Viewing entries tagged with 'build'
EggSheds
Posted by Schuyler on 14 April 2011 | 126 Comments
I'm currently working on a side project of EggSheds which can be found at www.eggshedspdx.com. Becca and I are working on building chicken coops to the highest standard in regards to construction, materials, and design. These chicken coops will last for years to come providing your chickens a comfortable home to lay their eggs.
I'm still building treehouses, don't worry. Infact, I have some slots open this summer to build, so please contact us for a free consultation.
Tree Top Builders
Posted by Schuyler on 9 March 2011 | 59 Comments
Today I spoke with Dan Wright from Tree Top Builders. They are located in Pennsylvania. Over the past 9 years, Dan has built many treehouses all over the east coast. These treehouses are primarily for children, but also great for adults. Dan has built many double deckers, rope bridges, and treehouses with slides. Each one is unique and built to suit.
Dan said that he travels all around the east coast to install these treehouses. That got me thinking about traveling myself. I could very well see myself traveling around Oregon, Washington, and Idaho installing treehouses. Because of the premanufactured nature of my treehouses, the additional cost wouldn't be limiting to the customer. But when it comes to east coast work, I'd love to recommend clients to look into other companies like Tree Top Builders.
Make sure to check out Tree Top Builders at TreeTopBuilders.net. There is lots of great information on their website and they have a lot of great ideas for treehouses.
Elevated Living needs your help!
Posted by Schuyler on 14 September 2009 | 12 Comments
Greetings,
As most of you know, I have been building my first ever Elevated Living tree house. This has been a long and hard process for me, both physically and mentally. I have spent the past month acquiring materials and prefabricating the tree house at my Dad's place. Most of this work was by myself with a bit of assistance from friends and family (thanks Beth, Dad, and Devin). But it has come to critical mass with the tree house and this is why I need your help.
IT IS INSTALLATION TIME!!!
So, I am calling on you, my friends, family, and tree house fans, to see if you are available to aid me in this adventure. First, the schedule:
- Friday, 9/18: Material transfer from NE Portland build site to SW Portland installation site. Rental receiving.
- Saturday, 9/19: Tree house assembly, tree prep, and initial installation.
- Sunday, 9/20: Tree house initial installation through final installation.
- Monday, 9/21: Final tweaking, job site cleanup, and completion.
I am taking Friday and Monday off of work. I do not expect anyone to do the same, but if you are not working on those days, your help would be greatly appreciated.
The following are the tasks that will be required of helpers:
- Material Handling: Some of these beams can get kinda heavy.
- Dealing with rental equipment: One large articulating boom lift and two material hoists are being rented.
- Assembly: The tree house has been assembled before and it is pretty easy to put it together.
- Guiding: This is the most important. When the tree is going up, we need assistance to balance the load and make sure it gets in the air in a safe and secure manor.
- Cleanup: The site is going to get busy and full. Constant cleanup and organization will be required.
As maybe few of you know, I am not being compensated for this tree house. I am doing this for promotional materials and experience. Therefore, I cannot compensate you for your time with pay. Here is what I can compensate you with, though:
- Pizza and beer party after the final completion of the tree house. Date and time TBD.
- A huge hug and as many high-fives as possible.
The weather looks like it is going to be partly sunny in the mid 70's which is perfect for outdoor construction. This weekend should be a great weekend for being outside, using power tools, and being out on a man lift.
Please contact me here and let me know if you are available this weekend and when. I need to use this information to create a rough schedule of events.
I would like to thank each and every one of you in advance for your help, even if you are not able to help me this weekend. This has been a dream of mine for a long while and I have appreciated everyone's support so far. But I will certainly appreciate you even more if you do help me.
Again, thank you,
Prefab is complete!!!
Posted by Schuyler on 13 September 2009 | 13 Comments
On Friday, I recieved my upper brackets from my bracket guy. They turned out great. Unfortunately, I can't show them to you at this point because I don't want to give away all my secrets. I will tell you more about them once the tree house is installed.
I built most of my drilling jig for drilling the holes in the tree for the suspension rods. Check it out.
This is fully adjustable for any tree up to 4' in diameter. I have a section that is going to c-clamp onto it that will hold my drilling guide. I should get that portion in the mail Monday/Tuesday and will attach it then. Check out the part it will mount to:
It is at a 45 degree angle. I will slide it along the rail to center, then give it a slight offset. Then I just clamp it down and drill. Pretty simple.
Looks like installation is right around the corner. Stay tuned. Once installation starts, blogs will be a bit longer and more frequent.
I told you I'd be waiting. And here is why.
Posted by Schuyler on 3 September 2009 | 13 Comments
I had a structural engineer look at my upper bracket for suspension. This is the most critical part of the tree house and the basis of my (awesome) design. In reviewing the bracket (I only paid them to look at the bracket), they briefly reviewed the whole tree house. Everything is a go! The bracket was slightly modified and I need new, longer screws, but besides that, it is ready to be made. I currently have the bracket being reviewed by two manufacturers. Then they will be fabricated and I can finish the build.
Now on to installation: I have devised a better, safer way to raise the tree house. Look at this picture.
This is a Genie Superlift. It has a rating up to 800lbs. I will be using two opposing each other. The shell of the the tree house weighs just over 1100lbs. These things go to 15' which is the height of this tree house. Should be perfect. I have located a rental shop in town that has multiple of these units for rent.
If you guys want to help install the first ever Elevated Living Tree House, I will be installing this soon. Please Contact Us if you are interested in helping out. It will be centered around a weekend.
A bit more progress. Now a bit of waiting
Posted by Schuyler on 30 August 2009 | 45 Comments
So today I attached the railings, installed a post, and cut all the floorboards to 12'. Note to self: When purchasing lumber at 12', that is rough cut.
Here you can see the railing meeting the column. I used pocket holes to do this. THey will be filled in with plugs during final installation.
Here is the bottom attachment.
And finally, the beams and decking material.
I should hear back from my structural engineer tomorrow regarding my upper brackets. Then I will have them made (hopefully this week). I will do a partial tear down of the structure, then attach the upper beams to make sure all fits. Then, it is off to final prep for installation.
This blog has been boring... Until now! Mockup!
Posted by Schuyler on 29 August 2009 | 12 Comments
Hey guys,
I finished prepping the lower beams for the brackets and started to assemble the tree house today. Take a look:
And here is a video tour:
I would like to point out one design element that took a bit of work, but is really paying off. That is the seamless joint between the column and the beam.
This was intentional and took a bit of planning to make happen. The design of the tree house is clean and modern. I didn't want to have any brackets seen. Just wood up in a tree. This will be great aesthetically from the ground and in the air.
Tomorrow I will get a lot more work done and blog again, so stay tuned.
Holy crap, this saw is big! (with vid)
Posted by Schuyler on 27 August 2009 | 24 Comments
Wow. So I rented a 16" circular saw to make 4" deep cuts (I couldn't find the recommended 10" saw). Turns out that is is old, underpowered, and dull. Check this puppy out!
Don't mind Beth. She is always that creepy.
So we tried cutting the grooves in the end of the beams a couple of ways, but the best was was to pre-cut them using a 7 1/4" circular saw, then cut the bigger cuts upright. We used my childhood playhouse. It got the beams to perfect working height.
Because the blade was so dull, it took about 4-5 minutes for each cut. We will be asking for a refund. We also finished just as the daylight was disappearing on us.
A big thanks to Devin Z. for doing all the hard work!
Check out the video of him working it!
Next: Drilling holes for the brackets!
Design for minimal waste
Posted by Schuyler on 24 August 2009 | 111 Comments
So I thought I would share this picture with you:
This picture represents about 95% of all the scrap lumber for this entire project. The tree house was designed in such a way (12' square) to maximize the lumber I was purchasing. It goes to show you that being eco-conscious in construction starts in the design process.
The large pieces you see on the left are the glulam beam cutoffs. They are less than a foot wide (hence I couldn't order anything smaller). Glulams come rough-cut anyway, so some trimming is required to square up the ends. I'm currently debating what to do with them. They would make great materials for some sort of art project. If you have an idea that you would like to use them for, let me know. I'd love to see 100% of these materials used.
Wow, this thing is going to be big!
Posted by Schuyler on 23 August 2009 | 27 Comments
So this morning we finished the railings. After we finished building them, we decided to put them next to each other to give us an idea about how big this treehouse is going to be. Well, take a look.
Beth is standing in the middle, where the tree will be. How cool is that?
We also cut the feet for the railings. They can be viewed at the Project No. 1 page.
I will be drafting the rest of the day.