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Up a Tree with a Ladder
Build a Hangout That Ranks High Above the Rest By Mark Stackpole
The Sky's the LimitJoe Mirrow of Centerville, Ohio, is a biomedical engineer in the air force and the father of three. As an air force family, the Mirrows have to move every three years or so. "When we were about to leave Texas and all their friends, I told the kids that if we could find a house with a big tree, I would build them a treehouse," Mirrow says.
Needless to say, young Rachel, Andrew and Benjamin were excited when their new house in Ohio had about five trees that would accommodate their father's promise. And so Mirrow's skills were put to the test. "I have always been handy with power tools, but I'm not a woodworker by any stretch," he says. Mirrow designed the treehouse on graph paper to get an approximate idea of how much wood and other resources would be needed.
Mirrow estimates that the treehouse cost him between $700 and $800 in materials, but he is convinced that he got his money's worth. Among the many fun features of the treehouse are a front deck, real casement windows, a rope ladder built by his daughter, a trap door installed at his son's request, a shingled roof, bunk beds, even an intercom connected from the house to the treehouse so the kids can call down for snacks. Unfortunately, at least one thing did have to remain on the drawing board Mirrow nixed an idea for a zip-line from the treehouse to the ground, concerned about the potential for a 14-foot fall from "leg-breaking height."
Decoration was not a problem and actually turned the family project into a community one. "The painting was done on the ground by just about every kid in the neighborhood," Mirrow says. After the walls were painted, Mirrow and a neighbor assembled them in his garage and then used a pulley tied above the treehouse platform to lift them into place. After construction was completed, the pulley was left in place and is now used to hoist a basket for snacks.
Of course, if a dad is going to build a treehouse with these kinds of upgrades, he may need to make a few upgrades of his own to his toolbox. Mirrow did purchase a 10-inch mitre saw, though he admits that a 12-inch saw would have been helpful in cutting some of the necessary angles. Another investment for would-be treehouse builders? A good laser level. Mirrow built the floor to the treehouse on uneven ground and "leveling it 10 feet in the air took a very long time."
