Tree-Office

May 30, Video

Why not have a Tree-Office Video....

May 28, Stairs

Veronica, Moses and Blackie all signed a petition requiring stairs be built ASAP.   I set on building my first set of stairs.  Luckily Home Depot sells stringers that make the process pretty easy.

May 23, Moving Day

It is hard to believe, but, the Tree-Office is ready to use as an office!  Moe was happy to join me this morning for the first day of working up here (he really wants stairs).  Here is a summary of the Tree-Office.  P.S. this posting is from the Tree-Office.

Construction

• Base - 2x8 Pine
• Flooring and roofing - 1" pine from trees milled on the property
• Siding - Pine siding left over from house construction
• Electricity - Orange extension cord from house and a solar light
• Internet - WIFI from house  (new transmitter required)
• Phone - Wireless from house (5.8 GHz)
• Shingles - Typical asphalt
• Windows - Screen - Plexiglas to be added

More To Come

• Finish outside trim
• Stairs
• Solar Power???
• Office moving party!!!

Moe enjoying the new Tree-Office

May 19th, Shingles, Door and Railing

Today I had over Frank, Conan and Garnet to help!  Check out the new shingles, new door and railing. I decided to build the door instead of buying one.  What's next - stairs - how about a sweeping staircase???

New railing and doors and David working on roof with safety harness

May 15th, Roof, Walls and Screens

Thanks to Rob's visit list night we have roof, walls and screens.  Sure there is a BIG hole for the mosquitoes to come in through - but hopefully today I'll get over to Home Depot to buy a door.  What's next.... door, shingles, railing and stairs.

New Dunrobin home for retired squirrels

May 13th, Treehouse Design

I found the perfect design and background for a Treehouse at www.treehouseguides.com for about $30.  I modified the plan as follows...

• 2x4 walls to give extra strength for snow in winter
• wood siding on the walls because I had it left over from building the house
• Pine floors and roof since I have lots of rough-pine around

May 11th, The Roof Starts

Veronica braved an attack of the killer mosquitoes to check out the start of the new roof.

Veronica modeling the latest in bug jackets

People either say...

• Cool, your building a "Tree-Office"
• or, "Why would you do that"

  To quote the "Bare Naked Ladies",

  If I had a million dollars
  I'd build a tree fort in our yard
  If I had million dollars
  You could help, it wouldn't be that hard
  If I had million dollars
  Maybe we could put like a little tiny fridge in there somewhere
  You know, we could just go up there and hang out
  Like open the fridge and stuff
  There would already be laid out foods for us
  Like little pre-wrapped sausages and things
   

  Click here for lyrics!

  Click here to hear the song!

Siding is pretty hard work - not physically, but cut, nail, cut, cut, nail.   A bit over half of the siding is up!

All the walls are up with some siding

Rob and Arthur came over Saturday morning to help with the construction.  After checking out the site Rob started working on the floor (pine milled from the lot) and Arthur and I worked on the walls.

Rob, David and Arthur ready to build walls and floors

Arthur, the Building Inspector

Construction of a Tree-Office involves several complexities not normally found in traditional construction.  Here are some guidelines

• While supported by two trees, the trees have to be free to move
• Large supports required - mostly 2x8 planks
• Lots of Lag Bolts (6 to 8") - and a lot of work screwing them into the trees

The floor and supports are in position

On a cool spring day in 2007 I decided to build a "Tree-Office".  Since I work at home the idea of building a small office where I could enjoy being in the woods and enjoying the summer breeze seems appealing.  Needless to say the internet is full of similar "crazy" people.  Here is my basic design.

• Placed between two 90 foot White Pine Trees
• 10 feet off the forest floor
• In our "front yard"
• 7x8' Office and 4x8' Balcony

Yellow box shows approximate location (image from Google maps)