Mission Impossible

[RopeShield]

Impossible in the tree rigging scenarios.
What did you do or in hind sight what could you have done.
Besides crane or lifts of any description or neighboring tree.
Just some bed time pondering

 

[Jeff]

A) Erect scaffolding around the tree and dismantle it, twig by twig. You can rent scaffolding fairly cheaply.
B) Add up the replacement costs of everything you'll destroy (swingset, shed, landscaping, etc) if you drop the tree whole. If replacement cost is significantly less than any other removal options, let 'er rip!

 

[JeffGu]

"You might want to call your insurance company to report the loss of a valuable tree to fire."
"But, my tree isn't on fire!"
"It will be by the time you get off the phone."

 

[rawtree]

When I work with stone dead and decaying trees (for that matter, any questionable tree) I set a line in the top of the tree, with a throw line and preferably in the top main anchor point stem, and then start pulling and yanking on the tree from all directions. The first thing that happens is all the little shit starts falling out and you don't have to worry about that stuff unexpectedly dropping on you or your crew as your moving around in the tree later on should you decide to continue on and climb the tree. Once I've done this pull test from the ground I know, before entering the tree, that if nothing big broke out or failed that I am confident that nothing I do up in the tree will come anywhere close to what I did to the tree while I was still on the ground. All of this goes without saying that you're not going to be roping much of anything due to the shock and swing momentum that you would be transferring to the stem below you. If I have to do much of any limb walking I will take a rigging line and clip it into the back side of my ring cambium saver, that my climbing line is attached to, and then marl (half hitch) the rigging line down the stem to a point on the truck that is strong enough to catch everything (including me!) should my anchor point stem fail. Knock on wood...

 

[Brisbane Arborist]

C. Walk away and let someone else do it, preferably when quoting the job.
D. Load up the price so you have options.

 

[Steve Connally]

Ditto the above post. Walk away or price it through the roof

 

[Gorman]

Anyone have any pics of using scaffolding on a sketchy tree? This makes me curious. I wonder how long it takes to set up 50' of scaffolding and take it down

 

[Tom Dunlap]

This came from a thread in 2007. The guy worked for a scaffold company so he set it up for himself. There were other pics too. He'd cut/toss the tree in small pieces then remove the scaffolding.

This is a great idea. Worth talking to a scaffold company about.

 

[Gorman]

Wonder how long that takes to set up

 

[SRTsteve860]

that scaffolding technique only seems viable for trees that are narrow, not much crown spread or multi leaders otherwise that would take a tremendous amount of scaffolding.

-Steven

 

[Jeff]

not much crown spread

Or just multiple setups of the same set of scaffolding. (Left side branches, right side, back, front, trunk, etc.) I'm certainly not saying it's ideal, but scaffolding rental is pretty cheap compared to a large crane, easily carried by hand, erectable on virtually any surface and any terrain, easily conformable to any shape and sometimes may be the only option.
Remember in 1984 when they completely enveloped the Statue of Liberty? (Google it Steve, I know it's before your time)

 

[wyoclimber]

I was -2 when they did that to the Statue of Liberty.

 

[JTree]

Never thought about scoffolding. Interesting. Who knows, maybe comps in the future will have a scaffolding event. Not viable for everything, but it does make a lot of impossibles possible.

 

[SumoClimber]

I've spent a bit of time working with scaffolding in other industries, it can go up surprisingly quickly when everyone knows what they're doing. It looks like he braced it to the tree in that picture, have to take care not to put any side load on it, small pieces. A ring scaffold surrounding the tree would be self-supporting and much more stable, but use 4-6 times the pipe as well as the time factor. They even make heavy duty scaffolding that could be used for rigging. Museums and churches move statues this way all the time, for example.

 

[evo]

The guy I work for has a story of using scaffolding for a tree removal. But it was to protect the garden, so it was more like a stage around the tree and garden beds. Lowered wood on to the plywood platform and rolled it right into the truck.

 

[KevinS]

C. Walk away and let someone else do it, preferably when quoting the job.
D. Load up the price so you have options.

I understand bid high, but if you have no plan you have no idea how long it'll take so how do you bid high? Options are good but you have to have some thought or idea on how to do it if you're bidding.

 

[John_KAYS]

Do it this way.