Siding and tweaking...

With the help another good friend in town (Doug, see last post), we were able to put up much of the siding for the tree house. Once we were organized the panel placement went up pretty easily. We used 3/8 textured hardboard that was pre-finished with exterior finish and has an exterior fake wood grain. I had to go back and re-nail some panels as I started with the wrong fastener (2" galvanized shake nails). I used 6d 2 inch galvanized nails.

Now, for the tweak...As I was getting ready for the work day on the tree house, I noticed a decided racking to the studded frame of the treehouse, probably because the frame was not fully braced before the winter weather set in. I did not shingle the roof because I want to finish stiffening the frame with plywood siding.

The solution! A cross brace to pull the frame back into square before the siding went on. Doug and I tried a simple pulley I had in the basement. No luck. The pulley just didn't have the muscle to tweak the house back into true. Doug thought for a minute and said "I remember a block and tackle in my garage.." He returned with a serious set-up set-up. Problem solved!

(although you should seen have tautness of the tackle line!...)

Flooded!

Happy Spring!

I wanted to start by posting the after effects of the recent 100-year storm we had in Massachusetts. Reading the news you can see we had large areas of the county that were flooded, to the point that a number of state and county highways were closed and communities inundated or isolated. Back at this old treehouse, the pond and the vernal pools that you saw in my December posting were at flood stage and formed one contiguous body of water that ended up in my back yard! At one stage, the lower footings of the treehouse were sub merged. Contrast the photos here with those of the same place in December.

If you remember the old picture of the vernal pools you can now see they look like a pond.

Finally, this picture of the treehouse (with my buddy, Doug on the deck) seems normal but it was taken fron the vernal pool (now a pond) from a canoe!

View from the top

Thought I'd try something different. Here are three views from the treehouse. The first is from the side of the tree house. the tree house is set back on the corner of the lot.

The second is the view from the back deck looking into the woods behind our house.

The last is from the back on one side of the deck. You can see two vernal pools. In the spring, you can hear spring peepers and wood frogs. Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Time for the siding!

Back again! Now I am trying to get siding onto a 12-foot high treehouse surrounded by trees. As you can imagine, it is a little challenging. My wife and I busted our butts to get one piece of 4x8 T 1-11 up to the deck. Not easy. yesterday my neighbor and I used a pulley to get a 4x6 sheet up there (thanks, Jonathan!). Not much easier. I bought a block and tackle, let's try that!

Workin' on the rail...

We had a family project the other day. With the invaluable help of my wife and kids, we were able to build and paint the handrails on the deck. It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun with my daughter screwing down the railing and my wife and son painting the rails. here is the result!

Back again

No I haven't been in hibernation since January. I have been occupied by many work and life experiences till now. During the summer, my father passed away after a long illness. I feel that the treehouse is a gift now to my kids so I can show them that I enjoy them as much as I enjoyed my dad.

During the spring I put on the roof with the help of my neighbor and Buddy, Johnathan across the street. we did it without breaking anything and a minimum of bruises. I then crawled up on the roof and laid out the tar paper. It was wobbly up there, so I will install the cedar shingles when i finish installing the siding on the walls.

Tree Party

The treehouse had some real action on Sunday. My son was turning six and we had a party for his friends at our house. After a time of sledding in our backyard, the kids repaired to the treehouse and busied themselves running back and forth, throwing snow around, going up and down the stairs and hauling things up and down in the bucket. It was great to see them using the treehouse as I had hoped!