Spring has sprung...

An absolutely beautiful day + still missing wire rope solution = work around the yard today. The treehouse will wait.

We all chipped in some time outside today. Downed branches gathered, leaves remaining from the fall and winter collected from under shrubs. Weeds were pulled and bushes pruned. Flower beds were turned, edged and muched, and an entire ivy bed was removed. We have too much ivy.

We even cut down and cleaned up a very stubborn dead tree that was tangled up in two very much alive trees. This tree did not want to surrender. But after several goes with the chain saw- and a re-threading of the chain- jt and I managed to pull it down with a rope.

Nice! I ran to the side when it came down! Then dad cut it into pieces and we both put them into piles. We can use them for a campfire at the treehouse. Mom has a campfire thing on wheels. Nice!

Indeed.

Saving the blog...

No, the blog isn't in jeopardy! I'm working on saving it to a portable storage device so jt can bring it to school to share.

Of course, that won't work where the images are concerned, so I'll be investigating programs that actually capture entire websites- images and all -like Web Site Downloader!

Mrs P...

jt's teacher attempted to visit this blog at school, but apparently it's blocked. First Mrs P gave it a go...

I am soo sorry, but our school district will not allow me to access it. I ‘ll see if I can get them to unblock it.- Mrs P

Then she took it up the ladder...

I am so sorry, but I emailed the school districts Networking Administrator and unfortunately he cannot unblock the website.

Sorry. I will forward the site to my home and look at it though...Mrs P

Okay, Mrs P, It looks like I will have to figure out a way to get a copy of this site into your hands so that jt can share with his classmates.

Stay tuned...

We just sent an email...

...to Mrs P this morning with the URL to this blog.

I hope that Mrs P will be able to share it with
the class.

If she does I'll be very happy, and I'll feel like I'm famous!

Hi, Mrs P and my class!

Sent a letter to school...

jt and I sent a letter to school yesterday asking for Mrs P's school email address. We want to send her the link to this blog so that she could share jt's treehouse with the class.

Today jt came home with Mrs P's email address...

Did Mrs P get our letter?

Yep. Check in my black folder.

Cool. It looks like we're all set then. Tomorrow morning we will send Mrs P and the class an email inviting them to come visit your blog. Let's get you to bed so you can get up and have time to do that.

That will be great!

jt's thoughts on a treehouse...

I want to have a club because my friends really want to enjoy being with me.

I also want them to have fun in my treehouse, too.

I imagine having a whole lot of fun.

I'm guessing that the treehouse will look fun, and seem cool.

(Oh, the pressure... :wink: )

A great day for building...

...an ark, maybe.

Another weekend in the toilet for jt's treehouse. And cabin fever has set in. We are all headed off to the mall to stretch our legs and break the spell.

Dinner out sounds real good, too. Anything but...fish.

Inside while raining...

So, what do you want to talk about?

How 'bout we put some tables and chairs in the treehouse.

Of course- a treehouse needs some tables and chairs.

Well, on the table I would like, uhm, how about one leg underneath...You know, like at Jimmy's Pizza.

I think we could do that. We'll have to see what we can find.

Could there be some wallpaper in the treehouse?

What makes you think about wallpaper in the treehouse? We don't even have wallpaper in our house!

All I wanted was for the treehouse to look cool inside!

Well, wallpaper doesn't work too well outside of a real, dry, heated house. We will certainly do something cool inside. This is a boys clubhouse, you know. It can have cool, wooden walls, no?

Hmmm...I guess so. Besides, there will still be decorations inside...no?

Of course. You have a couple of things that you bought already, don't you? You also have that really cool picture that you made that we will be putting in a frame, remember?

Which is in this website!

That's right. We have to go meet Mom now. Where, again?

Wendy's!

(Oh, boy.)

Little rain...

...and little luck at Home Depot as well.

It appears the bulk of the rains are late getting into town. jt had his second rainout of this young tee-ball season this morning, although it was hardly raining. The forecast does call for heavy rains this evening and on and off showers for tomorrow.

With Mom grabbing some OT this afternoon and Nathan off jamming with a couple of buds, jt and I hit the library to return and checkout again the Stiles book, Rustic Retreats. I really need to copy those plans. Two kid's DVDs later and jt and I were off to Home Depot.

At Home Depot we checked out their wire rope selection. It turns out they do carry packages of precut 3/8" wire rope rated at 2400lbs. Cool. However, these packages havsome downside.

First, they come in 9' lengths, I believe a liittle too long for our needs. Second, they are eye looped with steel sleeves on both ends. As it stands now, an eye loop on one end is fine for connecting to the overhead GL. The other end of each wire rope however, needs to be threaded through an eyelet on the turnbuckle, then "looped and sleeved" with the other, hooked end of the turnbuckle in turn hooked to the eyebolt that is run through the main beam.

In short, I'm not sure these pre-packed wire ropes will suit our needs...at least not without making some adjustments to our already ordered and ready for pickup hardware.

When the rain comes...

It seems that we will be looking at rain of potentially biblical proportions here in Centerport this weekend...Beginning after midnight tonight and carrying on through Sunday.

Just ducky.

Most definitely not treehouse building weather. We were hoping to begin work installing the GLs, but ladders and drills + driving rain = safety hazard, so I don't think so.

A trip to Home Depot is definitely in order to check on the availability of 1/4" wire rope, to be used in lieu of the 1/2"- still no response to my emails!- and the requisite hardware. We'll get that out of the way.

Then it looks like jt and I will spend some time here this weekend.

Turnbuckles...

I called the good folks at Fastenal this morning. It appears that the hardware that I ordered is in and waiting...Er, has been in and waiting since last Friday.

Not that it would have made a big difference, but the phone call they promised me when it came in would have been nice.

Don't you think?...

Wire Rope Update...

I got a phone call this morning from one of my high school buds and favorite shop teacher, Frank. Frank took a gander at this blog, made note of my as of yet unresolved wire rope issue and offered up a solution: double up some of the more easy to come by 1/4" wire rope to make the 1/2" that I am looking for.

Sounds logical, provided that it can be done in such a way as to effectively disperse the weight on what would now be 8 wire ropes. Perhaps I could even still employ the ordered 1/2" thimbles...

Hmmm...

Wire Rope...

Today I sent out a couple of emails to companys that manufacture the wire rope that we need, but cannot find in affordable lengths:

MetroWireRope Corp of Union, NJ and Associated Wire Rope Fabricators of Walled Lake, MI

I told them that construction delays in the private sector are costly in more ways than mere monetary expense. I let them know that I am up against a mid June seventh birthday treehouse pizza party deadline (whew!) here and that I was throwing myself at their mercy.

If they could see fit to sell us the length we need, or refer us to someone who would, that would be, well, as jt put it-

Awesome!

Stay tuned...

Happy Easter...

Here's hoping you all had a good one. With the boys off for the week, Oma spent the week and decided to stay for Easter. After mass we had a nice, big brunch and then at jt's suggestion we settled down to digest with a nice, wholesome family flick- "Two Brothers."

It appears that his reciept of a handsome stuffed tiger from the Easter Bunny finally got him to come around to watching this superb, PG rated adventure DVD we recieved a while back from Uncle Bob. Set in early 1920's southeast asia and revolving around the lives of two tiger cubs, this film by Director Jean-Jacques Annaud of "The Bear" fame gets four thumbs up from jt, Oma, Mom and Dad.

Nothing new on the treehouse this weekend, what with work on Saturday and Easter, but jt did manage to jot down this little "gem" with Oma's assistance:

I am really excited about my treehouse, but I am sort of not ready. I want it to be high tech and cool. But, what dad can build, dad can build.

As for that italicized part? Thanks, Oma...

...I think.

Welcome Footballguys...

As I posted in this thread in the Footballguys FFA forum back on March 22nd, I am bumping the thread as "work commences" on jt's treehouse. We decided to put together a blog in order to share the joys, as well as the trials and tribulations of our project. Now that it has gathered some steam, we thought it was time to share with you FBGs.

(Please keep it cool. Family and friends will be visiting, too. I don't want to have to change the commenting preferences to "Registered Only." :wink: TIA- glock)

Welcome Family & Friends...

Glad you could make it! I told jt this morning that I would be inviting everyone to come take a look today. He let me know that he will have some thoughts to post in his blog this evening.

Stay tuned...

Back to work...

Okay, so the "treehouse vacation" is over. While I didn't get to the actual construction phase of the project- much to the chagrin of jt!- I certainly did get alot of the prep done. After handling all that lumber I also came to the realization that much of what I thought I would be handling on my own...I ain't!

Now...I need to find someone who deals 1/2" wire rope...in human increments!

Anyone??

Deliveries and Fastenal,too...

The postman came to my door this morning bearing two rather heavy boxes from Treehouses.com...

Yes! You have to hold these GLs in your hand to truly appreciate them. The two regular GLs are up top- the left one in the fixed beam bracket, the right (coated) in the sliding beam bracket. The two short GLs are down below, along with the specialized bit and a starter bit.




















Then it was time to wait for the Home Depot delivery, after which I wanted to take the 1/2 hour drive to the nearest Fastenal location to pick out the remaining hardware.

I waited...

...and waited...

...aaand waited some more . Of course they called right after I left for Fastenal, having put my 15 year old, Nate in charge of recieving the delivery. The delivery went off without a hitch.

Then there was Fastenal. Upon entering the store a half hour before closing, the place appeared to have everything one could possibly need under the heading of "fasteners." Bins chock full of nuts and bolts and washers line the aisles to a height of six feet.

But alas, everything I was looking for had to be ordered from their distribution center:

• 4 1/2"x9" galvenized eye-hook turnbuckles
• 10 1/2" heavy duty thimbles
• 4 1/2"x4" forged eye bolts
• 25 1/2"x6" galvenized carriage bolts
• 25 1/2" galvenized nuts and washers
• 4 1 1/4" fine threaded nuts(for GLs)

That's not so bad, really considering I'm not quite ready to roll yet, anyway and I'll be out of town celebrating my BIL's 50th birthday this weekend.

Bad is the fact that the 1/2" wire rope that I need is only sold by the 500' spool at Fastenal. I don't need no stinkin' spool! I only need me some 50 feet. The hunt continues...

Of course, when I got home, that Home Depot order awaited me. Thankfuly I was able to enlist the services of all 6'2" of my guitar playing 15 year old, Nate to help me schlep all that lumber.

jt was dissappointed because he realized that it all too heavy for him to help with. I offered to let him "help" me by tagging along with a hand on the wood "to steer" but jt has always been able to sniff out patronization from a mile away. He pouted until he decided that carrying the joist hangers was indeed something worthwhile. Nate and I hauled the pressure treated stuff to our roofed back patio where we covered it up good with plastic. Then we managed to fit the plywood and remaining lumber into the garage.

How will I ever get that lawn mower out?...

A day at Home Depot...

And I do mean, "A Day."

I entered the Huntington Home Depot shortly before noon today and didn't depart until after 8:30PM, having consumed and sweat out just one (1) bottle of water during that time.

In the interim I handled hundreds of pieces of lumber in search of wood befitting our project. I climbed in and out of those racks, pulled out and stacked split, checked, and over-knotted boards. And I put them all back when I was done.

Thanks to the scarcity of quality lumber, I was forced to adapt my plans on the fly. The #2 Fir was hurting, so I had to substitue pressure treated. The 2"x12"x12's were almost non-exsistant, so I settled for 2"x10"s.

Aaaagghh!! My back and knees can testify that that pressure treated stuff weighs a ton.

I filled three barges with:

• 4 4x4x10s PT
• 2 4x4x8s PT
• 4 2x10 x12s PT
• 6 2x10x10s PT
• 9 2x8x10s PT
• 2 2x8x12s PT
• 12 2x8x10s #2 fir
• 40 2x4s
• 3 2x4x12'
• 3 4x8 sheets of 3/4" plywood (smooth)
• 9 4x8 sheets of 5/8" T 1-11 plywood
• 3 4x8 sheets of 3/4" exterior plywood
• 1 10' drip strip
• 16 joist hangers
• 1 box of 200 2 1/2" all purpose wood screws
• 1 box of 200 1 1/2" roofing nails
• 8 1x3x8' #2 pine
• 5 1x4x12' #2 pine

...and I'm not done. Still working on our decking solution, wood preservative stain colors, and additional hardware.

Kudos to my co-worker, Jennie who works part time at a Home Depot. She gave me the heads up to open a Home Depot line of credit. 0% interest for the first year, AND 10% off the first purchase. Saved me a pretty penny today.

Oh, the above should be delivered tomorrow some time. I can't wait to move it all again.

I'm going to bed.

A Gold Mine!...

Every treehouse needs some windows and a door. Well folks, windows and doors sure are expensive. For several weeks now I have been cruising the neighborhood on garbage nights, looking for that rare window or door that may have made it's way out to the curb thanks to the annual spring purge. My friends, neighbors and co-workers are all on the lookout on my behalf as well.

Outside of a couple of 2' x 4' fixed skylights that weigh a ton, things haven't been looking very good in this department...Until today!

It turns out our neighbor across the street is moving. They have already sold, and have purchased a small ranch on a large chunk of property nearby with plans to raze it and put up a 4500 square foot colonial. At the bus stop this afternoon she lets jt and I know that she has found a bunch of windows in the basement of the "condemned" ranch. She tells me that we could have them, and asks if I would like to head over right then to take a look see.

"Absolutely!" I head over to this house and meet her and her 4 kids there. She shows me these old doublehungs in the basement. They are in good enough shape, but I would have to build frames for them myself in order to make them working windows. Hmmm...

Then it hit me. What about all of the existing windows in this soon to be non-existant house!? I ask, and she tells me that I can take whatever I want. As soon as she gets a firm demo date, she will let me know and I can go nuts with a sawzall! Windows, a dutch door, a flag pole, even a working skylight- aall miiiine!

Moo-hah-hah-haaah!

Making plans...

I spent the better part of today revising and re-thinking the treehouse plans in order to finalize my Home Depot shopping list.

jt knows that I am off this week. When he got home, the first thing he did was go to the back door to check on my progress on the treehouse...

Are those ladders going to be part of my treehouse? Uh, no. But that piece of wood going from one ladder to the other is about the same height (8') as your feet will be when you are standing in the treehouse.
Insert silent :excited: emoticon here. Pretty cool, huh?
Again, a very animated :yes: here from the little thespian followed by hugs of my leg. Okay, Okay- what do you want for a snack?

"This is Michael..."

On vacation the rest of the week, and unable to wait any longer, I decided to call the Out 'n' About Treesort after work today in an effort to speak with Michael and order the hardware we needed.

It sounded like a busy enough place when I called around 5:00PM Pacific time. There was that sort of buzz that takes hold in the voices of people who really believe in and enjoy what they are doing, even if things get a little hectic. I told the young lady who answered the phone that I was attempting to reach Michael to place an order, and that we had exchanged a couple of emails. She put me right through to him.

"This is Michael..." he began our conversation, in a calm, unassuming manner that belied his celebrity in the treehouse community. After apologizing for not responding to my emails, and explaining that they were forwarded to the wrong inbasket by one of his helpers, he took the time to listen to all of my concerns.

Michael also gave me the specifics for the turnbuckles in question. (see Footballguys thread- Kudos, Pony Boy!) I would need 1/2" x 9" hook-eyes for the cantilevers and he suggested how to run the necessary eyebolts through my main beams. He also directed me to Fastenal for all of my hardware needs outside of what he was supplying.

I went ahead and ordered:

• 2 regular GLs for support below the treehouse
  
• 2 short GLs to anchor the cantilever cables
• 1 GL bit
• 1 fixed beam bracket
• 1 sliding beam bracket
  

Michael took all the info himself and told me what to look for in my email. The order will be going out tomorrow so I should expect delivery before the end of the week.

Oooh, we're comitted now alright!

Happy Birthday, Dad...

We called my father, the "April Fool" down in Florida this morning to wish him a happy birthday. We did our usual four...or five part harmony rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" (we are quite in demand for this, it's true.) however it appeared that pops may have been sleeping when we called.

At first dad seemed awake enough. After wishing him the best I touched on what his day held for him. "We don't do anything different on birthdays anymore." was all he had to offer. I decided to steer the conversation towards something a little more upbeat...Like jt's treehouse!

(Note: Back in the day, after I had moved out of my last "childhood" home, my dad had built a deck around our above ground pool. At the time he was a card carrying member of the Dockbuilders Union. He not only anchored the ledger board to the exposed foundation, he bolted that baby clear through the foundation, securing it from the garage side. Suffice it to say that that deck and ledger board will outlive the house!)

Dad perked up a little when I mentioned the GL's and how they performed. He sounded genuinely impressed and told me one thing before ending our conversation (he didn't want to wake his wife he said...) - "Over-build it when kids are involved."

:gulp: I sure hope we are.