Tree On House

[ArborView]

I got a call last night to look at this tree. It's an ash about 16" at the bottom where it split off the main trunk. The north side of the house roof, where the trunk is, is covered with a good inch of solid ice. There is only one small oak tree next to the trunk to attach any rigging to. Also, no way a bucket truck can get in there. Just curious on how you guys would tackle it.

 

[ArborView]

Another picture

Here's another picture of it.

 

[buckkillr8]

Is there any way you can lift it up and swing it off the roof. Looks like you could from that other tree by the base of the split

 

[treeman82]

From what I can see your best attack pattern would be to just pull the thing right off the roof. I don't know if you have a come-along, or mini-mule. However if you do, and if you have a power pole saw to boot... Take a rope and tie it right above the smaller piece, then cut that smaller piece and carefully pull it off the house. After that, place a rope somewhere on the lower portion of that big piece and cut some chunks off the base. Slowly pull that off. When you are able to, place a 1/2" line at the top of this bigger piece so that when it does come down you can pull the top away from the house. Beware, doing it this way may screw up the gutters a bit. Just be careful and you should be ok though.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

How is this?

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

And this is what happens:

 

[Darin]

Mike, you were a huge help. Those were funny.

 

[Shespen]

It's hard to tell by the pictures but you might try hooking up a hose to the outlet valve on the guys hot water heater and washing off the ice from your work area. How cold is it? Anchor a rope to a tree in front of the house and throw it over the roof. hook up a gibbs to the rope and to your saddle and use that to keep from falling off the roof. Remove as much as you can but leave the tree resting on the roof. Use that oak to lift whats left up just enough to take the weight off the roof. Start cutting from the bottom. use a series of uppercuts about 4 feet apart or what ever it takes to keep control. Each time that the butt hits the ground it will lift the top further from the roof until you can swing it away. Be sure to check the integrity of the oak first. It looks like there is a tall conifer just outside the picture on the left that you might be able to use. If all else fails, you can always guywire the ash to stabilize it and put on your spurs. Get creative and don't be afraid to change your mind in the middle of the operation.
Goodluck!

 

[sgreanbeans]

building a support underneath is not a bad idea if you have some carpenter in ya! we have done it before with large wood and it worked just fine!

 

[Smith]

If there is no ice on the roof just climb onto the roof and cut it off. You could tie it off to the other tree so there isn't any movement once you start cutting. just take pieces you can handle and don't send a saw through the roof. I've done this a couple of times and it works great except you don't get to do any cool rigging. I would probably through a belt and lanyard on to steady myself on the ice.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Hosing the ice off is a great idea. Be careful not to hose in areas where there is roof damage. Water damage is expensive to fix, I know, I'm homeless because a pipe broke.

Running a rope to the other side to climb off, is also good.

The two ideas that just suck are just drag it off, this will surely cause more damage, and just start cutting from the base, bad, bad idea.

Please notice the importance of removing as much load to the roof as possible BEFORE you start working, then as you remove brush it will start to float. Lift with a rope, support with beams or both. If you don't, the load on the roof will increase as you remove brush because all the weight will be concentrated in one spot. The most difficult part is when you get down to the the edge of the roof.

By lifting first, if something goes wrong or doesn't work, there is no damage done. If you wait until the brush is removed, then start lifting and something goes wrong, a short drop of the trunk could go right through the roof.

 

[ArborView]

Thanks for the ideas guys. Hosing off the ice would probably work except the homeowners are in New Jeresey for the winter and I have no access to get inside the house. It's also fairly cold here this morning-about 10 degrees but supposed to warm up later but probably not enough to melt the ice on the north side of the roof. I'm not too keen on the idea of just letting it slide off the roof. I have a bad image of damaging the eves on the roof or worse, having it go through the side of the house when it slides off the roof. I think what I'll do is lift it off the roof and then starting cutting it back (like in Mike's diagram). That seems like the safest way to me. Thanks again.

 

[UrbanEarth]

Hey, I would just call in Dumb and Dumber, our Canadian tree experts. Them and their poly rope should be able to handle this pipsqueak of a tree in a couple of minutes!

Alan

 

[ArborView]

Well, I decided to do it today and it went great. I put a pulley in a nearby tree and lifted it up enough to take most of the weight of the roof. Then I brushed the end out and cut down the trunk as far as I could. Then I lifted it up some more and the base moved over a little. The top then swung over because it was kind of laying on the house at an angle anways. Then I just let the whole thing go to the ground. The worst part was the ice. The north side of the roof was awful. It's so hard to walk around here now since the latest ice storm. It wasn't much but it coated everything which makes it almost impossible to walk. Yesterday, I put a bunch of sheet metal screws into the bottom of an old pair of logging boots. It worked great-much easier to get around. I think I only fell on my butt twice today.

 

[Toddppm]

Glad it went good, hope you charged mucho extra for the dangerous conditions!

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I have two questions.
Did you guy the tree with the pulley?
Since the tree was at an angle, did you put a tag line on it to keep it from swinging off the house before you were ready?

 

[ArborView]

No I didn't guy the tree with the pulley. It was an oak and I checked it out pretty closely before using it.
Yes I did use a tag line. It's a good thing too. As I was cutting back the trunk it started to slide away from me because it was basically sitting on all ice. I would have lost all control of it if I didn't have another rope in it.

 

[Dave]

Hey Arborview- Thanks for your new signature, best laugh I've had in a week It should be a bumper sticker!

 

[treespec]

Do you own a Stihl HT-75? And how high is the edge of the roofline?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I just breezed through this, don't know if this was mentioned.

Did you use a but tie to keep it from sliding out? One thing I always do, just in case. At least three ropes on thr tree. Pick line control line and but tie.

The control could be a simple tag or on a pully and friction break for larger wood.