[Full Moon]

Curious if people worry about trees in close proximity to their homes. If so, what do you do about it? If you remove them, what criteria do you use to determine what trees / limbs you remove?

Here is the thing. I have many trees that would be within “touching” distance to my house. I’m really bad estimating heights, but some of them have to be 75’ or more. Most of these are oaks, and are in great shape. Growing straight up, and not leaning at all. Most are fairly far from the house, unless they happened to just fall the right (or wrong) way. I figure if something strong enough came through to knock them over, I’d have other things to worry about.

Then I have some that are much closer, and are growing closer to being over the house. These concern me, but still they’re healthy, and not sure I should be too concerned?

Then there’s a huge oak close to the house, and a huge limb is growing over the house. Seems to be in pretty good shape, but it’s above the room I sleep in, and man, when the wind is going I get nervous.

I have no way to cut this limb down myself. Got an estimate for just the limb, and it was just over $200, which seemed reasonable to me. My deductible is $1000.

Some people say not to worry about it. Trees are strong, and you can’t cut them all down. If it falls let the insurance company deal with it, and you might get a free roof. Many people have told me this.

Am I crazy to think I should just get it cut back? However, then I think, where’s the line? Do I cut all of them that could touch my house?

Hoping to get some advice from people here. For the sake of this question assume my insurance will cover tree damage, and realize I know if a dead tree is near your house it has to go.

Thanks!

 

[Greybeard09]

I might worry about something big that overhangs the house... Trees that "might hit" if they fell, not so much.

 

[littletractorguy]

Big honking pine trees that I don't know the health of that are right beside my house! We had these two taken out of our front yard, oh, 8 years ago or so...

Good thing too, because as THIS one came down, before it even hit the ground

there was a sound almost like an explosion, and about 15 feet up the 35 foot trunk, it basically blew apart!

The arborist who took our trees down said that we were lucky, because it was a weak spot in the trunk, a good strong wind could have had that last 20 feet of the trunk down across our house.

Wish I could get him to come back some night and take down my neighbour's 50 foot pine that's so close to our house it wrecks my shingles and eavestroughs!

 

[wwxx]

A metal roof is alot tougher than composition roof

Kinda depends, every situation is different. However a neat trick you might try is if the tree is dead and is within reach of the main electric overhead line, the power company will probably send out a tree crew to fix the situation...only when it is dead...and when in reach of the main overhead line...(not your house drop) or at least they have for me, simple ph. call away

So I have two red oaks (only about 40 yrs. old) that would be difficult for me to bring down myself, unless they were removed from the top down in sections. Instead I'm going to try girdling both of them, and they should be dead enough after a while for the electric co. to send out their crew. Only because I know they are already full of bugs, and going to be a problem.... crowding better trees...if I allow them to keep growing.


I've also got a big red oak that has a bad bottom, which the electric co. won't touch because it won't hit their service line. Since the bottom inner trunk is nearly hollow, it has to go as some point, probably this year, hate to loose it tho, it offers a lot of shade, but it won't ever be sound. Should make a good amount of firewood tho.

If you keep track of the big limbs that fall out of the trees, some are normal, and more than a few, might indicate a problem with tree health.

I get a little nervous when the ground is saturated from winter snows, into spring rains, and of course March winds, while the ground is soaked, good trees will push over easiest at that point. But generally I love watching the oaks dance in the springtime wind, they are very flexible & tough.

I've noticed on tall red oaks, that have very long limbs, if you can have the extra long limbs reduced by about half, the remaining limb will sprout new vertical growths, especially if in the top of the tree. I try not to prune back to the trunk of the tree, leave the limb at least a foot from the trunk, therefore the branch will either keep living, or die...either way, I try to keep the injury & related bug entry point, away from the trunk.

I do worry about any prune cuts on limbs over 3" in diameter, because it takes a long, long time for that cut to heal over, allowing bugs entry in the mean-time.

wwxx

 

[Whirly]

it's not so much the bugs who get trees to die.. but the moisture which causes rot in the trunk.. the water will get in every lil crack possible... trees do not have an umbrella.. so any cut in the bark from whatever will do damage.. a year or two after we got this property.. we had a lotta rain in the spring.. that year the silver maples here grew so fast they split the bark.. we lost 2 trees from that.. they were dead by mid summer & lost their leaves..

 

[Whirly]

Re: A metal roof is alot tougher than composition roof

Kinda depends, every situation is different. However a neat trick you might try is if the tree is dead and is within reach of the main electric overhead line, the power company will probably send out a tree crew to fix the situation...only when it is dead...and when in reach of the main overhead line...(not your house drop) or at least they have for me, simple ph. call away

wwxx

good luck on that when every thing is 'underground' here.. yup.. buried deep

& on the bad thought bout that.. we gotta call the 811 number BEFORE we even till up a garden.. or dig deeper than 3 inches..

 

[Tractor-Holic]

Two nights ago,at 11:15 PM,while I was listening to the weather forecast on the TV news,I heard the un-mistakable "Crack" of a large tree giving way,followed by more crackling,and a loud "WHUMP" as it hit the ground...sounded like it was right in front of my house..

Since I have a few hundred tall & old trees along side of the house,some 60+ feet tall,not even 20 feet away,I was very worried it was one of them--there are many maples,some other hardwoods,and several cherry trees,some of which that fell over with no warning on a hot summer day,despite having green leaves and looking healthy--carpenter ants litteraly ate them away from the center,and one that hung over my driveway missed hitting my car,by only a few feet..!

I tried turning the outside lights on,didn't see any trees lying in my driveway,or on any of the vehicles parked in the driveway,or on my quonset garage...so I assume it was across the street from my house in thick woods..
I took a walk around my property and didn't see any downed trees or limbs,even the decaying 100 foot pine tree out back that was split in half by a lightning stike years ago is still standing,despite it also being ant infested--still alive at the top!..
So,I guess it was close by,but not in my yard..thankfully..

I am nervous about the cherry trees the most,some being 50+ feet tall and at least 8-10" thick,they are dead,have mushrooms sprouting out of them,and are close enough to crush my garage or hit the house if they fall..but most of the ones that have fallen in the past,come down in pieces,from the top down,about 5 to 10 feet long,by themselves..and there are enough other trees growing near they for them to get hung up in,it would be kind of hard for one to make a "direct hit"if one breaks off near the base...

I'm not a skilled lumberjack,I have cut down many trees,but not ones that could fall on something that is work much..though a few trees I felled I did manage to pull over with my truck and a rope,away from anything I feared destroying,I dont want to take the risk of having one come down on something..


I would rather just leave them be,if I try cutting one down and it does end up hitting the house or garage,chances are the insurance will not cover it,because I instigated it.--or maybe if it falls by itself they'll call it an "act of God" and deny the claim anyway...this is one of those catch 22 situations where your darned if you do,and darned if you dont..

 

[MacLawn]

I worry about ALL of them! I've decided that if I ever buy land again, I'll get pasture! That way I can plant what I want, where I want them. When I was young and bought our present 4.5 acres, I wanted a place in the woods. Right. I said I was young.

 

[grnspot110]

When we bought our house around 30 years ago, there were big White Pine trees at both front corners of the house, bigger than the ones in LTG's post. I cut them the first year we were here, 5' from the center of the stumps to the corners of the house! We also have a big soft Maple at the back of the house. Several years ago, I bought a Poulan pole saw for $160, stood on the roof & blocked a limb back past the roof edge. Then stood on my tractor seat & tire & cut the limb back to the trunk. It's completely healed now & that job paid for the saw, if I'd hired it done. I was much younger then, wouldn't touch that job now.

Another problem tree was a clump River Birch that was leaning over the shed, I hired it blocked down for $175. I took care of it once it was on the ground.

 

[Full Moon]

Thanks for the suggestions, and interesting stories. Good pics too! Some differing opinions here, which I kinda thought. At least I know I'm not alone and that others have this concern.

We just had a bad storm come through, and took down a lot of trees in the area. I lost two, but they were far from the house. I think I will look into getting a couple limbs cut back from the main tree I worry about. Just worried that since the storm went through, the tree people are busy enough the price will probably be jacked up a bit.

 

[Whirly]

Thanks for the suggestions, and interesting stories. Good pics too! Some differing opinions here, which I kinda thought. At least I know I'm not alone and that others have this concern.

We just had a bad storm come through, and took down a lot of trees in the area. I lost two, but they were far from the house. I think I will look into getting a couple limbs cut back from the main tree I worry about. Just worried that since the storm went through, the tree people are busy enough the price will probably be jacked up a bit.

prices will double or triple just after a storm.. Y not....

 

[Full Moon]

^ Oh yeah...makes sense. The thing that sucks is the guys that came out a couple years ago (reputable company) gave me a quote. I said...heck yeah, and they were supposed to be back out in a few days. Then they never showed. I shoulda called, but never followed up on it. So now I have this written estimate from them, that's expired. Still, wonder if they'd honor it.

 

[KWDAILYD]

I just had some maples trimmed back that were blocking the sun from my front deck and some of the front roof. About every 4 or 5 years I have to trim or have someone trim the trees so nothing is overhanging the house.

 

[wwxx]

I forgot to mention, I got one of those metal carports, $600 installed, about 15 yrs ago, saved the cars in multiple ways, oak pollen stain, flying acorns, and flying limbs, not to mention hail, although it is very noisy in a big rain, or during the acorn drop time.

If your really confident in yourself and your equipment, you can save a few hundred or even thousands without paying the arborist. But if your getting old, like me, sometimes the arborist is much less of a worry than trying to do it yourself, and even when I was young, I was smart enough to not even consider anything that could possibly tangle with electric lines.

If nothing else, consider having some kind of back-up person you can call when things have become hairy, and expect to become more hairy before midnight!

wwxx

 

[DJ in WV]

I had two large pests upwind from the house. During the big east coast derecho three years ago they both withstood 80 MPH straight line winds but they worried me sick every time a heavy thunderstorm came through.

The ash was a brute and about fifty feet off the back of the house and the poplar was about 25 feet off the corner of the house. Both were hitting the house during the derecho.

I hired a friend with cutting experience to run the saw while I had the JD chained up to the monster well out of the fall zone to provide some insurance on the correct direction. After about an hour and a half the brutes were on the ground. Took me quite a few days to get them cleaned up too.

So, to answer your question, anything large that can hit the house and cause substantial damage has to go.

Here's what I was dealing with:

 

[Upper5Percent]

Whatever you decide...hire a professional...

Don't be like these guys...:sidelaugh

 

[Obscured_by_Clouds]

I don't let anything over hang the house. Had a locust trimmed a few years ago, but it grew back too fast for me making lots of thinner branches. Decided to take it down.

Planted a cedar in a place I thought would be safe, but it got too tall and had to be trimmed.

Also have a willow that is getting too tall and will have to be trimmed.

The shade they give doesn't offset the risk. Then there is all the stuff that falls out of them -- sap, bugs, bird droppings and of course the leaves in the fall and seed pods in the spring.

I try not to let anything grow close enough to the house that will get tall enough to reach the house if it falls. Or let one get bigger than I can trim.

The other thing is fire in dry areas. People don't realize how fast and hot a dry pine will burn. If you live in those risk areas, you should have a 50' buffer at least where nothing grows more than a foot or two tall.

 

[Michael]

I worry about ALL of them! I've decided that if I ever buy land again, I'll get pasture! That way I can plant what I want, where I want them. When I was young and bought our present 4.5 acres, I wanted a place in the woods. Right. I said I was young.

When I bought my property 16 years ago we bought a old pasture, there are no trees anywhere near the house and what trees I planted are near the road at least 100 feet from the house. when I was kid we had trees that got to close to my dads old farmstead and we had one crash into the home during a wind storm. I just do not plant anything near the house.

 

[Jere39]

I had this large Oak (about 38" DBH) die in my front lawn. It was still very stable, but I didn't want to wait for it to start shedding large limbs. It was over 100' tall, and only about 50' from my house. So, with a generous ground cover of snow to cushion the blow to my lawn, and a come-along to add persuasion to the notch. I took it down last winter.

Took me a long time to clean up all the little limbs and process the firewood. Will be profitable firewood, stacked 4½ cord from it.

 

[MacLawn]

Smart man, Michael! I've got quite a few I need to get down. Hey Jere, whew, that had me a bit nervous for a minute! An oak won't fall where you want it to like a pine will. I had one about the same size keep standing on its stump for almost 10 minutes! I finally got it to fall where I wanted by using a wedge.