Hello! I am worried about a 80 foot dead ash tree in my yard, and I would appreciate any advice about what we should do at this point. A tree person with 10 years experience sawed through and roped off this tree for removal, but he has never come back to finish the job (pull it into the forest). He left twice when two different ropes snapped (the same ropes I assume are securing the tree right now). He left a third time to order a new part for his pulley system, and that was six days ago. Meanwhile, the tree base has been chainsawed, although I don't know how far through. He said that it is hollow in the middle, so I'm assuming there isn't much left to saw. He placed two wedges in the cut side (the side facing our house), and we can see ropes coming from the tree. We feel like he will eventually return because he works for a reputable tree company (we hired him on the side - he works with our neighbor), and he left his equipment here. My issue is, how secure is this tree in the meantime? Is this common practice or outrageous behavior (I feel like it's a bit outrageous to saw through a tree then disappear for a week). Are we being idiots for waiting patiently? Should be be calling in an emergency tree removal service? This tree is sitting on a ledge and would probably fall into the forest, but if it swung our way (and the ropes snapped), it would definitely fall on our house. Thank you in advance for any helpful information!
WoW!!!
I couldn't read through this thread before blabbing!
One of those things that you NEVER do in the fall & buck is to leave a cut up tree standing!! & thats in the middle of the woods! I've left a tree or two with just a face cut, but not for very long.
The fact that this is next to a home, with people in it, is freaking far out. I'd be sweating bullets if I had to leave that tree, big bullets! You'd have to use some force to get me to walk away from it! I can't imagine that whoever did this is dealing with a complete brain....
The fact that such an easy kill was too much for this person would be enough to terminate proceedings immediately! Of course pics are hard to judge, but that looks like 3 minutes worth of work. Face, backcut, wedge, done. If the tree did have some back lean & you wanted to be careful, you could start with the backcut. Either way, easy kill Without ever uncoiling the ropes.
What it looks like is he went at it with a saw that wouldn't feed due to bad filing, dull chain, a tweaked bar or any combination of the three. Showing up with such poor performing equipment is a big red flag.
It is possible that someone hammered a bunch of nails into it. That would create such complications as we see with the the 2 different kerfs, both looking wavy. He was grinding away for sure.. The wedges look like they were just smashed into the kerf(s) with no awareness of whether the tree was lifting or not. It definitely wasn't! Those wedges are smashed in there good. Breaking ropes, another red flag for such a tree.
The good news is that it appears that there is still plenty of wood left to keep it stood up; again, pictures are hard to judge. A look at the front, or face would be interesting. Thing might have a big old Dutchman in it. (Think about a door that won't close because you put a box in the way of it. The hinge can't hinge.) If that's the case it'll need to be cleaned out.
I'm going to read the rest of the thread now. I'm hoping to read somewhere along the way that someone came & got it on the deck for you.
It's amazing how people can do things like this without feeling utterly embarrassed. Welcome to NewAmerica, I guess....
.
