Hey y'all

I hope everyone had happy holidays, and wish everyone a wonderful upcoming year.

I'm working with a friend of mine on designing and building several realy nice treehouses over the spring. We haven't picked out the exact trees yet, so I don't know what the layout wil be, but I've got a question.

In general (remember, I don't know species, yet), what effects would 10-12 inch bolts have on a tree? Several bolts per tree at least. The tree's diameter would be in the 2-4 ft. range probably. We're talking drilled in, securing a 2X10 or 2X12 to the tree.

Thanks,
Josh

Many a bolt have been (or is it "has" been) screwed into trees. If you look at a ropes/challenge course, you'll see countless bolts and lag going into and sometimes all the way through a tree.

What you need to be concerned with is if you are screwing into good wood. If the tree is healthy and you are screwing into a healthy part of that tree, after a few years new growth will surround the bolt and you won't be able to get it out even if you want to!

Arborists will sometimes use bolts to connect to branches together via a cable. It can be very strong...when installed by a trained arborist.

And please, use appropriate size pilot holes to avoid splitting.

So, yes, you can do it. That being said, I would like to point out that you will BE DRILLING A LARGE HOLE INTO A LIVING CREATURE. Rarely throughout history has this been considered a good thing. I discourage any such measure. Please consider if this can be done without harm to the tree. I've been in trees with cables and you could see nothing but a bunch of rotten wood around the cable, yet the rest of the branch is fine. There is no doubt in my mind that harm was brought to that tree by mankind (and I say mankind as opposed to "humankind" because I would bet it was a male, not a female, that drilled that hole into the tree).

So why a tree house? Why not a treeboat instead!

love
nick

Peter Nelson has written some nice treehouse books. You should read them thoroughly.

When you design the attachments you need to consider how you will accomodate the diameter growth of the tree. I've seen some really creative solutions.

I haven't checked to see if these links still work...

http://www.forestry.uga.edu/warnell/html/service/library/for96%2D051.html
http://www.treehouseworkshop.com/
http://www.peartreehouse.com/home.htm
http://www.btinternet.com/~fulton/list.htm#top
http://treehouses.com/index.html


I've got a slug of other links but Google will lead you to new information too.

Tom

Tom
have a look on my web http://arbresvenerables.fr.st and about the tree seaters in France!!! EXCLUSIVE in France
Jerome

I recommend reading one of Dr. Alex Shigo's books called Modern Arboriculture. It is an awesome book full of information on how trees live, despite us humans. If you are going to be drilling holes and such this book tells you how to do it properly, and also shows you the results of improper methods. I have only been to one of Shigo's lectures but it was a turning point in how I thought of trees. His knowledge comes from many years of experience with trees and some of his concepts go against the grain of some traditional "tree care" professionals. So before you build, please do some reading.
Kenton
As Shigo says, Touch Trees.