We are having a tree house built for our kids and I thought we had picked a skilled person to do the job (they run a treehouse business and have done many) but I am now concerned this isn't going well. I saw today they used a foam for the posts. I asked and they said it was structural foam used to constructs decks so it is structurally safe. But now, I'm questioning the build so far. I've posted elsewhere and was told that it is all a mess. I did talk to the builder today and told him my concerns and he said that they would still be adding some more support. He mentioned knee bracing and something else but I am not sure what it was. see pics here
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It looks fine.
The only thing I don't quite understand in this design is why the girders/beams are not supported at the end of the deck away from the tree. If these were on a house, those beams would have to be supported by the compressive strength of the foundation or posts. If you were to stand on the second joist (walking towards the tree), the only thing holding your weight would be the nails between that joist and the beam -- assuming they toe-nailed them together. So I would install a cross-member between those two posts, so that the girders can rest on them, and then add knee braces between that cross-member and the posts. Alternatively, they could have put the posts under those beams (this would transfer the weight of the deck to the posts, not depending on the shear strength of the carriage bolts), and then a knee brace from the posts to the end of the joists.
Cheery
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