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BRUCE'S TREE HOUSE
(Me and My Dad Built It)

Hi! My name is Bruce and I am 10. I am going into 5th grade. This summer me and my dad built a tree house in the big oak tree in our backyard. It took 7 weekends, 2 smashed thumbs (Dad's) and 1 rope ladder. Here is how we did it, weekend by weekend. My dad took the pictures with his camera from work, it puts the pictures on a floppy disk!!! He uses it to take pictures of houses that got wrecked by storms because he is an insurance adjuster.

Weekend 1: THE PLATFORM
June 19 and 20 (it was Father's Day!)
A bare square wooden platform bolted into the fork of a big oak tree, with a stepladder against the trunk and sawhorses on the grass
Our oak tree splits into 2 big branches about 7 feet up. Dad got a book about tree houses at the library and we picked a plan. First we bolted 2 big boards called beams across the 2 branches with lag bolts. The lag bolts are as long as my hand! Then we put boards across the beams called joists, and then the floor boards on top. The floor boards were left over from when we built our deck. Our platform is 6 feet by 6 feet. On Sunday Dad smashed his thumb with the hammer. Thumb #1!! He said a word I can't put on here. Happy Father's Day Dad.

Weekend 2: THE WALLS
June 26 and 27
Bruce and his dad building a wall frame out of boards for the tree house
We made the walls out of 2x4s with plywood nailed on. We built them flat on the grass, then lifted them up with a rope and Dad nailed them on. My job was holding the boards still while Dad nailed. Mom took this picture. I always stick my tongue out when I'm working, I can't help it. Ask my teacher.

July 3 and 4 we didn't build because we went to my grandma's for the fireworks.


Weekend 3: THE ROOF
July 10 and 11
The roof is slanted so the rain runs off. Dad says a flat roof on a tree house is a swimming pool. We put plywood on top and then shingles that were left over from when we got a new roof on the garage. I handed up the shingles and the roofing nails. It was SO hot that weekend. Mom brought out popsicles.

Weekend 4: THE WINDOW AND THE TRAPDOOR
July 17 and 18
Dad cut a square hole in the front wall with his saw for the window and we made a shutter out of plywood on hinges so we can close it when it rains. Then we cut the trapdoor in the floor. It has hinges and a rope handle and you push it up with your head when you come up the ladder. On Saturday Dad smashed his OTHER thumb. Thumb #2!! Now he had a band-aid on both thumbs and looked like he was giving everybody a thumbs up all the time.

July 24 and 25 it rained the whole time.


Weekend 5: THE ROPE LADDER
July 31 and August 1
The rope ladder was my idea. We cut the rungs out of a long round stick called a dowel and drilled holes in the ends and put the rope through and tied big knots under each one. It's harder to climb than a regular ladder because it swings. You have to go slow. My little sister Camille is 6 and she can't do it yet. (Ha ha.)

Weekend 6: THE PULLEY BUCKET
August 7 and 8
Dad bolted a board sticking out from a branch and put a pulley on it and a rope through the pulley and tied on Mom's old bucket. Now you can haul stuff up without climbing down. So far we have hauled up: snacks, comic books, my flashlight, a jug of Kool-Aid (spilled), our dog's ball, and one time Camille's doll, which was an accident.

August 14 and 15 we went camping.


Weekend 7: PAINT AND THE SIGN
August 21 and 22
The finished tree house in the oak: a small dark green cabin with white trim, a slanted roof, a window, a rope ladder hanging down and a rope over a pulley
We painted it dark green with white on the corners. The green was left over from our shed. I painted the sign myself and nailed it on the side that faces our house so Mom can see it from the kitchen. I'm not putting what the sign says on here because it has the club name on it and that's secret. Here it is all done!!!! (Dad says he will put the sawhorses away "soon.")
Bruce grinning out of the tree house window in a red cap, his chin on his fists
That's me in the window. I'm grinning because it's DONE.
The tree house at dusk with a lantern glowing in the window, the rope ladder and a blue bucket on the pulley lit up by the camera flash
This is the rope ladder and the pulley bucket at night. The light in the window is our camping lantern. Dad and me slept up there that night. Camille wanted to come but it wasn't Sunday. (It was Sunday, but it was Sunday NIGHT, and the rule is Sunday DAYTIME. I just decided that.)

WHAT WE USED AND WHAT IT COST
2 beams, 2x8, 10 feet long$17.94
5 joists, 2x6, 8 feet$19.45
12 2x4s, 8 feet$23.88
3 sheets of plywood$37.41
4 lag bolts and washers$5.16
Box of nails$3.99
Roofing nails$1.89
3 hinges and a hook$8.36
50 feet of rope$8.99
2 dowels (ladder rungs)$2.58
Pulley$4.49
Quart of white paint$6.99
Floor boards, shingles, green paint, the bucket, 1 more sheet of plywoodFREE (left over!)
TOTAL$141.13
plus tax. I added it up on Dad's calculator. Twice.

SAFETY RULES
(My dad made me put these on here.)
  1. No more than 3 kids up there at once.
  2. Nobody goes up in a thunderstorm. Not even for a minute.
  3. The trapdoor stays shut when anybody is standing up.
  4. No pushing, no wrestling, no jumping off. Use the ladder.
  5. Dad checks the bolts every spring.
  6. Nobody up there after dark without asking. (Unless Dad is up there too.)

CLUB RULES
  1. PASSWORD REQUIRED. It changes every week and it is NOT on this page, so don't even look.
  2. No little sisters except on Sundays. (Camille, this means you.)
  3. Mom can come up any time because she makes the snacks.
  4. Whoever brings snacks shares them.
  5. Last one down pulls up the ladder. (Pull it up from the bottom with the long rope, I'll show you.)
  6. No girls. Except Camille on Sundays and Mom. And my cousin.

A note from Bruce's Dad
I promised Bruce I'd only write a paragraph, so here it is. When we started in June I figured I would build a tree house and he would hand me nails. By August he was measuring twice and cutting once better than I do, and he caught a mistake in the trapdoor frame that would have cost us a whole afternoon. I'm proud of him. A few words for any other parents thinking about it: bolt into the tree rather than nailing (it's better for the tree, and better for you), keep it low, check it every year, and pick a weekend with nothing else on it, because you'll spend all of it. Both thumbs have healed fine. Thanks for visiting Bruce's page.
— Keith (Bruce's Dad)

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Last updated Monday, September 6, 1999 (Labor Day, no school!)