Hemlock tree endangering house?

[jon_c]

Hi
We have a large hemlock tree in our backyard that recently fell in strongish winds, breaking where it splits in two about 12 foot up and leaving one half still standing (see pic). The remaining half looks like it will hit the house if it falls.
I'm wondering what caused the tree to break and if there's a way to judge the health of the remaining half.

At the break of the trunk is an odd odour, a bit like dog poo and some of the wood is fairly soft. There are also lots of what I guess are woodworm holes in the broken wood that are quite small, maybe 1/2 - 1 mm dia and on the bark I noticed some larger holes maybe 3mm dia with a blackish perimeter to them. Only mayeb 5 of these larger holes per square foot.
The tree wasn't dead before it fell. Plenty of green needles on it and a lot of the branches onthe fallen part are still supple, tho at least half of them are dead wood. Also lots the branches are speckled in a light greenish white flaky crusty fungus or moss (I can post pics of this if needed).

The remaining half of the tree also has some of those larger bore holes i the bark and the speckly moss/fungus stuff but other than that it looks to be healthy with a full compliment of needles.

My concern obviously is that it's going to fall on the house, probably during the next good wind. I'd like to bring a professional in to assess it or take it down but simply cant afford to. It's in an unaccessible spot and has a considerable lean to it so I don't think it could simply be felled from the bottom without it hiting the house.

Is there any way I (or you guys) can assess it's health and the liklyhood of it falling? If it needs to come down immediately then I'll climb it myself and do it in very small sections. I'm an experienced rock climber and as long as it doesn't fall while I'm up there I'm sure I can manage it safely. I guess the tree is about 70' high.

All advice greatfully accepted
Thanks,
jon.


p.s. I couldn't get the forum search to work. Is that normal?

 

[tawilson]

I'm not a professional, but I'll throw my 2 cents out there to start the discussion. I would either get a professional in there to drop it for you or rent a lift to take it down in chunks. It don't look good. See the stain coming down from the crotch.

 

[geofore]

more pics

The best pics would be the butt end of the piece that broke off and one of the greenish white stuff. Take a tape measure and measure from the base of the tree to the house. Then at 1 o'clock measure from the base of the tree to the tip of the shadow the tree casts and take a yard stick and measure the shadow it casts at 1 o'clock and I'll be able to tell if it will hit the house.

 

[Dadatwins]

You need a qualified arborist that can look at that tree asap. Not a good sign that it broke off like that with the decay descibed. Enjoy the rock climbing, but trees are a different animal, mountains usually stand still, tree fall over. If you need to hire someone, get a price to get it on ground and you do the cleanup, this is usually cheapest and safest option. Be careful.

 

[treeseer]

Dada's right. Dog poo smells, worm holes, soft wood etc sound bad. leaning trunk newly exposed looks bad. Find some money somewhere; it'll be cheaper than a new house.

 

[pbtree]

Get rid of it!

 

[jon_c]

It needs to come down. It looks like a piece of cake for a rock climber.

I'm guessing that's sarcasm. I know I can climb it safely and I was thinking of sawing it by hand rather than taking a chainsaw up there. I'm out of town till the weekend so I havn't done any measuring but it looks like I'd only need to remove the top 25 foot to stop it reaching the house and it's no more than 9" thick at that height.

I guess I'll have a pro come look at it but I'm not sure I can raise the money right now and it's about the time of year that we get hit by winds from tropical storms (western NC). What kind of price should I expect for felling if I do the clean-up? it's reasonably accessable I guess, You can pretty much drive up to it, it's on sloping ground but no structures within 30ft.

 

[treeseer]

I'm guessing that's sarcasm. it looks like I'd only need to remove the top 25 foot to stop it reaching the house and it's no more than 9" thick at that height.

sarcaasm from Dan? Nahhhhh!

Your plan to shorten the tree out of house range sounds reasonable, as far as it goes. 9" hemolck cut is eminently doable by handsaw.:yoyo:

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I know I can climb it safely.

If you are worried that it will fall over, how can it be climbed? And if you're not worried it could fall, why cut it?
I assume you have somehow calculated that the tree's strength falls exactly between strong enough to hold a climber, but not strong enough to withstand wind loads. Pretty amazing, if you think about betting your life on it.
As you are a rock climber, I have no doubt you have the physical capability to climb a tree. The problem lies in that you don't have the experience with trees that a climbing arborist would have, you are unfamiliar with detecting how strong the tree is, and don't know safety techniques arborists use when dealing with hazard trees.
This isn't even getting into proper pruning or evaluating whether or not the tree is worth saving. You didn't even show us a picture of the tree, just the one spot!

By the way, I'm thinking about climbing this rock face. It's a 5.9c or something, but I'm a climbing arborist, so I know I can do it safely.
Here's a picture of a spot on the wall:

 

[jon_c]

...I assume you have somehow calculated that the tree's strength falls exactly between strong enough to hold a climber, but not strong enough to withstand wind loads.
...

Yes, I'm considering my weight to be negligable compared to wind load. Is that an unreasonable assumption? I don;t have any more pics to show you now but there's a good deal of foliage up there so I'd imagine the wind's gonna be putting a huge stress on the crotch.

Good luck climbing those rocks.

It there another tree nearby you could be tied into while removing the bad one?
...
Tell us more about your climbing system.

Nope no other trees to tie into unfortunately.
Climbing system? Probably lead climbing it (trailing rope belayed by partner on the ground) using slings hitched around the main trunk every few feet as runners. I feel a lot better anchoring to the main trunk as none of the branches are particularly substantial and also my partner can easily lower me if needed.

 

[geofore]

climb hemlock

How much rope do you have? Have/can you use a throwball to set a rope in the tree? Don't have a throwball and string? How about an empty plastic 16oz pepsi bottle, put a little water in it and tie a string to it. Throw it over a limb and then tie it to your rope and pull your rope into the tree. Then put a biner on the end of the rope you just pulled through the tree and hook it over the tail of the rope and pull it up tight to the tree. Don't forget to tie the string to the biner in case the tree is too bad to climb so you can recover the rope. Pull on the rope and watch the trees movement. If you get the rope around the tree about 2/3rds of the way up you can use the rope (with a come along) to pull the tree sideways and cut it from the base without ever having to climb the tree. When in doubt/stay out (of the tree). You don't have to climb it to take it down. You do have to climb it to take out just the top. Your feet don't have to leave the ground to set a rope.

 

[jon_c]

I like the sound of that but could the tree has just too much lean to deflect it? I'll post pics of the entire tree at the weekend.

 

[flying frog]

Local climber available

Hi Jon,
I'm in the Asheville/Hendersonville area and could come and give a free looksee at your situation and let you know what the safest and affordable route might be. I do contract climbing for two companies in the area as well as private work by the hour. I agree with the others that tree climbing and rock climbing are two differant animals. Send me an email at [email protected].
Jim

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

An on site consultation for free, can't beat that!
Maybe frog could scoot up there and have it done for such a resonable price, jon can't refuse. If not, at least make sure he's not planning something that'll get him dead.
Keep us updated!

 

[flying frog]

Hey! where'd he go?

no word from the rock climber.

 

[Pilsnaman]

Don't do it man!!!

I was a tree climber for a year and have been rock climbing now for two. THEY ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT ANIMALS!!! I know it seems easy to just climb up there and cut out a top but trust me it isn't. Do you know what dangers to look for in a tree? Are you positive the tree will take a shock load if you slip? Once up there do you know how to properly cut out the top (this is a big one)? Just to name a couple of the dangers. Unless you are 100% sure of the answers to the above three questions please don't take this job on. You may get up the tree just fine but if that cut isn't done right there are a lot of very bad things that could happen, a lot of which end with you in the hospital or worse. You may think some of us are discounting your climbing skills or just want to put money in the pocket of a fellow arborist but that isn't the case. We just don't want you to get dead.