Building A Treehouse In The Backyard.
Needing a project to do with your children? Maybe you just need something for them to do outside of the house but still close enough to home to keep an eye on them.
With the way the world is today, we are all feeling the need to keep our children home and close to us. What better way to accomplish all of this than to build a treehouse together? It gives you a project that you and your child can do together, it gives your child a place to go outside of the house but where you still know they are safe. Add to this that it raises your property value and is a beautiful addition to your backyard.
So, how do you go about building a treehouse? Below is a step-by-step general guide to building a treehouse with a list of materials and tools you will need.
MATERIALS: Lag screws, pressure-treated wood, cinder blocks, wood screws, joist hanger nails, and joist hangers
TOOLS: Framing nail gun, portable table saw, level, reciprocating saw, and carpenter square
PICK YOUR TREE
Before you can do anything, you need to pick your tree. It needs to be strong so it can handle the weight of all of the wood plus the weight of anyone that will be in the treehouse.
The best trees for a treehouse are either maple or oak with a well-defined “Y” shape. You also need to think about the height. The advice from experts is to keep it around eight feet. Definitely no lower than six feet and no higher than ten feet.
Make sure to inspect the tree or even call in an arborist to inspect it to make sure there is no tree disease and that it has no damage in any way. You’ll also want to check the roots and make sure they run deep and have a strong foundation.
BLUEPRINT
The next thing you need to do is either create a blueprint or go online and download blueprints of the treehouse you want. A blueprint helps you to decide how much material you will need.
If you are drawing up the blueprint yourself, make sure to write down, the sizes of everything, walls, windows, and you might also want to add railing for safety measures.
FOUNDATION
Building the foundation will be your next step. As with the foundation of anything, it is the most important aspect other than the tree. If y9ur foundation is not strong and sturdy, your treehouse won’t be either. Make sure to use your level at each and every step. This is one of the best ways to make sure that your treehouse will be perfectly accurate and completely level.
PLATFORM
Before you even start building your platform, you’ll need to decide which way you want your deck to go to be able to figure out which way the joists will go. You will want your joists to run vertically to the deck boards.
ATTACHING THE JOISTS
A tip when doing this is to make sure to drill the holes into the tree and into the joists before trying to secure them to each other. This helps to decrease the chance of putting cracks in your joists. Make sure that all of the screws are tightened down once you have everything attached. Once this is completed you’ll need to add the rest of the joists.
HANGERS
Once you have all of the joists drilled where they need to be then you will need to add the hangers you’ll use the galvanized nails for this, and they need to be at least one – inch long.
BRACES
The next step is to add your braces. Braces are necessary to add more stability and strength to your foundation. Make sure that they are cut at a forty-five-degree angle and they need to be at least two feet long. Once they are all cut, nail them to the posts of the foundation with three-inch decking nails.
DECKING BOARDS
The next step is that you will need to attach your decking boards to your platform with your wood screws. Remember that you need to cut around the posts and tree so make sure to measure. The rule of thumb is to measure twice so you only have to cut once.
FRAMEWORK
Time to cut the studs, make sure to measure twice! The framework needs to be at the height you’ve planned for the treehouse to be and the area of your platform. You will need to use the framing nail gun to connect the platform with three-inch nails then add your studs. Don’t forget about your windows and door, you have to frame those too.
ROOFING TIME
To build a ridge beam you will need your saw and two – by – six boards. The best way to get this done is to make sure that your two-by-six boards are standing up so that they will support the beam as you connect them to your frame. Place the boards at two feet in the center.
SIDING
Time to get the siding done. Remember to measure twice. Nail your siding to the gable end walls, you will need two and three – eight-inch nails for this. Cut to get rid of any excess wood.
WINDOWS & DOOR
Using the reciprocating saw get the holes cut out for the windows and the door.
ADDING THE ROOF
Measure and cut plywood, nail to the rafter with two and three – eight-inch nails. Don’t forget to leave the tree some room and make sure to leave at least a six-inch overhang.
TRIM
Use your nail gun to nail the trim around the windows and door.
RAIL & LADDER
Take the time to install railing around the deck but remember to leave a spot for the ladder to go up. It’s just an added safety precaution but better safe than sorry. Attach your ladder and you’re all done.
You now have a strong, sturdy backyard treehouse! Make the most of it and enjoy.
