How To Roof A Treehouse

Add a simple roof to your treehouse.

How to roof a treehouse.

String a bungee cord between the two hooks and slip a tarp overhead. The ideal roof is impervious to water but also needs to rapidly shed water so there is no chance of pools or damp patches building up. Drive one hook into both trunks about 8 feet 2 4 m above the bottom of the platform. The first decision we made when it came to the roof was how tall you want your treehouse.

For our hideaway we went simple and used a 6 12 pitch. Remember our walls are at 5 feet so we have a 2 rise a 6 12 pitch will give us a 26 5 degree slope on our roof. Roof pitch can be a bit confusing but i will tell you how we did it and please know that you can modify to what suits your treehouse best. You should never use a flat roof for a treehouse.

Building the roof was one of the most challenging parts of this treehouse build. To keep a large tree house stable center the load over the trunk and spread the weight among several branches. If your design calls for a flat roof try to introduce even a small slope of 3 5 so water cannot sit there. When your rafters are all on lay down the plywood for the roof an leave a good 2 and 1 2 space around the tree so it can sway in the wind without hitting the roof.

This roof is made from a simple tarp although you can also get more elaborate in designing and constructing your roof. Which would put the center of our roof right at 7 feet. Allow a two inch gap around the tree if it passes through the floor and a three inch gap if it passes through the roof see photo. How to level a treehouse floor.

I used shingles cut in half to seal around the tree and shingled the rest of the roof like normal. I have worked with tar and gravel shingles before but never wood.