Tree Felling question

[TDunk]

I went to look at a job today and i'm not sure if i should take it. There are two pines trees planted about 10 Ft. apart, about 22 inches in diam. The thing that i'm nervous about is the trees don't go straight up they get farther apart as they go up. The one tree is no big deal, it leans away from the houses and plenty of room to drop. The other one leans right between the two houses. I don't know if i should take it down in sections against the lean, or try and drop it between the two houses with the lean. All the branches are on the " outsides" of the trees (nothing between them). There's about a 25' gap between the houses and the tree leans dead-nuts right between them. I'll try to get my pics. loaded to simplify things, but any advice would be great.

 

[ericjeeper]

Are you fully insured?

Do you have any means of pulling with a cable? Have you ever used felling wedges?

 

[ShoerFast]

Insurance is a good question!

Pines are fairly predictable, but fairy expensive if your piecing chunks into a broken roof.

Rural operations, for a bet for any money (A Dr Pepper) you could crunch a can were they fall, urban, maybe not good PR with that one in a 100 that don't go were it was sposta go.

You Tube has a 100 clips of the "hold my beer ant watch this" tree services. If you wanted to see what "not" to do!

 

[TDunk]

I think i got them to load ok. i Do have insurance, but this is a freebie job for one of my good friends. The nieghbor wants them out of there and so does my buddy, so i told him i'd atleast do the one, and i'll think about the other one.

 

[clearance]

The branches will do damage if you fall it between the houses. I would fall the first one outright and then pull the other one over with a good steel cable or good rope. I have done many trees like this, it is no place for the unsure or untrained, I had good teachers. Or you could strip and chunk the bad one, or you could strip it and fall it between the houses.

 

[TDunk]

I forgot to mention that but yes, i would top it and limb it before i would try and fall it between the houses. When you say winching, are you refering to a comalong rachet winch or like the Ramsey i have mounted to the front of my mudding truck. The easiest thing i could think of was to take it down in real small sections, but what i'm not sure of if i leave the branches on, is it gonna make to heavy to pull over.

 

[Cheese]

Obviously pictures are worth lots of words, but...

That doesn't look that bad.

First tree is straightforward, face cut it and go.

The second tree should be limbed if laid down between the houses or wedged against the lean towards where the other tree was.

With respect to too heavy, think how a wedge gets it done. Little space at the stump is a lot of lean at the tip. If you have a long enough rope as far up on the tree as you can get it, tie it off to a truck and keep tension on it. Just make sure you have enough line length to keep the puller out from under the fall.

On the fire line they say don't take a cut you are not comfortable with. If the guy is a friend, he may not be with a pine in his roof!

 

[TDunk]

i've done some wedging, but not a whole lot. I know i can get the tree down, that's no problem. I'm just trying to see what is going to be the best approach. I'm definetly no expert, that's why i joined this site though to get other peoples opinions and see how i can improve.

 

[Cheese]

Yeah, this is the place to ask.

I didn't mean to come off as a jerk.

I think we all learn something on questions like this.

 

[litefoot]

No offense, but you don't sound very sure of yourself. I'd be tempted if I needed the money really badly, but to do a freebie, especially with your, what I percieve as, lack of experience...no way in the world I'd touch that. I'm just sayin...that's all.

 

[Timberhauler]

I'd be glad to help...But it might offend some people.So I'll keep my methods to myself.:deadhorse:

 

[Tzed250]

opcorn:

 

[SRT-Tech]

climb it, limb it, drop the top (pulled over by a helper) away from the houses, then block it down in firewood sized blocks.

 

[clearance]

I'd be glad to help...But it might offend some people.So I'll keep my methods to myself.:deadhorse:

Relax TH, I would put a rope in the second tree myself. Not that good at falling.

 

[Timberhauler]

climb it, limb it, drop the top (pulled over by a helper) away from the houses, then block it down in firewood sized blocks.

..Or you could always do that....That would be the safest way to get em' down...No matter if you are the best feller on this site.

 

[ropensaddle]

Hey that ramsey will pull that
get it up high and if you have enough cable to stay
out the way it will pull that tree with no problem just
block truck or chain to fixed object and get her tight
you should see the top shake a little notch and back
cut slow until you see a gap opening get a little more
more pull on winch and slowly finish cut. Helps if you
have some one that will winch as you give signal and
stop as you give another signal but I have winched
several thousand trees over and is the best pull as it
is steady just don't pull too hard and break cable!!!

 

[rbtree]

First of all, those don't look like any pine species I've ever seen....more like spruce or fir....

And more like 15 feet between the houses.

The trees appear to be rather easy for a pro arborist to remove....fall the first one, take some back weight off the second tree, then fell it directly against its lean, with a pull line (winch) and wedge back up. Safer is limbing and topping, which would require more branches to be handled or lowered so as to keep them from contacting the house on the way down.

 

[ShoerFast]

First of all, those don't look like any pine species I've ever seen....more like spruce or fir....

And more like 15 feet between the houses.

The trees appear to be rather easy for a pro arborist to remove....fall the first one, take some back weight off the second tree, then fell it directly against its lean, with a pull line (winch) and wedge back up. Safer is limbing and topping, which would require more branches to be handled or lowered so as to keep them from contacting the house on the way down.

What RB said!

Looking at the pictures, there possible Engelmann Spruce?

http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/wilderness/forest/engel.htm

The first tree is a cake walk, if there no wires or yard-hazards, but the second has a ton of mass on the messy side, it will look a lot worst with the first tree gone.

Spruce is a fairly tuffwood that seems to support a lot of tree on the hinge, a good candidate to fell against the lead with ropes and wedges,,,,,, after the tricky side has been trimmed!

 

[tek9tim]

Yeah, even I would be looking at an option involving a rope. Definitely want to avoid too much pressure on the rope, but if you even up your holding wood to where you want it, throw some wedges in just in case, and yard 'er on over.

 

[TDunk]

According to my size 13 feet, there's right aound 22' between the houses. As for the species, i'm pretty sure it's not fir, it looks like spruce but seems to be darker in color. I'll see if i can get a close up shot of it. I know this is a little bit above my head, but that's why i'm on here asking ?'s thanks for the help