Author Topic: Cottonwood 1 - House 0 (Read 2551 times)

Mark M · « **on:** January 15, 2003, 10:35:11 am »

An inexperience person tried to remove this tree and miscalculated where it would land. This happend just 4 days after the people next door moved into their brand new house.

When they went to remove the tree the boom on the crane also broke. No-one was hurt but it could have been a different story.

Mark

Jeff · « **Reply #1 on:** January 15, 2003, 11:51:23 am »

Welcome Mark!

Why would ya'll go and cut down the only tree you had in North Dakota?

Jeff · « **Reply #2 on:** January 15, 2003, 11:51:54 am »

And it was a dandy too.

Mark M · « **Reply #3 on:** January 15, 2003, 01:59:58 pm »

Yeah that's what I was thinking too. I sure would have hated to be the people who bought that house thinking they we getting a grand old cottonwood right next to it only to have it move into the living room!

There is another one down the road so we still have one tree left up here

Ron Scott · « **Reply #4 on:** January 15, 2003, 05:05:47 pm »

A lot of tree for an inexperienced person. Evidently not a professional tree company. It could have been a real "killer".
How about some follow up pictures of the removal?

Tillaway · « **Reply #5 on:** January 15, 2003, 05:12:42 pm »

Ouch... allot of houses around here looked like that a few weeks ago, but the wind was responsible.

georgetree · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2003, 05:14:31 pm »

Just curious. You say someone was trying to remove this tree but I don't see any evidence of chainsaw activity. No notch, no saydust. I do see evidence of serious decay at the root flair. Are you pulling our legs.

George

Tom · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2003, 05:18:56 pm »

Another New Member!!

Welcome to the forestry forum, georgetree.

I thought I saw a small wedge cut out of the near side like into part of a root crown. Maybe the tree fell backwards from what they expected.

Jeff · « **Reply #8 on:** January 15, 2003, 05:34:44 pm »

Thats what it looks like to me too. Probably decay and inexperience. What do you expect? They only got two trees and this one was practice. I'm sure they will do better on the one up the road.

Kevin · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2003, 05:44:43 pm »

I`d like to hear a little more on this.
Maybe they were attempting to winch it over while cutting it and the winch line broke sending it back into the house.

Tom · « **Reply #10 on:** January 15, 2003, 06:27:18 pm »

Yeah or the wake from a flying saucer trying to get away from a flight of F-105's was the last straw. The little green men took away their conscience as they went by and they left the tree unattended for a few minutes while they were being examined.

Don P · « **Reply #11 on:** January 15, 2003, 06:55:10 pm »

Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to. :-/

Jeff · « **Reply #12 on:** January 15, 2003, 07:04:46 pm »

O.K., you guys are starting to scare the new guy.

DanG · « **Reply #13 on:** January 15, 2003, 07:24:54 pm »

Wow, Mark. I can only imagine the feeling one would have, just after crunching someone's brand new house.

It would be kinda like when I was the main photographer at my sister's wedding, and the pictures came out blank.

I felt like a worm for 7 years, then they got divorced, and I felt better. :-/
Do you have any more pics of it? A good close-up of the actual cuts would make good educational material. A bad example, accompanied by the disastrous result, is worth a thousand pictures of perfectly felled trees. Sneak over there and snap a shot of the stump, if that's all that's left.

Mark M · « **Reply #14 on:** January 15, 2003, 07:32:01 pm »

Hi Everyone,

Here is another shot, you can see where they made the cut but I am not sure what they were trying to do. There is clearly some rot but it looks like they made 2 cuts. It must have broke off when it started to go over. I don't think the rope hooked 20 feet up the tree really helped much either

.
Its pretty obvious that these fellows didn't know how heavy this tree was. It's a good thing the lady and baby inside came out to watch the tree fall.

I don't have any pictures of the recovery. I later heard that they actually broke 2 booms trying to lift this thing. Unfortunatly those pictures were not in the paper.

Mark

Mark M · « **Reply #15 on:** January 15, 2003, 07:41:37 pm »

Here is a little closer shot of the cut.

DanG · « **Reply #16 on:** January 15, 2003, 07:54:57 pm »

Ahaa! Looking back at the original pic, it appears that the tree was severely limb-heavy, toward the house. A rope fastened only 20 ft up, had no chance of controlling the fall. It would have taken a stout cable hooked to a serious machine to avert the disaster. The rot in that stump should have been detectable, and the tree removed before the house was built. Otherwise, a pro, with proper equipment, should have been called in.

OneWithWood · « **Reply #17 on:** January 16, 2003, 09:06:17 am »

Welcome, georgetree

Get thee over to the member map and plant yourself a tree - the bio is optional but we all appreciate it!

Looks to me like Tom's meds are kickin' in real good

hawby · « **Reply #18 on:** January 16, 2003, 04:52:25 pm »

Well, I think the tree was seeking revenge for all of its brethern being sawed up and used to build the house

klh

sawyerkirk · « **Reply #19 on:** January 18, 2003, 09:17:40 am »

That's the #1 reason why I don't cut trees for people!! A few years back, a local guy called me after a horrible storm and said "I've got a huge walnut I'd like you to saw up for me" When I went to look at it, it was in a similar place as the cottonwood in the picture, eventually he got it out of his kitchen and we sawed some beutiful paneling for his new kitchen!!

Don P · « **Reply #20 on:** January 18, 2003, 11:50:49 am »

One friend told of cleaning up at his in laws after a bad wind had landed a tree on the roof. It took a little roll as he released a limb, he lost his footing and fell to the ground with a running saw through the crown of this tree. He walked out unhurt, talk about lucky. I've called in the pro's to drop 3 times around the house here, doesn't hurt my feelings at all.

dail_h · « **Reply #21 on:** January 19, 2003, 02:59:16 pm »

Mark,
You didnt cut that old cottonwood to have something to feed that new mill did ya??

Rob_Murphy · « **Reply #22 on:** January 22, 2003, 02:33:58 am »

Looks to me like it was at one time twin trunked hence the weighting to one side.The other trunk may have fallen some time back?

Tom · « **Reply #23 on:** January 22, 2003, 08:38:43 pm »

welcome to the Forestry Forum, Rob.

Hey, Another from down under. At this rate we'll have to buy some more books just to find out what is being grown and sawn. Get ready to do some teachin' Rob.

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Author Topic: Cottonwood 1 - House 0 (Read 2551 times)