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Building with Green lumber

Baconator

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2020
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1740
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314
I owe my kids a tree house, Ive been promising it to them for about a year now. Winter is my slow season so Id like to get something up before the spring.
Lumber is at stupid prices right now, and Im not gonna drop $2k on tree house lumber.

I have a lumber mill, and a lot of logs. Issue is all of it is around 15-25% moisture. Am I asking for issues if I build with it now? I doubt homesteaders waited a few months for their lumber to dry when they settled this area, and there are still lots of old cabins standing from those days.
 
For a kids treehouse I wouldn't hesitate using green lumber. Get that shit built dad! :flipoff2: Kids aren't gonna care about gaps that show up in a year.
 
go for it
I think when it dries the nails will get a little loose from the wood shrinking, so just put it together in such a way that the nails aren't very structural
I built several walls in my new house with green treat that was soaking wet (it was a couple bucks extra and I'd just removed some rotten shit)

oh and make sure you build it in a tree that you don't mind being dead in 5yr
 
[486 said:
;n284504]go for it
I think when it dries the nails will get a little loose from the wood shrinking, so just put it together in such a way that the nails aren't very structural
I built several walls in my new house with green treat that was soaking wet (it was a couple bucks extra and I'd just removed some rotten shit)

oh and make sure you build it in a tree that you don't mind being dead in 5yr
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Im going to bury a log vertically into the ground and build on top of that, although I did have a tree house we built as a kid, and that tree is still alive 25 years later.
 
I wouldn't sweat it. It is gonna shrink, but, so what. Do the siding as board and batten and leave some room for it to shrink.
 
I did green board and batten siding on a shed. The battens fill the gaps. Nailed the battens in between the boards for movement. Tree house or shed. No big deal.
 
Wizzle said:
The lumber we have here at Lowe’s/Home Depot is about 1 step away from the tree it was. It’s literally wet to the touch. Finding a straight piece is almost impossible. So I don’t think you’re losing much, you’ll probably come out ahead
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That shit is bad. I'm pissed when I go for one board. Can't imagine building anything beyond a single 2x6 for a deer hoist between 2 trees.
 
Ted_Kaczynski said:
That shit is bad. I'm pissed when I go for one board. Can't imagine building anything beyond a single 2x6 for a deer hoist between 2 trees.
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Last time I went to Home Depot me and my cousin spent 20 minutes digging through a stack of about 70 fucked up 2x4s. One of the young kids that worked there came over and asked if we needed help. I said yes, do you have any wood that isn’t shit?:laughing:
 
Build it - nails for now and if it separates go back with screws and pull it together. But its a treehouse, it should have character
 
What if you were sawing the lumber to build a actual house?
 
Ted_Kaczynski said:
That shit is bad. I'm pissed when I go for one board. Can't imagine building anything beyond a single 2x6 for a deer hoist between 2 trees.
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Its so fucking awful right now. Hell, if we break a bundle open on a site for a few boards we ratchet strap it back togwther if its not getting used in a day or 2. Otherwise it looks like all the wood came from a Banyan tree Inside of a week.
 
PT2x4x8s were $11.50 each when we build our wood sheds. :laughing:

The guy said no sense in waiting. Each time they restocked, prices went up ~15%.
 
Baconator said:
Im going to bury a log vertically into the ground and build on top of that, although I did have a tree house we built as a kid, and that tree is still alive 25 years later.
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His green lumber is the pressure treated with copper based solutions so the bugs won't eat it, your green lumber is not dry yet.
 
My house is framed from rough cut green poplar. We built it 1986. The drywall guy did not like it. Has not fallen yet.
 
ridenby said:
The drywall guy did not like it.
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896f7d0bd4cb65d79726c96dc9ad8592_1.jpg


Did he look like this?
 
mrblaine said:
His green lumber is the pressure treated with copper based solutions so the bugs won't eat it, your green lumber is not dry yet.
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no, read through the post being quoted a little better, I built a few load bearing walls in my house-house with soaking wet green treat

my treehouse was built maybe 15 years ago out of garbage pallet wood, some of it was green treat but most of it wasn't
tree died because I didn't leave enough undisturbed (floam? that outer layer of the tree right under the bark where it does all the water-transfer and shit)
it's been in a pile and partially burned for probably 8-10 years
 
It will be fine, but you need to mill it and use it IMO. If you cut a bunch of stuff to fit and wait a week or two, it’s not going to fit any more. I’d use lags or carriage bolts for anything structural.

Don’t bury a log in the ground to use as a post. Untreated it will be rotten in a year or two. You should be able to buy a telephone pole/piling for $100 unless those have gotten stupid too.
 
Gatorgrizz27 said:
It will be fine, but you need to mill it and use it IMO. If you cut a bunch of stuff to fit and wait a week or two, it’s not going to fit any more. I’d use lags or carriage bolts for anything structural.

Don’t bury a log in the ground to use as a post. Untreated it will be rotten in a year or two. You should be able to buy a telephone pole/piling for $100 unless those have gotten stupid too.
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Im in CO, its dry as hell here. We can bury non treated stuff and be fine for many years.
There is fencing on this property that was put in back in the 40's that is still standing that definitely was not treated.
 
At the home depot out here, I have to dig through half the dang stack to find ONE board that does not resemble a drill bit. Still very green, wet to the touch. No kiln dried available. Im just doing outdoor project stuff, so its not that critical.

But man, I would love to have a stand of basswood trees out here that I could mill out some straight grain lumber with
 
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