Treehouse

[Klm]

Hello,

We recently purchased a home where the old owners made a "treehouse" of scrap wood in a tree in the front yard. Im not sure what kind of tree it is, it has about 5 trunks and bunches of red berries on it. We would like to remove the treehouse but dont want to damage the tree in any way as it is about 25 years old. How can we go about removing it(treehouse) without hurting the tree or exposing it to insects? The people used large nails to assemble the treehouse! Yikes.
Any tips would sure be appreciated.

Thank You

 

[Treeman14]

The tree has already been damaged. I would try to carefully dismantle the treehouse. Try to avoid scraping the bark and pull out the nails if possible. A large crowbar should work well. Use a scrap piece of wood to protect the bark of the tree. If you're not comfortable working up in a tree, you may want to hire an arborist to do the work for you. I've done a few jobs like this. Just be sure to emphasize that you want to protect the tree as much as possible. Don't try to fill in the nail holes. The tree will close over them in a short time.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

You may know this from high school biology, but a tree has a thin layer of cells just below the bark called the camibum. It's important not to damage this with excessive prying on the boards or nails while dismantling the house.
If the tree is a hardwood, removing the nails will be very hard. If you use a hammer claw or pry bar, you might damage the tree trying to pry them out.
You might want to just cut the boards out and leave the nails. How about setting a circular saw's cutting depth to the exact width of the board and cut close to the nails on each side, then tap out the scraps. If the nails are a problem and you can't pull them easily, just cut them off at the bark with a hack saw, battery powered saz all, or grinder. The old nails won't hurt the tree, although they may dull a guys chainsaw in years to come when the tree dies. As an arborist, I have run into this a few times over the years and it's just an inconvenience, it's not the hazard some folks think.

 

[Stephen Wiley]

ouch

" it's not the hazard some folks think."
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Mike,

I agree with your comments for proceeding to remove the tree house.

However, I may have had more experience with nails and other foreign objects in trees.

On one occasion a nail in a 9"dbh Holly sent my chain passed my head with a small facial laceration. (NEAR MY EYE)!

On another occasion while logging in the 70's, on one site I lost 3 chains due to nails. One nearly wrapped around a co-woker standing 10' from me bucking a log.

Nails in trees ARE a CAUSE FOR CONCERN! In the above examples the nails were embedded, without external symptoms of their presence.

I have know and have heard of a tant pis of others with their own experiences.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

The occourences you discribe sound impossibe. Hitting a nail should dull your saw, perhaps, if you were using the wrong size chain, a modified chain, or a very worn chain, you could break it. In that event, the chain would break it should be pulled toward the bottom of the saw and stop instantly. I have only broken a dozen or so chains in my time, but never had a problem. New saws have special handles and chain catchers to help prevent the chain from wipping back and hitting your leg or arm. Shooting out the front just sounds implausible.
I'd like to hear more on this.

 

[Jay Banks]

Mike,
You should know better than to operate a computer under the influence. You could get hurt.

Now go out there a climb into a 60 foot silver maple!!