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Rupe

Rupe

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I went to look at this oak tree last night. Its to be removed. We had a crane operator with us but he said he couldn't fully rig his 30ton crane in that space between the houses and wouldn't be able to take peices and rotate them out to the road. He would only be able to take a pick and then put it down in the back gardens.

It seems like an ideal situation for a skyline running over the garages between the houses and out to the front but the decay on the main stem is a big concern.

There is a tiny amount of space at the rear, the tree is not in either garden but its over the back fence in a narrow strip between the two rows of houses with just enough access for a car and trailer or atv.

My guess so far is to rig the left stem into the left garden, the right stem into the right garden and the center stem, with the decay, which leans backwards, into the narrow gap behind.

The job is for the local council and money appears to be no object, it must be done. No other companies have bid for it as they say its unsafe to climb or rig from. I climbed it last night in high winds and although it has an unpleasant twisting type sway, I think if its rigged in small peices it should be ok.

Any opinions appreciated.
 

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Looking at that pic again it looks as though you can see straight through the lower part of the decay. Thats definatly not the case. The decay goes back to approximatly one third of the trunk in depth and is sound at the sides.
 
doesnt looktoo spready.....and the left stem looked sounder than the right, could you run 2 anchor points for safety, one from the tip of each main fork and piece it out by hand without rigging?
hard to make a call on a tree without being there
maybe you could call a pro? /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
They tried all the pros already! Left stem is a bit lower than the main one but might do as an anchor, might even be able to rig the main one of it, with a bit of playing around! Can't piece the main one by hand though. The drop zone is like 3x3 feet!
 
well when you do the job if you want me to come over and talk you through it dont be afraid to call /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
seriously though.....it looks to me one of those trees that you could stare at for hours, but in the end it just has to come down with a lot of careful tip toeing around the tree. i had one yesterday, i wish i had got some shots of. it was an acacia which had been set light to. the tree was dead and all the ivy and bark all scorched. smack bang in the middle of a crowded graveyard too.
 
You said that the tree is in an area where you can get a car/trailer or atv. Can you dismantle a section or two of the fence and get a chipper nearby? Maybe you can blow the chips onto the ground between the garages or give them to the folks for mulch.

When faced with bad access and a fences I've given clients thre prices. One, if we can take the fence down carefully and rebuild when we're done. this takes the responsibility of making the old fence picture-perfect. I've also told clients that I don't want the responsibility of touching the fence, they must remove the sections. the third is if the fence stays up. The first two prices are what I would feel comfortable doing the job for. If we can't get the fence down I jump the price to a rate that I won't get the job. This shows them how important it is to have access.
 
If money isn't their concern and no other companies want to do the job, I'd say take your time and make the extra effort to be safe. Do it the way you know you can without taking chances and price it for 1.5 times that! Then, you won't be pressured to take a shortcut or to be ballsy. Use that GRCS and controil everything. /forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Problem is the tree is owned by the local council not the home owners. Its stands in about an 12 foot gap between two back yard fences and spreads out over 4 back gardens in total. The howmowners dont want the mulch nor do they want us in there gardens or taking down fences. We've over come them letting us into the gardens by using a bit of diplomacy but we still can drop stuff onto the lawns.

The 8 foot gap between the fences does widen to the left into a small grass area which has footpath access which we could get a chipper into and chips could be left there. The main problem is the tree still needs to be rigged and the main stem is a bit unstable.

Personally I think it will be ok and have given my price. We'll wait and see.
 
Back in college days, early 70's, I was taken with the idea of geodesic domes. They are the best structure for enclosing an area. Strong and they use the least materials. One of Bucky Fuller's concepts was "tensile integrity" Follow a couple of the links in Wiki and you can read more. If a force is applied the whole structure absorbs the energy and deflects. In more typical structures a load is applied and deflected on a point to point manner instead of a sheet deformation.

Look at a tent or tarp that's made using catenary cuts instead of straight lines. The skin becomes a part of the structure. Take a look at the Denver airport terminal.

By tieing lots of points in the tree together any point load should be distributed through the whole structure. Look at what spiders can do.

The avatar is a mailbox on Highway 61, Dylan anyone? :), north of Duluth. Ever since I was a kid I'd seen the loader. Before I left MN I spent a weekend on the North Shore saying good-byes to the Woods and Water. Drank my fill of Lake Superior water. On the way back down I saw the mailbox and needed to get a pic.
 

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How about putting a crane on the far side of the gardens with the boom straight up. another set up the same way on the near side. ropes run through both booms & over the tree. slack the line so that the climber can tie the limbs on. tension the rope. lower the crain on the near sode like a zip line. may be a bit complex, but it'll get 'er done.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I went to look at this oak tree last night. Its to be removed. We had a crane operator with us but he said he couldn't fully rig his 30ton crane in that space between the houses and wouldn't be able to take peices and rotate them out to the road. He would only be able to take a pick and then put it down in the back gardens.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ever thoughd about a bigger crane and place it on the street? The company we hires for a crane job has cranes from 0 to 250tons. They simple messure the flight of the boom till the object and they can tell from the cranes specs what the max lift can be. With a 30toncrane its maybe a 2-4 hours to get the limbs and trunck down in the gardens and with a 70 tons crane maybe half a day and all wood on the street. So in totall a bigger crane makes less effort in cleaning up i quess? (and therefore a reduction in costs or at least going even?)

rgrds Ronald
 
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