Treehouse Blog

Jan 2005
First climb into the tree with good friends Andy, Terry & Talon from http://www.psychotours.com   Sketched out a basic concept- project got shelved for 2 years

Jan 2007
Finish painting a tree house on canvas – couldn’t stop – Had to Build it, it’s the child in me that desperately wants to get out! I cant think of a better way to get back in touch with the fearlessness we had as children

Feb 2007
A series of perfect events has unfolded around this project. Including the gift of 3 fallen trees that are lying near and around the Guanacaste tree house building site. Permit to cut the 3 trees was applied for with MINAE – our local forestry service in Costa Rica.

We will begin cutting in June / July and mill the wood to build our tree house, without ever leaving the property, and also reducing the impact on the environment.

April 2007
Drew Guelzow has joined our team, an avid rock climber from Boulder Colorado. Just  3 weeks ago we cleared out a large mass of dead vines, rotting branches,  termite nests,  and  other unwanted critters, 75’ in the air we ran out of daylight. We chopped up the vines and feed them back to the tree as compost. The tree will enjoy it’s it’snew meal for months to come. Several of the larger curving vines will be sanded and varnished and used for handrails. One of many gifts our Guanacaste has provided us.

April 21
We celebrated Earth Day here in Puerto Jimenez . The bamboo kiosks were donated by bamboo architect -  Alejandro. Alejandro is building with the pre- Columbian styles of bamboo construction here on the Osa. . Thanks Alejandro for that gift, you and your wife are welcome to visit anytime. 

May
We begin this week milling 3 large felled trees on our property, A Cedro Maria and Also a Pilon. All the wood used to build our tree house will come from these 3 trees, they will be cut into 12” blocks and removed from the rainforest without disturbing the biodiversity that exists around the areas where the tree fell by natural causes. The wood will be stacked and dried in homemade solar drying canopies made of plastic and bamboo. The wood will be cured and ready to be milled by Mid – July.

Coming in 2008 is a12 Day Treehouse building workshop in Costa  Rica, compliments of Becca and Anna.  Click on our workshop schedule page for dates, itinerary and costs to join the workshop.

May 2007
Can’t build a tree house with out a few snakes or tricks hiding in the grass, just another reason to live in the trees ! As if we need another reason.

Our shop is  finished now  and we are all geared up up and away.

June 2007
To attend the Pete Nelson Tree House workrkshop, in Costa Rica Contact  www.treehouseworkshop.com  $2895.00  Contact www.treehouseworkshop.com and Join us for a unique project in an amazing destination, don’t miss your opportunity to swing from the trees with the best monkeys  in the tree house business ! Activities include swimming with dolphins, canopy, zip line and world class Sportfishing. Lots to see and lots to do. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to swing with the best. Be a part of the film, and the book !

July 2007  
Our “ Guanacaste Recipe”  includes chain sawing raw tropical hardwoods from felled trees on our property. Thanks to Gods gift of a healthy Breeze and 400 “ of annual rainfall, we get new downed trees every year, they are knocked over by the wind , rain and also rainforest trees have a balancing root system that spreads out over the ground vs. tapping into it.  There have been many gifts along the way, and we expect many more. Life is like a buffet, you just have to be ready to receive all that life has to offer, &  ask to have it put on your plate- and you can’t skip the salad bar – and go straight for dessert. Accepting Gods gifts is far more difficult. This project is about faith, surrender and letting go ! 

Put this website in your favorites, and see our progress each month – lots of new pictures on construction progress. Monkeys in the tree, and various fun discoveries.

It truly is about faith! We are also looking for carpenter volunteers along the way. We’ll be uploading pictures as we go along, so check back in with us   www.treehouseincostarica.com  and watch our progress. Thanks for your interest, Pura Vida . See You in Paradise ! Pura Loco ! Michael  H. Cranford 

September 2007  
Tree House Design
We, Michael & Rebecca, have spent the last 2 years off and on designing this tree house. It all started on a rainy day in Panama 2005 on a bar napkin and a pitcher of margaritas, from where all good ideas originate! Then back home, to Sombra de La Lapa with a roll of 1” tape on the floor of our living room to map out the size, walls and get an idea of how small we could actually live together without strangling each other. A two level home was decided would be best. We chose three trees that met our needs, Rebecca had her heart set on one tree, Michael liked the view from two others, and later when the rainy season set in, one of the three trees blew over. Our project was shelved for 2 years due to lack of funds, confidence and just plain ole common sense. Most people we told of our idea thought we were crazy, which we pretty much are. But the idea had such hold on us that we decided to go ahead.  Then we found out that Rebecca’s tree is the National Tree of Costa Rica & is an excellent choice for a tree house & we threw caution to the wind.

In 2007 we set out into the rain forest to bless Rebecca’s Guanacaste tree and sharpened our pencils, mostly erasers!  I never knew you could sharpen an eraser until I started designing a big boys’ tree house. Forty erasers later, pencil shavings up to my knees and a troop of army ants carting off the bad ideas, we were set. Looking back at my tree house design files I noticed that I used the words like revision # 4, and revision #7.  I think we stopped at #7 and began making a material list. Those lists even had revisions! Now we were ready to start implementing the project. What woods would we use? One day while drawing, I was distracted by an empty spot in the canopy, I quickly grabbed Rebecca, threw on my Teva’s and we tromped off into the rain forest for a reason we could not explain. Voila! A beautiful felled tree waiting to be used. 2000 inches of tropical hardwood. Working with The local Costa Rican forestry service, we applied for permits for three trees which had fallen naturally and 2 months later we were all set to go. Chainsaws a blazing and a month later our shop was constructed and our design was finally in a completed state of existence. The image you see here on this page is what we are hoping it will look like when it nears completion on Earth Day in April of 2008. To help us build this crazy tree house, and for the experience of a lifetime, visit our workshop page and contact Michael or Rebecca at info@treehouseincostarica.com or call 508-714-0622.


December 2007  
Arriving back to Costa Rica in October, all set and ready to begin cutting and milling our wood. My new table saw, Makita Drill, Planner, Dewalt tools, bits and saw blades. Squeezing 600 lbs. of luggage and tools into 200 lbs. of luggage and going thru customs is always the challenge. Day 1 in the shop, new blades put on saws, new bits, and lots of inspiration, finally after being away from the project for 3 months, I can get started -Day 1  the wood laughs at my small hand held tools, I've got plenty of tools, but non of them will cut through the wood. Sitting in the shop scratching my head, Plan B is to make plan A work. The wood turns out to be some kind of hard red oak, it's heavy, tough as nails, and requires a bit of respect to work with, not to mention bigger tools.  Add a few prayers, Some simple modifications, some duct tape, bicycle tire, easy-Off for the saw blades and a gas powered table saw seemed to do the trick. Now we are waking up to the sounds of saw dust in the making...ahhh progress at last. I'll be glad when the mornings are quiet once again.

100% of our flooring and support material are finished and stacked ready to be used in next month. Circular stair case steps are cut, joinery pretty much figured out, we are moving forward as planned.  We must have been good this year, Because Santa has been good to us. He is sending us lots of X-Mas visitors with extra luggage room for larger power tools, more drill bits, saw blades, beefy extension cords, and climbing gear. 2 of our visitors are expert climbers and carpenters, so up up and away. The final version of the plans is finished and we are cutting all our wood to the exact dimensions. We are keeping the design light, aerodynamic, with emphasis on visible joinery and drainage. Each area that is subject to get wet in our treehouse is subject to 27' of annual rainfall and needs to be designed in a way that protects areas from rainfall and allows water / breeze  to pass thru  when it decides to be windy, and the design uses the breeze to keep things high and dry after the rain.

Every once in awhile we will get a 60 mile hr. gust of wind, so we are also keeping it aerodynamic to allow the breeze to pass thru the house. Furthermore, we get some pretty good shakers down here as well. Costa Rica is mostly a hodge podge of fault lines and it is not uncommon to get a 6.0-7.0 rocker that shakes things up pretty well. The earthquakes that shoot thru ground up a meter, then back down concern me a bit. So we've built in special earthquake resistant foundations at the bottom of our teak posts to support the treehouse when God decides to shake things up a bit. Here in the rainforest, things move around quit a bit. Our resident sloth has taken up permanent residency pool side. He is not fond of Pina Coladas, but he says the view is great up there.

Jaunary 2008  
New Fun projects on both horizons – In 2007 We will be erecting our 4 story treehouse as part of a conservation documentary. Our treehouse tree “Guanacaste” is a corridor to 3 species of monkeys, which is why we have been doing 95 % of the construction of the tree house on the ground. Once all 4 levels are completed as modules, each module will be disassembled, and taken over to the tree, where we re-build the treehouse, and replace all the cheap Chinese bolts and hardware with homeade hardwood pins. Each section hauled up and all held firmly in place and resting nicely on top of 5 carved - 40’ tall Teak posts. We will plant 5 Teak trees adjacent to the Teak posts for use in 20-30 years.

The entire re-assembly of the home around the tree and in the workup in the tree should take less than 3-4 weeks. Hoisting each Teak post individually with my girl. My 84 CJ7 Jeep & 9000 lb. Warn winch will make the work go a little quicker. The main floor support and walls weigh over 2000 lbs. So up up and away!  Now all of this is in theory  ! Here in Costa Rica we call it mas o menos…which means more or less, it’s an expression used frequently when referring to lawyers, car repair, all legal matters and when asking  for directions ?

I’ve attempted to eliminate all the design ideas that would not work, first designing a tree harness around the crutch of the tree, strangling it equally on all sides, as not to drill into the tree, What I ended up with a metal and bamboo shark cage from hell. The tree didn’t like that design much.  Then considering the designs of all the Tree House Gurus of the Pacific NW, Jake, Pete, Michael – they all support the Garnier Bolt method of attachment.  Most modern tree houses are built with this technology.

So there we were again, design # 2, away we went for another 100-150 hours, and what I ended up with was ½ house attached to one side of the tree, and the other side of the house growing and going in the opposite direction as the tree doubles in size over the next 50-100 years. So there we have it, the new design, complete with supporting floor joist that slide, complicated joinery up above the crutch in the tree, but one good thing about the design was if a 7.0 rocker cam thru and pulled the house off it’s supports,  it would fall only 50 cm. and lie in the crutch of the tree. That part was the only part I loved, everything else was just too complicated…..sliding joists, custom made fiberglass joints and devices.  The beams had to  grow with the tree. adopting the tree gurus approach to tree house building, and drilling into our tree with a 1 ½ “ arborist drill bit. I figured if Pete Nelson was going to bring a  group down, I should at least throw 100-200 hrs of design towards adopting his sliding joint method.  A treehouse sitting atop steel pins below me. Appreciation  of their participation on our journey I drew all day and all night, 3 dimensional drawings, just to understand the complexities of balancing a 8000 lb house on 2 bolts, and drilling into our tree with large Arborist drill bits That like asking if you want to go get root dual canels. That’s gotta hurt. Always running over from my studio as I draw to have conversations and meditate with the tree, and on occasion when I listen, She keeps telling me to keep drawing, so I keep drawing.

Always looking up at design impossibilities and possibilities and scratching my head.  and rarely looking down except when being bit by fire ants. Looking down one day at my recent bug bits on my legs and feet, I noticed these monstrous root buttress system at my feet attached to our tree.

I was glad to get a break, because I was tired of looking up and my neck hurt. So meditated with my tape measurer, as one does often does in cold sweats in the middle of the night – trying to solve treehouse problems.

Our discovery together revealed an amazing star shape foundation adjacent to  the root buttress system with 30” square spaces for concrete foundation close to the center of the tree, where all it’s strength leaves the ground and takes flight into the canopy up through the trunck of the tree. This to me looked like a great foundation as it is a natural one for our tree, so why would I try to out think nature, re-design, when nature is so perfect.  Was I not listening all along ago when I was working on the first 3 designs, or was the entire journey about releasing struggle, pain, weight, stress and difficulty. Was it about becoming lighter and stronger, was it about shedding the leaves in the fall, by knowing what will not work? Was it about the tree at all? Was it about me ? Was it about us!

Back to the drawing board, the design comes together in 3 – 5 weeks, and we’re ready to mill some limber. Our home will sit on 5 Teac posts ontop of 5 small concrete foundations poured into the clay soil in between each of the root buttresses. The home will not even touch the tree “ in theory / Mas o Menos “. 

The treehouse I had imagined building in our driveway, was now imaginable, and with all the difficulty behind me    This design could be disassembled and carried over to the tree and the home will be hauled up section and section at a time. The home will be re-built around the tree and each pc. can be hoisted up in one pc. and leveled. The entire home will be supported from the ground and we will only use the tree for balance. The new design began to take shape. It was the first design where I could imagine a 6000 lb 3 bedroom, 4 level house being built, hoisted, catapulted or dropped into the tree. Another 200 hours later I had the perfect treehouse on paper.

Returning from Stateside hardware store tool buying mission, I found that my 22’ long joists were actually cut at 12‘ long when they Alaska chainsaw milled the felled wood in the forest. After another 50 hours to try and accommodate my new short pieces of wood supports, I finally threw my hands in the air. A dead end in many ways. After a quick visit to New England with Rebecca, I began to pay attention to old world joinery techniques of the covered bridges, barns and their use of pins and notching. After studying their craftsmeanship, Wwe were back in business. 2-3 models later I have a star shaped model in my hands all connected with an elaborate pin system that I could never explain to my crew in my broken Spanish. Another dead end. 

Later that same week I went looking for some spiritual counseling, as tree house designers have to do from time to time. Steven my Dutch friend also owns a Teak farm and has a wood miser mill that can cut up to 30’ – Ahhh back in business. I ordered 5 joists. I  scratched the complicated joinery of the New Englanders and retrieved  back to an original floor support system I designed several months ago.   Another model and some  Elmers glue, and I finally had something I could hold in the palm of my hand, touch feel and smell…that would actually work. Once again, I jumped back to my studio for revision after revision after revision. Each revision reveals 100 ideas that wont work, and 3-4 really good ideas. So now I have eliminated what wont work and maybe a glimpse of what will work. Ahh the light at the end of the tunnel. But wait, what about termites, wood rot, fire, 80 mile pr hr. winds, how about 27’ of annual rainfall , permit, or even worse a 7.0 earthquake.

Putting all that I aside- I transfer more money out of my savings. Not to mention each joint has to be protected from rain and moisture, must also need to drain water, move and pass air freely,  and be non resistant to the prevailing winds as not to be noticed, and to determine which joints need to be flexible and which don’t - almost like disarming a bomb, cutting the red wire vs. the black one. Ouch ! Then throw in a few tool deficiencies and tools that just won’t cut the wood because of it’s hardness.

 Imagine my return trip from stateside hardware stores, sitting in my shop, new able saw , new tools, all plugged in, new chop saw blades, drill bits all ready to go.! Lets build a treehouse !  My excitement began to disappear as blocks of wood stopped my table saw within the first few inches. The chop saw, skillsaw and other tools mostly felt the same way about th” Not today Mike they all whispered.”   A few phone calls, another bank transfer, more tools……

Martin our local builder and the man who built our swimming, showed up one day, sensing my frustration, he bring over his gas powered table saw……ahhhhhhh. We were back in business. Two weeks later we ha” gas powered table saw”  is called our baby and we were able to mill 95 % of the wood right in our shop without ever leaving the shop.

Communication to our guys - Explaining the methods of my madness as I explain to them we are going to build it in the driveway first and explaining to them the importance of taking it apart after they are done building it. This is a simple culture here in Costa Rica and most of the concepts required to put this thing in the air…are new. But giving them the credit the deserve – The main level is now 80% built and sitting in my driveway !  I saw them today make a wood lathe from an old motor, 16 penny nail, and a block of wood, so there are many of their ideas going into this project and we work close together to make sure they I & understand each angle, curve, and that it all has to be disassembled into small pieces , and put back together.

Which joints need to be permanently screwed together, and which joints need to be nailed and taken apart at a later date. What roofing material to choose, doors, cabinets, frames, all needing to be lightened up as we go. Removing unnecessary building techniques and materials from the design to keep the home as light as physically possible, remember it is only being held up by 5 hardwood pins, so one must consider un traditional building techniques at all time, and take every advantage to design an aerodynamic home as well. All very complicated on paper, and even more complicated to build in the driveway.

Will it Fly ? Check back onto the website in a few months and see for yourself.

In 2008 see our suspended king size platformed beds suspended from cables and wrapped around an individual tree. Floating Ewok Village that even George Lucas might would be proud of.   A special place, with easy walk in access – suspended from the canopy above, and floating high above the canopy floor on guadua bamboo stilts….this is truly magical and mostly bug free.  Just you and Nature – the way life is supposed to be. !

Sleep under elegant white netting, hear the rainforest come alive each day and night from under, around  and above your private sleeping platform. Of coarse we have all the ammenties and maybe even a place to plug your IPOD in.

Listen as night falls in, and get ready for the Costa Rica Rainforest Rollercoaster of sights, sounds, and smells the next morning.  Things you’ve never experienced or imagined before. Watch the lightning bugs travel through the night while sitting in your hammock or bed, or the glow in dark frogs and insects that live ground 20-30 “ below you. This is as close as you can get to comfort and nature. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.