Here's a time-lapse video of the insulation being installed.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Friday, January 01, 2010
Christmas in the tree
Kristen and I spent about 7 days in the tree house over the holiday season. It was a great trip, the tree house is really starting to feel livable.
The weather was relatively warm for late December, temperatures were typically in the 30s. The Jotul was more than up to the task of keeping us warm for our stay.
One thing I wanted to do was to put up some aluminum flashing around the stove. The idea was to protect that walls a bit from the heat coming off of the stove, and maybe reflect some of that heat back into the tree house. Since I was going to cover up the studs with flashing, I figured I might as well put roll insulation up behind the flashing while I was at it. With the fire roaring, the flashing remains cool to the touch.
Kristen had made some curtains for the kitchen shelving area. I fabricated some hangers out of steel, and bolted everything together. The curtains make the kitchen look a lot more organized. I got the idea while reading up on this cool tree house.
I got the control panel and LED lights installed. It's amazingly nice to be able to walk into the tree house, flip a switch, and have the lights turn on. No more messing with Coleman lanterns or flashlights.
I didn't install the solar panel, that will have to wait for another trip. It was pretty cloudy while we were there, and I knew that the installation would be tricky. The tree house doesn't face directly south, so I'd have to make a fairly involved mount if I want to place it on the roof. Realistically, the 40 amp hour battery has enough juice in it to last for a very long stay without needing a recharge.
I'd picked up some cheap LED Christmas lights that I stapled along the roof line. They were wired for 120 volt AC, so I used a small inverter to power them. With 150 led bulbs, the string drew about .8 amps when lit.
We also hung a lot of ornaments in the kitchen area to get us in the Christmas mood.
We didn't bother putting ice in the cooler to keep our food cold. Instead we left the cooler outside on the platform, and could hoist it up whenever we needed something. We'd typically tie the platform off at night, so in the morning we could just open the door to get to the cooler.
The tree continues to grow at an impressive rate. The eye bolts are slowly being enveloped by the tree. There's little concern that these things will pull out. At this point they are in the tree for the long run.
The weather was relatively warm for late December, temperatures were typically in the 30s. The Jotul was more than up to the task of keeping us warm for our stay.
One thing I wanted to do was to put up some aluminum flashing around the stove. The idea was to protect that walls a bit from the heat coming off of the stove, and maybe reflect some of that heat back into the tree house. Since I was going to cover up the studs with flashing, I figured I might as well put roll insulation up behind the flashing while I was at it. With the fire roaring, the flashing remains cool to the touch.
Kristen had made some curtains for the kitchen shelving area. I fabricated some hangers out of steel, and bolted everything together. The curtains make the kitchen look a lot more organized. I got the idea while reading up on this cool tree house.
I got the control panel and LED lights installed. It's amazingly nice to be able to walk into the tree house, flip a switch, and have the lights turn on. No more messing with Coleman lanterns or flashlights.
I didn't install the solar panel, that will have to wait for another trip. It was pretty cloudy while we were there, and I knew that the installation would be tricky. The tree house doesn't face directly south, so I'd have to make a fairly involved mount if I want to place it on the roof. Realistically, the 40 amp hour battery has enough juice in it to last for a very long stay without needing a recharge.
I'd picked up some cheap LED Christmas lights that I stapled along the roof line. They were wired for 120 volt AC, so I used a small inverter to power them. With 150 led bulbs, the string drew about .8 amps when lit.
We also hung a lot of ornaments in the kitchen area to get us in the Christmas mood.
The tree continues to grow at an impressive rate. The eye bolts are slowly being enveloped by the tree. There's little concern that these things will pull out. At this point they are in the tree for the long run.
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