How You Shouldn't Build a Tree House - Part 2

Top Tree House Building Mistakes

Not enough fasteners
Don’t think that the largest lag bolt on the shelf at your local home improvement store is right for keeping up your tree house. Even a kid’s tree house with a roof, windows, and walls will most likely need a hundred pounds of materials. A certified Arborist will be able to tell you the best way to build around a tree so you cause the least harm.

Then, you need to make adjustments for the tree house to support live loads to be fit for as many individuals that can fit in it. It’s always smart to use the proper fastener. Use carriage bolts or screws for places where the tree house will most likely be subject to tension or pullout forces.

Use nails where shear forces are key. Be mindful of using the right fasteners for treated lumber. Be cautious that most of these errors will not create tree house failure in the short term. You might not know you’ve made a mistake right away. While it is essential to know how to build a treehouse, you should also be mindful of how you should not build a tree house as well.

Too many fasteners
Never put tree house fasteners close together in the tree. Don’t forget that trees don’t heal. They compartmentalize and seal around a cut. If wounds are quite near each other, the tree may consider them one wound which rots the wood between the fasteners. This will cause the tree house project to be unsuccessful.

A better way to go about it is to use one big tree house fastener in place of numerous little ones. Yes, it is appealing to use the little ones since that’s what you will find on the shelves. Don’t be lazy and cut corners when it comes to the safety of your tree house.

Fastening a beam to a tree
When a tree house beam is fixed to the tree, one of two negative things will occur. First, the beam will limit development on that side of the tree, making it suffer. Second, the tree will continue to grow, moving the beam out and off the bolts it is fastened to. At some point, it will fall off, and the tree house will collapse.

It is wise to put the beam on a durable tree house fastener like an artificial limb instead of fastening a beam to the tree. If you have questions about fasteners or tree house building, contact an Arborist.

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