The Complete Guide to TREEHOUSES 2nd Edition Design & Build Your Kids a Treehouse Contents The Complete Guide to Treehouses Introduction Lofty Ideas Treehouse Basics Choosing a Tree General Tree Health Is It Big Enough? Location Behavior Grooming the Winner Choosing a Tree Species Planning & Design Building Codes & Zoning Laws Elements of a Treehouse Design Considerations Drawing Plans Lumber & Hardware Treehouse Safety Safe Treehouse Design Working Safely Treehouse Building Techniques Building Platforms Platform Basics Platform Anchoring Techniques Installing Decking Platform Designs Single Tree: Platform Nestled in Branches Single Tree: Trunk as Center Post Two Trees: Platform Spanning Between Trunks Three Trees: Platform Spanning Between Trunks Two Trees & Two Support Posts Framing & Finishing Walls Framing Walls Siding & Trim Installing Walls Building Railings Finishing Interiors Wall & Ceiling Paneling Shelves & Tables Flip-down Table & Bunk Doors & Windows Building a Window Window Cutouts Shutters & Pop-up Windows Fun Doors Classic Doors Building Roofs Framing the Roof Sheathing & Roofing Modes of Access Ladders Stairs Trap Doors Fireman’s Pole Swings & Playthings Classic Tree Swings Zip Line Rock Climbing Wall Water Cannon Speaking Tube Slides Treehouse Projects Open-air Treehouse Gable House with Entry Deck More Treehouse Plans Plan 1: Gable Roof with Auxiliary Posts Plan 2: A-frame with Walkout Deck Plan 3: Half-covered Crow’s Nest Plan 4: Wraparound Shed on Stilts Plan 5: Triangular Tree Hut Plan 6: Four-tree Shanty Resources/Photo Credits Index Introduction A treehouse may be the truest example of “living” space. For kids, it’s a room that never has to be cleaned, a place for muddy shoes and bug jars and adventures real and imagined; a house that you can paint whenever and however you want, without gaining approval. For adults, it’s a room that never has to be cleaned, a place for muddy shoes and . . .well, you get the idea. But best of all a treehouse is up in a tree. And that’s just cool. If you’re fortunate enough to have a yard with at least one sizable tree on it, you’ve probably entertained the idea of building a treehouse (after all, you are human, which makes you roughly 96 percent chimp). So what’s stopping you? Let’s see . . .you’re not a carpenter, your design skills are largely or totally untested, and you don’t know the first thing about building a house, let alone one that hovers 10 feet above the ground. No big deal—you can do this. The first step is to learn a little bit about trees and decide whether you have a suitable host. And don’t worry if your yard isn’t blessed with the perfect specimen; there are plenty of options for the arboreally challenged. Next comes a basic lesson in treehouse design (if you can tell the difference between a 2 × 4 and a lag screw, you’ll do just fine). Here you’ll also learn the important relationship between the tree and the house design and why the living wood determines the best plan for the lumber. The foundation of any treehouse is the platform. That’s what’s anchored to the tree and therefore requires the most specialized techniques and considerations. But once the platform is in place, a treehouse goes up pretty much like any outdoor building, such as a shed or a doghouse for an Irish Wolfhound. Yet treehouses aren’t just tree-borne outbuildings; many of them are more like out-there buildings, with funky angles, fun accessories, and all manner of custom details that sprout from the builder’s imagination or, more accurately, from their inner child. Zip line, anyone? Whatever you can dream up, this book will help you build it. You’ll be talked and walked through each part of the process so that all that’s left is adding your own design ideas and inspiration from others (kids in particular). Most treehouse builders find that creating a house is as much fun as playing in one. If this holds true for you, we’ll probably see you back here again when it’s time to put on an addition or to break bark on your second home. Lofty Ideas Just as no two trees are exactly alike, no two treehouses are precisely the same in every detail. In fact, you’ll find as much if not more variety among houses in trees as you’ll find among the trees themselves. This diversity of design has a lot to do with diversity of builders. Treehouses tend to inspire our innate creativity and grant us license to have fun in a way that terrestrial houses and garages don’t. On the following few pages you’ll find a stunning portfolio that is a testament to the diversity and creativity that surround the treehouse. From bright and whimsical to subdued and relaxed, you’ll find a wealth of themes, motifs, styles, and ideas that will inform and inspire you in your treehouse pursuit. The bigger the tree the more options you’ll have for designing and attaching a treehouse. Here, a colorful lookout tower with a ramp and climbing net piggybacks onto one side of a mature oak tree. Vibrant colors and fun shapes add whimsy and playfulness to this treehouse, which also features a unique limb penetration through a sidewall. Treehouses and spaceships often share some design features, contributing to the out-of-this-world appeal of a fort in the trees. Despite appearances, the structure beneath this treehouse is a shed, not an outhouse. (But if it were an outhouse, note that the builder sited it, appropriately, beneath the treehouse, not above it.)