This question often comes up when you have kids in the home—or when you’re a big kid yourself! While you could hire a treehouse builder, few things are more fun for kids than their own personal treehouse.
But beware, parents: Building a safe, long-lasting treehouse is a bit more complicated than nailing a few boards to a tree and telling your kids to shimmy on up. For some guidance, we talked to some experts about how to build your own treehouse that can be enjoyed for many summers to come.
Building a treehouse
As we all probably know, a treehouse is supported by, well, a tree. But what kind?
“Any healthy tree with about a foot in diameter, hardwood or softwood, should do the trick,” says Mark Clement, co-owner of MyFixItUpLife.
However, although a singular tree trunk makes a suitable support for a smaller structure, you can build a bigger one, too—just use more trees.
Roy Schippmann, owner of Schippmann Construction, says the first treehouse he built was 6 feet by 6 feet, which needed only one tree. Currently he’s building a project that’s 10 foot by 12 foot with a deck, which required three trees to install (plus a support post).
Checking for permits
It sounds odd, but in some counties, you might need a permit for the DIY project. Clement says some areas view treehouses “as an accessory structure,” which needs a permit, while others view them as play sets and don’t get involved. Call up your assessor’s office and ask before you start this DIY project.
Finding your blueprint
If you’re not comfortable winging it on the design and building front, there are plenty of resources you can turn to for guidance on how to build a backyard treehouse that’s safe and sturdy.
You can purchase premade or custom treehouse plans from sites like Tree House Supplies to install. These offer step-by-step details and building tips for the platforms, decks, rope ladders, railings, and other features.
But word to the wise: If this is your first foray into building such a backyard project, don’t go overboard and try to build some kind of floating pirate ship you saw on “Treehouse Masters.” Keep it safe by keeping your treehouse plans simple.
Getting the right hardware
Your plan to build a backyard treehouse will go nowhere without the right building materials. Since trees move with the wind, the ordinary materials aren’t the safest to use. You’ll want specialty nuts, bolts, and brackets for wood to build and attach your deck, platform, ladder, and other aspects of the backyard DIY project.
Treehouse hardware includes (but isn’t limited to) the following:
- Lag bolts
- Loop extensions
- Knee braces
- Pipe brackets
- Treehouse attachment bolts such as the Garnier Limb Treehouse Fastener
If you want to keep it simple and forgo the full DIY, you can order whole-treehouse building kits from Tree House Supplies or Treehouses.com, which include everything you need to install a particular treehouse and attach it to the tree. That is, everything except the lumber.
When picking wood for your project, Clement recommends using wood species such as Western red cedar or pressure-treated Southern yellow pine for their hardiness.
Renting tools, saving cash
Other tools you’ll want include a laser level and a heavy-duty drill with appropriate drill bits for wood, Clement says. Keep in mind, drills and drill bits can be rented.
According to Schippmann, specialized woodworking drill bits can run about $375 each, so renting might be the smarter option if you’re building only one treehouse. Ropes and chain pulleys are also helpful to get wood beams in place, while you build or install.
How high is too high?
Once you’re loaded up, the wood is cut for the platform and deck, and everything is in place to build, it’s time to start building that treehouse. When choosing how high to build, Clement recommends that you “should not go any higher than you feel safe on a ladder, because you need rippin’ big drills to get into these trees.”
As for ladder size, you’ll want to take into account the treehouse’s platform level and roof height. For Schippmann’s treehouse, which is 10 feet off the ground, he’s using a 25-foot ladder to finish the backyard treehouse roof.
“Any higher, and you’ll need a safety harness,” he says.
Expect some swaying
Once your treehouse is done, don’t be worried if it moves a bit. When asked what surprised him the most about building his treehouse, Schippmann says, “The movement of the treehouse floor was a little surprising.” But that’s normal.
“The whole structure is made to move just a little bit,” he explains. But if it moves a lot, double-check the platform and deck structure, and get a builder to take a look at the building project. The safety of your kids (and you) comes first.
