Question for the Pros

[pyromaniac guy]

my wife's great aunt has this tree in her backyard. it is in the crook of her house, 15' from one wall, 10' from the other. you can see the new macadam driveway in front of it.
the tree is a pin oak, and we estimate it to be about 65' tall. it is about 3' in diameter at the trunk.
my wife's great aunt wants it down, i want the wood.

my question is, how should i go about it? how much would it cost (in your areas) to get a professional in here just to drop it? should i do it myself? buy a harness, rent a lift? what?

my father-in-law and i are both "weekend warriors". we could drop it whole, but then run the risk of screwing up the macadam.

btw- father-in-law has 30 years experience with felling trees, i have years experience as a roofer, so i would climb.

thoughts? please help

edit: forgot pic

 

[Newfie]

It looks too me from the pic that the lowest limbs should be able to clear the driveway. Put some plywood down on the driveway and then some 6x6 timbers on top of that. Fell the tree early as possible in the day when temps are coolest and the asphalt hasn't had a chance to heat up and soften. I would think those combined measures should be able to protect the driveway from the impact of the trunk.

And step away from the stump after she starts to fall. It looks like the trunk could come up quite a bit the way the grade falls away on the other side of the drive.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

How far is the new driveway from the tree? I'm trying to figure out what part of the tree will hit it.
We will lay logs on each side of a driveway so when the tree falls, it hits the logs and transfers the energy to the ground below, installed of hitting the drive.
You problem is the limbs that might poke small holes into the drive. Maybe you could cover the drive with some thick plywood or some other materials you might have laying around to protect it.
Another option might be to remove the limbs that could poke the drive, then do the trick with some logs on each side.
It looks like a $300 to $500 job to put that tree safely on the ground. Then maybe another $100 or so to chip it up.

 

[treeseer]

That tree (which looks like a very healthy Quercus phellos "willow oak") adds $1,000's in value to most homebuyer's minds, so her heirs are out that money if you cut it. Do they know this? Do they all want it gone? Also, who pays for stump grinding and fixing the landscape? Who's going to pay for her increased cooling costs?

Your wife's great-aunt must be getting on in years, and that oak is looking big and scary to her. You'd be helping her and her estate out a lot if you got a competent arborist in there who could evaluate its condition, suggest proactive management, and ease her fears.

Taking advantage of old people's fears is considered elder abuse, and prosecutable in some states. There a lots of sources for free firewood you can have without raping your kin's land.

 

[Newfie]

It is a really nice tree, isn't it?

 

[Grace Tree]

If it's Millerburg Ohio I'll be happy to bring a Hobbs down and we'll make quick work of it.
Phil

 

[antigrassguy]

That tree sure is purdy, BUT has co-dominate apical meristems with.... an included bark union I would not think of dropping till we see 2 more pics from 2 corners showing how much tree hangs over home. Very least would be 2 tag lines( bull rope, not horse lead line from local hardware store) secured to some VERY secure anchor points. A nice breeze blowing in favored direction would be a bonus. This tree can only be felled ONE direction as if it goes anywhere else, repairing driveway is looking cheap. Looks to be ALL of 65' so would need to check into lift rental to safely reach this high, ropes? saws? verses price of hiring done. I wounldnt estimate $$$ till I saw a couple of more angles of tree. If it needs to come down, why not leave a 10'-12' trunk and have someone in area carve something cool. Nice place for tree statue. P.S. Dont try to climb this on your own. Climbing is one thing, running chainsaw in tree is another.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

That tree (which looks like a very healthy Quercus phellos "willow oak") adds $1,000's in value to most homebuyer's minds, so her heirs are out that money if you cut it. Do they know this? Do they all want it gone?

I agree with your concerns, treeseer, but as long as she's alive and competent, what her heirs want or don't want is irrelevant. It's her property. If she wants the whole thing leveled, house and all, that's her right.

Your wife's great-aunt must be getting on in years, and that oak is looking big and scary to her. You'd be helping her and her estate out a lot if you got a competent arborist in there who could evaluate its condition, suggest proactive management, and ease her fears.

Sound advice.

 

[antigrassguy]

Ease hers fears?

Her fears could be just, as we have not seen the condition of the I.C. union.

 

[pyromaniac guy]

That tree (which looks like a very healthy Quercus phellos "willow oak") adds $1,000's in value to most homebuyer's minds, so her heirs are out that money if you cut it. Do they know this? Do they all want it gone? Also, who pays for stump grinding and fixing the landscape? Who's going to pay for her increased cooling costs?

Your wife's great-aunt must be getting on in years, and that oak is looking big and scary to her. You'd be helping her and her estate out a lot if you got a competent arborist in there who could evaluate its condition, suggest proactive management, and ease her fears.

Taking advantage of old people's fears is considered elder abuse, and prosecutable in some states. There a lots of sources for free firewood you can have without raping your kin's land.

i never looked at it from this angle. let me state it this way, i didn't go to her, she came to me. actually, she came to my father-in-law about it. we have 140 acres that we clean up and can get a helluva lot more wood easier than this. greed is not motivating me here...

 

[pyromaniac guy]

most of the terms you guys used in here are above my head...

i have no idea what a union is for this purpose. i am just doing what i was told...

 

[antigrassguy]

10'-12' up for ground there is a place where trunk goes from one to two. Deep V crotch. Google "included bark union" Does your home owners insurance cover you doing tree work? Id suggest hire a company with proof of insurance and bucket truck.

 

[smokechase II]

save the tree but

I agree with everyone else above on get a pro arborist in and trim it.
And I'm not even an arborist. There may be weaknesses there that are not in the photo, but it looks good from the one photo you provided.

However, if the homeowner wants it down.

Then you should consider bringing in a pro arborist who has demonstrated ability using the open face technique.

Normally I post cautioning against the whole sale my way or the highway for every tree by the GOL types on this site. But that technique can be really sweet for bringing down a tree slowly. Less risk, of course to the driveway.

It also is fairly easy to set the hinge precisely and hit a target.

You still would want to have the plywood & beam protection.

Be aware that limbs can punch through pavement. Even if the trunk does no damage you still would still very much want even a double thickness of 3/4" plywood. Got a friend with some concrete forms?
Some limb removal prior to fall can save tearing up the lawn too.

To get a feel for how slow a tree can be brought down; please go to:

http://www.skogforsk.se/KunskapDirekt/default.aspx?p=11362&bmp=11727

Then do the Film för bredband select on the lower left.

Then the Avverkning med motorsåg (10 min) .

This was posted on this site about a month ago.

Your gonna think this is silly, but it will also come down a bit slower if it’s got a full canopy of leaves on it. There is a surprising amount of wind resistance in a thousand leaves even if they're smaller.

 

[treeseer]

Is the homeowner competent in the legal sense, to manage her affairs? Maybe so, that's not so relevant here.

Is she competent to assess the risk the tree poses, no. Is it her heirs' business, yes. If my senior relative wanted to make a bad move based on poor information, I would be obligated to supply better information.

If you cut it now and her cooling costs double this summer, who pays for that?

I don't know what GOL means, nor an IC union. Willow oaks typically have a form similar to the picture, with little bark inclusion, and are low risks to split apart. antigrass, I don't think you have Q phellos in WI do you? I didn't see any when i was there.

 

[rebelman]

Consider having a professional prune half the tree away. This can please the lady who wants it gone, because much of it will be. Done at the right time of year, with sound methods, the tree can remain an asset, but be much less worrisome and less likely to fail in a storm.

Treeseer, here's a quandary about the bad moves for uninformed people. Burning leaves. stripping root zones continually as trees die more and more. I've noticed that storm work is often toppled trees with no roots because the root zone was neglected for decades and/or thick bermuda grass dominated the area. Changing the culture would help many urban trees stand strong. Off topic I know.

 

[jmack]

my wife's great aunt has this tree in her backyard. it is in the crook of her house, 15' from one wall, 10' from the other. you can see the new macadam driveway in front of it.
the tree is a pin oak, and we estimate it to be about 65' tall. it is about 3' in diameter at the trunk.
my wife's great aunt wants it down, i want the wood.

my question is, how should i go about it? how much would it cost (in your areas) to get a professional in here just to drop it? should i do it myself? buy a harness, rent a lift? what?

my father-in-law and i are both "weekend warriors". we could drop it whole, but then run the risk of screwing up the macadam.

btw- father-in-law has 30 years experience with felling trees, i have years experience as a roofer, so i would climb.

thoughts? please help

edit: forgot pic

get three estimates from ISA certified Arborists with valid lic #s you dont want to climb a pin oak period. but you want to be handy have coffee ready when they get there or not. you want to be nice have tons of cold water ready. not like your a waiter but the best thing youcan do and the cheapest way is to get a company in. you can always rent a stump grinder and replant the spot. sit back and pull up a chair safely away of course and pickup your stumper the next day, keep us posted j