Treehouse Plans – The Basics

Before designing your treehouse plans, let’s consider some basic information about treehouses.

Tree houses, treehouses, or tree forts, are huts usually made of wood and built among the branches, around or next to the trunk of one or more mature trees, and are elevated above ground. Tree houses can be used for work space, habitation, observation platforms, or as temporary retreats. However, they are mainly used as childrens recreational spaces.

Shelter

In some tropical countries, houses are built in trees or elevated on stilts to keep the living area above dangers at ground level (such as water, including flooding), and to keep the occupants and any stored food out of reach of scavenging animals.

Tree houses are an eco-friendly option in remote forest areas, as they do not need the felling of trees. Furthermore, the climate and light at ground level in areas of dense close-canopy forest is not well suited for human habitation.

Materials

Wood is commonly used for structural parts of tree houses and cladding due to its strength, light weight and low cost. Steel is used for brackets, cables and bolts. Sometimes recycled materials or parts, such as reclaimed window frames, doors are used as well as second-hand lumber.

Growth

In the past 20 years, recreational tree houses in the USA and Europe have seen a rise in popularity. There have been various reasons, including wealth, better building techniques and increased awareness of environmental factors.

Specialist companies across the world have developed to feed this growth industry, but there has also been a big increase in DIY tree houses.

Treehouse Plans & Building Laws

Whilst regulations for the building of tree houses may be lacking, it is important to ensure that structures are safe, for the sake of the occupants and anyone that might be below the structure.

Some countries have no specific planning laws for tree houses, so the legal issues can be confusing to both the builder and the local planning departments.

Occasionally tree houses are excluded from normal building regulations, as they are not considered to be a typical building. An exemption may be given if the tree house is in a remote or non-urban location.

Sometimes, however, a tree house may be classed as a “temporary structure” (i.e. like a garden shed). Also, you need to consider height, distance from boundary and privacy for nearby properties. There are various areas that are difficult to define in these laws, as they were generally no designed for buildings in trees. A very small number of planning departments have set requirements for tree houses, which detail what is and is not acceptable.