Treehouse Progress, Part 1

the last picture I shared of our treehouse, minus the decking Mr M installed

I mentioned last week that Mr M had several days off work, so we decided to buckle down and get some projects outside done. One of those projects was finally moving forward on the treehouse we started three years ago. Since we built the framework, the only progress that's been made was that Mr M got the decking installed on the platform. And there it's sat since then.

We didn't finish the treehouse (and didn't expect to), but we did make good progress.

Awhile ago I bought a slide on craigslist, but it wasn't tall enough to reach the original deck of the treehouse. It is pretty high, but when we started the treehouse, I wasn't even pregnant with River, so we weren't planning for future little ones. Between needing a lower spot for the slide and not wanting the little boys up on the high deck, we decided to build a lower deck that would be more user friendly for small children (i.e., River and the little guy once he's walking). The main portion of the project for Mr M and I was digging and installing four posts to support the lower deck frame. We had planned on building the frame and installing the joists in the frame together, but we ran out of time before Mr M had to go back to work.

While I can do a lot on my own (see my patio and pergola), I do know my limits and wasn't willing to put the posts in by myself. Aside from the post hole digging, it's a lot of leveling and squaring off and wasn't something I wanted to tackle alone. And cement had to be mixed and put in the holes. Ick.

we got it to this point before Mr M had to get back to work

The framing we used to keep the posts square allowed me to put the actual framework up by myself, and then it was just a matter of balancing the joists properly while installing them. I used a lot of the same techniques I used on the patio, so it wasn't too difficult.

I screwed a board underneath the joists to support that end while I nailed the joist hanger in on the other end- it made the process a lot easier.

All the joists installed and the support board removed.

The cooler weather has not held out nearly as long as I would have liked. It got hot and humid all of a sudden and the days we were working outside on our projects were not fun.

All the more reason to hurry up and finish this project before the weather gets even worse. Now if only we hadn't doubled the size of it in the process......