Why take down a tree?
- The tree is dead.
- Alive, but hazardous to home or property or people.
- Uprooted, leaning over/ toward house or car, unstable, storm damaged, etc.
- Dying by disease, insect infestation, or drought damaged.
- Lot clearing: at either residential or commercial building sites. This is the removal of multiple tagged trees in a particular area for a number of reasons: Home building or residential additions, office, parking lot development, a lawn installation, etc.
Q: How do we take down the tree?
There are different ways to do take trees down, and it depends on the tree size, shape, reach, location and health status.
- Notch and drop. Making a well planned cut at the base particularly chosen to direct the manner, speed, and direction the tree will fall.
- Climbing method, or the rope and saddle method, rope rigging. The experienced climber lifts himself into the tree, by throwing a climbing rope into the tree and raising himself up into it, secured by a series of special safety climbing knots and ropes. Branches are tied to a rope, and then cut carefully by Greg. He lowers them down. In the end only the stem is left.
- Some times we have to use a CRANE. We use a 35-ton, heavy-duty hydraulic crane. A crane is a vehicle / truck that is a large piece of machinery, and is assembled on site. It involves a system of pulleys and cables that can lift massive amounts of weight over a distance. It is able to lift heavy logs, trunks, branches, and many other things over structures that are too close to the tree to ensure a safe standard take-down method. A crane can hold and carry the limbs and trunk a distance, say from the backyard, passing over the pool, and over the roof of your house, past the front yard and to the curb.The crane is useful in several different kinds of circumstances:
- When trees are in precarious, enclosed, oddly angled or otherwise difficult locations.
- Trees that are difficult to reach, to get to with equipment are crane-ready.
- Trees that are leaning over a house pool, car, or entangled in electric wires, severely dead or badly decayed are crane ready to be sure.
Basically, trees that just cannot be safely climbed and taken apart piece by piece but rather plucked from it’s site, and lifted over, and away from the situation.
The crane eliminates a lot of the potential hazards that can present themselves in the takedown process. It protects the climber, the crew, the surrounding people, and property. It is always a site to see to be sure. The drama and the precision, the immensity and magic of a crane job is just magnificent. It is like a Vegas show: seeing Greg swinging from the trees working with the crane operator with hand signals, The crane operator astonishing courage and precision, and the chain saws going, and Greg securing each multi-ton limb or trunk with ropes, preparing them to be lifted and taken by the crane. Wow! The moments of tense silence as the tree is literally lifted high up in the air and over a customer’s house — exhilarating! The neighbors all come out to see the show…. It becomes a great block party for you, and heck; it becomes pretty nice advertising for us.
