In the words of Cher… “If I could tuuuuuuuuurn back tiiiiiiiime. If I could fiiiiiiiiiind a waaaaaaaay. I’d plant this pretty oak tree not on top of the house.”
No doubt it started out a lot smaller, but it grew, and with it grew the danger of it messing with our house. So when the home inspector crawled out from having assessed the roots and their proximity to the foundation, we were sad (but not surprised) to hear him say “this tree has got to go.”
Even if we could somehow do a root-growth-suppression-rain-dance to get them to avoid the house’s foundation, we couldn’t deny that about 50% of the tree’s canopy was precariously suspended right over our house. So even if just one branch came down in a storm, it would most likely damage our new roof.
And it would be a lot worse than that if the whole thing came down. We’ve seen some pretty bad storms over the last couple of years here…
We even saw a tree come down on the house right behind ours in Hurricane Irene back in 2011.
So once we knew we needed to remove the deck tree, we seized the opportunity to take a closer look at other trees on the property that we feared were dangerous/dying with the help of an arborist friend and some notes left by the inspector, which ended up identifying a few other troublesome trees, including three in the front and another one in the back near the deck. Those in particular were too close to the house (and too big) for comfort or had holes/rot in the base or were partially hollow (YIKES!) which meant they could come crashing down a lot more easily than healthy, solid trees could.
We had actually used this crew way back in 2007 at our first house, where we had a crazy giant split tree that was dead in the middle. They’re called Shady Tree Service, and William is the head dude. He’s a really nice guy and I feel like we’ve watched each other grow up or something. He wasn’t married back then, and now he’s married with two kids. Of course John and I have since tied and knot and had Clara (and Burger) so it was fun to catch up with him.
It’s a pretty hardcore job if you ask me. Dude, there’s a man up there – even higher than the house. You know, just swinging a chainsaw around.
Here’s William in the bucket, taming the lower portion of the deck tree. There’s actually a whole lot of math going on in tree work (angles, momentum, trajectory, etc) – you know, just to make sure nothing swings INTO YOUR HOUSE, so it’s pretty amazing to watch.
This was the view out of the guest room window. No zoom here, this is just how close the tree was (and how careful William had to be).
It was also crazy to see how hollow some of the trees were. This picture doesn’t do this any justice (one Clara and approximately four Burgers could have fit into the hole).
Here’s an “after” of the back, now that those two trees are gone. Still leafy, but less tree-on-house action.
And here’s a front view when we bought the house…
… and the front view now that those three are gone. It’s a more dramatic difference than I think we were expecting (we were so hoping we could keep at least one of them) but we’re glad they’re taken care of and we don’t have to stress every time we hear that a storm is coming. It has also let more light into the house, should help us grow more grass to fill in our patchy hair-plug-ish yard, and is going to help keep our new roof dryer (which lengthens its life) along with discouraging any more rot in our siding and trim (we already have some of that to deal with).
So a few thousand bucks later (ouch), those five trees are gone and we have some nice peace of mind. Tree removal costs definitely vary by the size of the tree, how hard it is to get to (will they need a crane, etc), and where you live. But a general range for getting a medium sized oak tree down that’s near a house in our area might be between $1K-$2K. If you add others, each additional tree tends to be a lot less since a lot of the cost is just getting the crew and machinery out to your house. So you could get a $1K quote for one tree, but negotiate a $3K total to get five of them taken care of (especially if a few of them are smaller/easier to wrangle).
Oh and I have a few tree negotiating tips:
- get a bunch of estimates if you don’t already have a favorite tree guy (we didn’t get others this time because William’s the best and every friend we recommend him to confirms that his prices are always better than the rest)
- make sure they’re licensed and insured (seriously, I wouldn’t mess around with this because it’s such a dangerous job)
- if you’ve used the company before, you can score a better price by reminding them you’re a repeat customer
- save competitor coupons (in our area some tree folks put out coupons and most of them will honor someone else’s to get the job themselves)
- in general whenever I negotiate (John hates that part, so it’s all me) I like to smile after they toss out an initial number and say “is that your best price?” (then I just shut my mouth and listen, which usually results in some amount of money off, free stump grinding, or some other perk)
As far as projects go, this might have been Clara’s favorite to watch. She loved gazing at the wood chipper, seeing the guys up in the trees, and standing on the stumps. This one’s the big deck tree, which she loved most of all. We thought about leaving some of the stump on the deck to create a table base, but the location would put the table a bit too close to the house for it to be functional.
So instead, we decided to “keep” the tree in the form of a few fun little stepping stones that I asked the guys to cut before hauling the rest off to be chipped/recycled as mulch.
Those might look like you could lift them up and place them in that clean little line, but they each weighed a ton and could only be moved with the tractor that the guys had for hauling stuff, so it was fun to watch them shove them all into place with heavy machinery.
And how about this for an epilogue? Remember when John mentioned that we have some deer friends at the new house? Well, apparently they like us, because they love to sneak up on us. Take this shot for example. I was taking after photos of the trees gone and John saw this one hanging out right behind me. I didn’t even notice.
And then I did, and I took this picture. Sherry Petersik, wildlife photographer.
Then Burger barked and off it ran. So evidently we live in Fairy Tale Forest. Thank goodness we still have a bunch of leafy trees around to maintain the title…
Anyone else getting trees limbed up, trimmed, or removed? Couldn’t you watch a 24/7 show of people doing it? If HGTV’s wondering what programming to add, I’d totally watch an hour of guys taking giant trees down. Their lever-systems and crazy swinging contraptions are no joke.
Sara says
Just a year ago, we moved into our new home–choosing it in part due to the dozens of GORGEOUS pine and spruce trees surrounding it. Only to find out this spring that they’ve had long-time inhabitants–pine beetles. I just about cried when I found out that we’re going to have to cut down every last pine–a dozen trees. Ah, well. The spruce get to stay and it’s a chance to incorporate some new landscaping in the yard.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! So sorry Sara!
xo
s
RLR says
My favorite part is the tree stump stepping stones! What a fun idea!
Michelle says
I love the stepping stones. Did you ever consider saving one for use as a side table? I always seem them in catalogs and really want one.
YoungHouseLove says
We made on of those in our first house’s sunroom after getting tree work back in 2007 but it was a little buggy and gross under it (maybe we should have added legs to elevate it?) so we abandoned that idea this time around.
xo
s
bethany says
Great post! It is SO heartbreaking to take down trees, but to be a responsible homeowner sometimes, ya just gotta do it. Way better to be safe than sorry, and I truly think it makes the yard and home look better-cared-for and less “forest primeval”, ya know? We have a gorgeous & huge sycamore in the front that is romantic as all get out, but limbing that thing up is the name of the game due to the aggressive growth rate and brittle branches that come down in any kind of wind at all. High maintainance as they come because of the falling branches, bark, and HUGE leaves, but beautiful and worth the work. Lucky for us it isn’t too close to the house, but, it does have an enormous (literally, tree-sized) branch that goes out over the circular drive. That branch will be the next bad boy to become mulch. Thanks for the post and way to get it done!
Rebecca says
Did you contact your home insurance company to see if they would cover any of the tree removal?
We have one tree that is very close to our new house and hangs over it and the neighbors. We were wondering if our insurance company would assist with the cost of removal since they would be pay much more in the event it fell on our house.
YoungHouseLove says
It might be an urban legend but we have heard never to tap the home insurance company except in an emergency when you truly can’t pay for something since we hear the second you call them for something your rates go up and you can be flagged as high maintenance and pay a lot more over time just for your rates than you would if you just paid for the tree stuff yourself, so we’re completely not sure if it’s true, but commenters have said “oh yeah the second I got x paid for my rates went up so much that in a year or two it had more than paid for the work they gave me and then I was paying a higher rate from then out” – eeks!
xo
s
Alisa says
We just had some guys out to clean up our trees and remove two huge bush/tree things (still don’t know what the heck they were, but they were big) before we put our house on the market. It was $450 which killed the DIY lover in me, but there was no way we could safely do that ourselves. We have about 30 trees on our property that are HUGE and my husband and I are both terrified of heights. My dad cut off one of his fingers cutting down a tree when I was growing up (they were able to save the finger!), so I’ve sworn that trees must be left to the pros.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh, so scary about your dad! Glad they could save his finger!
xo
s
jennifer says
Check out your last paragraph, “Couldn’t you watch a 24/7 show of people doing it?”.
Really!?!?
YoungHouseLove says
Ok, so I totally missed that. And I think there are already networks devoted to that…
xo
s
Tiffany says
Hahahahaha! I missed it too. Thanks for the laugh Jennifer.
Jen says
We have never had a tree REMOVED, but we had 2 giant willow oaks in our yard at our last house that we had trimmed up. Even though the tree guy said they were super healthy and very anchored, those trees scared the pants off of me in storms.
At our new house in Roanoke, we had a big chunk of tree come off onto the house during that weird derecho storm that came through last July. Did you all get hit with that storn? Scared the pants off of me, as the limb was right up against my daughter’s room window. Luckily, no damage done.
You still have lots of gorgeous trees on that property, so at least it’s not like you had to get rid of ALL the green. Looks great.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, that was a crazy storm! It wasn’t quite as bad as Irene was for us (that had trees on roads and houses and cars everywhere we looked).
xo
s
Danielle says
I love that Clara has a shirt with a burger on it. She should get a shirt with Burger on it, too :)
Breanne says
and now I’m singing Cher all day…glad the tree went easily and not on the house during a storm!
Jessica says
That must be a relief! I love the giant stepping stones you kept for Clara. Every time I drive by a new house where someone has planted a tree six feet from the foundation, I shake my head. Do people really not know that trees grow? It’s even worse when it’s something that’s going to be big, like an oak or a maple.
We have five trees on our tiny lot, and they all annoy me. One is growing through the fence and one attracts all kinds of vermin when it drops its fruit everywhere. (It’s a walnut tree, and we’ve tried harvesting some of them and ended up with a horrible fruit fly infestation.) Those two are going as soon as we have the cash, but I can live with the others.
Jeanne says
Sounds like you got a great price! My last home had about six 100+ ft. oak trees in the front/back yard. One in the front copped a “lean” after a major storm blew through the area. We got a price of $3,000 to take down the one tree. Couldn’t afford it. We ended up selling and moving a few years later. The new owners told me they got a price of $9,000 to remove FIVE trees on the property. I drove by and saw they were gone, so I’m guessing the new owners paid that much. WOW. People don’t realize how much debris trees shed, plus the potential costs (and work raking, etc) trees are.
At my new (small) home we had one large Maple removed in the backyard for $1,200. The extra $200 was for an electrician to unhook the electrical (mine plus each neighbor on either side) because the wires were running thru the tree and would have interfered with removal.
YoungHouseLove says
Woah! That’s some serious money!
xo
s
Elizabeth says
We had a tree removed a few weeks ago and it was definitely expensive but worth it. I justified it because the removal cost was about 1/3 of our deductible on our homeowners insurance – so we would have had to pay more in the end if it caused damage to the house. (It was a 50 ft tall maple about 10 ft from the back door and had already dropped a large limb that poked a hole in the roof not to mention the roots growing around our foundation- YIKES!) Plus I love all the sunlight we get on the back of the house now :-)
Celia says
Are you considering planting any more trees in the front, farther from the house? You’ve said the house is on a nice, quiet cul-de-sac, but I could imagine the house looking lovely decades from now with trees like the ones you took down… only closer to the street!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! That’s the plan. We’d love to gain more close-to-the-street privacy with garden beds up there and then grass closer to the house that gets some nice sun and isn’t as bald.
xo
s
Carly says
I second making sure the arborist is licensed and insured!! We had a few trees that fell/damaged our roof in a big storm last year, and the insurance company was going to pay for their removal. But unbeknownst to us, the arborist we hired had NO credentials (just a good-looking business card) and apparently overcharged us. So the insurance company ended up bringing litigation against US because we had given the bill from the arborist to them…scary stuff!! It is all worked out now but it blew my mind how ridiculous the whole thing was.
Also did you have them get rid of the shavings from grinding up the stump? We had a terrible time getting grass to grow where the trees used to be, and later I read that the stump shavings have to be removed if you want to grow grass where they were. The wood shavings get too hot in the sun and burn any wood-be (would-be, get it??) grass roots. :-o
YoungHouseLove says
They hauled away a good amount but we still have little piles of it where the three in the front were. We’ll have to do some wheelbarrowing to get it into the woods in the back so we can plant grass in the fall.
xo
s
Natalie says
If you mix the woodchips with topsoil and then seed and water it should be fine. The woodchips will then act as mulch. You need to mix with the soil though.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Natalie!
xo
s
Karen L. says
What a hard job but a necessary one, for sure. You’ll adjust to the new look and be so glad you did it right away instead of waiting ’til you say, “Why did we wait until this happened before taking them down?” Good thinking—-love the stepping stones, too!
Tandra@LittleHousesBigDogs says
We live in Sacramento, the city of trees, and our trees are technically the property of the city? Even though they are on our property and our liability? However we really appreciate them in the Sacramento heat. (Air conditioning is hardly ever on and it saves moolah!) I loved the deck surrounding the tree though, have you considered a smaller one? A sister for your Japanese maple?
YoungHouseLove says
We definitely want to plant a few more maples and some trees closer to the street in the front as we establish the landscaping. For the deck though we just want to patch that hole so we can put a table and chairs out there without the hole taking up a lot of room and forcing the table too close to the railing on the other side.
xo
s
kate says
We have a number of trees that need to be removed. Unfortunately my town is an arbor town and it is very difficult to get approval to remove trees. I have two very large pines that are too close for comfort, one of which has torn my driveway to shreds and is leaning very precariously towards my neighbors house. The town has not approved my requests for removal. I get scared when we have a big storm!
christina @ homemade ocean says
That stump walkway is the cutest!
I bet Clara will have fun with that for years to come :)
Erin says
Cher related note – she is going to be on Watch What Happens Live on Thursday night on Bravo. Andy Cohen can barely contain himself.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, his excitement is hilarious. I want to DVR it just to see if his head explodes!
xo
s
Alicia M says
Sad to see the deck tree go, but totally understandable why it had to come out!
My dad actually owns and operates his own tree service in NW Iowa(Since 1991)! He has seen so many DIYers get seriously injured over the years and always preaches about hiring a professional. The $1K-$5K is well worth the money when you’re talking possible paralyzation or even death from falling from those heights.
I also read that another commenter traded a car for their tree removal… Just last month, dad traded some tree work for a new Green Mountain smoker/grill!! We had the BEST smoked pork-loin on it at Father’s Day! :)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome! Love a good trade.
xo
s
Hemma says
Please make sure there are no birds’ nests or squirrel nests in the trees!
This is a terrible time for wildlife rescue places as they are inundated with displaced animal babies when people take down trees in the Spring. If you can, please wait until later in the year.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, great tip Hemma!
xo
s
Greg says
Would this have a positive impact on your homeowner’s insurance?
YoungHouseLove says
Good question, we have told them we have an alarm system and got a new roof (two things that took down the cost, wahoo!) so perhaps we should call and say that we got 5 trees down and see if that moves the needle again!
xo
s
Heather @ Barefoot Crafts says
I love the wrap around bench-tree idea, but definitely not in the middle of my deck…not to mention termite/bug infestation is a real possibility with that proximity. Good choice on chopping her down!
Melanie says
The after picture of the front of the house… I thought at first that you painted the door yellow, but then I realized that it’s just the lighting… I think. ;)
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! Yes, that’s the lighting!
xo
s
Roo // NEON FRESH says
Wildlife up CLOSE! You’re basically turning into a Disney princess.
.:*?°?
YoungHouseLove says
Hahah! Call me Aurora.
xo
s
Roo // NEON FRESH says
Cool, all of my sparkles + stars emoticons disappeared.
YoungHouseLove says
WordPress ate them.
xo
s
Natalie says
My husband and I own a tree service. He enjoyed looking at your pictures today.
A couple of notes:
For insurance make sure they have WCB and Liability insurance and ask them to show you proof of insurance.
For costs – cheaper is not always better.
A referral is always great, but if you can’t get one look for a company that has an ISA Certified Arborist (International Society of Arboriculture)that will be performing or supervising the work. This is ESPECIALLY true if you are getting pruning done – you can’t imagine how prevalent bad pruning is. It’s at the point where people think it’s the norm when it’s just destroyed the tree. It takes work to keep your Certification and generally you will get real professionals. Also, if you are looking for a hazard rating or risk management for your trees look for someone with the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification. They have taken special training to look specifically at the risk factors of trees. You can look at http://www.isa-arbor.com for more information.
Costs: I know the prices seem high but there are a few reasons for that. One, the overhead of this business is absolutely astronomical. That bucket truck shown – brand new runs around $150,000. The wood chipper – $$45,000. The stump grinder – $20,000. (Yes of course cheaper used but still very, very expensive). WCB is very high as well since it is an incredibly dangerous business. Then there is paying workers that need to be skilled enough to do the work safely and productively. Fuel is rising and is used in all equipment – you don’t even want to know what our monthly fuel costs are. Price will also differ from area to area based on cost of living. Those 5 trees where I live would have cost closer to $5000.00 including stump grinding and the profit would have been only a few hundred dollars. This is not a business you get rich in, believe me! Remember too that these guys will often put in a 40 hour work week then spend another 10 – 15 hours giving estimates and that time needs to be compensated for, even if the estimate is “free” to you it gets built into the costs of the tree.
Just some thoughts from the other side.
Looks like they did a great job!
YoungHouseLove says
So interesting! Love the tips!
xo
s
Ann says
I’m an art teacher and with one of my students I spent a significant amount of time trying to help him create a chess board out of a tree “cookie” — we experimented with over 15 slabs of wood, similar to your stepping stones, but much shorter. Ours were between 2 and 5 inches tall and 2 to 2.5 feet in diameter. Every single tree cookie cracked. We tried all kinds of online suggestions for avoiding the cracking. I hope yours are thick enough that they don’t crack!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, they’re super thick. Maybe about 8″?
xo
s
Crystal @ 29 Rue House says
Generally I’d be sad to see trees go (setting aside the fact that they’re a hazard to you and the house) but in the end the house still looks great! That must have been a blast watching them…sometimes the kids and I get totally enthralled just watching the garbage or recyling truck/men. I wish I had deer (and chickens, actually) in my backyard – so cool!
Teri says
Looks great. you’re lucky, in SC it takes an act of congress (or at least a few times in front of city council) to cut down ANY oak tree. Even if the roots are growing in your house.
YoungHouseLove says
No way! Wow!
xo
s
Lydia K says
Yowza, thanks for the heads up on the price of this job. We have a cluster of tall, skinny gumball trees in our front yard that just pepper the yard, driveway, porch, everything with those nasty little things every spring and fall. I want them gone so bad, but if I have the choice between installing new hardwood floors and knocking down some annoying, but so far not dangerous trees, I think I’ll pick the hardwoods. Sigh.
Our back neighbor with whom we share a fence recently cut down a big, mature Bradford Pear, and it was fascinating to watch. My first reaction, though, was to well up with tears because it meant a huge loss of privacy and shade to our own yard. Guess we’ll need to be planting some new trees back there, stat. I found a great article not long ago that mentions pros & cons to planting semi-mature trees, and shares all sorts of helpful info about necessary light, planting zones, etc. Worth a look :)
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20355714,00.html
Suzannah says
Oh man, this makes me sad, sad, sad. I can clearly see the deck tree was much too close, but the front trees too?! :(
YoungHouseLove says
I know, I really wanted to keep two or at least one of the front ones, but the inspector and the arborist both waved their red flags (there was a lot of rot, and the one I really wanted to keep – the one on the right in the front – was crazy hollow when they cut it down). Boo hoo!
xo
s
Emily G. says
My dad used to do tree work many (many) years ago as a side job on him lonesome. He would take me and my brother and sister to jobs with him. After he cut all the upper branches off of the larger trees, he would tie a rope to the top and hand us the other end. It was our job to pull the tree down in a certain direction – away from the houses- while he cut across the bottom. At the time I guess no one gave a second thought to their tree trimmer showing up with three grade school kids to get the job done.
Mary | lemongroveblog says
Yikes – pricey, pricey! But certainly cheaper than replacing a roof ;) Love that you guys kept the stumps – that is such a fun idea to keep them as part of a nature jungle gym. Love it!
Jes says
We have cut down about 40 trees on our (1 acre) lot since we moved in 4 years ago. Most of them were pine trees that made us nervous because of house proximity and dead ash trees. We have done most all of them ourselves though so that helps the ol’ pocketbook. It is neat watching my fiance and his family cut down a 60′ tree (not needing pieced out, we just drop it then hack it up once it is on the ground) and then being able to use (almost) all the wood the next winter to heat our home.
Lynn @ Our Useful Hands says
Well this certainly is the time for tree cutting. We see trees with rope tied around them all around town right now. It’s hurricane season and FL is no joke when it comes to lightning strikes and falling trees. This reminded me of a Renovation Realities I saw recently where the guy was trying to take down a tree and didn’t put much thought into it I guess because it fell towards him instead of away and he almost got smooshed to death on his very own episode. Poor guy…
My best, Lynn
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh, so scary!
xo
s
Melissa says
Wow, we had a quote to get 3 trees removed and when it came in at $6,000 we said no thanks! I couldn’t believe they were asking so much, especially since the trees are right next to our street. I guess we better get some more quotes!
Helen says
We had a tree fall on our house in Washington when I was growing up, so even though its sad to see them go, it is sooooo much better for peace of mind! Glad you guys won’t have to be biting your nails anymore during storms.
Adley K says
Sherry, your suggestion about HGTV adding an hour of guys taking giant trees down totally reminded me of an article I read in the New York Times about this phenomenon going on in Norway where the country’s most popular TV program recently was an 8-hour long depiction of a fire burning in a fireplace. About 1 million people (20% of the country’s entire population) tuned in at some point during the show! Norway also has had an 18-hour live stream centered on salmon swimming up a river and a 7-hour program dedicated to a train ride from Oslo to Bergen. I’m with you Sherry, I would totally watching guys take down large trees (perhaps shirtless as well?!)!
Here is the NYT link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/world/europe/in-norway-tv-program-on-firewood-elicits-passions.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
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betty says
i have so many trees in my yard ( 2 acres in powhatan) and my house is always shaded and the ground stays so damp. i have quite a few large oaks about 40ish feet RIGHT in front of my house that i want to get rid of, along with some other random ones in the front yard, but i know how expensive it will be. blah.
Jen says
Next thing you know, the deer will be taking a seat on your log stools and the chipmunks will come out and the bunnies will hop up and it will all be very Snow White-esque. :-)
It is sad to need to cut the trees, but great that you get more light! $3000 is nothing compared to what a bad wind storm could’ve done.
Lindsey d. says
Don’t forget to consider access to the tree that needs to come down as well. My backyard neighbor is getting quotes on a 70-year-old, dead water oak (at least 100 feet tall, no joke), but whoever does the job will have to come through my backyard, pull up a chain link fence (and put it back) to get to the tree. My neighbors have no space to get around their house to it. So far, they’ve had quotes between $2,500 (for someone to scale it and chainsaw it down) to $5,000, which would involve a crane. Of course, the cheap guy doesn’t have a guarantee to protect MY lawn, but since the tree is going to fall on my house if/when it comes down, I guess I’ll take it.
My question — why don’t homeowner’s insurance companies have a program to help homeowners with improvements that mitigate risk? It would cost them A LOT more than a couple grand if the tree came down on a house!
YoungHouseLove says
So true! The insurance company had to repay our neighbors to basically rebuild half of their house after the tree landed on it!
xo
s
Linda says
What happens if you (or a future owner) change insurance companies? How is the company that paid out for proactive tree removal reimbursed? I suspect underwriters have looked at this and it’s not as cost-effective to the insurance carrier as you and I would think.
Although, once you’ve mitigated risk, doesn’t hurt to let the insurance company know.
YoungHouseLove says
Great points Linda!
xo
s
Kevin j says
Love seeing trees come down. Had a thought combining the tree takedown and the japanese maple — ‘ja ever think of planting it in the hole in the deck where the oak used to be?
YoungHouseLove says
We did wonder if that would work for a second, but then we realized we wanted to just fill the deck in so we could place furniture in a more centered arrangement instead of smooshing it to one side. And we liked the idea of looking out at our maple in the backyard with other trees around it.
xo
s
Kelly {the Centsible Life} says
We just did the same thing a few weeks ago, only it was about 14 trees! YIKES! The previous owner planted too many close together, and they were in such bad shape. Some hollow, one leaning way too far to the side, and loads of cramped pine trees.
It’s a little scary to start over in our backyard (and we have SO much to do!) but it’s also a relief to have those giant trees down!
Here’s what it looks like: http://www.thecentsiblelife.com/2013/05/pressing-reset-on-the-backyard/
Corinne says
Glad you were able to get everything taken care of so quickly! I know how scary trees and proximity to homes can be, so you definitely made the right call to get the one in the back removed. My step-dad’s truck was nearly totaled when a tree about that size came crashing down on it during Hurricane Irene.
Oh, and for the deer, get them a salt lick as well as a bucket of dried corn to fill each day. My parents have deer that come into the yard every single day. They’re definitely not afraid of people either. Give them a couple weeks and they won’t be afraid of Burger either!
Jennifer @ Miller Musings Blog says
We have one in our backyard that needs to be cut down, (too close to the house, half dead, in the way of where we want to build a deck), we just keep putting it off because of the cost. It’s so expensive! We’re hoping to get it done in the next month or two so we can get to work building a deck to enjoy this fall!
Alecia says
We had 33 (yes, 33!) trees removed from our front and back yard last year and my son who is Clara’s age was mesmerized by watching them work each day. In fact, it inspired his construction-themed birthday party last year. :)
The best part, though, has been this year. This Spring so many things sprouted and bloomed that I had no idea had been there before. Because of all the sunlight our yard now gets, we have 2 gigantic 5 foot tall hydrangea bushes (that didn’t even exist last year), some gorgeous Hostas, gardenias and more. I was expecting to need to plant a lot but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by what already existed there. Maybe you guys will have the same experience. It should be interesting this time next year to see what has sprouted in the sun.
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that would be fun to discover what’s hiding out there!
xo
s
Anja says
There really is a deer in your yard? How cool is that!
And I agree, having a huge tree like that so close to the house is scary. We have had a major storm here last week, and there were lots of uprooted trees and branches falling onto cars. Luckily not in our street, but I have seen some of the damage and count myself lucky.
Mary says
Would you mind sharing the total cost of this project? I’m in west end and also have 5 trees near the house that need to come down. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
It really depends so much on the location of them (if the need a crane to get to them) how thick they are, etc. It was a few thousand dollars for us to get these five trees taken care of, but it could be a lot cheaper or a lot more expensive depending on what you’re dealing with on your lot. I would definitely get a few estimates just to be sure no one’s giving you “West End pricing” if you know what I mean!
xo
s
Janie says
Glad that you guys took care of that, we had a small tree fall on our house during the last storm. SO SCARY! It helped with our decision to get rid of most trees in our yard. On a side note, did you guys hear about DOMA being overturned? Score one for Marriage equality!!!