CL Please take my tree down! You can have the wood!

[Nic36]

Looks like the notch is Ok but the guy ( not to be sexist, but a woman would have been smart enough to call an insured pro) didn't eyeball the tree correctly.

Possibly when rhe back cut got far enough the tree twisted, rolled off of the stump and fell backwards into the house.

Why? becuase it was either leaning or balanced that way.

You can tell by looking which way a tree wants to fall by the angle of the trunk and the distribtion of the branches.

If it really wants to go a certain way, you can notch all you want- it's still going in that general direction.

That's what I thought too. A rope and probably one or two men pulling would have made it go right.

I have had different people over the years (my Dad being one of them) say that they knew loggers that could cut a tree and make it fall in any direction no matter what. I often ten to argue with that and bring up the point of a leaning tree. They have always insisted a tree could be felled in any direction, even with a bad lean. My last question and comment is always, "So, he can make a tree fall up? He must be good."

 

[crazy_dan]

Looks like the notch is Ok but the guy ( not to be sexist, but a woman would have been smart enough to call an insured pro) didn't eyeball the tree correctly.

Possibly when rhe back cut got far enough the tree twisted, rolled off of the stump and fell backwards into the house.

Why? becuase it was either leaning or balanced that way.

You can tell by looking which way a tree wants to fall by the angle of the trunk and the distribtion of the branches.

If it really wants to go a certain way, you can notch all you want- it's still going in that general direction.

That's what I thought too. A rope and probably one or two men pulling would have made it go right.

I have had different people over the years (my Dad being one of them) say that they knew loggers that could cut a tree and make it fall in any direction no matter what. I often ten to argue with that and bring up the point of a leaning tree. They have always insisted a tree could be felled in any direction, even with a bad lean. My last question and comment is always, "So, he can make a tree fall up? He must be good."

it is easy just turn the camera upside down that way they all fall up

 

[gerry100]

That tree may have been too massive for men and ropes. The piece by piece approach would have been used by a pro I think.

I think you can influence the fall by less than 30 degrees max from where it wants to go.

 

[Nic36]

That tree may have been too massive for men and ropes. The piece by piece approach would have been used by a pro I think.

I think you can influence the fall by less than 30 degrees max from where it wants to go.

Maybe ropes with block and tackle. It probably would have went in the right direction. But yeah, another approach was definitely needed. Weight taken off the back side first, then cut whole would have been another safe approach.

 

[KarlP]

That tree may have been too massive for men and ropes. The piece by piece approach would have been used by a pro I think.

I think you can influence the fall by less than 30 degrees max from where it wants to go.

I don't fell any trees larger than maybe 5" diameter without throwing a rope up in it and tying it to something to ensures it doesn't go where it shouldn't. Two or three ropes tensioned with a come-along or ratchet strap to trees in the opposite direction from the house would have saved a lot of money and hassle. It might not have gone where they wanted it to, but it wouldn't have hit the house either.

I agree an experienced climber or someone with a bucket would have done it piece by piece. For your average homeowner, I think taking down the tree whole is safer. If I need to limb a tree prior to dropping it, I use a "High Limb Saw" which is a 4' bi-directional chainsaw chain with rope tied on either end. You throw the saw over the branch you want to remove and two people stand about as far apart as the limb is high and play a gentle game of tug-of-war until the branch comes down. Both feet are safely on the ground this way.

With a healthy tree 90 degrees from where it wants to go isn't too hard. More than that requires large equipment or high risk tollerance.

 

[TreePapa]

I agree an experienced climber or someone with a bucket would have done it piece by piece. For your average homeowner, I think taking down the tree whole is safer. If I need to limb a tree prior to dropping it, I use a "High Limb Saw" which is a 4' bi-directional chainsaw chain with rope tied on either end. You throw the saw over the branch you want to remove and two people stand about as far apart as the limb is high and play a gentle game of tug-of-war until the branch comes down. Both feet are safely on the ground this way.

For an average homeowner, hiring an experienced and insured pro is safer, as these pics show. Cerntainly not cheaper if all goes well for the DIY approach, but much cheaper than disaster.

Peace,
- Sequoia

 

[NitroDave]

Maybe the homeowner was looking for a free remodel ??

 

[Apprentice_GM]

Looks like the notch is Ok but the guy didn't eyeball the tree correctly.
Possibly when rhe back cut got far enough the tree twisted, rolled off of the stump and fell backwards into the house.
Why? becuase it was either leaning or balanced that way.
You can tell by looking which way a tree wants to fall by the angle of the trunk and the distribtion of the branches.
If it really wants to go a certain way, you can notch all you want- it's still going in that general direction.

Amen to that! Sometimes it can be really deceiving too, which way a tree is leaning. I had one tree that was curving slightly, it was "leaning" away from the house in the lower 10 feet, then curved towards the (friends) house from 10' high to the top (~50 or 60'). The other trees were also slightly curving the same way, all looked vertical to me when eyeballing from a distance, sighting up the trunk just looked like it curved from the bottom lean into vertical, not the other way (towards house) so I did the usual (conventional) notch to fall away from the house, started cutting the back notch and could tell something was wrong. Trees talk to you if you listen closely. I got my saw out before it was pinched and with enough base left to keep the tree up, only I could now tell it was leaning in the direction of the house. Threw a rope over it, got a heavy & strong friend (the houseowner with a vested interest) to pull 90 degrees to lean, and managed to cut in a swing notch and fell it parallel to / slightly away from house.

I got lucky I reckon, was a good learning experience to have early on in my tree felling life. Nowadays I'll grab the rope a lot more quickly and even cut branches off to influence lean. I've yet to learn and use the wedges but it's coming.

That is one big and heavy tree to get wrong . . . hope no-one was hurt.

 

[mbokie5]

Drives me nuts when I am out in my yard splitting wood and you have people come up and ask you that very question, when you tell them to call a pro they say "they are to expensive, you can have all the wood for free", no thanks. I like to drop my trees in the forest where I don't have to worry about the animals dropping a lawsuit on me!

Wait until they are done asking that. After they see all the manual labor that you're fit for, you will get all of the requests to move something heavy.

I was 59 at the time (just last fall). The young lady across the street asked me to come and help a bunch of 60 year olds that couldn't move a mattress. I laughed, said nothing to her and helped. And laughed some more.

I've managed to get some of those people to agree to a tree felled by a pro, then I take it away, minus the brush. I'll do the brush for a fee if there's a lot. Tipping point for me is at 50 - 50. Then I have to charge. Too much brush, makes it less worthwhile.

 

[CTZR1]

Just a huge bummer all the way around. hope nobody gat hurt