# TREE HOUSES



## Mouse (Dec 10, 2007)

after i'm done school I'm moving to NC to move in w/ a tattoo artist friend of mine and get taught how to ink and there's room in her house and that's all well and good but i foudn out there's a big ass tree in the back yard so I wanna build myself a awesome tree house.

so the question is... anybody done this? make a livable tree house? are there any books you know of? any ideas? any tips? 


thank ya muchly


----------



## finn (Dec 10, 2007)

Do mean like a mini house, or is a platform that you can pitch a tent on good enough?


----------



## Mouse (Dec 10, 2007)

uh... mini house like i guess. ya know..walls, roof, windows, ect.


----------



## Adversaryan (Dec 10, 2007)

I like to consider myself quite the bad ass treefort builder, Everythings pretty easy for the most part, your only real concern is the stability of the floor. being as you have to build akward supports on round angles. i wouldent go trying to build a big ass house in a tree because you will need alot of wood. and the bigger it is the more likely it is to fall and not to mention they have reaaaaalllly bad ass storms in north carolina. Best lightning ive ever seen matter of fact. Its still easy though. Theres nothing different about a tree fort than a normal house. besides the foundation. Really just need to knock areas of bark off untill you have flat surfaces to nail too. And once you have enough crap to nail to you build on top of that. taking every possible oprotunity to make new flat places to nail to for added support. Find yourself an old wood stove and theres this black fabric you can get at like plumbing places thats fireproof for extra safety around the stove and chimeny. are you sure your tatoo artist friend would be cool with you building a tree house in the back yard in the first place? lol.


----------



## Bendixontherails (Dec 10, 2007)

I have helped build three tree houses, and the best thing I have found is to put a couple of posts in the ground out a few feet from the tree to build the floor on. unless you're good at engineering and determining loads and geometry and all that shit, trying to have nothing touching the ground but the tree itself, while possible, is a great way to spend a lot of labor on something that will fall down. hopefully when your at the tattoo shop... set two or three 4x4 posts at least two feet in the ground and attach boards betwen them and the tree and each other. then build the floor on that. let the tree do what it wants. it's especially cool if you can have the tree in the room with you.

hope these help!

http://familyfun.go.com/decorating-...2_proj_treehouse/famf0602_proj_treehouse.html

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/ca_playground/article/0,2041,DIY_13723_2270312,00.html

http://www.cornerhardware.com/home_improvement_articles/building_a_treehouse/61

http://members.shaw.ca/patrick-nt/treehouse.html

by the way, can anyone tell me how to do that neat 'tinyurl' trick that everybody but me seems to know?


----------



## jack ransom (Dec 10, 2007)

fucking awesome!

I wanna start a swiss family robinson - style punk house that could escalate into an ewok village. fuck yeah!


----------



## eliothenson (Dec 11, 2007)

Just so you know, a lot of plans are going to call for pressure-treated lumber, which is fine for a playhouse, but I would stay away from it. You should probably go ahead and use it for the floor joists at least, and for the supports, if you're going to reach down to the ground- but anything more than that is going to be really unhealthy for long term living, and could give you a whole mess of health problems down the road. It's also really expensive.


----------



## SimplemanChris (Dec 11, 2007)

Hi,

I think treehomes are the coolist places to live. I have only built platforms to sit on, not a four sided + roof dwelling. There is just something about being up in a tree and sleeping at night that seems so much safer than being on the ground. Just be sure not to build in an Alder tree. They won’t support a fort. If there are any buildings being remodeled or torn down near you, you can snag lots of usable lumber from the dumpsters. Remember that if you strip the tree from too much bark, you will kill it. I would sink three or four 4x4’s next to the tree and build on that to get up off the ground. You won’t have to worry about storms blowing your home down. Good luck and if you build it, could you please post a pict? I would love to see it. Good luck with the new home and job training!

Chris


----------



## Mouse (Dec 11, 2007)

Adversaryan said:


> I like to consider myself quite the bad ass treefort builder, Everythings pretty easy for the most part, your only real concern is the stability of the floor. being as you have to build akward supports on round angles. i wouldent go trying to build a big ass house in a tree because you will need alot of wood. and the bigger it is the more likely it is to fall and not to mention they have reaaaaalllly bad ass storms in north carolina. Best lightning ive ever seen matter of fact. Its still easy though. Theres nothing different about a tree fort than a normal house. besides the foundation. Really just need to knock areas of bark off untill you have flat surfaces to nail too. And once you have enough crap to nail to you build on top of that. taking every possible oprotunity to make new flat places to nail to for added support. Find yourself an old wood stove and theres this black fabric you can get at like plumbing places thats fireproof for extra safety around the stove and chimeny. are you sure your tatoo artist friend would be cool with you building a tree house in the back yard in the first place? lol.



after reading some I've decided to concentrate of just making an awesomely perfect platform to star workig from, the rest will fall into place from there. 


and yes, my friend is actually very happy about my idea. she wants to start a modern primative household full of freaks and art so it'll fit right in.


----------



## bananathrash (Dec 13, 2007)

jack ransom said:


> fucking awesome!
> 
> I wanna start a swiss family robinson - style punk house that could escalate into an ewok village. fuck yeah!


complete with odd little men who later evolve into willow?






a tree house to live in would be very cool, but very cold.


----------



## julieofthetrees (Dec 17, 2007)

i'm a big fan of the dream catcher style. You can make one in any tree that has a sturdy semi-flat form and rock it with just some climbing type rope and p-cord. If you use knots all the way around, rather than just wrapping, the holes don't shift much or anything. i would recommend breaking it up into multiple small dream catchers with the original climbing rope that lines the sides. This makes it easier to work on and repair.


----------



## WapatoGreyer (Apr 11, 2011)

julieofthetrees said:


> i'm a big fan of the dream catcher style. You can make one in any tree that has a sturdy semi-flat form and rock it with just some climbing type rope and p-cord. If you use knots all the way around, rather than just wrapping, the holes don't shift much or anything. i would recommend breaking it up into multiple small dream catchers with the original climbing rope that lines the sides. This makes it easier to work on and repair.


 
I'm thinking about building one as well, which is why I'm browsing this forum, but I'm not totally sure what you mean by "dream catcher style" and don't follow your explanation. Could you go into further detail?


----------

