Insurance is strange!?!

[orezok]

You could hire a certified arborist to inspect the tree. If the tree was declared to be healthy get a report from the arborist. That should nullify any claim from the insurance company that it is a maintenance problem.

 

[ponytug]

My wife and I were out doing yard work several years ago on opposite ends of the yard. Nice sunny day, no breeze. We both heard a tremendous crash in the woods behind out place. We investigated and a large oak tree just decided it was time to die. Entire thing came down. Snapped off about 5' up from the ground.

Like you, I had a similar experience. Sunny still day, nothing going on, then "BOOM, CRACK". A large limb had been; blown off the tree next to the house. No wind.

Apparently, this happens not infrequently. The bright sun gets photosynthesis going like mad, sugars are produced, drawing water up from the roots, but with the still air not enough water is drawn up, as there is very little evaporation. Meanwhile, the sugars accumulate and absorb water, swelling the limb(s), and occasionally the osmotic pressure gets high enough and the limb explodes.

Since then, I give trees a wide berth on sunny still days. I have seen it happen now three times, all on different trees.

All the best,

Peter

 

[k0ua]

My wife and I were out doing yard work several years ago on opposite ends of the yard. Nice sunny day, no breeze. We both heard a tremendous crash in the woods behind out place. We investigated and a large oak tree just decided it was time to die. Entire thing came down. Snapped off about 5' up from the ground.

There has to be a stress imbalance for a tree to fall like that. In other words the tree was imbalanced with more weight to one side or another. At some point the fibers holding the tree upright give out and the weight causes the tree to fall, no wind needed.

 

[MossRoad]

Like you, I had a similar experience. Sunny still day, nothing going on, then "BOOM, CRACK". A large limb hand bee; blown off the tree next to the house. No wind.

Apparently, this happens not infrequently. The bright sun gets photosynthesis going like mad, sugars are produced, drawing water up from the roots, but with the still air not enough water is drawn up, as there is very little evaporation. Meanwhile, the sugars accumulate and absorb water, swelling the limb(s), and occasionally the osmotic pressure gets high enough and the limb explodes.

Since then, I give trees a wide berth on sunny still days. I have seen it happen now three times, all on different trees.

All the best,

Peter

One sunny day in the early 80's I was in my dad's carport doing something and heard a loud crash. I stepped outside and looked around. My grandma lived across the driveway from us. I look over and she's sitting on her porch in a rocking chair looking to her left.

A very large branch, maybe 40' long with a fork about 10' from the break, had fallen off of an oak tree and came down. One of the forks stuck straight in the ground in front of her and the other fork speared right through her roof, porch ceiling, and shattered on the concrete floor about 6' from her.

I ran over and asked if she was OK? She looked at me, looked at the branch, looked back and me, and said "Imagine that!".

She never moved. Probably 96 years old at the time.

The branch was full of green leaves and appeared health. The forks were maybe 4" in diameter at the fork, and the main branch was maybe 6" in diameter.

Just CRACK! and BOOM!

 

[MossRoad]

There has to be a stress imbalance for a tree to fall like that. In other words the tree was imbalanced with more weight to one side or another. At some point the fibers holding the tree upright give out and the weight causes the tree to fall, no wind needed.

Sure. It was probably leaning pretty good before hand, or had an imbalanced crown, etc. I wasn't familiar with that tree, as it's not our property.

 

[MossRoad]

Heck, just back in July my wife sent me this from a block away from our house. It was a calm, but overcast day. No wind or storms, just BOOM!!!!

 

[MossRoad]

It had a pretty good lean for 20 years. That day, it had enough.

 

[k0ua]

It had a pretty good lean for 20 years. That day, it had enough.

I had one just like that leaning way over the driveway. Just an impossible amount of weight leaning over on one side. The tree seemed healthy. When the power line tree trimming company came thru, I paid them $100 to cut it down. Best money ever spent. They cut it up to firewood size and moved it off of the road and ground up the little stuff. A neighbor wanted the firewood and came and got that. The tree was rotten in the center at the stump. It was just waiting to fall on me or someone else coming up the drive. I was glad to get rid of it.

 

[coobie]

Heck, just back in July my wife sent me this from a block away from our house. It was a calm, but overcast day. No wind or storms, just BOOM!!!!

View attachment 716132

Being a retired electric lineman cannot tell you how many times I came across this scenario..To the OP,s

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post insurance companies could care less about tree trimming/removal its all about the $$.Ask me how I know

 

[CobyRupert]

can i do that with my mx5800?

i have 5 q tip trees that need to come out, very healthy but in bad places. straight as an arrow with no branches, all the way to the top, then the crown. they are loblolly pines, i call them 2x4 trees as they are part of a tree farm. maybe 50-75 ft high?

seems to me i can tie a rope around them, as high up as i can get it, and then have a friend keep a little tension on the rope with either my tractor or rtv while i cut.

I can be done. I’d practice for a few years before you do one where it really counts. What is a q tip tree?
If the tree is strong enough, and the ground wet enough, depending on what type of tree it is, and it’s root system, it’s sometimes safer to pull the whole tree over, root ball and all rather than trying to coordinate cutting and pulling balance act.
Depending on the weight of tree and how much lean, it usually doesn’t take much force to pull the top of a tree over. Most of the weight is on the stump. An RTV could still be too light. The higher the rope, the more leverage you can pull with….BUT the more leverage, the more you could snap the trunk, and the more you’re pulling “downhill”. That is, the less traction your rear tires have and more weight the pulling vehicle needs as pulling forces try to lift rear tires.
When doing back cut I have very little tension on rope. Pay attention when saw starts to pinch. Have wedges to put in place when it does. Don’t try to coordinate pulling with cutting. Don’t cut through your hinge. Make hinge big enough to hold tree from going wrong way, but thin enough tractor can pull tree over when you’re safely away.
Make your initial wedge cut open enough so that wedge doesn’t close up too early when tree is falling and it pops your hinge.
Make sure the species doesn’t have brittle fibers. I was trying to pull over a white pine. Soon as you pull, the hinge fibers snap, you lose all directional control and gravity takes over.