How to Make a Treehouse Part 1

Hey, I'm Bob and I like to make stuff. Today we're gonna start building a tree house We've been in our house for almost two years and pretty much every week of those two years profesional dan keren habis, trimakasih ilmunya This is going to be a two-part video And in the first part, we're gonna build a big sturdy platform and the second part will make it look really cool We're gonna put the tree house right up here. Many years before we got here this tree got hit by lightning and it killed a bunch of the branches right in this area. But luckily that gives us a really good spot to put the tree house. I've got a blue line marked That's where the platform is gonna be. But first I got to cut out the dead stuff. I'm gonna do my best not to cut out anything that's alive if I don't have to. Luckily, all this stuff is dead and it hasn't been messing up the rest of the tree. So I'm just going to get rid of the things that are kind of in the way so we can have a place to stand. We finally got all the dead stuff cut out of the tree and now it's time to start building. Now when you build a tree house there's a bunch of different ways to do the platform and a bunch of different ways to attach it to the tree and it really depends on the tree that you're working with, and where your platform is in relation to it. Ours is gonna be attached to the tree on one side and going out. So to attach it we're gonna use something called a TAB. So this is a treehouse attachment bolt and this is the standard for attaching tree houses to trees at this point. Basically You drill a hole through the bark into the wood and then you screw this whole thing in then the weight of your tree house Is sitting on the part that's exposed. This is definitely the safest option for a tree house and the healthiest option for the tree itself. This video sponsored by Lowe's but this is a specialized item that they don't carry. In fact, most people don't carry them. I had to find these online I'll put a link down in the description to this hardware and that website also has some great videos on installation. Now that we got the first tab in we're trying to find the spot on the other side and make sure that those two spots that we're going to drill are parallel to each other. So I've got two levels here And as long as both of them are level We should be able to do a little bit of math and figure out where the center of that other hole should be. We got the tabs put in the tree the other day and then I actually went really smoothly not too big of a deal. So now we have to drill two holes in the ground for posts. One here, one about twelve feet over there and those posts are gonna support this end of the whole platform. Now this ground is red clay It's got ton of rocks in it. So to drill these holes we rented an auger After a lot of work we got the holes just deep enough before we started hitting rocks So we're good to go on these to figure out the size and the depth of the hole for your posts you need to know how much of the post is going to be out of the ground. There's some calculators online that will help you figure that out. We've got ours ready to go So now we need to set the posts and pour some concrete. We got the first post stood into place and got it locked in so it's level in both directions. Now we're gonna put in the second one but we have to make sure that the front faces of these are coplanar and both of those faces need to be Parallel to the tabs that we put in the tree. So to try to do that, we're going to screw in a 2x4 on these front faces to try to keep them in line. It's been about 24 hours so the concrete is set up. We're gonna keep these supports in place while we continue to work on it. But we've got to figure out where to cut off these posts So we need to find the line on these posts that is level with the tab on the tree. The best way to do it is to run a really tight string between them and then hang a line level on that It's a really lightweight little level with some hooks on it. I can't find mine So instead we're going to use a beam and set it on here run it across Put a level on top of that and then mark the post where we need to cut it So what we're doing here is cutting off the top of the post and then on the top of that cut we're going to be putting the actual beam this piece that's here is still just to hold these two together and make sure they're on the same plane But after we get this cut off We're gonna be setting a big thick beam on top of them between them to tie them together and support the load of everything else This is the piece that's going to connect the beam on top of our post It just goes down like this you put in some screws in three places And then it's got a slot right here to accept the beam and the beam is gonna be made of 2 2x12's sandwiched together. We'll make that now. Of course, I'm using pressure-treated wood for this because it's gonna live outside and then I want to last as long as possible Okay, so those screws tie this into the beams now there is still a danger that this thing could fold over forward in case there were a lot of load on it because it does have a pivot point on the bottom right in the center. So to try to work against that we're gonna use these ties. We're going to put them around to strengthen the joint further up and further down on this. If we see over time that's starting to loosen up we can always come back and put a big gusset on the front and the back side to make this even stronger. Right now is actually a really good example of a windy day and so we're watching the tree to see how much it moves because your specific tree is gonna move differently depending on how high the winds are. I've watched this tree and much higher wind than this and it really doesn't move very much down here. Up at the top it moves a lot, but that's not really what we have to worry about So when you pick out your tree that you're going to be working with make sure that you look at it in all sorts of different situations and figure out how much the tree moves So you can know how long those tabs need to be and how much gap you need to put around the tree to keep it Safe, so next up. We need to tie this whole assembly to the tree and to do that we're gonna put some more 2x10's on the back side of this beam going back and resting on the tabs. Now this is going to be connected to this beam using these hangers. These are going to go right in the face of the beam The joist is going to sit right in here, and then it'll be nailed in in all these places And actually I want to point out that I'm using screws instead of nails just because that's a preference of mine. But most of these hangers are made to have nails in them so that the head of the nail will be flat against this material You can see here why we use the tab. It keeps this piece of wood separated from the tree so that it's not rubbing on the bark and that's going to keep the tree healthier for longer. Now there is A piece of metal that often goes with these and it's a little capture piece that goes around the tab and attaches to the bottom Of the piece of wood that allows it to move a couple of inches in this direction, but not freely. Now in our case we're gonna be tying this whole thing together. So that particular piece is not really necessary. Before we move on though. I wanted to add one more thing: I took the offcut from this post and put some 45-degree cuts on the end. And this will be a knee brace that will go right here. Once that's in place, it will stabilize this entire structure in this direction. Makes a huge difference. And it's like way better than I would have expected, to be honest. Alright so we've got those pieces in there and the purpose of those three pieces is to stop these two long ones from separating. that That keeps them in the same shape relative to the beam and relative to the tree. Next up we're gonna add a diagonal piece between this corner and the back corner on the tree and to do that we're using these joist hangers. This is made for 45 degrees So we're gonna drop the piece down in here and then bend it just a little bit to get a little bit more angle out of it. We're gonna do one over here and one on the other side and that will give us full support for the next layer of joists That go on top of it. Next up we're gonna put the joists on top of this whole structure and they're gonna be faced this way going all the way down 16 inches on center and I've already marked from this front edge 16 inches all the way down. So on the top of those marks, I can take these hangers and nail each one down on to the piece that's here and then set the joist inside of it. I got all the hangers put up, but the joists are not tied in yet and that's because I don't know where they need to go left or right on this plane. So to figure that out and figure out how to cut them we're gonna run a line of string from the front corner to the back corner. Then that'll give us our outside edge and we can line up the pieces before we nail them in place. We snapped a chalk line from this corner to the back corner so now we have a line down each one of the joists and then Josh took the speed square and drew that line down the side, so when I cut that with the circular saw I've got a straight line to follow. Now we also measured this angle of each line on the piece of wood with a speed square so that we made sure that the angle of the saw matched. If you don't know how to use a speed square, they're super handy and we have a bits video all about all the different things you can do with them. With that piece we have the platform completely finished. Now it's been really rainy and really windy for a few days and it's been great to be able to stand up here and see how this thing behaves with high winds, see how the trees moving, see how stable it is, and I'm happy to report that the thing is very stable. It's not rocking in a direction. Now that I'm happy with the structure, we've got to cover it with decking. I wanted to point out that we had to buy a whole bunch of decking and this whole thing is sponsored by Lowe's. If you don't have a way to get a bunch of decking to your house you can actually buy all this lumber online on Lowes.com and they'll deliver it. It's pretty cool. To lay down these boards I'm just gonna make sure that they are perpendicular to the joists and to do that the easiest way is to have a speed square. Lay it right here and then line up the outside edge. I'm gonna start and do that on this back edge making sure that it's laying right on top of this joist. And once I get one of them screwed down I'm gonna take some nails and put down in between and put the next one up to it and just use these nails as the spacer. That gives a little bit of room for expansion and contraction between the pieces I made a small cut on this piece just so we can fit it into place but this line is gonna have to move out further from the tree so that the tree has room to move around. So once we get all these pieces in place I'll come back with a jigsaw and cut a nice big even curve all the way around the tree This is the gap that I've got here in between the tree and I'm going to kind of copy this gap all the way around. I'm just gonna make a really simple little scribing tool. I'm gonna just put a pencil next to my tape measure tape it all together. All that's really doing is giving me an offset from the tree So now I can hold it away from the tree and start to kind of trace it. So here it is We've got a great platform to start building other stuff on top of. Now like I mentioned before the individual specifics of a treehouse really have to do with the situation you're in, the trees you're working with, but essentially this is a deck You just have to figure out how to attach the deck to a tree. So if you get into a place and you're not sure how to do it structurally Look at how decks are made in some of the different ways people attach them to trees or houses or other structures So next up for this project. We've got to add a way to get in and out of it We've got to add some safety railing around it and then we're gonna add some fun stuff Make sure you subscribe so you can see that second part of this project and big thanks to Lowe's for sponsoring this entire build We've got a whole bunch of other projects that you may want to check out. So be sure to check those as well That's it for this one. We'll see you next time And it really depends on the platform type that you- (Crow caws) Ho- Wow! (Rattle of bucket of screws) That's fun. (Unintelligible inhaling noise) Got sap on my shoulder again.

Channel: I Like To Make Stuff

Views: 779,748

Rating: 4.8862066 out of 5

Keywords: tree house, how to make a treehouse, treehouse, how to make a tree house, tree fort, making a tree house, make, diy treehouse, diy tree house, making a treehouse, tree house tour, tree house masters, tree house platform, tree house plans, lowes, lowes partner, tabs, treehouse attachment bolt, treehouse attachment methods, outdoor projects, outdoor projects diy, treehouse masters, treehouse minecraft, iltms, i like to make stuff, tree

Id: RYBDTDSjK4Y

Length: 19min 31sec (1171 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 21 2019