|
Title: Treehouses & Playhouses You Can Build
Purchase
Item
Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith, Publisher
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $7.73
|
|
| Customer Reviews: |
| Treehouses & Playhouses You Can Build by Gibbs Smith, Publisher Buy this book... |
...if you plan to build a treehouse yourself. If not this one, than any other from same author.
It's that simple. |
| Treehouses & Playhouses You Can Build by Gibbs Smith, Publisher Perfect for the young builder |
This is the latest installment in a long string of wonderful books from David and Jeanie Stiles. Inside you won't find glossy, double page spreads of extravagant treehouses ... this is not a coffee table book. Rather, it is a how-to book, and the best one available for those that want to build their own whimsical play structure. Inside you will find excellent line drawings and readable explanations of intelligent, creative, and well though-out designs.
David starts with the basics: tools. From there you follow a complete and logical progression to completed treehouse. In between you'll get solid building advice. David has built his designs. He knows how to make life easier for you by using common materials and minimizing cuts. The building advice is spot on throughout.
The huge, huge, huge problem with this book is the 20 or so options David gives you for connecting lumber to tree. They are almost all bad. Never girdle a growing limb with rope or cable. Never use nails. This leaves you with only lag bolting. To be sure, there are other ways. But the only safe and tree-friendly way presented in this book (and any of his other works) is to use lags.
This is the by far the best book to give to a young builder and is probably a treasure to any 8 or 9 year old lucky enough to have a copy. It will get their mind working. The crazy schemes they come up with will amaze you.
The ideas inside this book are great. Fun, imaginative, unique. If you know a young boy (or girl) with a tree, get him this book. And when it comes time to actually build their creation, call an arborist and he'll set you straight about properly attaching it to a tree. |
| Treehouses & Playhouses You Can Build by Gibbs Smith, Publisher Tree House |
Tree house building is complex.
This book will help you decide.
Ideas are informative; but skills are needed. |
| Treehouses & Playhouses You Can Build by Gibbs Smith, Publisher Many missing instructions and difficult paths |
| I built the Treeless Treehouse on page 81. During the project, I found the instructions lacking, and sometimes incorrect. Dimensions critical to building were many times left out. There might have been a bright side to this, as I now know my trigonometry, which was critical to getting lengths right. I also found that the recommended decking was heavy and hard to work with. They recommended 2X6 in order to reduce the number of floor joists. A bad trade-off in my opinion, as these are heavier and harder to work with than a 1X6. They recommended installing the railing posts inside the deck as opposed to the outside. A bad recommendation in my opinion, as it necessitated cutting patterns out of 2X6 which is hard to do. In fact, they recommend using a jig saw for this. I used a skill saw and a hand saw. I don't think a jig saw would cut it. I recommend looking elsewhere for a do-it-yourself book. |
| Treehouses & Playhouses You Can Build by Gibbs Smith, Publisher Great All-Around Treehouse Guide |
| Help me out greatly. I am below novice in construction knowledge. The book explained, diagramed, and visualized lots of great methods and ideas for building treehouses. I find myself going back to it again and again for efficient methods of accomplishing the task at hand. |
| Treehouses & Playhouses You Can Build by Gibbs Smith, Publisher Product Description |
| Treehouses & Playhouses You Can Build shows how average "do-it-yourself" families can easily and affordably bring to life a "Hobbit's Treehouse," a "Pirate's Playhouse," or a "Crow's Nest" in their own backyards! There are a lot of books out there filled with enchanting photos of elaborate treehouses and playhouses built by professionals and costing tens of thousands to build. For the rest of us, there's bit of elbow grease, a lot of imagination, a trip to the hardware store-and Treehouses & Playhouses You Can Build. |