I have a treehouse build which is in its infancy – we have a large eucalyptus tree in the corner of our garden which was crying out for something creative being done with

This was the initial concept, with an intermediate platform accessed by a ladder, then stairs up into the house, but I realised that headroom on the intermediate access platform would be minimal so wasn’t really viable

Revised design has a proper staircase down the side which will be safer and also maximise space inside the treehouse – haven’t quite worked out how many steps I want going around the corners, but the concept is there

The main platform will be constructed from 6×2 and will measure about 2m x 2.5m supported from cast aluminium scaffolding handrail brackets screwed into the trunks with 200mm M10 screws, plus additional diagonal bracing at the corners.

I thought it might be fun to capture the build from a 1st person perspective, but I couldn’t find the chest-harness for my GoPro. Fortunately I’m scrawny enough for a helmet strap to fit fairly comfortably around my ribs 😀

As the platform is about 3.2m up to clear the trampoline and which also works well with the lay of the branches, it seemed pertinent to put the climbing harness on to try and minimise the risk of an A&E trip. It’s remarkable how hard work it is drilling holes when you are dangling from a rope and can’t get your weight behind the tool :O

A few shots below of progress so far

Wood is coming next week for the main platform and stairs. The walls are going to be fun as they will have multiple branches going through them. Despite being pretty large, I’m hoping that it can stay relatively well hidden in the tree, which is evergreen which helps. Should be a fun project and hopefully the children will enjoy the finished result. Got to try not to piss off too many neighbours in the process, otherwise I may find that my ‘temporary structure’ will need to come down…

In for updates.

hopefully the children will enjoy the finished result won’t use it and I can set up my den

I built one 14 years ago for my son.
A few things I did:

8×4 18mm marine ply on one side as climbing wall with the proper hand/foot things

Cargo net underneath that went up to a trap door in the floor

Winch/little crane off the side with a bucket for hoisting up snacks

Power/TV so they could watch movies

Hammock and other seating

I’m just about to take it down as he’s 18 now but it’s lasted brilliantly

Most upset that the render deceived me and you didn’t have a cooling tower in your garden.
I shall keep checking here for build ideas though. 🙂

Got to try not to piss off too many neighbours in the process, otherwise I may find that my ‘temporary structure’ will need to come down…

Looks like a nesting box for endangered birds to me. Totally legal.

Looks interesting.

However, I give it 3 months before your neighbours kick off and you have to take it down.

You may know trees so feel free to ignore this. But if it were me I would be vary wary of building such a structure in a Eucalyptus. They are notorious for summer branch drop and weak branch unions; combine this with the fact that you are significantly altering loading points/pressure on branch unions, adding significant weight into the canopy and basically bracing various branches and as such inadvertantly preventing natural wind dampening effects in the lower structure of the tree – You may wish to reconsider. Let alone the effects of drilling directly into the timber and bolting plates to the tree, which will have significant effect on structural integrity particularly were you have a plates on either side of smaller limbs as in your photo’s.

I used to work with a renowned collection of Eucalyptus on the west coast of Scotland, of all the trees I had to climb these by far scared me the most. I don’t want to be a kill joy and it looks a great project but if the above means nothing to you you might want to do some reading before continuing.

checked with Local Authority about Planning Consent?
in England you need it for what you’re building due to proximity to the boundary and the structures height

This might be my new favourite thread – Steve’s garage needs to produce some wonders!

As above, don’t want to piss on your chips but trees grow and move in the wind, it either needs to be free standing or in the tree entirely, I’m building one at the minute and had the platform supported from the ground and the tree, but the high winds last month convinced me it wasn’t a good plan so mines now freestanding. I think your design might be as flawed as my original one.

here’s my little effort, just a few bits and bobs to finish off now

Planning constraints aside, the tree is not subject to a TPO or within a Conservation Area? Could the platform float on the supports which allow movement of the primary branches. The anchors will eventually disappear from view but will ever be a potential point of failure, ongoing crown reduction to control wind loading may be necessary. As an experience climb up into the tree a little way when the wind is blowing a bit, it’s interesting to feel just how much even large diameter sections move. Maintaining the ability for this movement will encourage the tree to lay down wood, secondary thickening, for somewhere near normal growth, this would be particularly important should the tree house be removed at some later date, you don’t want the cost of cable bracing to install and maintain.
However I think it’s great that you are doing this for your kids, hopefully it will engender a sense of wonder for trees and the natural world that will last a lifetime.

Absolutely brilliant idea, but the drilling directly into the tree would be a serious concern for me. I’m hoping we get plenty of progress updates and we are all proved wrong about potential fails.

What Lunar said….. gums have a disconcerting habit of dropping branches without warning. Saying that i’m also jealous. Do love a good treehouse.

large eucalyptus tree in the corner of our garden which was crying out for something creative being done with

Cut it down, burn it and plant something native. Awful trees!! Your neighbours will thank you 😅

More seriously – I second the advice the others have said about tree species and fixing it to the stems. This is a baaaaad idea.
In my experience, those coach screws aren’t particularly solid, they will snap or shear surprisingly easily – we used to use them or gate hinge plates and could break them by hand with a ratchet. I’d be concerned if/when the tree moves and flexes they will just shear and you’ll be left with a pile of timber stuck in a tree.
Lastly – 4th pic down of the two clamps either side of the branch – you’ve just drilled 2 holes straight through that and created a massive weak spot, right over the trampoline. That is an accident waiting to happen – it will fail.
Sorry – don’t want to ruin your work but I’d go back to the drawing board.
Sorry again!!

Thanks for the feedback, most of which I’ve got in hand. The platform will be supported by both the scaffolding brackets, and angled struts to lower down on the trunk. The frame won’t be rigidly attached to the tree, there will be float so that as the tree moves in the wind and grows it doesn’t affect the treehouse. I was concerned that forces from the tree could damage the structure and make it unsafe over time. While there will be some vertical loading onto the 3 main branches, the corners of the platform are all braced/supported much lower on the trunk to reduce stresses. These should take a good proportion of the weight, the scaffold parts will mainly be guides and support during initial construction.

Regarding planning, unfortunately it violates pretty much everything, it’s right on 3 boundaries, spanning 2 different ones behind, hence why I want to keep disruption to a minimum during construction, and keep it fairly well concealed. It will be much higher than permitted, but it would be a complete waste of time to try and keep to those, so I am going for the hope no-one gets upset route, fingers crossed. Our immediate neighbours to the side are completely happy with the idea, and as soon as lock-down is over I’m sure their boy will be keen to make some use of it too. I’m only going to have a window on the side which looks back towards our house.

I’m hoping that @gobuchul is wrong and I get a bit more than 3 months! If it’s up there for more than 4 years then no enforcement action can be taken. I’m in 2 minds as to whether to consult our neighbours at the back before I get too far along, tell them that it won’t overlook them or cause any disturbance to alleviate concerns they may have during the build. However if they are resistant from the start then that might stop the whole thing in its tracks before it’s really got going. Maybe I should have given this more thought before spending quite so much on materials 😀

I might erect a scrim net during building so that I’m not upsetting people by looking down into their peoples gardens while working on it, and to stop them seeing progress…

I ummed and ahhed about having 3 or 4 steps to go around the 90 degree sections, and after building a full-scale cardboard mock-up I think 3 is the way to go

I’ve only ordered the wood for the platform and the stairs at the moment, its difficult to design much beyond that at the moment given the complexity of the branches – there will certainly be plenty of tree inside the house with branches going in and out of walls. I see this as a good thing as it should break up the shape and make it less obtrusive.

I really like yours @thestabiliser looks fit for purpose.

Interesting point @mulacs about the weak spot above the trampoline, maybe I’ll attach a loose steel cable higher up the branch so that if it did fail then it would be caught without falling.

We have wood 🙂

Yes, the garden does require some attention…

The first few bits are up, just tied on at the moment to get everything aligned, then it’ll be screwed and doweled.

Clearly not all level yet, once I’ve got the end members on I’ll use the level to shim the various supports and then measure up for the diagonal corner supports which go down to much lower on the main trunk. Certainly a good core workout when dangling almost horizontally from a climbing harness working above you!

This is a thread of two halves. I’m a big fan of treehouses so love it… But it’s a Eucalyptus. Chop it down now while you still can!

@gobuchul wins – lady from house behind has just delivered a letter complaining and stating planning regs 🙁

This was after we chatted yesterday and I said that I’d have the tree trimmed to prevent it shadowing her garden so much as a concession to try and curry some favour. I guess the upside is that I don’t need to pay a tree surgeon as clearly I won’t be bothering any more.

I suppose the next few days will be spent taking the whole thing down…

Here endeth the thread and the 89GB of GoPro footage of progress can be deleted

That’s a real shame. 👎

Boo! 🙁

I suppose I don’t need to worry about being quiet in the process – impact driver and circular saw can be used with gay abandon

@gobuchul wins – lady from house behind has just delivered a letter complaining and stating planning regs 🙁

Well I said 3 months, didn’t manage much more than a week.

A bit of a shame.

Neighbours – parking, fencing, borders, privacy and loss of light. Always causes massive problems and any dispute never ends well.

Is she a Daily Wail reading gammon by any chance?

She seems quite educated and middle class, so I would be surprised if the Daily Wail were her medium of choice.

I suppose it’s better to have the complaint relatively early in the build process. I had thought though that I had alleviated all of her concerns during our discussion, while her complaint is purely down to planning law, which admittedly I would have been in breach of…

The parents in law have said that I’m welcome to build a treehouse in their garden which has some secluded woodland in Surrey, so potentially I can use the majority of the materials in a new location. Not quite the same as having it in ones own garden though.