so i’m building the platform for the floor joists for the The World’s Most Awesome Treehouse(s) out of really big and heavy treated 2x10s a the problem arises. how exactly am i supposed to hoist the two “sistered” fourteen foot 2x10s that make up the ends of the platform twelve feet in the air so i can attach them to the sixteen foot 2×10 joists?

i had attempted to recruit a small army of strapping, oldish men to help me out, but we got rained out last weekend and i just wanted to make some progress without having to coordinate another work party.

“easy!”, i thought. i’ll use a pulley and counter-weight the boards with a trash can loaded with about 250 pounds of paving bricks that i just happen to have laying around ( i just knew they’d be useful for something! ) and pull the two fourteen foot 2x10s that are screwed together up twelve feet and nail in the joists.

what could possibly go wrong?

so, i hauled the trash can up the ladder precariously perched against the tree, and wound the pulley rope through the handles and around the can and started loading it with pavers. after putting in about 250 pounds worth of pavers in the trash can it started dropping and the fourteen foot 2x10s quickly started to raise up to the required height! awesome!

whem it was just about where i needed it to be, i realized i still had to climb back up the ladder and huff and puff to get it up and over the 3/4″ threaded rod that’s holding up the supports that the joists will run along.

creeeaaaaaak. the handle on the trash can started to give way and the rope started to unwind and loosen while i’m standing 12 feet up on a ladder trying to “man handle” a couple hundred pounds of treated lumber.

all too slowly it dawned on me that if the rope gave out completely i probably wouldn’t be able to keep holding on to the boards and they’d fall down the ladder and take me out. hard. double hard.

uh. oh.

luckily i summoned the strength to hoist the boards over the threaded rod and rigged the slack in the rope to hold them in place while i quickly screwed in a couple of joists.

phew. but still. a close call. yikes.