While I am not a “Tree House Inspector”, I do see enough of them around here on home inspections. Tree houses are great, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
We have a few simple tips that you might want to follow if you have a treehouse;
- With your home insurance, you should check to see whether there is a liability involved in having the treehouse on your property. Whilst some offer full coverage, others will have none at all so this is an important step in the planning process.
- If you are particularly close to neighbors, it is always good to ask for their permission and ensure that children are respectful of their neighbors at all times.
- Whenever your child has friends over, you might want to prevent them from going in the treehouse as you are responsible for injury or any other issues that arise. If you want to allow them entry, restrict how many people enter the treehouse at any one time.
- Before opening the treehouse for use, make sure your child understands the rules and you could even write up a safety list and have them read it. For example, the treehouse should be out-of-bounds whenever there is severe weather conditions.
- To prevent the child climbing up and down multiple times a day, a simple pulley and bucket system could be installed to bring items up or down.
- Finally, building a treehouse on public land can be illegal so you should check before you start any projects. Also, decide against a treehouse if the activity of the child will disrupt conservation areas or anything of the sort.
Conclusion – As long as the necessary rules are followed and you listen to the advice here, treehouses can be a great experience for children and it even teaches them responsibility!
