Treehouse Day 14

…I completed the upper loft walls, including mounting middle horizontal side wall beams on the north and south sides, and one post on the north side, and mounting the 2×6 lower beam across the broad eastern section to support the eventual lower loft roof joists.  And more horizontal slats.  I also had time towards the end of the day to build out the loft railing – my vision for this might need some modification to make it safer for the boys, but that can be easily added to what I did today.

Between the addition of more posts and beams for the loft walls, and the loft railing, I think I installed another 23 stainless steel bolts, lock nuts and washers today!  Yowza!  But this hardware is what will make this treehouse last for 50 years or more…  You may notice in the pictures the wide, long upper horizontal boards across the wide eastern section of the loft area – these are temporary and will be removed once the roof over the loft is built.  For now, they are there so the boys can safely enter the loft without falling out of the treehouse, even without the roof.  You’ll also notice in the exterior side wall loft pictures the slanted boards – those indicate the eventual roof pitch of the loft roof.

The boys didn’t go to day care today, and the family was home for most of the day.  However, I was left alone most of the day while I worked – this was helpful as constant interruptions would have slowed my progress.   At one point in the late afternoon the 4 year old came into the backyard and yelled up to me asking “What are you doing up there?”  “Building a treehouse”, I replied, and then he promptly went back into the house.  Later, as I asked if the boys could come outside so I could determine the best height to build the loft railing, the oldest son said to me “Ken, you’re doing a great job building this treehouse considering you’ve never built a treehouse before!”  “Thanks”, I replied.  “My Dad could never build this treehouse”, he stated.  “Well”, I replied, “I’m not sure I could write novels like your Dad does.  You see, everyone is good at something, but not everything.  If everyone was a dentist, then who would fix the dentist’s toilet when it breaks?   And if everyone was a plumber, who would fix the plumber’s teeth when they break?”  The oldest son considered my reply and didn’t respond, but my reply elicited a big chuckle from his Mom…

I’m committed to another client project for the next 2 days.  I’ll return to the treehouse on Friday to start building the main entrance and bunkhouse ladders – the weather forecast for Friday isn’t great (rain), but I’ll at least do the lumber and hardware shopping on Friday with my client for the ladders lumber and hardware, and then get the ladders built early next week.  Once that is done the boys can not only safely occupy the treehouse, but they will be able to easily access it.  Stay tuned…

How can I help you with your home in a tree?