I remember watching that tree house show years ago. I wondered at the time what kind of damage those 1 1/4' bolts would have on the life of the tree. Just didn't seem right to me. Over the past 3 years I have built two tree houses for my grand kids. I used the 8" Timberlock lag bolts (Only 3/8" diameter) to secure framing members to the trees. I'm hoping they will do as little damage long term as maple sugaring spiles do. Granted they don't penetrate as deeply as I have. I guess we will see. I'm sure the sudden addition of weight to the trees structure will cause changes to the tree growth, but not more than it can tolerate and adapt to. Can't remember all the tree houses we built as kids. Two of our dads were carpenters so we had plenty of "scrap" material to work with." Where did that 25 pounds of 16d nails I just bought go?" was asked a few times by one or more of our fathers. (chuckle, chuckle)
I have had a number of inspections of old tree forts over the years. Twenty years seems to be about it unless it’s sealed really well. Most often, rats and other critters end up owning them. The first tree fort I built was pretty basic at age 10 on my dad’s ranch. But even then, spent a lot of time up there.
Your valley view is MAGNIFICENT!!!! Wow Buddy your so blessed . If we were Pals I’d bug you all the time about going up there. Sometimes in the bucket I have cool views but Dang that’s just far out 😁
@@arboristBlairGlenn absolutely. Every tree that’s isn’t over a structure or something should always be treated as such becoming an opportunity to practice safe and accurate felling.
@@mitchjones2821 my youngest is now 19 in his second year of college. Seems like yesterday they were all little. Time goes way too fast as we age. A year for a child seems to last and last. Not so any more.
Would like to have seen more of the consultation tree, but I get it, it’s tough to focus on a detailed risk assessment and also film it it a meaningful storytelling manner. I share your concerns about the long term health of the tree and the need for continuous inspection. I’ve been trying for years to figure out the best way to build a high tree house that’s really safe, and the long term is what always gives me pause. When I was a kid my dad and I built a 3x3 platform on the lowest limb of a 150 year old white oak. We at least had the sense to use 9” nails, and the tree had never been cut, or seriously wounded to my recollection. Not sure in retrospect that I’d consider it safe, but it never caused a problem that kid-me could see. The limb was about 15’ up at the trunk, but it was 50’ long or more, and when it was weighed down with leaves I could climb into a fork toward the end and work my way up to the attachment and beyond. We’d intended to build a full treehouse up there, but the geometry and the schedule just didn’t work out. Fine by me though, we’d have caused a lot more damage to the tree if we’d kept going, and instead the whole tree was the treehouse. I spent a lot of time sitting in various positions at various heights, reading, doing homework, eating, or just chilling. Oh, to be a kid again.
Very similar childhood here. An old Valley Oak on my Dad’s ranch was the tree for my small platform. Rope swing as well. Lot’s of good memories up there.
I have done many video inspection of similar trees but was trying to concentrate the topic on hardware in trees. The impact. The long term potential damage. Associated with existing areas of weakness in the tree. Thanks for your continued support for this channel.
Actually , a lovely home in the forest that overlooks trees is a 'tree' house . (I have a home where the back deck jets out over a steep hill and bumps into trees at about 12 - 15 ft. above the ground . Squirrels come by at eye level on my tree deck ( house).
I think you’re right about that hardware intersecting, Blair. Instead of using those 2 tab’s they should have used the fastener that is more of a Y shape because those seem to be attached several feet apart from each other
@@arboristBlairGlenn I don’t other than seeing what they use on the show. I tried to look up the part I was referring to but it’s not on their website for sale. Maybe it’s only available when they are building the treehouse for the customer. Have a great day Blair.
A treehouse in a fir around here? The firs down here (Boulder Creek) seem to fall with unnerving frequency and no warning! There have been three monsters come down within spitting distance of me since I've lived here. Guess that makes the treehouse that much more exciting? Back when we had rain, I watched a 4'x20' fir log floating down the river like a toothpick. That was awesome!
Also there is a park near where I live that has this massive white oak (quercus Alba) that towers over the park which is probably over 300 years old. Probably similar to a valley oak, although those don’t grow in my area.
Sorry Blair, kept having to rewind, I am distracted by the blizzard of Red Kites following the tractor mowing the rough hay field, they pick up beetles and rodents that have tangled with the mower. It would be more fun to watch them from a high tree house than from the ground.
If you stay still and quiet up high, the birds and squirrels go about their life not realizing you are there. A platform up high does give another perspective to a world we can’t clearly see.
I have slept up high in the sky twice. Wind picked up and it got a little nerve wracking. About two am, a huge tree fell down in the woods. We both sat up abruptly. I said,”a tree just fell down”. Kyle said, “We’re in a tree!” Didn’t sleep much.
I've been plotting the addition of a "crow's nest" minimal platform into one or two of my redwoods for a while now to get the view I very much don't have down at ground level. Obviously redwood branches are not something you'd want to build on so it's all about attaching to the trunk. I want to be 100% nondestructive so I've been pondering whether there's a "chinese finger trap" sort of attachment that could reliably support what I'm imagining without girdling, or if I'd have to drill in? Maybe a combination? Interested in your thoughts!
As you started to verbally describe the size/diameter of the invasive tree hardware, I immediately began to get cold feet. Later I watched a video about GTS Allstar treehouse hardware of German manufacture and thought perhaps the guy making the sales pitch should talk to a fellow countryman, Claus Mattheck, author of numerous books on tree decay and biomechanics of trees. Anything that damages the bark or creates an invasive wound in a tree stem or scaffold limb will invite decay or structurally weaken the damaged part of the tree. There has to be a less invasive/damaging way to suspend such a platform/structure without compromising the structural integrity of a healthy tree and shortening its safe useful life expectancy.
Aren't TAB's meant to be the least invasive/damaging method for attachments? I thought that's how they came to be in existence - because it's a much better solution than having timber contact the tree which restricts growth. Once weight is placed on the tab, reactive timber develops and the tree envelops the TAB - it becomes like a branch. The German Treehouse Screw has a seal on the collar to prevent infection, and drilling tooling is sprayed with alcohol prior.
@@arboristBlairGlenn The 'seal' on the GTS TAB is an enlarged part of the collar - when the TAB is screwed fully home, this enlarged part will lightly compress the timber forming a seal. - will this not prevent infection over a TAB without a seal? Surely one controlled intrusion point on a tree is better than many smaller intrusions no?
Man, a lot of people upset about the audio/video quality? I thought it was fine, maybe quieter at times, yeah, but I could still hear it. I come for the content not the production quality, which I feel is plenty acceptable. I think people grossly over estimate how much (little) money a smaller youtube channel brings in. I expcet the income from this to bring in a little fun-money, but expensive, high end cameras and microphones often aren't a financial reality. From those anchor points, it would seem you could do something similar with a hanging/suspended setup, and probably with smaller anchors as the steel will be in tenesion and not shear and maybe a little stronger for the diameter of the metal. Smaller shafted eyelet and then a larger hook to attach the structure to.