Need some help

[VT Hillbilly]

Good evenin',folks! Two "disclaimers here to start. LOL! 1. I do not know if I should post this in the Homowner Helper Forum,or this New Thread.I picked this one, as I am beginning a tree removal project at our home.....but I am not a commercial service. 2. I HOPE these pictures uploaded. It is my first attempt at uploading pictures to the site. Now.....for the details: This Maple was PERFECTLY healthy just two years ago. Now......dead,dead,dead. The crown ( as you can see,the whole thing is really "limby") has been dropping limbs this past Winter,and continues to do so. Not sure how far towards the ground,down the trunk is solid. It sounds solid,when knocking it w/ my 3lb. hammer,down near the ground, where I will make my cuts. I have already limbed out up to 14-15' w/ my Dewalt 20V pole saw. I have rented a 43' tow behind boom lift from the local rental shop for 5/12/23.. I run 45-80' boom lifts for my job (Paper mill Electrician) ,so,will bring my harness and retractable lanyard home from the mill. Hopefully the pictures are good enough for folks to see the "obstacles". 1. Our garage....30' away. 2. Our garden....17' away.3. The Maple behind this one.......25' away. And..... the Primary line.....25' away. I was able to clime up my 24' extension ladder and measure back to ground for a height of 18-20'. I plan on booming up,limping the crown out w/ pole saw. Then,grab my 51 Husky,and safely block it down,at firewood length ( 18-20") until I get below 20' in height. Then.....grab my 55 Husky w/ 18" bar,and flop the remains right into the road. Been running this through my mibd,before sleep at night......Anyone see any holes in this plan. Looking for any other good ideas,safety issues I might have missed. Thank you for any and all input!

 

[VT Hillbilly]

I apologize for the misspelling and the text that Auto Correct did! LOL! As an added piece of information.....again, the crown is ALL dead,but the trunk,although a bit "heavier" on one side ( garden side) does sound and look solid. I plan to make my hinge cut,and then should see what I will need to do to make my back cut. The sawdust should tell the tale.

 

[ZinTrees]

from the pics that primary is 10-12ft away, not 25, without an EHAP certification you arent supposed to get within 10ft, especially in a non insulated rental lift

I would work the limbs off bottom up, send them whole with snap cuts and on the powerline side go out and hinge them back from the middle, then slice off at the trunk, block it down to the ground in firewood, would avoid dropping it as a stick personally
a sharp saw and slice cuts will be your friend here, try to avoid cutting above shoulder height and wear a hard hat (dead brittle limbs may get shaken loose as you cut stuff off)

also take a phone up in the lift incase you have to call someone with a lift, or the fire department to get you down, ive been stuck in a lift before, its not fun

I am ehap certified, dont do much line clearance but it was free, power lines are no joke, if a limb gets hung up in the wires somehow, stay away from it and call the power company to get it down
if the tree becomes connected to the lines (limb spanning from tree to wires) then you must consider step potential if you are going to exit the lift on the ground

 

[VT Hillbilly]

Thank you for the reply,Zin! What I did was measure out from the tree,to get the 25'-26' from primary. I did that with all those measurements. What I didn't think of,as you have pointed out.....the idea of ground up,instead of top down on the limbing,( my original plan) is more logical. Yes.....I also didn't include that a good friend of mine I'd going to be present as my ground man. Also......I am now leaning toward just blocking the thing down all the way. Just save us from potential heartburn by dropping the whole stick,and needing to "hurry" ( hurrying to me equals injury or damage),and after blocking to firewood length, it will just need to be split. Any other information is most welcome!

 

[VT Hillbilly]

Ahhhhhh....I just picked up another item that may have been confusing to folks. I was figuring on dropping the whole thing from its limbed height of less than 20',and,now pondering this w/ about 5' of room......I realize that us too close for my comfort. Yes..... I am now going to just block it down. Thank you for the observation, Zin!

 

[ZinTrees]

remember, when you cut a limb off it will "lay down" or swing under, reducing the distance to the wires
did you measure from the drip line or the trunk? looks to me the limbs would take up about 15ft from that 25ft
for the most part, hitting the fence isnt that bad, compared to the wires I would error towards that instead of the wires, the stuff near the wires maybe slice cut in 24" pieces
one of the rules we have to follow when dropping pieces between wires the piece has to be small enough to fit between them without touching more than 1 wire

shouldnt be an issue for you, but 2ft pieces leaves zero chance you short power to neutral, or connect the tree to the wires, being so close to the wires I would strongly suggest against a pole saw
yes, I know im talking about the wires a lot, but they are the real/biggest danger

for the towable lift, I would suggest making 24"x24" mats out of 4x4 lumber for outrigger pads, or use the ones supplied if it comes with them

dont let any limbs hit the lift, and dont one hand the saw, other than that I think you are set

 

[ZinTrees]

Ahhhhhh....I just picked up another item that may have been confusing to folks. I was figuring on dropping the whole thing from its limbed height of less than 20',and,now pondering this w/ about 5' of room......I realize that us too close for my comfort. Yes..... I am now going to just block it down. Thank you for the observation, Zin!

personally I rather block down vs fall a stick and buck it on the ground, saves chains and heart ache when you find a rotten spot or god forbid your hinge tearing out from rot

 

[mikewhite85]

You're quite the go getter, VT.

You can find an insured arborist to put that on the ground for the cost of the lift rental. Not worth risking your life.

 

[ZinTrees]

^^^^ what mike said

probably a 20 minute tree to do from a bucket truck, and if something gets damaged its not your problem any more

 

[treebilly]

@ZinTrees
You brought up some good points. I just want to make sure you know that your EHAP does not make you qualified to do line clearance. That should have been made known in the class. It’s still a grey area just like riding the crane ball. It does allow you to get closer to the lines but doesn’t clear you of anything if **** goes pear shaped. It’s also required to have two EHAP trained personnel on site when working in proximity. Feel free to message me if you want to about this either here or on the other site.

 

[ZinTrees]

@ZinTrees
You brought up some good points. I just want to make sure you know that your EHAP does not make you qualified to do line clearance. That should have been made known in the class. It’s still a grey area just like riding the crane ball. It does allow you to get closer to the lines but doesn’t clear you of anything if **** goes pear shaped. It’s also required to have two EHAP trained personnel on site when working in proximity. Feel free to message me if you want to about this either here or on the other site.

I'm aware of that, I'm company certified, and fall under osha 269, backed with tcia training, I've got more qualifications related to line clearance than any single line clearance worker I know personally

Not saying I'm an expert, but did put the work into it

 

[VT Hillbilly]

Good evenin',folks! Just an update on the tree removal project I was inviting comment,input,and suggestions on,last week or so ago. I DID rent the lift,started the project at 8:40 AM,and ended with what you see here,at 11:30 AM. Everything went flawlessly, and I didn't hurry. I'm not into hurrying. The rental boom lift was key. I also took Zin's (and another member here had the sane comment), and blocked it down at firewood length ( 18"-22" +/-) all the way to about....18" above grade. Worked slick as a Trout! Thank you again,to all,for the input and comments! Have a fine rest of your evenin'!

 

[VT Hillbilly]

Just to clarify......I had not taken pictures of the stump all the way down to grade. I plan to dig around it and see how big of a dealer it may be to winch it out of the ground with my neighbors old 760 LONG 4WD tractor w/ the Farmi winch. I was going to trim it off below grade at first. Any thoughts?

 

[ZinTrees]

. I also took Zin's (and another member here had the sane comment), and blocked it down at firewood length ( 18"-22" +/-) all the way to about....18" above grade. Worked slick as a Trout!

much easier and safer than trying to fall a stick, does work good as you have seen!
also never heard that term "slick as a trout" before


edit: some boomer is about to get upset that someone followed the advice of a supposed 8 year old, and it worked out with 100% success