Building a Treehouse: Part 2 - Building the Base
Topic: Kids' Stuff
Posted: Mon, May 15, 2006 
Construction began with drilling through the tree. In theory this seemed straight forward, but perched at the top of a ladder the task was more difficult than expected. I drained the 18 volt battery of my cordless drill three times just to make two holes. With the holes drilled, I passed two 3ft bars of all-tread through the tree and attached the support chains.
(if you haven't read Part 1, go back now and read it.)
Each of the support chains were made up of the following elements:
- D-ring
- Section of chain
- D-ring
- Turn buckle
- D-ring
- Section of chain
- D-ring
Each of these elements are rated at a safe working load of 2,200 lbs.
The top D-rings connect to the all-thread bars. The bottom D-rings connect to eye-bolts that are secured to the two 4x6 main beams and the two 4x4 that cradle the beams.
After the main beams were secured to the support chains, I added the 2x6 floor joists. The joists are spaced at 1ft intervals.
With the floor joists secured, I then placed the decking boards on the frame. These boards consisted of 10ft 1x4 pine boards.
Next, I will work on the walls and roof. If you'd like to part with any reclaimed lumber (to be used for siding) and/or old windows (with screens), please contact me (bmundy at gmail dot com). I'm looking for free or nearly free :)
(Read Part 3 of the story.)
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Comments
1. Jul 21, 06 06:51 PM | John Moore said:
Hi Brent, no need to publish this note to the web. I just wanted to say thanks for sharing your thoughts and great pics of using chains for support in treehouse construction(great minds think alike). I had contacted someone else and had been discouraged to use chains as it was suggested it would do damage to the tree.
Regards, John
2. Jul 23, 06 09:53 PM | bmundy said:
John, I've been very happy with the chain supports. The tricky part was keeping the platform balanced while I was building it. The chains are plenty strong, but if I walked out to one of the corners of the base, the entire base would tilt. During construction, I tacked up temporary supports from the corners of the base to the ground to keep everything stable. As I built out more of the treehouse, the weight of the treehouse added greatly to the overall stability.
To provide vertical stability after taking down the temporary supports, I used cables to connect the four corners of the treehouse to the tree. For my project, I'm using cables running from each corner to the tree.
Check back in five years or so and I can tell you how well the chain system has stood up against the test of time :)
3. Aug 23, 06 12:07 PM | Jeff Wheelock said:
Hello Brent,
Thanks for the great idea! My son and I were scanning the web looking for treehouse ideas and yours fit our environment perfectly. We've got a 10x10 platform built hanging from a Eucalyptus using your model. Minor changes from your design included:
1) removal of the turnbuckle (we leveled it using the eye bolt s in the main beams and drilling the holes for the all-threads one chain link apart in height)
2) stabilization using lines under the platform streched taunt from eack corner back to the tree (sort of like a sail on a boat). The lines needed to be weight bearing to keep the platform from tipping so I used components which rated to 1200 pounds. I aslo had to screw some serious eye bolts into the tree but this was better than falling off the edge :-) The platform still sways slightly but it stays level - and the kids like the movement.
I then built up a railing at 4 1/2 feet by running 4 2x4 bannisters with 1x1 rails (see http://www.doityourself.com/stry/15deckrail) so it's currently a hanging deck. We've hit a financial stop point for now but am planning on adding canvas walls for a drop down tent which will be controlled by a pully up in the tree limbs. We can do this in Southern California thanks to the weather ;-)
Again - thanks for the inspiration! I'll post some pictures when my daughter finds my camera memory stick...
-jeff
4. Aug 31, 06 11:44 AM | bmundy said:
Jeff,
I'm glad that you found the articles helpful. It is interesting that you stopped building at the 'floating deck' phase. When we reached that point, we nearly stopped as well!
Eliminating the turn-buckles was a great efficiency move on your part. Looking back on it -and hearing your experience- I could have likely done without them as well.
For stabilization during construction, I just tacked 2x4's to the corners of the platform. These supports ran vertically to the ground. I left these supports in place until I built the walls and roof. With ready contact points available above the deck, I used wire lines to connect the top of the walls to the tree near where the trunk passes through the roof. Same idea as you with the wires, just on the flip-side of the deck.