Our building process started with the digging of some holes to accommodate 6x6 posts of varying heights. Anyone who has ever cemented posts into the ground in a climate above the frost line knows you need to dig at least four feet deep so the posts don't get forced up out of the frozen ground. And anyone who knows upstate New York knows that the ground is as rocky as the day is long! We finally gave in and rented a jackhammer to break up some massive rocks.
Linda Aldredge
In the world of treehouse building the use of stilts or support posts is typically verboten. But sadly, my 6.4 acre land was illegally logged 4 days before I closed on it and all the original clumps of trees I had scouted for building were cut down. We had to then hastily scout a new spot for building. The closest clump we could find had a 25-foot span at its longest distance so additional support for the tree-to-tree beams was needed to hold our estimated "live" and "dead" weights as well as snow load in the winter. The support poles are in no way attached to the tree-to-tree beams, nor is the deck and house attached to the tree-to-tree beams. A suspension system if you will.
Linda Aldredge
The tree-to-tree beams serve as the primary support to the deck and house. To attach these beams to the trees we used custom-made Garnier Limb brackets made by Out 'n About Construction, which is a male bracket to match the female sliding beam bracket. The sliding beam bracket allows for movement in all of the tree-to-tree beams, so when a tree moves in the wind, so does the house. The tree pictured is a badly woodpeckered tree that has now died over the course of the last two years. I need to research how to "petrify" or replace the support for the GL bracket inside the tree.
Linda Aldredge
We had metal plates custom-made to allow for ease of the sliding movement over the support posts. We also used metal plates to build the tree-to-tree beams as the lumber was in pieces.
Linda Aldredge
Once the actual post/beam building was finished the rest came together really quickly. The decking and first two walls went up in a day. To get up and down from the platform we used a construction ladder. We didn't need to establish a pulley system because, as with most treehouse building, we were close enough to the ground to do all the hoisting by hand.
Linda Aldredge
This is the making of the front door. I wanted, er, even more glass so it's comprised of two layers of scrap shiplap and tongue and grove. Building a door is an incredibly tricky thing. It's a huge challenge to prevent sagging, especially with glass. But Kursten is obviously a genius because it's held up beautifully for two years.
Linda Aldredge
When it came time to install the glass we simply routed out each 2"x4" and 4"x4" a .25" and inset custom-cut plate glass. Kursten then nailed down 1"x2" and various other widths of woods with copper nails. Each outside sill was set at an angle so water drips down instead of settling at the base. There are five windows that open, simply hinged at the top with latch locks and no screens. The small cuts of branch in the window are the scraps from the loft ladder. I think they're sweet and they remind me of our summer of building.
Linda Aldredge
A small tree that had been knocked over was trimmed at each end and painstakingly hoisted up by a handful of guy friends. It was braced against the deck and roped there until Kursten built a support for it underneath. He then chainsawed a couple of the really big trees left into massive treads which became the stairs.
Linda Aldredge
The photo on the left is my favorite picture of the staircase because it really gives you a sense of the various shapes of each tread. They measure about 1.5-2' wide and 4' long. Someday I'll get around to a railing.
Linda Aldredge
The ladder is another Marc creation. The trees that were logged were so old that the branches were actually thick enough to build a small ladder to the sleeping loft. Marc notched out spaces in the branches then laid them over and screwed them in. Also pictured here are my records, record player, a large antique crock, a small antique crock, bowls and various bottles, an old rug, my boots, etc...
Linda Aldredge
