Tree on house

[Norm_Hall]

Last week I was at our California office last week and this tree just fell over at 6:30AM. No wind, rain, construction, etc. The house was being remodeled and no one was inside at the time.

 

[Norm_Hall]

You can see at the root ball there are no roots on the right side (dry root). By the time I got there, the crew had already removed the brush and some of the top. The base measured 38" and at the gutter line was 25". The tree was in the neighbors yard and fell on our clients roof. The neighbor declined to pay for any of the tree removal.

 

[Norm_Hall]

There was some structural damage to the roof and inside ceiling.

 

[Norm_Hall]

Ceiling damage.

 

[Norm_Hall]

We figured the safest method to remove the wood was a crane. The farthest pick would be from 115 feet. We figured the weight of that pick would be 7,000 pounds. The crane company wanted to use their 200 ton Liebherr crane. They set it up in the middle of the street. 156' of boom is out in this pic. There was 1 more section if they needed it.

 

[Norm_Hall]

First pick was around 5,500 pounds.

 

[Norm_Hall]

On the next pick, we were going to take the rest of the log out. The client asked why. "Can't you just take the log off my roof and lay it in his yard and leave it". So, that's what we did. The neighbor wasn't happy, but understood. He didn't want to pay us to have the rest removed. He said he was gonna cut it up for firewood. The species was Incense Cedar.
Happy cutting.

 

[TreeDr]

Thats a lot of pencils sitting there!! /forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Whats with the pole clip in the last pic?

 

[flying_kiwiman]

[ QUOTE ]
You can see at the root ball there are no roots on the right side (dry root).

[/ QUOTE ]

Norm,

What exactly is dry root? Is it a fungus of some sort??

you said before "no rain, wind or construction" but i wounder what has happened in the past to weaken the root system? Was there construction done in the past close to the tree? or the garden re-layed?

I take it there must have been a reason that the rootsystem has decayed.

Jelte

 

[Norm_Hall]

We used the pole clip to clip away from the window beneath.
When I said "dry root", I meant to say dry rot. Sorry. The right side roots were very decayed, plus the tree was leaning towards the house it fell on.

 

[limbsurfer]

Norm,

I used a cable choker with a ferrule and sliding hook for the spar of a removal I did with one of the guys from your Dulles office. It worked well. When I shopped around for this style of choker I found warnings that state they are not to be used for overhead lifting -- skidding only. Any liability concerns? Also, do how do you tie into the block when using a multi-part load line?

 

[klimbinfool]

I was going to mention that it was a incense cedar and a nice size one to boot . looks like it got just a little to much watering over the years and couldnt handle it . MAkes good for split rail fenceing.

Greg

 

[Mark Chisholm]

Looks like that to me as well Greg. Norm, do you know if that house used a sprinkler system for that green lawn?

I used a crane service for a while that liked the sliding chockers. It was a bit hard to use, but very adjustable. I'm only guessing here, but I wouldn't think that the sliding chockers used by so many crane companies would be "not for overhead lifting". I would assume that they are different than the skidding cable types?

 

[Norm_Hall]

Jelte,
I forgot to mention that I had the pleasure of meeting your father at our Mt. Vernon, NY office. So, you are a second generation Arborist like me, and some other folks on TreeBuzz.

 

[Norm_Hall]

Limbsurfer,
That choker was supplied by the crane rental company. I'm sure if they didn't trust it to lift objects off of a house, they wouldn't use it. I personally don't like using them. We prefer an eye & eye choker with a screw pin shackle, when we use wire rope.

Mark,
I didn't notice any lawn irrigation systems at that residence, but alot of them do have it. Just because I didn't see it doesn't mean there wasn't one. As you can see in the pics, the lawn was long. More than likely there was one. I did notice that the base of the tree was in a low area. Water could have collected at the base of the tree.

 

[tinman44]

WELL wouldnt the neighbor be liable for that tree? did the home owner take pictures? i believe and its obvious its the neighbors tree, that he would be liable for damages and cost of removal. correct me if i'm wrong i'm not a lawyer, but i would be taking that guy to small claims i tell ya

 

[TreeDr]

In my experience..... The neighbor can be held liable if they had prior knowledge of a hazardous condition. Other than that, it is labeled and act of God.

 

[Teti]

I agree. If it falls on your property it's your possesion. They did the right thing leaving the log sinse it was still on the owners property.I've had a lot of disputes over that one. /forum/images/graemlins/afightee.gif

 

[Tom Dunlap]

I've talked with several insurance agents and claims adjusters about trees that cross property lines. All of them gave me this explanation, with a variation. The insurance companies split things at the property line. Think of this, after a storm you have a willow branch poking through your roof. You go driving around trying to find that willow but can't find even one willow. Who gets the bill? It's on your property, your company pays.

Sometimes your insurance company would go after your neighbors if they felt that it was worth the lawyer's fees. Most times it isn't. There might be an exception if the claim were large and involved personal injury.

 

[cory]

Tom you're right, but I was wondering about the part where they picked the neighbor's tree trunk off the client's roof and set it back in the neighbor's yard where it came from.... it makes sense to me to do it that way but I wonder if it works legally speaking...once the neighbor's reasonably healthy-looking tree falls onto the client's house, the client is responsible for cleaning up all that is on his property....if the neighbor had said NO to allowing the tree trunk to be put back into his yard, would the client legally be entitled to put it there anyway, or once it falls into his yard, maybe he owns it and putting it back into the neighbor's yard would be no more permissible as a way to get rid of it than driving a block away and puttting it on a stranger's front lawn???

I'd have to guess it's not legal to put it back where it came from because if it is legal, why not dump all the chips and rest of the logs in the neighbor's driveway instead of paying to dispose of them?