Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Treeshedworking Week - Cedar Creek Treehouse

We continue Treeshedworking Week with an example of a spot where you could get away from it all to do some intense shedworking or merely have a smashing view, the Cedar Creek Treehouse. It's 50ft up in the air and built into a 200-year-old cedar tree.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:19 PM

    I understand the appeal of viewing the world from the canopy five stories up, but I'm never comfortable with using a living being as a structural element.

    Obviously, the structure of this treehouse depends on more than just the tree, so why not skip the tree and deal only with a cabin on poles.

    Bill D

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  2. Fair point. Have a look at the Free Spirit Spheres and 02 Sustainability Treehouses on the site - they are particularly proud of doing no damage.

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  3. Alex, those Free Spirit Spheres are cabled to trees. Cabling involves drilling into trees. That's damage. And those O2 things require special types of trees (willows) that root when cut and planted and graft when forced together. There's no such thing as doing no damage, only minimizing it.

    -Steve
    artisantrees.com

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  4. Steve, you're an expert, but I was under the impression that neither of them involved any kind of tree penetration? Are you sure they involve drilling into trees.

    But I take your point that it's a question of minimizing.

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  5. Ha! I just checked their site. They've slung the trees all around instead of drilling through. There are few surer ways to kill a tree than girdling them in this manner. And those cables are near horizontal! That's some incredible stress.

    People who really care about the health of trees but don't really understand their biology are prone to killing them with their kindness. So, you are right Alex, there is little or no intial harm. Just wait a few years...

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