Dead Tree for Treehouse

[MasterBlaster]

Yea, I ain't rich enough for a thousand dollar fan! Crikey!!!

 

[pantheraba]

It's OK, Boss...somebody has to buy those. Beautiful pictures/setups.

Great tip on treating/staining the wood. The pictures look like it works a treat!

I like the cross cut saws on your wall. I helped an old time logger from Louisiana cut down about a 5' diameter oak about 40 years ago with one of those. ONLY ONCE, trust me...super hard but it did work.

He was about 55 or 60 years old at the time...my friend and I were in our 20's...it was Jon's father. Mr. Perkins told us when we heard the first little peep of noise like wood tearing to run like hell. We sawed where he told, heard a creak, both turned to take off running and he was already about 30 yards up on top of the hill...looking at us like, "What's taking you youngsters so long????"

Good share...thanks.

 

[TypicalHomeownr]

That's an awesome story, and yes the staining works amazingly. About to stain a chicken coop "expansion" I just built to match the original hen house... because somehow I'm up to 40 chickens (Step 1 of dad's anonymous is to admit you are powerless over your daughter). My dad gave me those saws but I'm certain he never used them. His similarly probably not-so-great-advice for cutting down trees was to stand as close to the trunk as possible when it starts to go because then you can easily "sidestep around it away from the direction it was falling".

On the $1000 fan... agreed that's a lot, but I've lost enough money to learn to just buy the right one up front and you'll save in the long run. I've also learned the even more valuable lesson that when your wife loves a $1000 fan and you try to explain how ridiculous that is for a ceiling fixture that blows air around when we already have air conditioning... that it would have probably been a lot easier path to just buy the fan without trying to rationalize the purchase.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Hahahahahaaa!!! For sure!!!

 

[Bermy]

Great tip on the stain
You have a woodpile worthy of membership at the 'House...we like a nice woodpile.

 

[pantheraba]

Money...wife....rational....????

Just buy the damn fan!

Love your Dad's tree cutting advice...Makes a good story but to really do that?? Nada!!

So which way do you run on this one??? A real charlie foxtrot...

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[squisher]

Some cool stuff there. I'd say you're a not so typicalhomeowner. Thanks for sharing.

 

[flushcut]

That's a good looking space you have.

 

[TypicalHomeownr]

Hi guys, wanted to provide you an update since you all sent me down a different path- and because it's always nice to see where your advice leads!

I ended up building two freestanding treehouse platforms around trees without actually tapping into them at all. The house is not yet built, but it will be on the upper platform. I used all cedar wood (except the decking/platforms) from the land and will stain the decking when done to match the color of the cedar to make it kind of disappear.

I'll upload more images as I get closer to done!

 

[lxskllr]

Looking good!

 

[Burnham]

Nice job.

 

[Altissimus]

I admit to liking it for sure as it came out real nice. I have removed a few Trees in such locations , I always use the same line w the customers "building a deck around a tree , sooner or later they all regret it" .... mainly the bid as we have to lower everything and then deal with removing the trunk.

 

[stig]

That sure is a fine job.

 

[Burnham]

That said, do keep a close eye on the rate of deterioration of the natural poles and supports...they will likely go faster than expected, especially the ground contact points.

 

[flushcut]

Good looking build!

Edit. auto correct nonsense.

 

[TypicalHomeownr]

Ok, almost done- here's some update images (10 total). I do have a bracing question... but since this thread is so old I'm going to leave this as my last post here and ask in a new topic.

MOST OF ALL- I'd like to thank the good people here on the forum who talked me out of the dead tree in a positive way. It got me on this path and I'm very pleased with the ultimate outcome. So thank you guys for your guidance there!

 

[ruel]

Looks sharp!