Connecting with my inner lumberjack

During a recent high wind event I was woken up by this:



That is my bedroom the top of that tree is leaning against.  I was exceedingly fortunate there was no damage.  The real weight is out of the frame, but I didn't apparently keep any pictures to show that.  I hadn't originally planned on posting this until Shannon recommended it.

The main weight of the tree was not, however fully to the ground, it was in part leaning on the house (again, fortunate on the lack of damage).  So care was going to be required.  This was not going to be a job to do alone, so I got assistance.  After putting on the necessary protective equipment, we first sought to see if we could put a rope around the tree and pull it about 5 feet to get it to the ground while we stood a safe distance away.  This was not plausible, so we got more PPE and broke out the saws.  At various times we used a sawzall, chainsaw and simple loppers depending on the needs.

There are the obvious items, like eye protection, hard hat, gloves and boots, but proper long sleeves and pants are critical.  There are so many opportunities not just for getting scratched by thin branches, but also puncture wounds.  It was not a particularly hot day, which is good, so it definitely reduced the inclination to reduce layers.

We slowly worked our way in (from the opposite side of where the picture was taken), cutting back branches that were not taking weight to get them out of the way.  When we got to the key branches that would let the tree finish falling, we tied things off to ensure what fell went where we needed it to.  My house being as old as it is has required tree work before and I've learned some over the years about how to ensure things fall where you want. I cannot emphasize enough the usefulness of rope doing this work.

Once down to the ground, we continued to cut it into smaller pieces.  Smaller branches are to be fed to a chipper when time allows.  Larger ones and the trunk are to become firewood for the neighbors (as I don't have a fireplace myself).  

Here are the main takeaways.  One, I should have had that tree cut down years ago.  It was not a good match for the neighborhood in how tall it got.  It was not far from our powerlines to begin with (the part that fell went away from the power lines, so no risk from the power lines doing what we did) and was too close to the house given the height and clearly under other conditions could have brought the roof in..  There is still one segment standing and I shall be having people come in to deal with it, because of the power lines.  Second is a reminder not to attempt this work solo.  While it could have been done, it would not have been as fast and definitely not as safe.  And finally, I did trip the safety on the chainsaw twice, my technique is not that practiced and I'm grateful it is there.