I had 2 oaks taken out today that were a hazard to fall on my house/garage. The black (red) oak had a rotten stump and was leaning toward the house so they had to take that in 6+ logs, 6-10' long x 16-18" diameter. The butt flare was >24" but rotten. However the rot only went up about 10'. The whit oak was dropped as a single pole, 50' long and about 18' at the base. The first 32' are nice and clean and straight. I'm going to mill up the clean stuff into lumber. Neighbor/friend has a bandmill. The rest will be far-wood.
Mike I wish you'd talk to our neighbor. They have a huge red oak right beside the house. There is a huge hole at the bottom and, of course it is full of ants. When it goes, the house will go too. I just pray nobody is home when it happens. I've tried to get him to cut several oaks by the house and even offered to do most of them for him. I'd even leave him the wood. I'm more concerned with his young family being in danger. But, we can't force the work to be done.
Savage, it is unfortunate that you can't fix stupid, and if the worse happens it will be called a senseless tragedy, instead of a guy that was warned more than once and either too dumb or lazy to fix. Probably a nice guy but that's a hard way to learn.. The way to get it done in my state is to call their insurance agent cause they will force the issue as they have liability or power company sometimes works too..
I hear you! I have a neighbor in a mobile home with huge dead ash in his yard next to his house, at least 30" diameter and 70+' tall. Unfortunately, he can't afford to pay to get it removed. I wish that homeowner's insurance would pay for "preventative" tree removal, at least pay part of the cost. Just like car windshields.
Lot of nice wood you will get from those two trees MB... Especially like the white oak. Makes you wonder how many people who can't afford to take down these dying ash trees next to their homes will have big trouble in the next few years as they come down?
P.S. Huge shout out to Climb High Tree Service, LLC. of Lebanon, PA. They are great people, who do very excellent arborist work during the day, and do cat/pet removals on their "spare" time! You can't find a better team in Central, PA.
Update: I bucked the white oak down to 21 firewood rounds 16" long x 11-16" diameter = almost 1/2 cord. This left the butt log for lumber, 20' long x 16-20" diameter = ~275 bf. I measured up the 4 red oak saw logs at 6.5-8' long by 16-18" diameter = ~360 bf. Then, I also have all of the tops, limbs, etc. left for firewood, too, easily another 1/2+ cord. All told, I should wind up with 600+ bf of lumber and 1+ cord of firewood. Here's the white oak rounds, 2-deep
I had visions of grandeur a few years ago, thinking I'd buy my own mill. Then, when the power co. cut down some trees on our property, I helped a local guy mill up all the logs. Took us about 3 weeks, and 3-4 days each week. I don't think I ever worked harder in my life. Wouldn't mind doing some again, but a little at a time would suffice. He took his share and I stickered up mine. My total was close to 2000 bd. ft of 1x. He took all the 2x stuff. I get to live vicariously through all you younger guys doing this, and it makes me happy to see it.
