Treehouse - Treehouses - Treeforts

If you have plans to build a treehouse, you may have some important decisions about the heath of the species you plan to build it in - maple, pine, beech, alder, fir, etc... You can find links at the bottom, where other people have much more information about constructing Treehouses. This page is mainly a reminder to keep in mind the long-term health of the trunk, and branches - and to consider calling a professional for a short 30 minute or one hour visit. If your tree's health is very important to you, that does not mean that you can't have a treehouse in it. You could even have 2 or 3 treehouses in it. But why build a top-notche treehouse that could last for 60 years or more, but loose it in 10 years because you did not allow for growth..

The health or development of the trunk and limbs will depend on how you secure or position the treehouse within the canopy.

The trunks, leaders and limbs expand yearly, and there can be significant tissue damage when treehouses are attached without allowing room for the trunk and bark to expand outward. If the tree that you expect to use is nothing very special, it may work out fine for you to wedge a treehouse against the trunk or within the limbs.

For entertainment, I included the image above of a round treehouse. The photograph was taken at a place called It's a Burl - Burl Gallery. Located in Kerby, Oregon, just a few minutes east of Cave Junction, Oregon. From a quick glance, it looks like the trim for the window openings is from the trunk of madrone or oak - from hollows in the trunk where limbs died, and the wood tissue started to callus over the opening a little. One other other large treehouse at a property I used to work at is this photo album.

If you want to protect the plant tissue, plan your project more carefully. It is available to position treehouses supporting weight on posts. An entire treehouse can be supported on posts, rather than anchoring lumber against bark that will expand with growth.

If the tree is an important one that you don't want to lose, onsider calling a professional to learn a few things. Like what species it is, how fast the trunk and limbs will expand each year. You may gain a few pointers too about detecting hard to spot internal decay and weakness that are not obvious, but important when it comes to constructing the treehouse. It would be a good time to ask about ideas for fasterners and whether you should put a cable through the trunk to anchor or suspend the treehouse?

A professional may not be able to tell you that you should fasten a treehouse with certain hardware, due to liability issues, but should be able to provide a personal opinion about how they would approach the project if it was their own yard and treehouse project.

Oregon has a nice assortment of treehouses. There is even a treehouse resort near Cave Junction in Southern Oregon. For starters, here is a main link to treehouses.com Also take a look at: Building Treehouses, Cedar Creek Treehouse at Mt. Rainier, Wikipedia Treehouse article, and treehouses.org. There are plenty of pages about treehouses on the internet - more than I expected. Many of the pages have tips, advice and photos. Its a hobby that many people seem to enjoy sharing about and helping other people with.