After my workmate Bill turned me on to some amazing books of treehouses that folks have built around the world, I did a little reading and decided that I too would give it a shot and try to build one. It will be a small playhouse for Max and Piper, and I decided to just follow the plans for the single tree structure that is found in Tree Houses You Can Actually Build. I'll most likely work on it on the occasional free weekend, and will try to document the progress as I go...

Weekend 10 & 11 - August

Finished!  Took two weekends to get 7 sheets of tin cut and screwed down for the roof, but the last screw went in last night, and it is all done. It'll be fun to hear what it sounds like inside when the rains start!

Weekend 9 - August

Finished with the 2x4 rafters, and then attached 3/4x6 cedar planks on the rafters for the tin roof to screw onto. Tin roof goes on next, and that should be it!

Weekend 7 & 8 - July

Picked up four round posts and ripped them in half to use as rails, bolted them on, and wrapped on 1/2" nylon rope to finish them off. Started on the 2x4 rafters.

Weekend 5 & 6 - July

Over the last couple of weekends I got the steps and the trapdoor finished. This weekend the 4x4 posts went up on the deck, and then 2x6s were fastened around the top for the rafters to set on. I originally had the posts 6' high, but that made the structure look too huge from the ground, so I cut them down to 5'.

Weekend 4 - May

After four weekends of rain in a row, we finally got a chance to get some work done. Fastened most of the decking down, and now just need to add the trapdoor to finish the floor. The girls got their first chance to climb up and take a look at the view.

Weekend 3

Cut and attached the four 2x4 bracing pieces that support the floor. Also started nailing in cross bracing for the flooring support, and rough framed in the trapdoor access.

Weekend 2

Framed the box around the support beams and got it up fastened and leveled. It really helped to screw the box together on the ground first to get it square and level, and to then assemble it around the tree and lift it up whole onto the beams. Then you can find exactly where to trim the top two beams to make it fit.

Weekend 1 - March 2005

Bought materials, and got the four initial 2x6 support beams attached and level (no photos). Decided to make the floor start at about 8' off the ground.

e-mail to carl@griceland.com