Problem trees, please help

[skinnymeatloaf]

I have some trees that need to come down before mother nature decides to take them down herself. I'm not a novice, but I'm far from a pro. The first tree is large, close to the house, woodpecker damaged, and no lean (well, at least very little) until till you get to the top, where it has back lean over my roof. I priced how much a national tree service wanted to take it down only, I'd buck and haul away. $800. Too high. Tried a rental store (construction, large job) for a bucket truck, $650, half day. Too high. About 75 to 85 feet high, with a diameter of 25 to 27 inches. I'm afraid if my friend and I try to take it down from the base the top will let go from the vibration and hit my roof. Any ideas? Or am I just going to bite the bullet and pay the money.
Here are some photos;

trunk with the side of the house
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?pid=6008078350427590850&oid=109283496426227709389

about 45 feet up, and yes, I saw the hanging branches
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?pid=6008078303308394050&oid=109283496426227709389

showing woodpecker damage, and lean over roof
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?pid=6008078140814220130&oid=109283496426227709389

Thanks for the help.

 

[Raintree]

Your pics aren't showing up. Don't need to see them, bite the bullet!

 

[shutup-n-cut]

^^^ X2 ^^^

 

[skinnymeatloaf]

Had a feeling I was gonna bite the bullet. Oh well, at least I found a bucket truck for $650 a day. What a deal! Just in case someone has any time, or money saving tips, here are the pictures in the correct format:

trunk with the side of the house


about 45 feet up, and yes, I saw the hanging branches


woodpecker damage and lean over roof

 

[stltreedr]

Yup, you can either pay for the removal, pay to fix your house, pay for the emergency room, or the funeral- Looks like your paying either way. $800 is cheap compared to the others. But, what the heck, you might get lucky. Give it a shot! Have the wife post pics if it goes south.

 

[stltreedr]

You're going to take a chance renting a truck and doing all the labor to save $150??? Things can still go terribly wrong in a bucket if you don't know what you're doing.


Get a couple more bids, I'd bet that you can find a reputable contractor to do it for $650 if the National company only wanted $800.

 

[Raintree]

It looks like you have a Hackberry & maybe an Ash or Norway Maple. You should be able to do better than $800. Ask to be quoted for a Bucket with operator by the hour. They may send you a crew of two & have a min of 4hrs. with travel.

 

[treeseer]

Here is a time, and money-saving tip: forget the

Get an arborist to prune the trees instead of removing them. Spend the money you saved to plant more trees to shade your house and save you more money on cooling costs. Every year they'll add value to your real estate.

 

[Raintree]

Here is a time, and money-saving tip: forget the

Get an arborist to prune the trees instead of removing them. Spend the money you saved to plant more trees to shade your house and save you more money on cooling costs. Every year they'll add value to your real estate.

LOL, the tree huggers have spotted your thread.

 

[skinnymeatloaf]

Thanks gentlemen. I know $800 doesn't sound like too much, but I've had to dish out for a new washer and dryer, put new piping in the laundry room, and a new garage door among other things in the last four weeks and the check book and credit cards are about to catch fire through such heavy use. As for pruning the tree (which is what I'd prefer to do), I've already checked on and was told no, woodpecker damage was too extensive in top half of the tree.
Oh well, this one's just beyond my ability.
Time to move on to the next one..and since you're here..
How in the %$#2! do you get rid of a honey locust? No lean, no other trees to hang up in, no buildings nearby, so not a major problem to put on the ground. That is if it didn't have ten thousand daggers in it that some people refer to as thorns And what the bleep do you do once it's on the ground? You'd be cut to ribbons before you could cut one branch up. Is there anything short of an M1A1 battle tank that can get rid of these monsters?

PS My oldest daughter has been jabbed by those bleeping thorns twice, the second time thirty or forty feet away from the frigging tree! She now refers to them as "the evil trees'.

 

[skinnymeatloaf]

Ran across this post on another site, discussing how to get rid of honey locust. This pretty much describes these buggers.


Yeah, I've got a bunch of 'em. Scary mean trees.

So far I haven't found any chemical treatment that keeps them in check. Cutting them down is an event. We first clear any surrounding brush and clean up any dropped branches/thorns, mow the surrounding area short, then work our way in towards the trunk. Shave off all thorns from the ground up as high as we can reach. Make sure your escape route is perfectly clear - you DON'T want to trip and fall when the tree starts to come down. Cut it and run - fast and far - and pray that the sumbitch doesn't get hung up in an adjoining tree. Which they usually do, since it seems that a single 1/4" branch can reach out and snag anything within 50 feet and miraculously support the whole tree, against all laws of physics and gravity, to keep it from completing its fall. If this happens, just fence off the entire area and put the property on the market.

If successful, we use a machete to strip thorns, and cut it into firewood (makes great firewood). All small branches are hauled to a brush pile and immediately burned. Then, keep the stump trimmed back. If you don't stay on top of it, you will go back inside for a drink of water, only to return and find that it has resprouted into a vengeful, multi-trunked demon bush 20' in diameter, intent on rending the flesh from the insolent being that offended it in such a manner.

Once it's completely gone, chopped up and burned to oblivion, there will still be one more thorn. This one is completely invisible, and between 5" and 6" long. It lies in hiding until your mother-in-law, baby niece, or the person on site to inspect the property before making you an offer on the land comes by, at which point it viciously attacks, impaling sole, foot, and upper of the shoe, depositing it's poisonous payload in retribution for you having had the audacity to attempt to end its vile and wicked life.

 

[capetrees]

From what I can see, there is still live growth above the broken branch/woodpecker damage, no? If so, that area should still be strong enogh to attache a rope to and direct the fall of the tree (from where I'm sitting). Even if it's not way up in the tree, a good strong rope with a good anchor pulling it (like a truck) attached 10-15 feet up will redirect the trees fall with a good notch. I'm not there so in reality it might be more complicated but from here, the pics don't show me troubles.

 

[treeseer]

Woodpeckers are forcing tree removal? Arborphobia has risen to stratospheric heights; time for a month-long vacation. Which authority told you the birds were a death knell, the lawn mowing technician, or the plumber?

My 2 daughters were expected to toughen up against a little prick from a tree; they encountered much more evil pricks later on, when old dad was not there to remove them!

 

[DR. P. Proteus]

I would think hard about to remove or not but make sure they are going to be safe if they stay. If not, they look easy enough to pull over. A good local guy might be able to do that. If I could do it with a pick-up and tools in a few hours somewhere around 300.00 but no less I would think.

 

[DR. P. Proteus]

It looked to me like a Norway maple and a sycamore maple.

 

[skinnymeatloaf]

Woodpeckers are forcing tree removal? Arborphobia has risen to stratospheric heights; time for a month-long vacation. Which authority told you the birds were a death knell, the lawn mowing technician, or the plumber?

My 2 daughters were expected to toughen up against a little prick from a tree; they encountered much more evil pricks later on, when old dad was not there to remove them!

The woodpeckers around are like super woodpeckers. Top third of the main trunk is totally dead, or at least the top quarter. Had an old fashioned tree surgeon (is that term still used?) say that I would have to top the trees to get rid of the bad wood. As far as felling from the base of the tree, no go, that top 15 feet looks damn weak to me and my friend ( a true logger) both agree that it could bust loose and come back toward the house.
As for my oldest daughter, she's 21, and needs to deal with the pricks she's gotta deal with! My younger daughter is only 14 and is getting way too much attention from the boys. I might go Al Bundy on them, but my wife will go Granny Clampett! Thanks for adding 500 grey hairs to my head in a single day!

I've also noticed that nobody wants to talk about those damn honey locusts. Evil f__kers, aren't they?

 

[capetrees]

Nobody talks about them becuse we just do it, slow and steady and eventually they are gone.

 

[woodchuck357]

Picture showing whole area would be nice, but from what has been presented I would probably put two ropes in the tree with the dead top. One as high as possible on strong wood for pulling the tree over. Another in the dead part to keep it from falling on the roof in the unlikely event of the top breaking out while the tree is being cut. Just gentle hand pressure on the top line unless it starts to go.
Any thing that would come loose from vibrations of being cut with a chain saw will fall by its self soon.

 

[stltreedr]

"I might go Al Bundy on them,"

Al Bundy is fine, and to be expected... When you start talking Ted Bundy, we might have to worry.

 

[treeseer]

"Top third of the main trunk is totally dead, or at least the top quarter. Had an old fashioned tree surgeon (is that term still used?) say that I would have to top the trees to get rid of the bad wood."

OK then, so you have qualified-sounding advice that the trees can be pruned instead of removed. maples generally respond well to reduction (topping is reduction done the wrong way). this would remove the hazard to your house, at a fraction of the removal cost.

For the honey locust, pruning reduces the thorn irritation, much more cheaply than removal.

http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/resources/benefits_trees.pdf