, but you might as well be in the boonies.
Also, the deck will someday (soon I hope) be hanging from all four corners. Is there a deck layout other than the conventional that would lend itself to that?
Here we go again. Please fax all drawings to (214) 358-2203. That's the fax# at my shop. It's not my line, it's the draftmans' line, so take it easy on his machine.
Thanks,
Ed.