The Circular Treehouse: Building a New Treehouse
(Update in 2018, I edited this content a bit. I had made this for a special event with my previous partner, and decided to reword some things mainly for my own sanity). I decided to build a mini-treehouse for “a special event”. We worked on clearing some of the brush off our land where we want the ceremony to be, and the gal mentioned that I should build a platform for us to stand on so we were level. I figured if I was going to go to the trouble of building a temporary platform, that I might as well build it up in some redwood trees as a mini-treehouse. It will start out as a tree platform, but eventually I may add walls and a ceiling to make a treehouse. Or, it might become a unicycle obstacle.
Here’s my current design in SketchUp:
It wraps around the trees, and I may or may not include the left triangle piece that looks separate from the rest of the drawing. I added that in later, thinking it might be nice to sort of make it larger. It might start out smaller, and get larger as time goes on. It will be about 10′ up in the trees, using two main redwoods as supports, and possibly connect to a third larger redwood behind the two.
I’ll happily email people the sketchup file. Just email me, or post in the comments.
Note that I didn’t draw in all the supports for the left side.
Hello Corbin,
I’m sorry to hear about your tree house falling down. I am now a professional tree house builder, but before I got started, 7 years ago or so, I remember your website back then, so to me, you are one of the pioneers of my trade…
Please contact me when you get a chance. I am curious about a couple aspects of your design that look like they might invite problems. Perhaps they won’t, but it depends on things the sketch up doesn’t show. You’ve got a lot of experience, so perhaps you’ll know exactly what I’m thinking and have already made arrangements. So get in touch with me when you can either at treetopbuilders@verizon.net or http://www.treetopbuilders.net, preferably the email.
I would also be willing to submit some really cool pictures of tree houses for your site if you like. I see you have some great photos that my buddies Pete and Jake (Treehouse Workshop) have built. My company actually helped them build part of their project at Longwood Gardens last spring.
Best Wishes,
-Dan Wright (Tree Top Builders, Inc)
Love your sketch of the new tree house base. I’m just tackling the base now, have the main supports in, and just placed the cross 2×6’s the same style that you did. I like the knee braces at the ends – the cross board to butt them against gets rid of a lot of issues. I imagine you’re planning to bold one end, cable the other after your first tree house had problems with the stationary bolts. Tough as it is to loose your great first house, it’s a good lesson in why everyone preachs to fasten only one end. With all the math and science you have behind you, I’m going to watch your site carefully – you’re smart enough to figure out the issues, and experienced enough to have lived through the disasters! Best of luck. Your first house was kicking, on kid power and scrounged materials. Your second one will probaby be excellent.
Wendy Hilt, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Love your sketch of the new tree house base. I’m just tackling the base now, have the main supports in, and just placed the cross 2×6’s the same style that you did. I like the knee braces at the ends – the cross board to butt them against gets rid of a lot of issues. I imagine you’re planning to bold one end, cable the other after your first tree house had problems with the stationary bolts. Tough as it is to loose your great first house, it’s a good lesson in why everyone preachs to fasten only one end. With all the math and science you have behind you, I’m going to watch your site carefully – you’re smart enough to figure out the issues, and experienced enough to have lived through the disasters! Best of luck. Your first house was kicking, on kid power and scrounged materials. Your second one will probaby be excellent.
Wendy Hilt, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
cool, thanks! I’m going to rework it quite a bit, after talking to Dan. He has some great suggestions that I want to incorporate.