C O V E R
These fine tree
houses,
assembled by
a local
carpentry
contractor, are
made from
lumber sawn
on a WoodMizer LT15
band sawmill
up the
mountain
18
S T O R Y
looking for unusual accommodation?
Not seeking to start a serious tree house
business, he saw them as a way to use
mature wood or trees blown down in the
2007 hurricane, which destroyed 60
cubic metres of his black pine. Now the
fine tree houses are assembled by a
sub-contracted carpenter.
Very comfortable tree houses
His use of a chainsaw eventually
became far from cost efficient and was
also tedious, so Pierre Bremond found
himself considering contracting out
sawing to a small sawmill. However, he
soon decided against this for several
reasons, including lack of punctuality,
relative inflexibility and considerable
extra cost. He reveals:
"A few years ago, during a hunting
trip in Canada, I came upon a mobile
band sawmill powered by a generating
set". This appeared to be the ideal
machine for sawing his wood himself.
So in early 2009 he bought a small
Wood-Mizer LT15 band sawmill with a
debarker for €7000 plus tax – and he
acquired another forestr y skill:
professional level sawing!
The LT15 is the second smallest in
Wood-Mizer's range of band sawmills. It
can be equipped with 'Setworks' to
preconfigure dimensions and
sometimes has a moulder/planer
attached, adding profiled beams and
moulded boards to its output. It is easily
WOOD-MIZER TODAY AUTUMN 2011
towed into the forest to saw logs on the
spot.
Pierre Bremond plants, grows, fells,
hauls and positions his timber with a
fork mounted farm tractor and saws up
to four cubic metres of it daily. Is there
anything he cannot do? For now, he
contracts out the actual construction of
his tree houses to 'Arbat', a carpentry
contractor in Saint-Martin-les-Eaux. A 24
square metre prototype is being erected
in oak forests on one of his mountains.
Pierre Bremond assembled the
platform himself with material from his
property: oak beams, bearing joists and
cedar decking. The house has a black
pine framework, cedar cladding and a
cedar shingle roof. Walls are insulated
with cellulose wool and covered inside
with cedar panelling. The only 'foreign'
species are the chestnut window frames
and locust duckboard in the shower. In
effect it is a 100% environmentally
friendly tree house heated with wood
and which will generate electricity using
solar power.
The first tree house will be ready by
next season. It seems inevitable that
lovers of the great outdoors will enjoy
staying in it and chatting with the owner.
Pierre Bremond is also an amateur
pilot – one wonders how he finds the
time – and has just created an 800
metre long runway on the plateau to
allow small private aircraft to fly in and
out of his bit of paradise.