Scaffolding to climb tree.

[mountainsco]

Hi

I've got 3 pine trees near my house that need to come down due to fire danger. I want to remove them from the top down to eliminate any chance of them hitting my house.

The biggest is 27" diameter at the base and about 35-40' tall. I'm not a tree climber, but I am handy with a chainsaw. I was thinking about erecting scaffolding and clearing the limbs as I go up. I can bolt the scaffolding to the tree to keep it from tipping.

I realize this is not the way a pro would do it, but I have the scaffolding and am not concerned with how quickly it is done. Are there any pitfalls to my plan?

Thanks in advance!
Dan

 

[TheJollyLogger]

It's somebody else's turn. Book em, Danno.

 

[Gologit]

Would this get better responses in 101?

 

[Gologit]

It's hard to imagine that the OP is serious. A 27" DBH pine must be at least 80ft. tall.

We must be getting our collective leg pulled, IMO.

Maybe so but we'll let the guys in 101 take a look. If that doesn't work we'll move up the page a little. :msp_biggrin:

 

[KenJax Tree]

The bait seems real good,but i ain't bitin'

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Would this get better responses in 101?

Ok, Ok. Just for you.

To the original poster: Yes there are numerous pitfalls to what you are proposing.

1. Ensuring the stability of the scaffolding. Most scaffolding is designed to be erected on a flat, stable area, generally not how I would describe the terrain that surrounds the trunks of most of the Ponderosa pines found along the Front Range of Colorado. I am assuming it is a Ponderosa since you have said it has a diameter of 27 inches, and after living and working in the Douglas, Elbert, and El Paso county area for 15 yrs. I don't know of another pine variety in CO that gets that large a trunk, although as del said I would expect a pondo with a dbh of 27 inches to be much closer to 80' than 40. You mentioned that you were going to bolt your scaffolding to the trunk for stability. What method were you planning on using for this? All thread through a 20" plus diameter trunk? A couple lag bolts is not going to be enough. If a decent size branch hits that scaffolding, it will come over, or apart. Most scaffolding I've worked with might be strong enough in the vertical plane, but not really designed to resist lateral forces.

2. You say you are handy with a chainsaw. First, not really sure what that means, but I do know using a chainsaw aloft has nothing to do with using one in the air. Wood reacts much differently in the vertical plain, and gravity is unforgiving. From the situation you have described, you will have a house on one side and scaffolding as well, so your drop zone will be greatly reduced. snap cutting and floating branches down is an acquired art.

I could go on, but hopefully I have given you a few things to chew on. Obviously, you want to protect your property, who wouldn't? But what is ypur life worth? If you get the evacuation notice you grab what's important and save yourself. So think for one moment: if your property isn't worth your life, then why are you willing to risk your life to save a few hundred bucks?

 

[woodchuck357]

This post is as phony as a 16 ft tall oak barber chair!

 

[RVALUE]

To answer the question,

Rigging the scaffolding high enough such as to handle each piece and throw it down, would work. Maybe slow, maybe tall ....... but would work.

Otherwise there are some valid points about the cost / safety issues.

Wouldn't a pic with 15 levels of scaffolding be something?

 

[StrataTree]

I don't like it! If your "handy" with a chainsaw just bring in a faller and you can buck and limb once they're on the ground. Or, if your really "handy" with a saw, FELL those suckers!

 

[Gologit]

This post is as phony as a 16 ft tall oak barber chair!

Maybe, maybe not. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and help him if we can.

It's obvious he doesn't know much but if everybody took your negative attitude he'll never learn much either.

If he wants to learn we'll give him some advice. If he turns out to be a troll he's gone...simple as that.

 

[woodchuck357]

Sorry for the negativity, it's been one of those days!

So some real advice in case it is a real post.

Find at least a half dozen similar trees that are located well away from danger, take them down, then, if you have no problems, cut the ones close to the house.

That's what I do, every new technique is repeatedly tested in safe places until I am 100 percent confident in it before I use it on a job.

 

[bootboy]

It's hard to imagine that the OP is serious. A 27" DBH pine must be at least 80ft. tall.

We must be getting our collective leg pulled, IMO.

Where is the OP located?

Here in the arid west, we have evergreen yard trees that grow up to 50" in diameter but only reach 40-50' in height. I did a spruce last year that was 48" DBH and was only 35' tall.

Anyway, the scaffolding idea doesn't sound bad... It doesn't sound good either....

 

[mountainsco]

Really not trolling.

View attachment 300857View attachment 300858

Hi guys,

Nope not trolling, and I can see why someone might think I was on the front range with the Black Forest fire deal and all the houses burning down. I'm at 9000 ft in the rockies about 30 miles north west of the royal gorge where there was also a fire last week. Got me thinking about keeping the house I'm building safe.

The biggest tree is indeed 27" in diameter at the base, and it is indeed 35-40 ft. tall as It was about the same height as my house when I was up on the scaffolding building it.

I have leveling jacks, and stabilizers for my scaffolding and can go 20' in the air (standing at 21' high), without attaching to anything. I usually tie into something every level or so with steel bars and 3" lag bolts.

The house doesn't sway with the wind quite like a tree does.

In any case, we have some pines that are 100' tall, and quite a few that are short and stubby. Anything up here has to be able to survive the wind.

Another thought I had was to wrap some high strength line around them and just pull them over with my tractor, but I have no idea how much force it takes to pull down a healthy tree. My tractor weighs about 8000 pounds with the backhoe and FEL attached and has 55HP.

Just posting to folks who know a lot about trees. I can't afford to hire a pro this year, but I'd really like them down. I'm not going to hire some hack without insurance and have a tree smack into my brand new (unfinished) house.

Thanks for reading.

Do people really troll arborists?

 

[ropensaddle]

View attachment 300857View attachment 300858

Ok seeing if the pictures worked. Then I'll edit this.

That tree can be felled get a rope in it high and recruit some pullers make sure rope is two times distance of tree so that you don't crush your help! Search proper notching technique and fell it.

 

[ropensaddle]

In the second picture fall it with pull away from house! You can set the rope by several means safest is with throwball but that is a whole other learning process. If and only if you can get a ladder firmly set is another" not real safe though".

 

[ropensaddle]

You can make a throw line with trotline rope and 2 ounce lead sinkers make sure you pitch the weight away from house then tie your pull rope to the smaller throw line and pull your pull rope up and over high limb and back down to tie off!

 

[ropensaddle]

here is a throwline
"Throw Line" - Kristian Ross - YouTube

 

[treemandan]

View attachment 300857View attachment 300858

Hi guys,

Nope not trolling, and I can see why someone might think I was on the front range with the Black Forest fire deal and all the houses burning down. I'm at 9000 ft in the rockies about 30 miles north west of the royal gorge where there was also a fire last week. Got me thinking about keeping the house I'm building safe.

The biggest tree is indeed 27" in diameter at the base, and it is indeed 35-40 ft. tall as It was about the same height as my house when I was up on the scaffolding building it.

I have leveling jacks, and stabilizers for my scaffolding and can go 20' in the air (standing at 21' high), without attaching to anything. I usually tie into something every level or so with steel bars and 3" lag bolts.

The house doesn't sway with the wind quite like a tree does.

In any case, we have some pines that are 100' tall, and quite a few that are short and stubby. Anything up here has to be able to survive the wind.

Another thought I had was to wrap some high strength line around them and just pull them over with my tractor, but I have no idea how much force it takes to pull down a healthy tree. My tractor weighs about 8000 pounds with the backhoe and FEL attached and has 55HP.

Just posting to folks who know a lot about trees. I can't afford to hire a pro this year, but I'd really like them down. I'm not going to hire some hack without insurance and have a tree smack into my brand new (unfinished) house.

Thanks for reading.

Do people really troll arborists?

We tend to troll ourselves but I would think if you fired up yer Poulan and were able to keep it running long enough you could just cut straight through the bottom of that tree while one of us holds it and then carries it to the chipper.

 

[Trx250r180]

take that ford truck ,park it down the hill,get enough cable or strong rope ,like 100 plus feet so the tree wont fall on your truck ,that's a small tree ,iv'e hooked my winch 10 feet up on a tree like that ,make about a 6 inch face cut ,i prefer humbolt ,face on the bottom ,make a back cut but leave about 3 inches of holding wood for a hinge ,back your truck up slowly breaking the hinge ,the hinge or holding wood will control the direction of the fall ,the same thing could be done with a couple of wedges on the back cut side ,as you pound them in they will break the hinge wood ,make sure your back cut is strait across ,so the tree goes the way your aiming ,if you are wedging make sure to look up a lot make sure nothing falls on your head ,that truck may be safer if you don't have enough falling experience with wedges ,once your cuts are made ,it doesn't take too much force to pull it over, maybe practice on the ones farther from the house till you feel more confident how this method works ,the loggers are pro's don't need any rigging to drop trees ,but if your trying to save a buck and do yourself ,the truck will pull it over

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Let's slow down here fellas. Ok, first, I'll give those 37" circumference, but not diameter. Second, having seen the pics, I don't see them as a huge fire risk. It looks like you have some pretty good defensible space, and not a lot of ladder fuel around. I would limb them up a little, but,if the rest of your property looks like that, I wouldn't be too worried about it. You can always get the local fire department out to give you a risk assessment. Jeff