Is my treehouse safe?

[MikeD74T]

Unless the kids start moving major appliances into the tree house you've got plenty of support. Just watch for the tree growth, it will also spread the joists apart & start pulling nails over time as the structure stretches, although this will take a few years. MikeD74T

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Instead of bolting the frame directly to the tree, he used big eye bolts and suspended the tree house with cable.

I am a big fan of the suspension/cable method personally.

Think like a REALLY BIG deer stand...

Now we're talking!

 

[TNTractor1]

Finished! See pics below. Still need to reinforce some... also going to reinforce the ladder steps with some type of steel L-shaped Brackets under each step... probably will add a door at some point later.

 

[deepNdirt]

only thing I see wrong with it is you should have built it with it having a tree up the middle of the floor leaving enough room for passage through as a fire escape pole , Just kidding really you done a great job:thumbsup: I wouldn't worry about how long it will last Your children be grown and moved out before that tree house will fall, which I doubt ever....
Your children are lucky they have a skilled father that can fabricate nice things for them..... as for me I was on my own, having to build a tree house my self at 12 years old, what a mess that turned out to be who would know later on in years I would become a master carpenter

 

[Hughman]

Almost done. Just need to add the fireman pole (a must have when I built a fort for my kids many moons ago).

 

[JohninCT]

I am now trying to decide which one of 3 options to do with additional lag bolts... but I also want to minimize the # of additional bolts I put into the trees, I think.

option 1: put a block of wood under each plank end with two 5/8" x 8" lag bolts = 6 lag bolts per tree! (3 for each plank end... 1 through plank and 2 in support wood).

option 2: block of wood + 1 lag bolt under plank end + a bracket on the tree that fits above the plank end with 4 wood screws through the bracket into the tree and another 4 screws through the bracket and into the plank = 3 lag bolts per tree + 4 wood screws

Option 3: A 2 foot piece of 2x10 on the inner side of the tree (opposite side of the tree from where the plank ends meet on the outside) attach the wood piece to the tree with 2 lag bolts so that it spans the 2 plank ends... each end "resting" on an end of the 2 foot board.

I will also strap the ends of the planks to each other with a steel strap on all the options.

Which of these options will be the strongest? should I worry at all about putting a max of 6 bolts in each tree vs. the 2 in each tree currently?

Thanks.

I am hesitant to screw stuff into trees for fear that I'll damage or kill them. I would probably use something like option 2 (support on the inside) with a large "U" bolt made out of threaded rod to secure it around the tree with rubber hose or similar to protect the tree bark. Probably overkill. I kinda felt bad about screwing the clothes line pulley into the tree.

 

[JohninCT]

BTW - That is a very cool tree house. Your kids are gonna have a ball playing in it :thumbsup:

 

[EddieWalker]

I really like now nice it looks. You did a beautiful job on it.

The 2x10's might last forever, or they might sag on you. Worse case is that one will crack and fail on you. If it was me, I would double up on them and use liquid nails to glue them together, and screw them together every foot, top and bottom, with deck screws.

I would use three lags bolts at the end, or drill all the way through the tree and use two half inch or larger bolts at the end of each board.

How did you attach the floor joists to the beams? If you just nailed through the end of the beam into the end grain of the joists, then they will come loose as the wood dries out and the deck moves. Joist hangers would be the best thing to use. You can add them in there easy enough. They make them with angles too, so you should be alright there.

You probably need to spend a couple hundred bucks more to get it there, but then you should have peace of mind for a couple of decades.

Eddie

 

[teg]

Great Deer Stand... I like the way you designed / disguised it as a tree house to get the wife's approval :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Looks great. I vote for a firemans pole too.:thumbsup:

Keep a can of wasp spray handy!

 

[TNTractor1]

Well, I was all set to add some more lag bolts, but then I read about tree damage and many who suggested using as few lag bolts as possible in small areas of the tree. So still thinking about it... Thanks for all the comments

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Great Deer Stand... I like the way you designed / disguised it as a tree house to get the wife's approval :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

YEAH BABY!!!! That's what I'm talking about!

The other tack to take is my 12 year old daughter is interested in hunting, shooting, and that cute pink .20 shotgun...

Oh Yeah! She will share her treehouse/deerstand with dear old Dad...

 

[TNTractor1]

ok, need some engineering help. I have decided to add "safety chains" to my tree house to add a backup support in case the single lag bolt on each end of a plank should fail. To minimize tree damage, I plan to attach a chain a lag bolt (or eye lag bolt) about 4 feet above each plank end. So, an 8 foot chain will loop around the end of the plank and both ends will attach to a new bolt that is attached to the tree 4 feet above. This way I can minimize the # of new lag bolts and they are also farther away from the original lag bolts in the planks which I have read is better for the tree (in theory). My question is what would be the best way to attach the 2 chain ends to a single lag bolt or eye lag bolt? Or should I just say to heck with it and put an extra lag bolt through each plank end? :laughing: I like the idea of the safety chains because it is only a back-up support and not an active support. It would only really kick in if a bolt failed... so it's a separate system that is independent of the bolts that support the tree house. Is this sound reasoning? :confused2: Thanks!

what about this: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_390612_390612

put the pin through the eye of the eye bolt with the pin also going through the ends of the chain? Or the hook over the bolt with the pin through the chain ends?

 

[JohninCT]

What about wrapping a length of chain around the tree just under where your deck supports bolt to the tree. Cross the chain under the deck and attach the chain ends to carriage bolts put through the sides of each deck support a couple of feet away from the tree. This will effectively make a like a chain choker around the tree. As options you could add turnbuckles to tension the chain and you could put the chain through a length of heater hose if you want to protect the tree bark.

 

[derek01]

I built a tree house for my kids 20 or so years ago very similar to what you did lasted long after they were done using it eventually the movement of the trees tore the attachments at the trees apart just made it easier to tear it down when the time was right nice job hope the kids enjoy like mine did.