How to attach a treehouse platform safely in the tree without harming it? We show you the most important fastening techniques:

The first “tree screws” were introduced to the market about 30 years ago under the names “Garnier Limb” and “Treehouse Attachment Bolt” – this is how the success story of modern tree house construction began.

Meanwhile, thousands of professional and private tree houses have been built on these Treehouse Screws!

The basic idea of the screw is to imitate a natural branch. The injury to the tree is punctiform and resembles that of a branch breakout, i.e. the tree knows exactly how to react to injuries of this kind: it seals the wound, stores fungus-inhibiting substances and forms stronger reaction wood. The “artificial branch” is walled around year after year, and after some time the screw becomes an integral part of the tree. As a wound is created, the carrier tree should have good bulkheading capacity and a good wound reaction. It must be vital and have no internal rot in the area of the screw. Read more about “Choosing the right tree”.

A very elegant & low injury method is the hanging of the carriers by means of rope. The system consists of three parts:

• Tree support sling (also called “tree protection belt”, “tree guard cable”)
• Cable & turnbuckle (steel or Dyneema)
• Anchorage on carrier beam (e.g. ring nut + carriage bolt)

The tree holding loop is placed around a twig (preferably a U-twig) or a stable branch forking. The rope is tensioned by means of a turnbuckle. The anchor point should be located as centrally as possible on the main trunk, so that the loads are introduced directly into it, and the construction does not begin to sway in the wind. Avoid large lever arms and ensure that the rope course is as vertical as possible.

Well suited are trees with a thick, robust bark (dead bark), e.g. oaks and chestnuts. Beech trees are less suitable because their very thin bark offers little protection against abrasion.

Stilts are used wherever there are concerns about the bearing capacity and vitality of the tree. In order not to overload the tree, a combination of stilts and other attachment methods is often the only sensible solution. Depending on the dimensions of the stilts, extremely high loads can be absorbed; this in turn allows the use of heavier materials, which are particularly attractive in the luxury sector (stone slabs, solid wood, bathtub, …).

It is also good to build a tree house on topped logs.

Advantages:

• Simple assembly
• Load capacity virtually unlimited –> heavy construction possible
• Tree trunk is not injured
• Statically easy to calculate and very safe –> optimal for public projects

Disadvantages:

• No “real floating tree house”.
• Supports and stiffeners disturb aesthetics
• Root damage due to earthworks & concrete foundations

Field of Application:

• Stilts houses can be built around any tree
• Everywhere where tree is too small, too crooked, too old, too weak

Attention with the foundation work! Even if it happens in secret, root injuries are at least as bad as sawing off branches. Root damage should be avoided above all in the immediate vicinity of the trunk (1 – 1.5 m)!

This is a variant to attach ropes to the tree; this technique is also frequently used in tree care and tree crown securing. A 20-30 mm hole is drilled through the entire trunk or branch. Then a suitable threaded rod is pushed through the hole and a large washer & nut is attached on one side and a ring nut on the opposite end – this is the attachment point for the rope.

Advantages:

• Very high pull-out resistance
• Is well overflowed by tree growth

Disadvantages:

• The thicker the trunk, the more complex the assembly: very long drill required, difficult handling
• Core is drilled through – core rot can spread in two directions

Field of application:

• Light, horizontal rope and cable attachments