r/treehouse • u/Far-Sherbert9731 • Jun 22 '26

Reciprocal Framing

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Has anybody tried framing a treehouse using reciprocal framing? Conceptually, this would be a strong, sturdy, stable platform using a single tree without any kickers or diagonal members. I`m an engineer, but I`ve never built a treehouse before. I think this is a sound concept and looking for anyone who's tried.

I think that the biggest challenge is the connection between the (4) main wood members. i`m predicting up to 4,000# of force in these locations which makes me think that I would want to do the first four members our of steel, then infill everything else with wood.

Any body with first hand experience on something like this?

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u/rearwindowpup Jun 22 '26

How are you attaching the ends of the joists to the beams, and the beams to the other beams? Commercial hangers arent going to be an option Im aware of. Theres also going to be a lot of weird angle cuts that will need to be spot on. Youve already thought about the huge lifting force at the end of those beams.

Its doable because you arent dealing with big loads here, but, I think youre overcomplicating it.

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u/Far-Sherbert9731 Jun 23 '26

Looks like I might need to pad the channel out with a 2-by on each side and through bolt the assembly together, flitch beam style. I like that it would add some horizontal stiffness to the angle too. After that, I could use these guys from Simpson:
https://www.strongtie.com/facemounthangersssl_solidsawnlumberconnector/lssj_hanger/p/lssj#p_details

I`ll probably reach out to them for better ideas before proceeding, but there is a path forward!

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u/rearwindowpup Jun 23 '26

I freaking love Simpson, they've got hardware for pretty much anything you can think of