Treehouse Day 6

Aug 7, 2022 | Uncategorized

Today, at the treehouse project, I framed out the walls where the loft will be.

All of the loft wall studs are bolted into the main deck frame with 2, 4″ carriage bolts at every joint, as well as 2, 4″ carriage bolts used where the horizontal loft deck beams/joist supports join the vertical studs (detail not shown in these pics). Tomorrow I’ll add the loft joists and deck boards. Then, on Thursday, I plan to stain the main deck and loft deck boards.
“Hey Ken, why don’t you finish building the remaining walls before you stain the deck boards?”, you might ask. Well, there’s a strategy behind that. You see, my treehouse clients are on vacation right now. If I build out and complete the walls by the end of this week then, when they get home, the kids will want to be up in the treehouse and, even without the rope ladder and permanent bunkhouse ladder in place for them to get up there, they could safely get up there with a tall stepladder (the one onsite that I’ve been using to do the work the last few work days) and be safe with the walls completed. Except then I’d be telling them next week that they can’t go up there for 2 days because I’m staining the decking. That won’t go over very well with the boys. So, instead, I’ll get the deck boards stained by the end of this week (and the stain can cure over the weekend before I return next week) and then next week, when the boys are home from vacation, they won’t be allowed up there until I get the walls completed. Which may only make 1/2 sense to the boys, but will make 100% sense to the adults in charge of the situation. If that makes sense….
The heat index was over 100 today. My clients aren’t home and their neighbors can’t really see me when I’m up in the tree, so I worked with my shirt off and the combination of working in the shade and a steady breeze on my skin allowed me to put in an 8 hour day. While drinking 5 or 6 liters of water… It’s pretty rare that I work at a client’s home without my shirt on. But, if I had worn my shirt all day, I would have either been wringing it out when I got home, or I wouldn’t have been able to work all day as I did. I was really motivated to get the loft walls built today, after procuring the lumber late yesterday afternoon, so not having to wear my shirt made the difference.