My plan for this year is to build a tree house for my son. The plan is to complete this by the end of the year. (2018)
Several people have been interested in this project and have asked how they can help. So I went ahead and created this article with some ideas. This is the first article in the series.
As I develop the plans for each part of the Tree House Project, I’ll be creating separate articles for each phase.
How You Can Help
There are three ways you can help if interested. I’m also open to other ideas if you have them, please share them below. I’m trying to keep the cost of this project to the bare minimum. There is that frugal in me again.
- Donate your no longer needed 2 x 4 boards or other materials to this project.
- Donate actual dollars, we accept PayPal.
- Physical labor, comment below if you’re interested in lending a hand when I put this together. I’ll contact you when we physically start building this thing. The extra hands would be helpful.
If you followed the play-set article series you know I paid almost nothing for the lumber. I was able to recover boards from discarded pallets and they worked perfect and kept the cost down.
I’d like to implement the same concept for the tree house project. Reuse and repurpose what I can is one goal, but also to keep the cost minimal. What I most want is to find scraps that are no longer needed.
I’ve already started collecting lumber, but I’m going to need a bunch more for this project. As of this writing I have the frame and some boards that will be used for the walls.
Material Needed
If anyone has left over 2 x 4 boards that are 4 feet or longer, I’d be happy to take these of your hands. I can pick them up anywhere within a reasonable driving distance from Crystal Lake, IL.
If you know anyone that has left over 2 x 4’s and does not need them please pass along my contact information. I can also be found on the various social media channels.
Even if you have just ONE 2 x 4, I’ll take it. Recycle and reuse is the name of the game. It needs to be clean non-treated lumber.
Stain – I ended up purchasing Earth-Paint Rainforest Sealer for the playset project and plan to use this product for the tree house. One gallon is $80. At the time of this writing they do not offer their products in local retail stores so it needs to be shipped, which adds to the cost.
$$$ Dollars $$$
If you feel compelled to assist with money, we’ll take that too. We accept, checks, cash, coins, your no longer needed home – improvement gift cards, and yes of course PayPal.
Some people have suggested a crowd funding campaign for this project. However, I didn’t feel the need for one as we are primarily looking for discarded material to build this. Actual dollars are not the focus so that is one reason for not doing the whole crowd funding thing.
The primary purpose for actual dollars is to purchase earth friendly stain that can not be purchased from the big box home-improvement stores or found locally. It’s also used for materials and parts that are too difficult or not practical to reuse or repurpose.
Putting together an actual budget is move difficult as I have no idea what materials I’ll be able to source for free. So putting an actual dollar amount in a crowd-funding campaign seemed out of scope.
But since people have asked, I’m putting it out there. Feel free to send money to support this project.
Manual Labor
Yes, I’m going to need the assistance of many tall muscular men and women friends and family to help with this project. Here are a few of the activities that will require some good old fashioned manual labor.
Digging the holes for the footings. I have a post hole digger, but if you have a gas powered post hole digger that would be awesome. Otherwise we will be digging these by hand. So if interested please comment below.
I’ll be building the components in the garage and then moving them to the back yard for installation. If you are able to assist with moving these large sections, I could use several extra hands to assist. Keep in touch as we get closer to the building date.
I work on this project one piece at a time. For instance, When pallets are available I take them home and take them apart. So Its not like I have scheduled time for this. Whenever they are available I grab them and do the work.
Weather is also another factor. Trying to time the weather and when to stain the boards is tricky so I do this when I know there are several days of good weather. Since I have limited space in my one car garage, I stain the boards outside which lease makes it easier to move around and work.
Once I get closer to having all the parts, the plan is to construct the entire thing. Stay tuned as we get closer to building day.
Film and photography, If you are interested in taking pictures as we build this thing, that would be great. Come on over!
Action Step
- Part Two
- Comment below, Even if it is just to check in and say Hello. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Thank you,
Dave
