TREE-TOP HOUSES
By the natural process of evolution we have now arrived at the tree-top house. It is interesting to the writer to see the popularity of this style of an outdoor building, for, while he cannot lay claim to originating it, he was the first to publish the working drawings of a tree-house. These plans first appeared in Harper's Round Table; afterward he made others for the Ladies' Home Journal and later published them in "The Jack of All Trades."
Having occasion to travel across the continent shortly after the first plans were published, he was amused to see all along the route, here and there in back-yard fruit-trees, shade-trees, and in forest-trees, queer little shanties built by the boys, high up among the boughs.
In order to build a house one must make one's plans to fit the tree. If it is to be a one-tree house, spike on the trunk two quartered pieces of small log one on each side of the trunk (Figs. [91] and [92]). Across these lay a couple of poles and nail them to the trunk of the tree ([Fig. 91]); then at right angles to these lay another pair of poles, as shown in the right-hand diagram ([Fig. 91]). Nail these securely in place and support the ends of the four poles by braces nailed to the trunk of the tree below. The four cross-sills will then ([Fig. 95]) serve as a foundation upon which to begin your work. Other joists can now be laid across these first and supported by braces running diagonally down to the trunk of the tree, as shown in [Fig. 95.] After the floor is laid over the joist any form of shack, from a rude, open shed to a picturesque thatch-roofed cottage, may be erected upon it. It is well to support the two middle rafters of your roof by quartered pieces of logs, as the middle rafters are supported in [Fig. 95]; by quartered logs shown in [Fig. 92.]
[Fig. 91.] [Fig. 92.] [Fig. 93.] [Fig. 94.] [Fig. 95.] [Fig. 96.] [Fig. 97.]
Details of tree-top houses.
If the house is a two-tree house, run your cross-sill sticks from trunk to trunk, as in [Fig. 94]; then make two T-braces, like the one in [Fig. 94] A, of two-inch planks with braces secured by iron straps, or use heavier timber, and bolt the parts together securely ([Fig. 93]), or use logs and poles ([Fig. 94]), after which hang these T's over the ends of your two cross sticks, as in [Fig. 94], and spike the uprights of the T's securely to the tree trunks. On top of the T you can rest a two-by-four and support the end by diagonals nailed to the tree trunk ([Fig. 94]) after the manner of the diagonals in [Fig. 95.] You will note in [Fig. 95] that cleats or blocks are spiked to the tree below the end of the diagonals in order to further secure them. It is sometimes necessary in a two-tree house to allow for the movement of the tree trunks. In Florida a gentleman did this by building his tree-house on the B sills ([Fig. 94]) and making them movable to allow for the play of the tree trunks. [Fig. 96] shows a two-tree house and [Fig. 97] shows a thatch-roofed cottage built among the top branches of a single tree.
It goes without saying that in a high wind one does not want to stay long in a tree-top house; in fact, during some winds that I have experienced I would have felt much safer had I been in a cyclone cellar; but if the braces of a tree-house are securely made and the trees selected have good, heavy trunks, your tree-top house will stand all the ordinary summer blows and winter storms. One must remember that even one's own home is not secure enough to stand some of those extraordinary gales, tornadoes, and hurricanes which occasionally visit parts of our country.
Since I published the first plans of a tree-top house many people have adopted the idea and built quite expensive structures in the boughs of the trees. Probably all these buildings are intact at the present writing.