How not to cut down a tree

[deepNdirt]

If this was a poplar, the bottom sections if not rotted out weighed closer to 275Lbs per foot in length if indeed the tree had a 3 ft diameter. You most of noticed how that 100 Lbs seemed much heavier.

it could had weigh more, it was 2 of us picking up the chunks and kind flinging them away from the house, the tree was dead for sure, and for sure 3 feet thick single stock trunk, remember it was 30 ft from the house so the first 30 ft up on the tree did not hit the house, I remember it so well
this dude owned a skid loader ( bob cat ) that we hooked to the rest of the tree to pull the larger trunk out of the house,..... the real kicker about this story is he ask me didn't he cut the pie out on the correct side? Ha! :ashamed: seem to me was the wrong time to be asking someone if he wasn't sure of himself , but he did cut the pie out away from the house, his mistake was he just cut too straight into the trunk, he should had started up 12" and cut down into the pie , heck when I cut a tree I always tie it off to either my tractor or another tree pulling it with a little tension away from any structures, I think he had not made any kind of Game plan, I think he got up that morning listen to the weather forecast and decide to cut the tree down,
we had the storm that was expected that night and lucky him the insurance company paid for the damage thinking it was results in storm damage to the house,
I also have a 80ft. pop about the same distance from my house it has 3 trunks out of the ground, when we built our house this was a beautiful tree, but some few years later lighting struck it,2 times in fact, ripping back the bark in all 3 trunks all the way to the ground, killed one of the trunks, and the other 2 are not healthy, I've been wanting to HAVE this tree cut down, I've had a quote of 500 bucks just to have it laid down and them walk away leaving me the tree to cut up and remove, I guess with this kind of cost is why my neighbor decided to cut it down him self,
I will not attempt this after seeing what destruction a tree that size can do, although I have been thinking about renting a boom lift & bucket or something of that nature and cut the top sectioning it down,
but still undecided what to do?

 

[dave1949]

If the trunks are lightning struck and dying, hard to say what rot or voids may be up in those trunks until you put some pressure on them. Then it may be too late. If you have to rent equipment, then the $500 doesn't look so bad maybe. If something goes wrong, then $500 looks real cheap, probably less than your insurance deductible.
Dave.

 

[Mace Canute]

deepNdirt, paying $500 to have an 80 foot tree laid down, (and in particular that 80 foot tree), is dirt cheap! I've done some tree removal next to and over powerlines and those trees were only about 65-70 feet high (poplars also) and in GOOD condition. Even with a 55 foot reach double bucket truck and a hydraulic chainsaw it was a PITA and fairly hazardous to boot.

I have to soundly second everything dave1949 said!

 

[wedge40]

Cost me $300 to lay the tree the down. But my garage is still intact. I started to clean the limbs and stuff up this weekend, but haven't tackled the main tree. I figure the base is about 30" in diameter. Since there is just me, I'm not sure how I will go about cleaning this up. I need to cut the stump closer to the ground so the guy with the grinder can deal with it.

I agree that $500 is well worth having someone else be responsible. Besides they should be insured so if they screw up, you're covered.

Wedge

 

[deepNdirt]

I do agree for the most part that 500 is worth having the tree taken down, it's just a bit hard to absorb in these tough times, and my wife thinks because it will only take him 5 minutes to cut the tree and simply let it fall and leave it for use to cut & clean up, that he is somehow gouging us
she has it figured 5 minutes work 500 bucks comes to 100 bucks per minute,.. when it take her 10 hours to make 100 & 50 hours to make 500:laughing: I told her she needs to learn how to cut down tree's
I couldn't bare to tell her he wanted 1500 to cut and remove/cleanup tree,

 

[Mace Canute]

Besides they should be insured so if they screw up, you're covered.

Good point about the insurance! A person should always ask to see proof of liability insurance "just in case" and if the guy won't or can't produce it, he probably doesn't have it. Wouldn't be the first time someone has said "Oh yeah! Don't worry about that! I'm fully insured!" and then after the fact you find out he was just BS'ing ya.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Just my 2 cents worth is I have laid a lot of tree's down for less than $500. But if you screw up or something goes wrong you are going to be kicking yourself. Especially if you rent a bucket lift. A lot of rental places won't rent to you if you tell them you plan to take down a tree. As mentioned if the tree is not solid in the middle you might get a surprise when you start cutting. If you get someone in there with a license and insurance then it is their headache and the insurance companies- not so much yours.

 

[Coyote machine]

Used to be a professional tree surgeon when I was much younger, and yes it is expensive, but just read over this post and it seems much cheaper, considering what the average inexperienced guy can do to a neighborhood or their own house in a matter of minutes.
I've hired the local tree guys to come do 'tricky' trees in my own yard, and almost every time they walk away with $750- 800 minimum, but I have my house intact and if something goes wrong while I'm doing my own work its on me- if they make a mistake its their problem, and their insurance companies'. To me it is just not worth the risks to do something unless you are fully insured for it and if not then leave it to the pros.

 

[Oldchuck]

We had a very large tree taken down in our very small backyard. Difficult location. Guy came with a huge crane, parked it in the driveway 50 feet away from the tree. His climber scampered up and hitched the crane strap near the top. Crane guy put tension on the cable. Then the climber sawed off the stem right at ground level. Tree never fell. It went up. Swung right over the garage and into the driveway. Chipper grapple picked it up while the crane line held it and fed it right into the chipper. Groundies swept up all the spilled debris which was about all the work they did. No muss no fuss. That tree, a couple of smaller ones, and some pruning altogether cost us $1,000 and took only two or three hours. Well worth it.

 

[Chilly807]

My favourite was cleaning up after a hurricane. Once my own yard was back to normal, I spent two weeks cutting up windfalls in our neighbourhood. Aside from gas and oil, a few weeks of vacation, it was all cash money.

The best was a foreign gentleman, his yard wasn't too bad, but he asked me to cut down a healthy tree on one edge of the lawn "just so it wouldn't fall in the next storm"..

Me being naturally suspicious, I took a good look around for survey markers. Despite his swearing up and down it was his tree, I decided it belonged to his neighbour, and suggested we ask him before cutting the tree. No harm in that, what's an extra day? Turns out his neighbour was on vacation, wouldn't be back for at least another week. He was pretty mad at me, but better that than dealing with an irate property owner that had just lost a century old tree.

Another time my neighbour (good friend) asked me to cut a decent sized maple in his back yard, which was pretty small. The first thing I did was climb up about 25 feet and loosely chain it off to the tree next to it. When I got back on the ground, he said to me "If you do that, it isn't going to fall..." I looked at him, smiled, and said , "Exactly... not until we want it to, anyway" We took it down 4 feet at a time, cutting from the butt upwards.

The drama of a big tree crashing to the ground belongs in the backwoods, where it's safe to let it do that, not in a city suburb. I've since moved, but still get calls once in a blue moon asking about a problem tree. I've made my own screw-ups cutting trees, learned that the best way is slow, the slower the better. Like women, when you're cutting a tough tree, gravity is NOT your friend...