Man builds incredible six-story ‘Air Castle’ treehouse out of 4 shipping containers . Take a tour at Steve’s awesome treehouse, the Air Castle:

When discussing a treehouse, the first thing that comes to mind is a small wooden house in the middle or lower part of the tree. Steve Taylor’s treehouse, on the other hand, is on another level. His house is 50 feet tall and made of four old shipping containers. It took him a year and a half to build the 1,400 square-foot “Air Castle” treehouse. “This does not come to mind when I say I have a treehouse business.” “People believe it’s on a small scale,” Steve explained to Insider.

Full view of Steve's 6-story treehouse, Air Castle

Steve added that people are surprised when he says the structure has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a 400-square-foot living room, a full kitchen, and a hot tub. Steve works as an engineer in the small Texas town of Ladonia. He began building tree houses for his family five years ago. “We built a personal treehouse — it’s a traditional treehouse supported by four trees,” Taylor explained. “We still haven’t finished it because this property became available.”

Beginning of Air Castle's construction

So I got distracted from my treehouse and started this treehouse business.” Steve’s treehouse is a cantilevered structure made of four shipping containers, with one end supported by steel beams embedded in a tree. He stated that they built it without a plan, so he built a wooden model to help him visualize the treehouse. “It was a real ‘aha! ‘ moment. And now that it’s a short-term rental, that’s part of the allure,” Taylor explained.

The container is being placed on the steel beam of the treehouse

He got the idea to build his treehouse out of shipping containers because his family has used them for farm storage for years. Steve was free to experiment with his treehouse because it was in a secluded location with no neighbors. Furthermore, his father was an engineer, and he collaborated with his ideas to create a fantastic design. Steve began construction on his treehouse in December 2019 with the help of friends and other contractors.

Full frontront view of the treehouse

He had to bring rocks in from Oklahoma to pave a gravel road so that heavy construction trucks could reach the site because there were no adequate roads leading to the site. “It was shortly before COVID-19.” So, once it started, we were pretty much in the woods, and it didn’t slow us down because we were separated from the rest of the group,” Steve explained.

Air Castle's spacious living room with large windows.

The majority of the construction was done on the ground, such as cutting openings for windows, doors, and spaces where the containers would be connected. “But we couldn’t put the windows in on the ground because we didn’t want them to crack from the movement as they were lifted,” he added. Cranes were used to arrange the four shipping containers.
Steve explained that the steel beams in the tree were built to support two containers and that raising only one at a time threw the structure off balance.

The kitchen inside the treehouse.

Building the Air Castle presented a number of challenges, but the assistance he received from his family and friends outweighed the difficulties they encountered. Some of his friends are structural and civil engineers, and they assisted him in designing the steel structure in the tree as well as the foundation. He also claimed to have received assistance from professional plumbers, welders, and electricians. Take a look around Steve’s incredible treehouse, the Air Castle:

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