The Tree House: A voyage to the source of a backyard dream
laphamsquarterly.org74 points by Caiero 5 days ago
74 points by Caiero 5 days ago
This was a very compelling read. Everyone feels the lure of climbing to the tree house, yet where did it come from? What motivated our desires for the tree houses? Now we have some answers, they are surprising to me. I guess for myself I did get the idea from reading children's books, The Swiss Family Robinson anyone?
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything about tree houses, but you don’t have to tell a 7 year old that a tree house would be cool. They’ll already be climbing the trees anyway, bringing up a convenient plank to sit on, then turning it into a pallet you can sit on together, then to cover it with a roof, and when you find our the rain still blows in sideways with walls, that’s childhood to me.
I spent years on that treehouse and then it burned down :(
I remember when I was ~8 asking my grandfather if I could build a tree house and he just pointed at his scrap lumber pile and told me to put the tools back clean when I was done.
My grandfather had an amazingly hands off (by modern standards) style of parenting and amazingly I have all my fingers (I did fall out the tree house twice).
It was a killer tree house at the end of the summer, it is absolutely one of my favourite memories.
Just saw the spectacular picture of that Papuan treehouse in the same National Geographic yesterday!
Online courtesy of the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/edg-ng-1981/edg%20NG%201996-02%2... (People of the Trees, p. 34)
Lapham's is SO good. They occasionally have sales on back issues. I can recommend this collection: https://store.laphamsquarterly.us/collections/lewis-lapham-e...
I had a subscription for a couple years, and grabbed a bunch more between sale-priced single issues on their site and eBay.
We've got a couple stacks of them, maybe 20ish issues total, and I grab one a lot of the time when I'm taking the kids somewhere that my main role will be to sit around. Beats reading a phone (plus works if there's no service), most pieces are short so getting interrupted isn't a big deal, and they're very friendly to open-to-any-page-and-go sorts of approaches.
Really, the only reason they're not absolutely perfect for that is that they won't fit easily in a jacket or coat pocket like some mass-market paperbacks or older Modern Library hardcover volumes will. Otherwise, though, just about ideal for that use case.
I've thought about building a nice treehouse retreat on my property. It'd be a sweet way to avoid increasing property taxes but still have a guest room, or a library. But I live where there are bark scorpions, meaning at night they're crawling all up and down those trees. Would have to be hella sealed.
Terrifying prospect
Maybe a sheet metal "band" around the trunk, several feet off the ground, would be enough to stop the scorpion from being able to make it to the treehouse. If the surface is smooth, the scorpion's tarsal shouldn't be able to find purchase.
Like a 12 to 18-inch wide band of smooth stainless steel or aluminum wrapped around the trunk.
Scrape x-inch bark off > apply metal mesh > 100% silicone sealant > butyl tape > wrapped aluminum > lock in with stainless steel hose clamps. Could even get a design lasered into the metal which might be cool.
Kind of like this from Reddit, but with those add'l steps: https://archive.is/yHYdj
The tree needs the bark to live. Peeling a ring of bark off around the tree is a well known to kill it.
Check your local permitting - there are often many “structures” that don’t trigger audits or permits but are still usable - outdoor kitchens, tents, etc. a treehouse may just be one option.
Not sure I'd like that Solomon treehouse, maybe it feels like a ship swaying back and forth
Out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the ladder
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