White Ash tree House

comments (5) April 30th, 2009 in Reader's Gallery

ToasterEric ToasterEric, member
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In 2004 the emerald ash borer devastated metro Detroit killing millions of ash trees including an 80-foot tall tree in our back yard.  We couldn't let all that wood go to waste so we milled the logs into boards and built a tree house - setting it back onto the stump of the tree from which it came.  All of the material is from the tree except the cedar shingles on the roof and the reclaimed windows. 

posted in: Reader's Gallery, rustic, frame and panel, ash
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Comments (5)

Beeje Beeje writes: Well, my degree is in Theatre...so not nearly as handy as yours in this situation.

I was thinking of using the dead stump as the base but not the dead wood for the actual construction wood (would this work?), although I absolutely love that you were able to use the entire tree. For insurance purposes the tree has to go. We are guessing our tree is btw 60 & 80 feet tall. We bought the house 2 years ago and realized right after we signed that the tree was dead.
Yeah, I hate that there is no way to make contact for questions!
Posted: 10:31 pm on May 11th

ToasterEric ToasterEric writes: Beeje,

I'm an architect so of course I drew plans, but I sorta made it up as I went along. It's 7 feet square and tall enough for a 6 foot adult (me). Also, it had to look tall-ish rather than squat. It sits in full view of my neighbors so it had to look nice or I figured they sick the Code officer on me. There are lots of good tree house resource books on the market. Not sure I'd recommend "dead" wood for a tree house. Ours was live but infested when we cut it.

Unfortunately this site does not allow me access to your email. I'd be more than willing to answer any questions.

Good luck - ToasterEric
Posted: 5:52 pm on May 11th

Beeje Beeje writes: This is amazing! I would love the plans to this tree house. We have a tree that is going to need to be taken down as it is dead dead dead. The tree is enormous and we would love to do something like this for our two boys!
Posted: 1:12 pm on May 11th

SweetBabe SweetBabe writes: Love it!!
Posted: 1:31 am on May 3rd

Sonny88 Sonny88 writes: Very nice work. I like siding sawn from the fallen tree and nice detail on the door.
Posted: 11:13 pm on May 2nd

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