Baluster Business And More...

The construction of the tree house frame is done in such a way that the front railing and attached balusters connect to the deck without necessitating the cutting of the balusters. Not so for the side sections. Both of these will involve a second rail to which the lower ends of shortened balusters will connect. Today we cut the balusters and managed to get the east end completed.

This fine "basement" workshop... 

...provided a convenient and shaded place for all of the cuts to be made.

The finished east end railing with cannonball post top- perfect for a Nerf fort in a tree. 

Southeast view...

...aaand up close. One side to go.

We decided to leave the west railing incomplete so that we could access the tree house from that side until we determine just how and where we will be placing our entrance to JT's Treehouse. We managed to frame two of the windows in 1x4 stock before dinner.

East side...

...west side. Two to go.

A Nerf War Birthday!...

Well, an "Iron Man/Nerf Wars" Birthday to be more exact. Nate and I accompanied JT and three of his posse to see "Iron Man" before they wreked foam havoc on each other. 

It was very serious business at times.

Awww...

Yikes!

Men from Nerf... up a tree.

Oma In The House...

In town for JT's birthday party with his pals tomorrow, right up the ladder Oma went like a teenager. Oma was quite impressed with JT's Treehouse.

Oh, my God! I don't believe it!

Oma enjoys the view. 

And no splinters! ;)

Happy Birthday, JT!...

Today is THE big day! Seeing as how it fell on a week day this year, Mom was up late last night baking the obligatory Birthday Cupcakes for school.

Mmmm...

One handsome devil.

A just slightly animated birthday boy celebrates the receipt of a tree house accessory- an electronic dart board!  

Awwesomme!

Special delivery from Aunt Lisa, Uncle Kevin and the girls, JT already had a spot picked out for something like this.

Bulls-eye.

Railing About Railings...

Okay. Not reeally railing about railings, just glad to get started is all. When we made the trip to Loews for that handy 4x4 post mounting bracket anchor thingee, we also picked up all the goodies needed to assemble the railings, balusters, etc.

Here we have a front view of both railing support bracket and railing bracket. The railing bracket has yet to be bent into a 90 degree position to accept the railing.

Here we have a topside view looking from post to post. Below is the railing support bracket waiting for a railing support and above that is the railing bracket up and out of the way.

With the threat of thunderstorms looming and us dying to see one of these balusters in place I neglected to get a shot of the Trex railing in place on top. Can you say, "Splinter Free!?" The Trex didn't come cheap, but with all the little- and not so little- hands and elbows that will be resting on them we agreed that the peace of mind would be well worth it.

A Post About A Post...

Seeing as how these posts have been exposed to the elements since pretty much day one it's actually a little suprising that only one of them has suffered...alot.

Enough so that there was no way to hang a railing off of it. We deemed that surgery was needed. Bad post out, good post in. Since we couldn't very well just remove the offending post in it's entirety- being a part of the frame itself and held in place with no fewer than 5 (five) bolts- we had to resort to "topping" it.

Once we cut it off flush with the frame we were able to install a cool 4x4 deck mounting bracket and within it our new very straight post.

Bad post showing major warp-age.





















Surgically removed old post and even more dramatic display of major warp-age. Whoah.













Now THATS a post to hang your railing on.