Posted: 3/31/2009 3:13:58 PM EDT
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Hey you guys,
I'm in a bit of a bind. There's a dead tree endangering my mom's house. It lists about 7-10 degrees directly towards the house (natural growth in this direction). I estimate it is about 40-45 feet tall. Its base is roughly 12-14" in diameter (rather narrow). It's an evergreen- well, I think it was. I'm not an arborist. It has sparse limb coverage starting up around 16' and most of the limbs are shorter than 6'. By my calculations, the tree is approximately 800 lbs above ground, but that's probably a gross overestimate based on 60 lbs/cubic foot. In reality it might be closer to 600 lbs. It has been dead since she moved in several years ago and weathered a number of severe storms in this condition, but I fear this year might be the one that does it in. I would like to call in a specialist to cut it down, but I'm in college and my mom is about broke. We can't spend a few hundred dollars for professionals to do this. I want to bring it down on my own, but there are some gnawing concerns on my part. First, it is taller than any thing I've cut down, and the tilted trunk means I will have to forcibly restrain it from reaching my mom's house. I plan on using some high-strength nylon rope to do this. 300 lbs working load, 3000 lbs breaking strength (it's solid-braid 7/16"). I want to attach a rope to the base of a nearby tree (about 12' away) that is directly opposite from the house. I figure I'll climb up as far as I can (probably 20' up) and attach this rope. Then I'll run the rope out towards the side yard and have my bro-in-law control the tree's fall with a length of rope (assuring he's far enough away that the tree can't reach him. Has anyone had experience with clearing dead trees like this? Any thoughts? |
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Felling trees with ropes is how people get killed.
Where is your mom located? There's a guy close to me that I've used, knows what he's doing, and won't cost you an arm and a leg or a couple of ribs. Your 800 pound weight estimate is probably close for a tree without limbs. Don't underestimate stuff like this, over kill like crazy with large factors of safety. If you insist, you need two people to control the fall, and they need to be the hell out of the way. Use way more rope than you think is required. They should not stand anywhere in the possible impact area of the tree. |
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Quoted:
Felling trees with ropes is how people get killed. Where is your mom located? There's a guy close to me that I've used, knows what he's doing, and won't cost you an arm and a leg or a couple of ribs. Your 800 pound weight estimate is probably close for a tree without limbs. Don't underestimate stuff like this, over kill like crazy with large factors of safety. If you insist, you need two people to control the fall, and they need to be the hell out of the way. Use way more rope than you think is required. They should not stand anywhere in the possible impact area of the tree. Yes if we decide to use individual control the ropes will be way longer than req'd. How much did it cost you to remove your tree? |
| 100 ft of stout rope tied to a vehicle with a little pressure on it will control the fall along with proper cuts at the trunk. Better yet if someone is in the vehicle to really give it an idle pull as it falls all the better. Did it with three trees on my property this Winter with excellent results. |
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Quoted:
100 ft of stout rope tied to a vehicle with a little pressure on it will control the fall along with proper cuts at the trunk. Better yet if someone is in the vehicle to really give it an idle pull as it falls all the better. Did it with three trees on my property this Winter with excellent results. +1 |
| If it's not overhanging the house, can you rent a lift or bucket truck and piece it down? I used to do some of that work in my younger days. I even have all the gear for climbing and roping and cutting. But I am in Ill-noise. I have climbed a few dead trees before but you have to be careful how you climb them. You can notch the tree where you want it to fall and tie the rope high in the tree for best leverage and you want a vehicle to pull it down just as the tree starts to lean from the saw cut. Or like I said you can piece it down chunk by chunk out of a rented lift or bucket truck which would be the safest. My two cents. |
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Quoted:
If it's not overhanging the house, can you rent a lift or bucket truck and piece it down? I used to do some of that work in my younger days. I even have all the gear for climbing and roping and cutting. But I am in Ill-noise. I have climbed a few dead trees before but you have to be careful how you climb them. You can notch the tree where you want it to fall and tie the rope high in the tree for best leverage and you want a vehicle to pull it down just as the tree starts to lean from the saw cut. Or like I said you can piece it down chunk by chunk out of a rented lift or bucket truck which would be the safest. My two cents. More good ideas. |
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Hire a tree trimmer, they'll climb it and piece it down and protect the house, their bill will be cheaper than a visit to the emergency room from having a saw buck back on you or repairing the roof from a limb that shoots through. I feel my chain saw just as dangerous as my firearms, if not more, it takes a lot of time to getg proficient enough with a saw to be one-handing it from a bucket trying not to hit the house. Sawing from a bucket 40 feet in the air is a whole different ball game from cutting up firewood on the ground. My 2 cents....
PTK |
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I watched an lonng dead oak tree my dad was trying to remove drag the tow truck that was attached to it about 40 feet while the tree destroyed the power transformer for the neighborhood he was trying to avoid......be carefull
Just a thought....are there any electric or utility lines nearby that would be harmed if the tree fell? if so call the company that owns them and ask if they will remove it for you. The utilities co for my town took a dead elm down that overhung the feed to my house for no charge a few years back. |
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Quoted:
I watched an lonng dead oak tree my dad was trying to remove drag the tow truck that was attached to it about 40 feet while the tree destroyed the power transformer for the neighborhood he was trying to avoid......be carefull Just a thought....are there any electric or utility lines nearby that would be harmed if the tree fell? if so call the company that owns them and ask if they will remove it for you. The utilities co for my town took a dead elm down that overhung the feed to my house for no charge a few years back. Unfortunately it isn't near any power lines (feed comes from opposite side of house). |
| you can probably pay someone to top and drop it for around or less than $300. They aren't cheap by any means but if you do all the cutting up and hauling off it will save you piles of cash. Yard damage can be fixed easily. I had a 60 year old sycamore fall in my yard and it only put a couple of holes in the ground. I believe off the bottom third of that tree we cut and split 4 cords of wood so it was not a small tree. |
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My brother in law is a tree guy and he works for cash. So, if you are in the St. Louis area let me know.
BTW, the way I used to so it was get about 100" of 1/2" 9or larger) rope. Climb the tree and tie it of about 20ft up. leap out of the tree (well, ok, climb down). Fire up the jeep, tie the rope to the top of the roll bar (you tractor/truck pull guys know why), put it in 4 low and apply a fair amount of tension to the line (sounds silly but it is a good idea to wear a motorcycle helmet while doing this). Kill engine, leave jeep in gear and apply parking brake. Get out chainsaw and start cutting on jeep side of tree. Oh, the tree will fall in the direction of the pull/jeep so use a bit of common sense when deciding where to pull from. Remember, nylon rope will stretch quite a bit. Yeah, I'm a redneck, gotta problem with that? 
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