DerbyDad03 writes:
On Wednesday, September 2, 2020 at 1:56:37 PM UTC-4, Emanuel Berg wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:

The ropes I was talking about are the one's used to
lash the structure to the trees. That seems like an
huge amount of weight to be supported by ropes to
swaying trees. I guess to certain extent you need
to allow for movement and the support ropes will
certainly do that.

You mean the ropes could suddenly fail?



Yup. Suddenly or slowly.

Maybe they stretch a little, structure starts to lean. You don't really
worry about it, then it leans a little more, putting stress on some other
area, maybe pulling it away from some other support. Maybe that's where
the failure occurs.

When we built our treehouse in a stand of redwoods 25 years ago,
we avoided puncturing the trees. The treehouse was triangular
and supported by three trees, one at each vertex. Using 2x12s
and threaded rod, we built a frame to support the treehouse that
was clamped to the trees (one 2x12 on each side of the tree
clamped with a pair of threaded rod on each side of the trunk). As
the tree grew, we could simply loosen the rods a bit.

A triangular platform (on 2x8 joists), 8' walls, a window and a stairs on the uphill
side for access with a transparent corrugated roof.

So far as I know (we moved), it's still there.