Category Archives: Health, Home, Property, Safety

Our Second Tree House: well actually it’s a deck or platform type of thing

I had every intention of building a full-blown tree house on our new property, so I started with the base platform and then I was going to add other platforms and railings and ladders and such.  But when the first base platform was done, I kind of liked the openness and simplicity of it.  Rather than a tree house, it was sort of like a tree deck.

tree-deck-20

Some readers might be wondering about the lack of railings and the potential for safety issues.  That’s obviously a concern with any play structure … especially elevated ones.  I find that the lack of railings makes the kids nervous enough that they don’t run around or play rough up there.

Also, I made the access from the ground difficult enough that it becomes a sort of physical test that the kids have to pass before they are allowed up there.  If a kid can’t climb up to the platform, which is a bit of a difficult climb, then they aren’t big enough or agile enough to be playing up there.

I started out with a rough sketch.  This sketch helped me figure out how much lumber to buy.  Always use treated lumber for outdoor structures.  Or be prepared to paint it at least once every year.

tree-deck-01

I decided to go with a 12 foot length, so these are my 12 foot long 2×6 main beams.  I’ve marked on both beams where the 2×4 support blocks will be attached.

tree-deck-02

This just shows the 2×4 support blocks sitting in position.  These blocks are used to screw the shorter cross beams solidly to these main beams.

tree-deck-03

Use clamps to hold the 2×4 support blocks temporarily in place.

tree-deck-04

Then mark and drill two holes for the bolts that will hold them permanently in place.

tree-deck-05

The bolts, washers, nuts are all galvanized which cost more but will last a long time in the elements.  I used lock washers, although I’m not sure if that’s necessary or not.

tree-deck-06

So now we have the 2 main beams ready to be turned into a platform by adding the shorter cross beams.  This can be done on the ground and then the entire platform can be lifted up into the tree.  I chose to lift these 2 main beams up into their positions in the tree and then build the platform up there.

tree-deck-07

The shorter cross beams are also 2×6 material.  I made my platform 3 feet wide, so these cross beams are 3 inches shorter than 3 feet to account for the 1.5 inch plus 1.5 inch thickness of the main beams on either side.

Attaching is easier on the ground, but if you clamp the cross beam to the 2×4 block (clamp not shown in picture), then you can drive some long screws to hold it permanently.  I used the expensive outdoor coated screws which should last a long time in the elements.  You can’t see from this photo, but I screwed the main beam to the cross beam and I also screwed the cross beam to the 2×4 block.  That should hold it.  It’s a good idea to pre-drill the screw holes with a bit that is smaller diameter then the screw.

tree-deck-08

Once all the smaller cross beams are attached to the main beams, you will have a nice solid frame.  Notice that I have a spacer block under the left side in the picture.  Good luck finding a perfectly flat and level tree limb!  I used spacers to level the platform.

tree-deck-09

Here is a close up of one of the spacers before it was permanently mounted.  A block of 2×6 was pretty much the height I needed.

tree-deck-10

I realized at this point that I needed to replace the short 2×4 block in this area with a longer one that would span the height of both the main 2×6 beam plus the new small 2×6 block.

tree-deck-11

A couple more bolts and this height extension was complete.

tree-deck-12

Here is a different angle of the platform at this point.  You can see that I had to create a second height extension at the other limb that was the width of a 2×4, rather than the 2×6 I used at the other limb.  This second height extension is attached using two separate 2×4 blocks.

tree-deck-13

Before attaching the flooring to this frame, the platform needs to be attached to the tree so it doesn’t move or get blown away in a wind storm.

Attaching non-moving, non-growing structures to moving, growing structures can be tricky and confusing.  You want to avoid your lumber contacting the tree if at all possible.  That point of contact can capture leaves and water and rotting of both your structure and of your tree can occur there.

Another potential issue is binding or pinning the tree’s movement and growth.  If you permanently attach or pin a structure to 2 separate tree limbs, that structure might inhibit the tree’s growth in a certain direction.  Or alternatively, the tree might move or grow to a point where it stretches or warps or even breaks your structure.  Not good for the tree and not good for your structure.

So the trick is to mount the structure in the tree in a way that allows the tree to grow and sort of slide past the structure without it warping or breaking the structure.  There are specialty fasteners and brackets that allow your support beam to float on top of the moving tree limb or trunk.  The common phrase used in the industry is “perch, don’t pin”.

I got lucky because I found a location for my platform where it was just simply sitting on top of two large horizontal limbs that could easily hold the weight of the platform.  So all I really needed was to find a strong spacer of some sort to mount between the tree limb and my platform.  I used lag bolt gate hinges (also called pintle screws), similar to this photo and this website.

lag-bolt2

By screwing them all the way down to the limb surface, the lag bolt doesn’t actually hold up the weight of the platform … the tree limb does.  The lag bolt head just acts as a surface to separate the structure lumber and the tree while also providing a sliding surface that allows the platform to slide as the tree limb grows and moves beneath the platform.

So here is the pilot hole in the limb.

tree-deck-14

And here is the lag bolt installed.

tree-deck-15

Here is what it looks like from underneath with the platform on top of the lag bolt gate hinge.  You can see how the platform is just sitting on top and can slide past as the tree moves.  Of course, I need to keep my eye on this over the years because if the tree moves too much I may need to move the lag bolt or add another one in a different location.

tree-deck-16

Now the next part is trickier.  The platform is pretty darn heavy so I’m not terribly worried that it will blow away in a wind storm.  But since it is mounted on top of a sliding surface, I don’t really want it moving over time and sliding off or becoming way off center.  So I picked one single attachment point and allowed it to pivot at this point by using a lag bolt with an eye.  Technically this is pinning the platform to the limb, but only one out of the four touching points is pinned, so it won’t bind.  This pin will pull one corner of the platform along with the growing tree limb and the rest of the platform will slide along the lag bolt gate hinges.  And the fact that this pinned joint is hinged will allow the platform to rotate a little bit in case one limb grows up or down relative to the other limb.

tree-deck-17

After cutting and installing the 1×6 deck boards, the project is complete.  I purposely left a pretty good sized gap between the deck boards.  The large gap helps keep leaves from piling up.  Also, psychologically I think it helps remind the kids that they are not standing on safe ground and that they need to be extra cautious up there.  I also think the lack of railing up there makes them extra cautious.

tree-deck-18

Here is the reverse angle photo.  The platform is 12 feet long and 3 feet wide.  I considered making it 4 feet wide, but the limbs at that point start to turn upwards pretty sharply, so 3 feet was a good compromise to keep the platform relatively level and a decent size.

tree-deck-19

And finally, here is what it looks like from the ground.  I wanted it to stick out past the tree limbs so the kids could sit up there with their legs dangling over, like sitting on a dock in a lake or something.

tree-deck-21

Thanks for your interest! Please use the “email us” link or leave a comment below if you have any comments or feedback or any other ideas!

Kurt

Bats need houses too!

I got a wild hair today and I built a house for my resident bats that do such a good job of keeping the mosquito population under control.  Building a bat house is pretty easy and it only takes a few small pieces of wood.  What follows are easy step by step instructions for building a small and simple bat house.  It’s so easy you can do it yourself!

I searched the Internet for some plans and ended up drawing up my own design based on a few of the simpler designs that I found on the Internet.  Here is a photo of my plans.  (Click on any image to see the full resolution version.)

01 - bat house plans

It might be hard to read, but basically it only takes a 12 inch by 12 inch piece of plywood for the back, plus a couple smaller plywood pieces for the front and one more for the roof, plus several thin slats.  Here is a photo of all the wood for my bat house project, except for the roof, which I cut last after the rest was put together.

02 - parts cut

You can see the 12 by 12 plywood piece for the back, plus a 12 by 5 plywood piece and a 12 by 4 plywood piece for the front, plus 4 wood slats that are 1/2 inch by 1 inch and around 10 inches long.  I cut the slats to their proper length during construction to fit the front of the house, so right now they are just a little long.  The plywood I used was some thin veneer that I had laying around that was leftover from another project.  But you can use plywood of any thickness for this project.  The thickness of the front and back will determine the final size of the roof piece, so that’s one reason to cut that piece last.

The picture below shows one slat is cut along it’s short 1/2 inch side at an angle for the roof.  I did not measure the angle … I just eyeballed it on my bandsaw.  Then I took the one that I had cut and I used it as a template to draw the angle on the other three slats.  That way they will all be the same angle.

03 - one slat cut

The photo below shows all four slats laid out on the 12 by 12 back piece.  You can also see a piece of screen that I had laying around that I cut to use as the landing pad for the bats.  The bats need a surface to land on that they can hold onto with their tiny claws.  A surface that is soft or rubbery or something like this screen will do fine.

04 - slats laid out

Below you can see the front pieces laid down on the slats.  Nothing is being attached together at this point.  I am only test fitting everything to make sure it’s all the right size.  The reason the front is in two pieces is that a bat house needs some ventilation in a way that does not allow rain to pour in.

05 - front pieces fit check

Above you can see how the four spacer slats stick out beneath the front pieces.  I marked them and cut them off and below you can see them now at the proper length.

06 fit check reverse angle

Now that everything is verified to be the correct size, I’m ready to attach my landing pad.  I used an office stapler to attach the screen to the plywood.  In the photo below, you can see that I started on the back side and attached the screen.  Then I rolled the screen around to the front side of the plywood and stapled it every couple of inches.  I used staples because my material is metal screen.  If you use foam matting or rubber matting or something like that, glue will probably work just fine.

07 - screen started on back side

Below you can see the landing pad completely installed from the front side where the bats will land.

08 - screen finished

Now it’s time to assemble the spacer slats onto the back plywood piece.  I’m going to assemble the slats onto the plywood back now, but I will hold off assembling the front pieces and the roof.  This is because the back needs to be installed onto my tall light pole first and then the front pieces and the roof can be installed.  Otherwise, installation of the bat house on the light pole will be much harder after the whole thing is fully assembled.  I used Liquid Nails to glue the wood pieces to each other.  I also am going to use screws for good measure.  This bat house will be outdoors and I want it to hold together for many years.

09 - slat being glued

You can see below that I used wood clamps to hold the wood together tight and then I installed some screws.  Between the glue and the screws, plus a coat of primer and a couple coats of outdoor latex paint, I’m hoping this bat house lasts for many many years.

10 - slat being screwed in

Here it is on the light pole that I want it to be installed on.  There were a couple bolts sticking out of the light pole that I had to accomodate.  I’m going to put some smaller holes and then wrap picture wire around and around several times in order to hold the bat house in place on the round pole.

11 - fit check on pole

This photo shows the larger holes for the light pole bolts plus four smaller holes that I drilled for the picture wire.

12 - holes for pitcure wire hanging

Now I screwed the front pieces on, but I did not turn the screws down tight.  I put the screws in just enough to make holes that I can find again later after it is painted.

13 - start screws in front

Now I found a piece of plywood big enough to use as the roof.  I cut it out and centered it in place and then I marked it’s final location as the photo below shows.

14 - mark location of roof

Then I laid the bat house next to the roof so I could mark where the slats are located so I can put screws through the roof directly into the center of these four slats.

15 - mark location of slats on roof

Then I installed the roof, but not tight.  Just to make screw holes that I can find again after it’s painted.

16 - start screws on roof

Now I took the front and roof pieces off again so I can paint everything separately.

17 - take it apart for painting

Then I primered everything.

18 - primer

Then I painted everything.  I actually put two nice thick coats of paint because I want this to be nice and waterproof and last for many years, hopefully.  You don’t really want a bat house to be brightly colored.  It should not really stand out.  I had a dark brown paint handy so I used that.  Painting through the screen was not easy, but I did it.  Next time, I think I would probably paint the wood under the screen before installing the screen.

19 - dark paint

Then I hung the back piece as I described earlier using the picture wire to wrap around the pole several times.

20 - back is installed on pole

 Then I screwed the front pieces and the roof on. That’s all!  The bat house is complete and ready for occupants!

21 - final product - bat house

Thanks for taking the time to read these step by step bat house directions!  Let me know if you have any comments or feedback and definitely let me know if you used these directions to make your own bat house!  Leave comments below on this blog post or send me an email by clicking the email link below in the page footer.

Thanks!

Kurt

My unexpected (and possibly unpaid) vacation: Day 1

I woke up at 6am this morning like usual, even though my alarm was not set. I checked CNN on my phone and saw that the government shutdown had actually happened while I was sleeping.

Basically for me the shutdown is a vacation with no guarantee of a paycheck. Although there is a decent chance that Congress will approve back pay for the furloughed government employees. But even civil servants need to pile up a solid emergency fund in case they lose their job (even if only temporary). Back pay is never guaranteed.

I’m not a gambler, but I wouldn’t be completely surprised if I lost a week or two worth of my salary over this mess. That’s not the end of the world for myself and my family, but thousands of other federal employees might get into some trouble if that happens.

I checked my NASA email account right away for the official furlough notice but it was not there yet. Once the notice arrives I’m supposed to acknowledge it by forwarding it to my supervisor.

I have a huge to-do list that never seems to ever get any smaller so I got the list out and created a sub-list which is my furlough to-do list. This new sub-list now has 35 items on it. Probably twice as much as I’ll be able to get done during the furlough. But we have no idea how long this thing is gonna last.

Not everything on my furlough list is work-and-no-play though. There are things like “go see a movie” and “go canoeing” and stuff like that. I plan to fill my furlough time with both work and play activities.

After creating my to-do list, I made myself a banana and strawberry smoothie and enjoyed it on my front porch in my adirondack chair. During a normal NASA work day, I would never have time for this sort of thing. Mornings are usually pretty rushed.

First official order of business: fix clogged toilet

I went ahead and cleaned and disinfected all three toilets while I was at it.

I threw in a load of laundry while I was in the area. One of our bathrooms is through the laundry room and I noticed that the washer and dryer were both unoccupied so what the heck. My wife will be so surprised when she gets home from work and notices that some laundry magically got done!

My NASA supervisor then called my cell and asked me to check for the official furlough notice. It still wasn’t there in my NASA inbox, so I called my supervisor back at home and she forwarded me a copy to my home email address. It’s likely that some NASA server was shut down this morning before all the thousands of official furlough notices were delivered. Oh well.

Back to my to-do list. I had a one hour DVD that I needed to watch. It’s an old VHS tape that I transferred to DVD a while ago and I needed to watch it on a regular DVD player to make sure it was acceptable.

Then I did a second load of laundry. Yay, me!

Then after a quick trip to my in-law’s house to borrow an air finish nailer and a quick trip to Lowes and a quick stop for lunch at Burger King, I spent the next several hours measuring/cutting/installing baseboard trim in the house.

image

We’ve lived here for just over two years and I got distracted before all the trim got installed. Today I worked in the kids hallway, both kids rooms, and also in the front office.

Then I took a shower and ate dinner and went to church choir rehearsal. And now I’m writing this blog post. That’s pretty much day one of my unplanned furlough slash vacation.

My to-do list still has 35 items on it. I crossed several off today and did some tasks that were never on the list and I also added several new items to the list throughout the day. Typical.

What will tomorrow hold? Stay tuned! 🙂

Kurt