When I was a kid, I can remember having a couple of tree
houses, one at my grandparents’ house and another just a short walk from the
back of my parents’ house. I have fond memories of playing in those tree houses
and vividly remember reading for hours in the tree house at my grandparents.
With that in mind, I’ve been telling myself for years that I’d build my kids a
tree house once they got big enough to safely enjoy it.
I didn’t want to go to any great expense to build this tree
house, so I bided my time until I could find an old wooden pallet that someone
was about to throw away. A month or so ago, I found just what I was looking
for, discarded on the sidewalk outside the newspaper office in downtown
Evergreen. After getting permission to take the pallet home, I loaded it up on
the back of my truck and drove it to the house. I’d say this pallet was maybe
four feet square and made of rough wood.
At my house, we have many trees, but really only one
suitable for a tree house, a relatively young water oak with its main branches
starting about six feet off the ground. My son and I used a claw-toothed hammer
to knock a few boards loose, just enough to wedge the pallet into the trees
around the main trunk. This made the pallet the “floor” of the tree house, and
we shored it into place, but nailing the boards we’d removed back onto the
pallet, but snuggly against the tree to keep it from tilting and rocking.
The “floor” of the tree house still wasn’t as stable as I’d
like, so we added a ladder to one side. We also used a couple of rubber tie-downs
to secure it to branches further up the trunk. In all, I feel like it’s
generally stable and safe.
Even though we did build a small, basic, but functional,
tree house, my son and I have been discussing ways to improve it. Top of the list
is a short “rail” at least along two sides. This will not only improve the
looks of the tree house, but it’ll also make it a little safer. We’ve put this
part of the project on hold until I can find another discarded pallet.
Another interesting aspect of this little project was that
it provided me with an opportunity to explain the “three points of contact”
safety rule to my son. Before I would let him climb the ladder the first time,
I made sure that he understood that he’d always be pretty safe in the tree
house as long as he maintained three points of contact. I don’t think I’d even
heard of this safety guideline until I was in my twenties, so my son’s a little
ahead of the game on this one.
In the end, how many of you have ever built a tree house?
What did you make it out of? How much time did it take? How big was it? Let us
know in the comments section below.
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