Rebecca Morn's Web Eyrie



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Becca's Treehouse

Okay...I've received a number of requests to see this treehouse I've been working on since the early summer of 2004. (At the moment, work is on a bit of a hiatus due to winter weather.)

Mind you, this is no ordinary treehouse. The genesis of the idea came early in '04, as I gave thought to the notion, "I'd like a place all my own, somewhere in these woods of ours, where I could spend quiet time. Write, relax, maybe even overnight there. But we have all this wildlife... including the occasional mountain lion."

Getting turned into Lion Chow isn't my idea of a good time, so that meant either turning to firearms (which would be illegal) or avoidance. I opted for the latter.

From that, came the idea to build a treehouse. Not just a kid's version of such, but rather the kind you can build with time and, most of all, a modest investment of real money. (Sometimes it's good to be an adult with an income...)

The first thing I did was to find the "perfect tree." It needed to be on our property, obviously, and not only big and healthy enough to support what I had in mind, but also reasonably accessible. See, we live on 10 acres of steeply sloped redwoods, oaks, and madrones, and a number of places simply aren't reachable. Eventually, I decided upon an old and quite huge madrone just down-slope from an old timber access road on our land.

What's more, to get the view I wanted, I had to start building at a point roughly twenty-five feet high in the tree. This meant that the earliest stages of construction were done either from the very top of our biggest extension ladder or, more often, dangling from a safety harness.

Oh, and did I mention, I'm a bit of an acrophobe?

(Closing Note 8 June 2006: Never did quite finish the treehouse. I got about 90% of the roof on and the walls framed in. Then I had to move to India. The completion of this little labor of love will have to await the new owner of the land upon which it was built.)

Statistics

Personnel

Me. That's it. I had no assistance whatsoever in the construction of this, save for a certain amount of expert advice from someone with considerable experience in woodworking and carpentry. Plus the loan of some of her tools.

Construction Materials

Roughly 90% is redwood lumber salvaged and milled from a large grove of trees that fell down on our land during the winter of 2002-03. (10+ inches of rain during one December storm and too much runoff undercut a dozen old 2nd-growth redwoods; we'd never cut down these ancient beauties by choice.) We purchased a Lucas Portable Mill to do the milling, and have become rather popular in this town as a result.
Roughly 10% is locally purchased fir, mainly for support beams and posts that require extra strength and hardness, since redwood is very soft.
The fasteners I used are almost entirely 'Grabber'-brand screws of various sizes and lengths, far superior for construction than nails. Where appropriate, I used lag-bolts, such as where the beams are attached to the tree, and also a fair number of aluminum brackets and clips, for extra strength in high wind.
Tools: Hand and battery-powered only, because there is no power available at the site. Many thanks to Black & Decker, Skil, and the makers of fine Japanese pull-saws. Also, all materials had to be hauled up using a hoist.
Cost: The redwood alone would've cost several thousand dollars, had we had to pay for it. As it is though, total cost so far has still been roughly $3k in materials and tools.

Lower Level

Built as the first stage of construction, and completed in early August.
Height above ground: 25 feet, approx.
Ladder to reach it: 20 feet of steps from the ground, then another 8 feet of vertical ladder.
Size: Roughly 8 feet square, although some space is lost due to the large diameter of the trunk in the middle; essentially the space is more a perch, with room for a couple of folding chairs.

Upper Level

The actual 'house' part of the design, as it has (or will have) walls and a roof.
Height above ground: 33 feet, approx.
Ladder to reach it: Steps up from lower level.
Size: Roughly 8 feet by 16 feet.
Roof: East side is 9 feet above the floor, west side is 7 feet up, making for a reasonably steep pitch. The roof features two skylights recycled from a pair that were replaced on our house. The tree pokes up through two holes in the roof, which when completed will be sealed with rubber gaskets to keep the rain out.
Walls: Currently open, but I may add either screens and/or possibly light-weight plexiglas windows later.
Capacity: I've had up to four grown adults up there, with no problems whatsoever.

Status

Since the photos on this page were taken (28 Nov 04), I've begun installation of the upper level roof, using lightweight waterproof plywood. That should keep the rain out, but if it doesn't, I may add tarpaper or some other solution. In time, I'll seal the roof against the tree trunks using rubber gaskets and silicone sealant. Last to go on will be the two skylights, one of which will be removable, so I can go onto the roof later for cleaning and maintenance.
Walls: These come after the roof is done. I'm planning to enclose the uppermost and lower portions of each wall, but haven't yet decided what to do about the windows. In time, I may build some screens, at the least, but I'm also definitely considering shutters and/or low-weight windows, to make the space more usable in the winter.
Since starting the project, I replaced the temporary hoist (moved twice to accommodate the construction) with something considerably more permanent, not to mention durable. It uses a pulley system that allows me to haul 2x weights up into the tree, and consists of a long 2x6 plank of fir, bolted to the tree, with the other end attached to the east wall and extending several feet out from the treehouse to allow for easy lifting of large items.
Other future notions:
- Furniture to include table, chairs, cot, storage, nice hammock or hanging 'sky-chair'
- Guard rails for easier climbing of those long steps and ladders
- A hatch for covering the hole up from the lower level, partly for safety, partly for cosmetics
- A pole for rapid descent (not sure if this would be safe, however)
- A rope bridge over to the nearby landing; with this, getting into the treehouse would require almost no climbing at all
- External wireless networking antenna at our house, to make my laptop PC more usable at the treehouse
- Solar cells, car/truck battery, and converter, perhaps
As of January '05, much of the construction is currently awaiting an extended break in the rainy winter weather. Trying to build in the rain is just not worth it to me, despite feeling quite impatient to get this project closer to completion.