Trees Leaning Toward House -- Removal

rfwoody

Treehouser
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Jun 1, 2017
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Location
North Mississippi
I looked at a potential removal job today with a few trees leaning toward the house.

These leaning toward house are around 12" x 40' or so.

With a rope set high I think they will be light enough to easily pull over opposite +-45* from lean.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

grove_in_back_looking_south_west_20190118_143309.jpg
Photo #1
All trees to go except for big Oak on left

grove_in_back_looking_south_west_closer_20190118_143327.jpg
Photo #2
Looking a little closer...

grove_in_back_looking_due_west_20190118_143356.jpg
Photo #3
From same side of yard as above but looking right down back of house.
NOTE: Main back leaning tree in question is outlined to help it stand out.

grove_in_back_looking_east_20190118_143440.jpg
Photo #4
From opposite side of above looking down same back of house
NOTE: Main back leaning tree in question is outlined to help it stand out.
==============

Question, please ==> To pull this tree to the desired lay, should require less than 500 lbs of force with rope set ~3/5 up the tree, right? (i.e. as high as trunk is before branching out)

Thanks for any/all help and/or comments!



(P.S. I wasn't going to post anything else until I got that leaning pine safely on the ground, but I made an exception for this job since I want to get my bid back to the customer.) thanks!
 
You could use a retainer line (in addition to the pull line) to keep from losing the trees to the side weight from the hinge failing early...

What are you pulling with??? how are you setting lines....


pulling 180 degrees to the lean is preferable, but these trees look like they need to be pulled to the side to avoid the fence... I would be extremely careful not to overcut the back cut and lose the holding wood of the hinge, as you showed in the earlier photo essay... Having a lot of pulling power will help reduce that risk... ground anchor with 2:1 MA, or even multiple pull lines with multiple ground anchors

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jltMZmlezZM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4HRVsoM9bxc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Client: Hi Robert, I hear you do tree work, got some leaning towards our house, think you can take them out safely for us?

Robert: Sure I can, I’m fairly sure there won’t be a repeat of the power line incident, I’ll come along and take some photos.

Client: Okaaay, why do you need to take photos?

Robert: I will need to ask some guys on the internet how to do it.

Client: (turns to wife) you see honey? I told you we’d picked the right guy!
 
You're not a climber at all Robert? While most of the row are easy flops with proper felling cuts and a pullrope, it would be nice to just remove the side weight of the one iffy tree and make it any easy drop like the rest. Your tree service might need another dimension than just muscling everything over.
 
That was pretty good, Mick!

Hard to tell from the picture, but if the tree in question is behind one of the other, you might be able to tie the two together and do a two-fer.
 
What Ryan said... I pulled a top once, about a 25-footer which was probably a half of the tree. I had left a long limb out over the trailer on the back side of the hinge in my mind expecting it to just go neatly...Over the Hinge and fall 180° away from the trailer. As the top came over the remaining long limb interjected some Torq and the top rotated and went 90° sideways. Luckily another tree caught the top of the top and the base stayed on the spar. It had the potential to be real bad in a hurry. I got lucky. We were able to get a tag line up over this hung up top and I secured the base to the spar and when we pulled the top out of the supporting tree the whole top that I had cut was now hanging off The Spar. I had rigged so that I could lower it. My original plan to Simply throw the top went bad when that top twisted as it rotated over the top of the spar. I like to remove limbs on the backside of a cut that's got to be pulled over to take that rotational aspect out of it. That basically means climb the tree and lower those limbs out of the way first. I think I have a picture of that Wayward top and I will try to post it later.
 
But none of those IMO.

But, as we all know, pictures can decieve.
 
Ryan and Gary are spot on IMO.
Get that long limb off first. Maybe can reach with a pole saw, but I'd want a rigging line on the butt end.
 
Ryan and Gary are spot on IMO.
Get that long limb off first. Maybe can reach with a pole saw, but I'd want a rigging line on the butt end.

Why? Assuming there is no compromised wood in the few feet above that long limb, there is no reason not to expect the limb to go with the tree. If I were at all concerned with the limb, I would set a line on the limb out a few feet, then run it through the second fork above, thereby using the limb itself to lever the tree over. Second line in top if preferred... The biggest concern I'd have with that tree is the amount of pull distance required before the hinge broke, insuring that the entire tree was committed to the lay and that limb didn't cause roll/deflection due to huge failure if the pull ran out too quickly.
 
Yup.
So put a German or a block face in and haul her over.
No problem.
 
If he drops them all one after another saving old long limb for last, you would hope his cuts are going to be as good as they've ever been after dialing it in on the easy ones. Robert, there better be some pics of good looking notches upon completion of this job.
 
That long limb can twist the tree and cause the hinge to fail. It's already a skinny tree, so I doubt there'll be much wood to allow for a thick hinge.
 
If you must pull it, throw the line through the long limb first, tie it off, then throw it through the tree. That will help a bit on it not twisting.
 
Jonny is saying what my concern is...twisting the top to break the hinge...at least need to make Robert aware of that possibility. It caught me by surprise. I have my video uploading...we'll see if it is pertinent...apropos...relevant....fitting...
 
We got the pull line for the top routed through another crotch which helped catch the top when the base et al let loose....

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6dtBlZSbPkc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Gary, looks to me like too hard a pull was your problem.
Did you have a skid steer pulling?
 
Gary, the difference is, that in this instance, the pull SHOULD be directly opposite the lean, so barring rope or TIP failure, there is no way that limb is going to be a hindrance. Each to hs own, but I like simple/fast when possible. As long as the pull line is set at least two forks above the long limb, I see no problem.

As to what Ryan said, I'd say that tree is at least ~14" at knee-height...more than enough for a substantial hinge.
 
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