I have a big maple in my yard to do so rented a lift today. The neighbor has a few he wanted gone too so I started over there, he's got a tricky one. It's a silver maple, not huge trunk but the crown was big and hung over two garages and a fence. I wanted to get that one done first. Started at 1:30 and quit at 9 when it got dark. First tree pieced down, everything went well. Only had 1 branch get away and hit the roof, not bad though. It's mostly cut up and ready for the next one in the morning. His second one isn't as bad and the one in my yard is going to be a fairly easy tree.
Rental was $275, not bad. Since I rented it today and they are closed tomorrow I get it for Sunday too.
You make it look & sound easy Smart, methodical, well thought out plan , hope your neighbor realizes how much $$ you are saving him !!! Good job waiting for tomorrow's pics & updates : You get the primo wood ? Right?
I'm not keeping the wood, I don't really need it and I have access to a lot better wood. I'm just cutting the big stuff into firewood size and he has some friends that want the wood. The smaller stuff he has a saw to cut up. I'll probably give away the wood from my tree too.
'Round here, maples (specially silvers) are known for snapping off big limbs where two meet. Must be a weak spot or something. It sounds like a good idea to remove the future threat of big branches bombing down on buildings and such, but man - you'd never see me up in one of those things nowadays. Good job handling that!
Always good to get trees away from falling on buildings. We worked hard doing that here. Glad to have it done. I have to hand it to you for being willing to go up in that thing. No way would I do that, not ever! Silver maples are way to brittle to have anywhere near a building.
I did 4 more trees today, I'm beat. Took another one down for my neighbor, that was also over two garages. (The other neighbor yelled at me for messing up her flowers) but other then that all went well. The tree in my yard was scary, 60' up and I needed another 15-20 feet to reach the top. Ended up topping it and dropping right beside the house. That one had me worried but it worked out well. Then I had a few hours of daylight left and went over to my brothers and took down two poplars. One was very dead and hollow, the other he just wanted gone. Long day but it was fun, and scary at times with the wind blowing.
I rented one of those trailer bucket lifts in 1999, to take down 3 maples hanging over my house and 3 more to cut back drastically in the front yard. The yard had limbs 6' high when I was finished cutting. Big maples. I am not afraid of heights, but it is very scary when any movement of the bucket allows a swing of about two feet until it comes to a stop. It is also very concerning that you are 60' up and the whole thing, on the ground is the size of a large boat trailer. Did a lot of trust but verify before I was comfortable. Never really got comfortable, but went all angles and extensions that weekend without any problems. I was younger then, than I am now, though.
