Site update

If you are a regular visitor to Ropes and Poles, you will notice a few changes recently to layout. I have also added categories- so all of the rafts or camp gadgets for example, can be reached by clicking on the category at the top of the page.

 

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Treehouse Step by Step: main page

click for larger image
These pages run through the construction of a treehouse 7m (22ft) above the ground.

Day 1: Establishing the prussicking lines
Later on day 1: Lashing first poles
Day 2: Cross poles and decking (and an emergency shelter)
Day 3: A new roof
Day 4: ..and another new roof
Day (night)5: Sleeping in the treehouse
Day 6 and 7: Cargo net platform and commando bridge
Day 8: Complete! - photographs of entire project

Treehouses on the internet

Digg this!

Treehouse Step by Step: Day 8- complete

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With the commando bridge tightened and safety rails placed in the cargo net platform, the treehouse is now complete, a big thank you to everyone who worked on this:
Greg, John, Mark, Ryan, Jacques, Luke, Hayley, Jenna, Cheralynne and Michelle. Here are some photos that show our completed treehouse:

[All of the images below are thumbnails- click on them for a much larger (300-400kb) image.]


These two images show the treehouse from the ground, on the left is the view from inside the park, the right hand side is taken from the same point as all of the daily progress shots


These 4 vertical panoramic shots show the treehouse and the platform from various positions:The first image is from below the monkey bridge, the second is from the treehouse looking towards the cargo net platform (thanks Tyrone), the third is from underneath the treehouse looking across to the platform, and the final one is taken ON the monkey bridge, looking down and up the other side to the cargo net platform (thanks to John whose foot is visible in this image)



The image on the left was taken halfway across the monkey bridge, and the one on the right was taken lying onn the cargo net platform- both by John

Treehouse step-by-step day 6 and 7

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Day 6 of the treehouse and we added the platform in the tree on the right. We decided to try prefabricating the platform on the ground and raising it up in one piece. Day 7 consisted of lashing the platform and running the commando bridge lines across.

The platform itself is a triangular frame with a cargo net stretched over it. It was to rest on the tree at 3 points, hence the triangular shape. Once we got into the tree and started raising the frame up, we realised there were a few difficulties.

1) Raising the frame. We had lines running up over the tree at 3 points, tied to the frame at the corners. One of these ran through a pulley, the other 2 were running straight over branches. The friction on these made it difficult to raise the frame up. We raised the frame by lifting each corner up about 1 metre at a time, then securing the rope and moving around to the next corner to raise it. We discovered a very useful way of working with a removable block to tighten these ropes: a pulley is attached to a prussik knot which is fastened to the line, you then use the pulley to tighten up the rope and raise that corner of the structure before taking up all of the slack in the loose end of that rope, tying it off and removing the tackle and prussik loop,which can be moved to the next tree. I will post this as a seperate item next week.

2) Securing the frame in the tree. We were limited in branches where we could place the ropes to lift the platform up, so we ended up running them over the branches where we wanted the poles to rest. This created a bir of trouble for us when we came to secure the platform, and while 2 of the poles are resting directly on forks in the tree, the third end is hanging about 30cm under the branch it was meant to rest upon. This corner is attached via a binding- a figure-8 wrapping like you can see on the camel raft.Once raised up into the tree, the frame turned out to be very difficult to manhandle from in the tree.

3) Levelling the frame. As it is installed, our platform slopes quite dramatically. Our dimensions for the frame were more or less accurate, but in the process of raising the platform up, it became wedged against the main stem and we were unable to maneouvre it free. The slope may end up working towards our advantage, though. The slope is facing towards the treehouse and a sloping cargo net makes a rather comfortable hammock.    

The bottom line is that prefabrication might have saved us a bit of time, but gave us a few headaches too. The nature of this sort of pioneering is that you are working things out for the first time as you go along. Sometimes the solutions are easy or obvious, sometimes less so. In other cases eg. camp gadgets and rafts, prefabrication is an obviously good thing. For treehouses, it is difficult to say,but I suspect that with this particular platform, prefabrication was slightly easier than building it in the tree, particularly when it comes to tightening the cargo net.

After the platform was secure (thanks to Jacques for spending hours in the tree working on that) we started running the lines across for the commando bridge. These are attached at one end with a round turn and 2 half hitches, then tightened using our main block and tackle (that we use to raise people and equipment into the treehouse) and the prussik trick described above. then tied to the tree at the treehouse end using a round turn and 2 half hitches as well.

The commando bridge will be completed on Monday, when I will post the final sequential photo of the treehouse and also do a 'tour' showing all the features of the treehouse.

Treehouse Step by Step: day (actually night) 5

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Last night 6 people slept in the treehouse, and were all safe and rested this morning. To make it safe to sleep in, rope barriers were woven all around the platform and walls from an army tent were used to close it in. Despite some wind and light rain, I am assured that the treehouse was comfortable and warm. The new roof design worked very well. Once in the tree (and I finally went up onto the platform today) the whole structure is secure, and other than an alarming tendency to move when the wind blows the trees, is not much different from being on the ground.

The next step from here will be to concentrate on the cargo net platform in the tree to the right and build the commando bridge. Hopefully we will be able to do that this week.

Two panoramic photos from the treehouse: The first is a 360 degree horizontal panorama (click on the thumbnail to view it full size- it might take a while to load) You can see the walls, the woven barriers and get an idea of the height. The next one is a vertical panorama, starting looking horizontally then up over my head and round behind me (the topmost part of the image is upside-down).

Treehouse Step by Step: Day 4

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Day 4 of the treehouse project and we spent the day working on the roof (again). There had been heavy winds over the weekend that damaged the roof,so we spent a few hours trying to repair it before deciding to start over again with a new design. John came up with the idea of building a framework for the roof, with 2 trusses and purlins joining the two trusses, and a tarp layed over the top. The whole roof structure is braced and then suspended from the tree by the ridge and the four corners tied down onto the deck. Raising the roof up was quite a job, and we actually had to brace the roof mainly to stop it being damaged while we pulled it up to the treehouse.

It might seem like we are going backwards at times, but this roof design is mch better than the one were using before, for a few reasons. Firstly: it works better- I am confident that this will keep the rain off and be more secure. Secondly: the scouts designed it themselves. The previous roof was an idea I had that didn't really work that well, but the scouts themselves came up with this one and worked through how they would go about building it. This photo shows the roof as we built it and also shows the diagonal bracing under the tarp-this is important because it prevents the roof from falling over sideways.

When time allows, it's good to build some experimental structures like this- starting off without knowing all of the solutions to problems and dealing with them as they come up. It doesn't always mean that you will finish on schedule, but you will learn a lot.

Treehouse links

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While we are waiting to carry on construction, here are some links to treehouses in the Internet:
The Treehouse Guide - Photos of tree houses from around the world, construction tips and links
Corbin's Tree house - Step by step photos of a permanent treehouse construction
Tree house links - Corbin's links for tree houses
Tree house workshop - a firm that designs and build serious tree houses
Treehouses.org - US charity that buils wheelchair accessible treehouses
Treehouse construction guide - General construction information for treehouses

Tree house Step by Step: day 3

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I'm blogging the progress of a treehouse my troop is building, and today is the third day we are working on it. Today turned out a little slower than I hoped- quite a few people were busy with other things today so couldn't make it, and the placing of the cargo net in the tree on the right has taken longer than I thought.

As you can see, the 2 trees on the left that our platform is in are pretty simple trees: straight up, we have attached ourselves to the lowest branches (7.05m off the ground according to my tape measure). I thought the tree on the right would be simpler because it has lower branches. It turns out that they are just an obstruction to raising and lowering poles into this tree.

To focus on the positive: we have raised the roof for the platform much higher, you can stand underneath it easily over the whole deck area. We have also attached a pulley for the cargo net tree, so we are ready to hoist poles into it.

This weekend one of my scouts is doing his Springbok expedition and most of the scouts who have been helping me are going. So I will not blog on the progress tomorrow, as there won't be any :). Hopefully on Monday we can carry on and with some luck finish, so that Tuseday and Wednesday the scouts can sleep in the tree house (we have done it before, with no casualties unless you count a cell phone). The thumbnail on the left links to a 360 degree panorama from the platform- thanks to Hayleigh Chamberlain for climbing up and taking this.