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How to make a cheap treehouse/fort


Mandylubug
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It isn't cool to call it a play house. Our trees aren't great candidates to build into and I don't want to work that hard at it. I have even considered making a primative log cabin out of pine trees (really small ones). I'm also game for reusing building supplies or out of the box ideas.

 

The kids did pick out their area and what trees they want for the corners. It is an odd shaped area but they fell in love with these three trees that are crowded together and they believe it makes the best opening for their door. Obviously, it will be very unconventional.

 

Anyway, I'm trying to decide what materials I can make work on for the walls. I would love to use cheapy wood and paint it or seal it with something to make it somewhat resistant to the elements. Another idea is to use premade fence sections or pallet wood..

 

Any ideas? I'm not looking for professional quality. We are just using our imagination and kids are doing most of the labor.

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Ours are using "shipping crate 2x4's" - free from a motorcycle / big lawnmower place. DH set them up with a solid, weather-resistant floor (so they don't fall through), and they are doing the rest. It's taking FOR. EV. AH. and a day, but they are having the time of their lives doing it. :) There's some good lumber to be had for free if you can nose around and find a place.

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There's a 1970s book on playhouses / tree houses that children can build themselves. It had really neat ideas in there, using all kind of scraps, but I can't find the title now. It was something like "Playhouses children can build" or "Building playhouses / tree houses with children". Maybe someone googles better than me.

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How about using pallets as your frame? I am not above cruising behind a strip mall to see what stores are throwing into/next to their dumpsters.

 

One of my kids needed a long, flat, narrow box to return something by UPS - I saw one perched atop a dumpster and had him jump out and grab it. His need barely outweighed his embarrassment, I could see him weighing the potential of someone seeing him (gasp!) and his desire for his new item.

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There are whole online forums about building with crates and pallets. Seems furniture companies get good pallets, and bigger. Pulling nails from crates can be as picky, if you're just after the slats, or not so, if the whole thing is to become a wall.

 

Either way, sand and paint, and shipping wood might be splintery, but even there, you cover with something else...like pipe insulation.

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