World treehouse list

Patricia Haines
Ithaca County, NY, USA
16 November 2000

I've just bought land on which I want to build several tree houses, with help from young people in our community. Any suggestions would be most welcome. So much to learn - but such fun.

Dave Frye
Kapaa, HI, USA
12 November 2000

Custom built Treehouses on the Isle of Kauai. Nightly and long term rentals from our clients.

Harry Neely
Dryden, Michigan, USA
3 November 2000

Built on a hill, the treehouse is 22 feet up on one side and 30 feet on the other. The platform is 13 x 16 feet and the living area is 8 x 10 with a loft for sleeping. Built in 1998 it over looks a pond. Many pics of construction and finished house on the web site.

Mark Sims
Chesterfield, MO, USA
21 October 2000

My friend and I built a treehouse in my relatively small (about an acre) backyard. The first level is 25 ft off the ground and the roof at feet higher, in a very stable oak tree. It get's a little different in the fact that we were able to build it without ever nail or screwing into the tree. It is "hanging" on four main branches that form a box, we accomplished this by using steel cabling and eye bolts tht go through the 2X6's we use for the main beams. We used 4 ply plywood for the floors and painted all the boards with sealant. We are currently having troubles with walls and of course there is a lot of shaking in windy weather on the second level especially.

Ted
Spratanburg, SC, USA
18 October 2000

My treehouse took me 2 years to build! It has Cable, refrigerator, it is two storey, with power and 2 porches.

Philip Crisler
Covington, WA, USA
31 August 2000

A spiral staircase climbs a medium-size evergreen. The floor is 16 feet up. It's a six-sided pie. Six 2x4's are bolted to the ends of the floor joists and tilt outward about 10 degrees as they go up to bolt onto the rafters. No roof...everybody says "Leave it open" so I'm finished. The walls are three horizontal 2x4s and vinyl-covered wire mesh over it... very open yet strong. It's used on the staircase too.

Update 25 Feb 01: The spiral staircase is lasting well and it hasn't hurt the tree!

Doug Plank
Oak Ridge, NC, USA
26 August 2000

Single tree (24 inch poplar) 13 foot off ground to floor and 21 to roof peak. Arched window with shutters and floor box, trap door in floor, landing with rope ladder and 90 foot zip line for fast get away. Rope and pulley with basket and wether vane on roof. Built floor like deck and lagged into tree. Used pre-finished fiberboard siding and asphalt corrogated roofing. Make sure you have a good ladder and think building sequence through or you will build yourself out of a position to do the next thing.

James B'fer Roth
Warern, Vermont, USA
22 August 2000

An eight sided living sculpture 20 feet off the ground with sleeping loft at 30 ft. in a large multi - branched maple tree.

Anton
Queens, NY, USA
22 August 2000

My treehouse isn't that big because I live near the city so there isn't much space. It has 3 floors. I built it by myself. The top floor can fit about 5 people. It has windows and carpet. Also it has a roof. There is a trap door to the bottom floor. You can't stand up in the bottom floor but you can sit. That has carpet also. The top top floor is all the way on the the top of the tree. That also has carpet but no roof. It can fit about 3 people. It's like a look out tower.

I have a trap where you pull a string and water comes out down a pipe and on to someone. I also have a pulley system. It doesn't hold people but it pulls up stuff. On the bottom floor there's a little deck where you san stand or there's a zip line down to my backyard. My dad helped me build that. It's about 20 ft long from my treehouse to my back yard. You can also stand on the roof of my tree house like a deck. I have windows and electricity. You get up by a rope ladder, a tree ladder, a rope up the back of the tree, a rope in the front, and a pole.

Tom Chudleigh
Denman Island, British Columbia, Canada
21 August 2000

I built and live in a 9' diameter spherical treehouse. The treehouse is suspended from ropes up in the canopy between 3 trees. Access to the house is via a suspended spiral staircase that wraps around the main tree. A suspension bridge carries you from the top of the stairway to the treehouse.

The sphere is made of yellow cedar strips with a clear fiberglass finish. Construction is similar to a cedar strip canoe. The empty treehouse weighs about 550 lb (250 kg).

Nick Bellos & Justin Ruhoff
Maple Grove, MN, USA
17 August 2000

Well, we started yesterday and so far it has two floors and we are just now starting to work on the walls and roof. It's pretty small but it's our first and it was something we decided to do and since we are best friends it is a lot of fun.

Sharla Alderson
West Fork, Arkansas, USA
15 August 2000

My treehouse is 10' x 10', made from recycled materials and located in the middle of 40 acres in the beautiful Ozark mountains. This is a luxury treehouse, complete with hardwood floors, knotty pine tongue&groove walls, cedar siding and a deck with a view!

David Greenberg
Hana, Maui, Hawaii and Sanya, Hainan, China
treehousesofhawaii.com
28 July 2000

As president of Treehouses of Hawaii Inc. I would like to annouce the opening in China of are four latest treehouses. Three were designed by David Greenberg, one with the help of Michael Garnier for the engineering and one was designed by Francis Sinenci also with the help of Michael Garnier of Treesort fame. They have been designed as vacation rentals and function as small eco-resorts.

Mark Melton
Dallas, GA, USA
13 July 2000

Hi, My treehouse is built between two huge Hickory trees. It is 25ft to the deck of it. The dimensions are 26ft. long by 12ft. wide. It has a small front porch, then the house itself is 14ft long by 12ft. wide with the remainder of the space used as a huge porch with one of the trees coming up through it. It has a large sleeping loft built over half the inside of the house. Amenities include: air conditioning, electric heat, fridge, stereo, TV, Nintendo, microwave, small toaster oven.

I built a winding staircase up one of the trees for access. Under the first level landing I built a huge sandbox. There is also a zip line from the first landing running across the yard. The house itself would be considered a story and a half with foru windows and two dutch doors. I did all the work entirely by myself using scaffolding. It took me eight months working everyday after work and on weekends to complete it. And of course... the kids rarely use it. Thats OK... I use it! You have never slept better in all your life!

C Leflar
Fayetteville, AR, USA
11 July 2000

Set in the midst of a four trunked Bodark, it stands on six 4x4 pillars set in concrete. The foot of the L shaped platform is raised. The main purpose is to be a play house for children and grandchildren.

Brent Mercer Art
Fresno, CA, USA

10 July 2000

I've been working many years on chair ideas, that have with my treehouses, become Treenets! The last few years I've made tree-nethouses at a 6,500 person, 3 day music festival for the free kids' area, complete with rope bridges! Well they've been a great hit even with the adult kids. These prototypes are portable, soft, and fall-proof. I feel that any rigid wood structure treehouse should be surrounded by them, or used just by themselves.

Nicky King
Elreno Canadian, Oklahoma, USA
8 July 2000

I am 14 now was 12 when I built main part which is the 8'x12'. It has one double bunk and two single bunks. It's approx 14' to the bottom of treehouse. I went over to my dads friends house and took off an 8x10 deck then attached it to the tree under the house, also added another 8x8 onto that all of which was used lumber my dad showed me how to tie top plate of walls together then he cut the metal for the roof. Plans were used all from my head, soon I will side it.

Warren Pickes
Cork, Ireland
4 July 2000

Currently under construction! I've got a palette at 7m in an ash tree in my garden. Accessible via a rope ladder up the adjacent ash, then a bridge. Descent by abseil. Roof and floor the next step. No nails or bolts used - sorry guys but I think nails are wrong - I've seen that they definitely do kill branches. Rope is the way. I can advise on rope ladder construction, with the usual disclaimers.

[Editor's note: In most cases nails or bolts can be used safely in a tree. However, as with any action to a living thing, caution has to be taken and sensible limits set on the amount of damage you can expect a tree to survive. Rope can, and generally is, more harmful than these methods because it can either strangle branches or rub away sensitive bark. See my page on attachments for more information.]

David Wood
Lac La Hache, British Columbia, Canada
30 June 2000

This tree house was built during my volunteer days with the Canadian youth program, Katimavik in 1977. I am told that it still stands and is located on the lake side road just across from what is now a summer camp for kids.

Nick Harriman
Fairview, NC, USA
27 June 2000

This house was built with three trees and one added 6x6 post. The platform is entirely of treated lumber, supported on brackets designed after the ones on page 51 of "Home Tree Home" by Peter Nelson. The treehouse is secured to only one cross beam, allowing the entire platform to "float" as the trees move in the wind. The platform is 10x10 with an 8x8 single-sloped roof house, allowing a 2-foot deck on 2 sides. It comes complete with 2 bunk beds, window seat and slide. You can see a picture at the above web address.

Suresh P R
Trichur, Kerala, India
travel.vsnl.com/palmland/treehouse
18 March 2000

90 feet above the tree, with running water, shower, toilet etc in 500 acres of forest. Situated in Kerala, South India.

Bunga
Southington, CT, USA
9 March 2000

I just built my second 14' X 12' treehouse in a YMCA summer camp that spans 140 acres. Dudes, it is way cool with 4 foot porch, plexiglass windows and soon to be completed 10 ' deck. Next project may be a huge slide coming off the deck into the pond which is adjacent. Kids camps are screaming for non-conventional buildings and it's a great community service project for would-be carpenters. The floor ranges from 13' above ground to the peak at 23'. It's kid proofed against falls.

See also: 1998 listing

Craig Bond
Council Bluffs, IA, USA
geocities.com/seebee65/treehouse.htm
8 March 2000

I started my treehouse project on 3/4/2000. I had promised my kids I would build one last year, but never got around to it. The main platform, which I am building now, is 10' off the ground in a huge maple tree, supported on 3 sides by the tree and on a 4th by a post. It is irregular in shape, but approximately 6'X10' with a trapdoor entrance from below.

Ken Sorkin
Commack, NY, USA
6 March 2000

Started my treehouse 5/99 and is work in progress. Its built between two strong maples and is a basic square type on rectangular platform. The platform rests on (2) pressure treated 2x8s approx. 10 feet long. 2 triangular supports, built of cross braced PT 2x4s, are at either end. The house is set in the corner of the platform giving a wrap-around porch feature. The walls are constructed of treated 2x3s (saves weight) with 1/4" ext. plywood surface. The roof is sloped approx. 12 deg. Will probably use corrugated fiberglass as foofing surface. Its light and water rolls off it well.

John Rogers
Brevard County, FL, USA
28 February 2000

Eight Sabal palms form a sixteen foot circle with a taller Washingtonian palm in the very center. The 21 foot diameter deck is positioned about ten feet up the circle of trees like a gazebo off the ground. The roof is galvanized steel supported by dimensional lumber. The trees are not pierced in any way, buy rather hugged tightly by bolted joists and roof trusses. The ground level is an outdoor kitchen and the upper deck is open living space shelted by the roof and side railings.

John Surber
Salida, CO, USA
24 February 2000

This tree house is different than what I have seen on this page but is pretty cool. Our tree house about 10 feet of the ground, we use ladders, ropes, and poles to get up and down. We built ourown crane, we have a deck all the way around it. The treehouse is about 8' x 8' and the ceiling is about 10'. We have two floors and the lower floor has a full size couch,2 tv's, VCR, and Surround sound stereo system. On the second floor we have storage and a little refrigerator.

Ross "Rizzo" Nolen
Hangtown, CA, USA
16 February 2000

My treehouse is a 6'X 6' look out post nested 30 feet high in an oak tree. The only way to get into it is by a Rope & Pulley. Penetrating the top branches is a 20 foot flag pole with Old Glory flapping in the wind, which can be seen from U.S. Highway 50.

Jason Martin
Lititz, PA, USA
16 February 2000

My treehouse is about 25 feet up. It is spanned between two trees. The platform is 12'x16', and the house itself is 10' x 9'. There is a 6'x12' front porch with a rope railing. Access is by a rope ladder. The house has T-111 for the exterior and a green tin roof. I got windows for free that were sitting out along the road. I draw and design residential homes for a living.

Jeb Kennel
Potomac, IL, USA
11 February 2000

My treehouse is built like a regular stick-framed house on and between a cluster of trees. It is 3 floors high. The bottom has a double trap door so that you come in through the card playing table. I am not quite finished; I have been working on it for about a year. It has electrical, every joint is sealed, and I chose Architectual shingles as the outside covering. It is 10 feet high on the bottom and has a balcony on the third floor that exceeds 35 feet in height.

Mickey J
Weld County, CO, USA
1 February 2000

My father helped me build my tree house when I was 4-6 it started out as just a platform on a tree (my favorite tree to be exact) and ever since then my friends Paul, Lukas, Eric, Mike,and Fred (seriously) have improved it.

Mark J Fonte
Purvis, MS, USA
25 January 2000

Middle Age Crazy? Can't buy a fast car so I will build a treehouse for the kids (me too)! Got 4 Pine trees for corners (about 8 to 10 feet apart)and want to have a porch, a rock climbing wall, a swing, ladder, sliding windows for ventilation (I've got a neat idea on how to do it), lights, etc.

Tom the Tree Man
IL, USA
24 January 2000

Tree house is located in Oak-Hickory woods. Interior dimensions are 12' x 16'. Height: (from ground) approx. 14' I used laminated beams on 2" x 10" joists, with treated plywood deck. Walls are 2" x 4" standard construction. Roof: 12/12 pitch, asphalt shingle. Great project for adults or kids + adults.