Woodworking Project - Tree House

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Ever since our son was born, I've been eye-balling a certain maple tree in our yard and planning out a tree house for him to play in when he got older. He turned three during the fall of 2008 and I wanted to make sure that the tree house was usable the following spring. So I began construction just as the leaves began to fall.

Originally, I wanted the tree house to be supported entirely by the tree. That would give it a "living up in the trees" sort of feeling. The problem with this idea is that the size and shape of the tree house would be dictated (and limited) by the size and shape of the tree. The maple tree in question is pretty large, but it doesn't have much in the way of low branches to act as supports. So, the size of the main deck for the tree house was limited in size to what I felt comfortable "hanging" from the main trunk of the tree. A comprimise was in order...

After reading a couple of books and several articles on tree house contruction, I settled on sort of a hybrid style tree house that incorperates a large main deck that is entirely supported by the main trunk of the tree and a smaller secondary free-standing deck connected to the main deck via a ramped bridge. This comprimise allowed me to make the tree house larger than the tree alone could support. And, it gave me the opportunity to include several "play ground" type features that wouldn't have otherwise been feasible. The smaller secondary deck acts as an entrance point (via a flat rung stair ladder) and a platform for a 10' slide down to ground level. Addionally, the framing for the secondard deck provides space for a sandbox. All of this will make sense when you see the pictures below.

Here are the major features included in the tree house design:

Main 8' x 8' deck supported entirely by the maple tree at 7' above ground level
Secondary 5' x 5' Free-standing deck at 5' above ground level
8' ramp/bridge connecting the secondary deck to the main deck
Tall rails to help keep little monkeys safe
Flat rung stair/ladder from the ground up to the secondary deck
10' from the slide from the secondary deck down to the ground
Sandbox contained in the base of the secondary deck

The tree house was/will be constructed in several phases. Here's how each phase breaks down:

Phase I - Main deck framing, decking, and railing
Phase II - Secondary deck framing, decking, and railing
Phase III - Ramp/Bridge from secondard deck to main deck, decking, and railing
Phase IV - Ladder and slide (as this point, the tree house is officially open for business!)
Phase V - Accessories (sandbox, benches, tables, bucket hoist, etc.)

Here's a concept drawing of the tree house: