Tree House: 9/22/2015

9/22

The sloped trail to the tree house is at a bit of an incline. Add in the nuts, and it can sometimes feel like walking on marbles! The following solution is a mini-project (evidently, I have to do something physical every day now. I'm strung out on tree house building!)

Tree House: 9/18 - 9/19

9/18 - 9/19

Seeing all of this costly siding scrap pile up has been maddening. I decided to make the most of it by patch-working the neglected bits into a sub-floor. Ultimately, there will be some type of laminate product laid down. For now, this will do as the step up from just having open slat decking under foot. Also, it gave me an application for left over roofing tar paper:

Then it was on to the loft. One day, there will be a ladder:

It's wide enough for 2 adult size camping pads. Of course, there will be a protective railing. I'll install it once I've applied all of the finished wall board.

Tree House: Week of 9/13/15

Week of 9/13/15

It took 17 hrs over the course of 4 days to complete the deck railing. There were some weird, inside angles to contend with, but the end result is solid as a rock!

Had to cut 14 of these notched rail posts:

A slow and deliberate progression:

Here are some of those wonky angles:

Almost done and just prior to adding the finishing touches, the 2x6 hand rails:

Here is the completed product! She should get a paint job and a deck staining within the week. After that, the exterior is officially COMPLETE!

Tree House: Week of 9/1/15

Week of 9/1/15

This week turned into a busy work week. I was only able to carve out 1 & 2 hour windows over the course of the last 4 days to focus on the tree house. Over the course of this week, I was able to complete all exterior trim (corner seams, horizontal seams, roofline seams, windows and the door) and apply a soffit under the top lip of the roof (keep weather from blowing back in under the roofline). With deck railing and exterior painting the exception, I think this marks the completion of the exterior of the structure!!

Tree House: 8/25-8/27

8/25 - 8/27

It has been so nice out the last few days! I had to carve out some tree house time! Here is a quick pic inventory of what has been accomplished.

Finally began work on siding the missing, upper portions of the exterior. I had to install a piece of metal flashing, a drip rail, between the lower and upper pieces of siding. It's very visible in this pic. This type of flashing was ultimately installed all around the perimeter of the house. Here is the section above the door completely sided!:

Before I could install siding on the triangular openings, I had to build out "scabs" of wood for the sole purpose of providing a nail backing to the siding installation. Angles, sawing, blah, blah, angles, sawing...:

For a brief reprieve from all the carpentry, I installed a door handle and a keypad dead bolt. Beep, Borp, Boop, Beep!:

In one last dash for the "dry-in", I completed all cuts and death defying, tipsy ladder installation of all siding! We are now officially "Dried-In". She is not the prettiest just yet, but she'll take weather until I can get around to trimming out the exterior corners & highly exposed siding seams. Then it will be on to deck railing and exterior painting. This will set the stage for turning my sights to completing the interior!

Tree House: 8/22 - 8/23

8/22/2015

My Dad's visit last weekend left me with a tar papered and drip lipped roof. Today, I began the shingle process:

I'm no pro, but in my own jacked up way I've figured this out. Long hot day, but finally had to stop due to running out of product. I only had 2 rows left to do!?!

"Would you say you have an easy time making new friends?"

"YES!"

Oh! Sometime mid-day, my buddy, Reilly, stopped by and helped me hoist the beast of a French door into place. It about killed us, but it sure looks good!

8/23/2015

Day 2 of roofing. I finished up this morn and crafted up a strategy for waterproofing the final run across the peak edge of the shed. Again, probably jacked up, but I think it will perform!

To top off the day, I trued up the door and threw 2 windows in. All in a day's work:

Tree House: 8/15-8/16

8/15-8/16

This weekend was exhausting, but productive. My Dad came into town and we knocked out a significant portion of the house build. I'm still too exhausted to go into the details, so follows is a simple picture progression of our progress. To say the least, my old man is a BOSS!

Hey! One wall!

TWO walls!

Well, you get the picture!

Some siding, windows and a door, and she'll be all dried-in! For now, roof at least has tar paper. Shingles to come...