We have finally gotten to the point where the exterior of the treehouse is complete. The remaining portion of the handrail on the crow's nest was added, the scaffolding has been removed, electrical wiring has been put in the walls, and the final window has been installed.
We have started on the interior. The ceiling has been sheetrocked, spackled, sanded primed and painted. The cedar panelling has been almost completely installed.
The only remaining items on the checklist are:
Finish panelling
Install flooring
Make and install door
Install light fixtures.
It is hard to show great changes to the treehouse since the pictures are starting to look like a finished project. We almost finished painting the exterior of the building after building another scaffold so that we can work on the side that has no deck associated with it -- ran out of paint right near the end yesterday. We will probably finish that today. The exterior trim is all cut and painted and ready to install as soon as the painting is done. We installed the final hinged window -- one more fixed window to go.
We have installed low voltage wiring inside the walls and sheetrocked the rafters inside the house. I have installed 4" logs as collar ties. They are really good looking in there. We have also trimmed out the interior with some furring strips so that the white cedar wall boards can be installed. We will sand the sheetrock and paint it before we install the cedar boards. There would be no way to remove any paint splatter from the cedar boards should we have any.
The crow's nest roof is totally complete. I have even tarred the cap of the chimney and repositioned the stairway going up there and fully screwed it in place.
The to do list now has the following items left to complete:
Finish exterior painting and nail on trim.
Install one fixed window in the sleeping alcove.
Make and install the door (I have finished the design at this point)
Install the cedar walls.
Install the hardwood flooring.
Buy and install window and door latches.
Install lighting fixtures.
This week we worked on more of the finishing touches on the outside of the building. We have installed six of the eight windows, the trim on 3 of them, finished the rolled roofing on the crow's nest, and installed the faux chimney.
The chimney proved to be the most difficult of the tasks. I had originally intended to put a pulley on the pine tree immediately above the treehouse and then haul the chimney which I had fabricated in the workshop up to the crow's nest and then gently move it over to the slot in the roof where it was supposed to go. Well, that turned into a bad theory. The chimney weighed over 300 pounds and as much as we pulled on the ropes there was just too much weight to do it that way. We finally cradled the chimney in some ropes and then slid it up each of the stairways with a lot of brute force. It was exhausting. From the crow's nest we built a platform on top of the railing and moved the chimney from the deck of the crow's nest to the platform. It was at that point that we connected the pulley system to the pine tree above and gently nudged it over into its place on the roof. From inside we screwed it to the roof so that it would not budge. It looks great and changes the character of the entire building.
We have about one more day of work to finish up the outside of the building except for the door. Then, we will start finishing the inside. We have decided to put sheetrock on the rafters, white cedar boards on the walls and a hardwood flooring.
We are getting really close to finishing the outside of the treehouse.
The new beige paint color is much better for the siding. I have now installed most of the windows and put the rolled roofing on the crow's nest. The trim around the windows is moving along. A few more days of work and the entire outside will be done with the exception of the door itself.
