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.
Megan says
Glad you took care of them before they damaged your house! We have one tree that needs removed. It lost some limbs in an ice storm and knocked into our neigh it’s RV and our gutters. It’ll come down eventually but it’s our only big tree. Our neighbors has a few but I hate losing it. We have a tiny Japanese maple but will have to replace the big guy with something. Love to provide a place for birds to be, oxygen to be made and of course, something pretty to look at.
Shannon {Our Home Notebook} says
It’s sad you had to take all the big front trees out but it looks like there are some younger ones coming up! And the piece of mind and safety of your house are so important.
My husband and his brother took down a small birch from the front of our house that had died this spring. Thankfully it was much smaller so it wasn’t too bad, but those big ones are so hard. I love that you were able to get those wood stepping stones from them. Cute!
KENDRA says
It would have been neat to see a picture of the deck after the tree was gone out of it, and tell us the plan for the hole in the deck spot there. I guess that will come with a later post when you guys tackle it :)
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, we’re planning to fill that hole in with deck boards and hopefully when we stain it we’ll have a seamless look!
xo
s
Sarah says
What a great post! My dad is a tree guy in NOVA so I’ve been around men swinging chainsaws high in the air my whole life. I love that you guys took the time to show this process and how key it is not only to safety but also design and landscaping. Glad you all got those dangerous trees removed!
PS, loved the Japanese maple post too! My parents have one in their yard that was transplanted from one of my dad’s clients in Loudoun and it is beautiful 15 years later!
Allen says
Thank you, in advance, for posting a new backyard layout sketch that includes the tree stumps for perspective/direction!
And maybe a few deer for good measure!
;-)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Michelle says
Looks great! I’m glad you took them down! Sunshine, sunshine, sunshine! :-)
Sherry, there is a show… Ax Men on the History Channel! http://www.history.com/shows/ax-men
YoungHouseLove says
NO WAY! I’m about to DVR this baby.
xo
s
Michelle says
ha ha! You crack me up! It’s been on for 6 seasons! Enjoy!
Jenn @ HomeStyleReport says
We had to do the same thing a couple of years back to three large maples on our property. Our backyard was a mud pit since it never got any sunlight and the one in the front was growing into our sewer lines. Our arborist said that roots can continue to grow for 7 years so just a heads up there if you didn’t already know that…I’m sure you did. We just have to treat the line to clear out the roots and scope it occasionally to make sure it’s still good. We did get a stink eye from one of our neighbors for cutting down mature trees but they weren’t healthy and were causing damange. Sooooo glad that expense is over – now we have grass!!!!
Carly says
We love the deer in our yard too, but just in case you guys aren’t aware (and we learned the hard way this weekend), deer ticks are called that for a reason!!!
Our 3-year old daughter kept saying she had a bug bite on her foot this weekend, and it was the teeniest thing I’d ever seen…and it was a deer tick. The deer love to come through our yard every day, and they tend to sleep in our neighbor’s yard, so just be aware! If you ever see a ‘bullseye’ on sweet little Clara (or yourselves), get to the doc quick so that you won’t have Lymes disease for life!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Carly! We’re doing lots of tick checks on Clara and Burger!
xo
s
Jennifer says
Great post! We have a black walnut in the back that is so annoying as it sheds little green bitter walnut fruits in the fall and we have to pick them up before the dogs try to eat them, they get caught in the mower, or the walnut oil stains the porch. We have heard the wood is valuable and are hoping to get a few appraisals done. Our neighbor had a lumberjack PAY HER $3K to cut her old tree down. That would be awesome.
The front yard looks so great! Much more bright!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh, that would be amazing!
xo
s
Erin @ The Impatient Gardener says
We recently had to have a handful of trees removed as well and it’s always amazing what a difference it makes when they are gone. For some reason it’s easier to envision what something will look like when something is added than when something is removed. I have one more tip about negotiating with tree guys. I’ve found them to be very open to a discussion of trades. We once paid a tree removal guy in the form of an old winch from a boat and winch handle, neither of which we were using and had been sitting in storage for years. Others are open to design work for a website, photography, etc. And the other tip is to ask your neighbors if they need any tree work done. If a tree crew has the opportunity to cut down 10 trees insteade of 3 the price will go down and he’ll give a price break. And, even though this sounds sketchy, I’ve found that offering to pay in cash often drops the price another $100 or so.
YoungHouseLove says
Great tips!
xo
s
Susan @ SunfowerHugs.blogspot.com says
I would take an hour of watching trees getting cut down over HGTV’s marathon runs of Love It or List It, Love It or List It Too, Property Brothers, and House Hunters!!
What happened to the network? Where are the design shows? Sarah Richardson, David Bromstad, Candice Olson, Genevieve Gorder…I MISS them!!
YoungHouseLove says
More Sarah Richardson! More Emily Henderson! More Candice Olson!
xo
s
Erin @ The Impatient Gardener says
Hear, hear!
Anne says
Cher’s going to be on Watch What Happens Live on Thursday!!! (off to do Jack Macfarland impressions of Cher, “oooh” and hair flips)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, Andy’s too excited. It’s going to be epic.
xo
s
Katie says
Ugh – I have been ranting to anyone who will listen about how tree removal was the worst part of buying our new house! Who wants to spend that much money (thousands!) and have them take pretty things away?? But, after nervously watching our big, dying oak tree sway during Hurricane Sandy (we’re in NoVa), it was time to bite the bullet and have that one (and two others) taken down. But we’ve planted two little trees in their spots (one is a Japanese Maple, in fact) and are excited to watch them grow up with us in our new place.
Erin says
Another way to get the price down is by having them leave the trees instead of hauling them away. We paid a few hundred dollars for several trees to be taken down and stumped. We chopped them up and let them dry out and is now a great stock pile for our wood burning stove. You could even sell it on Craigslist. People will pay a lot of money for firewood!
Justin says
Looks so much better in the front! Wow!
We had an offer on two houses before we bought the house we are in, and a very mild storm came through. The next day, I drove by the two houses, and both had been hit by falling oak trees. Needless to say, it caused us to re-evaluate where we wanted to live and the “no-tree” houses got bumped up to the top of the must have list.
I just decided that there are more things in this world that I would rather spend thousands on then taking down a stupid tree (or 10 like the one house had).
Now we are in a house that we love more than the other 2 and all we have are beautiful Crepe Myrtles that are blooming like crazy now!
YoungHouseLove says
Love me some Crepe Myrtles!
xo
s
amy says
my boyfriend is an arborist and it definitely is something you don’t want to DIY or find someone untrained, uninsured or anything around cutting corners! It’s serious work and trees often have a mind of their own. I’m still yet to watch him cut a tree and definitely would like to keep it that way! I’ll stick with the cool, he’s safe on the ground after pictures :)
betty says
are you planning on landscaping around the stepping ‘stones’? or just letting nature do its thang around them?
YoungHouseLove says
We want to add more privacy things back there (hollies, evergreen bushes/trees, etc) so we hope it’ll fill in naturally and also get some help from us…
xo
s
Alison says
Love this post and I’m so glad that one of your tips is to make sure the tree company you go with is licensed and insured. My boyfriend owns a tree company in NJ and that is always his #1 tip.
Carla says
I’m with you on the “tree-trimmers” show…and evidently so were my kids!
One of our favorite family memories, from 15 years or so ago, was when I asked my two youngest (8 & 10 at the time) why they were setting up the lawn chairs in the front yard and they replied “to watch the show”….
Wondering what “show” they were talking about, I looked out our front window to see the tree trimmers working to clear limbs from the power lines…and a row of wide-eyed kiddos, mine & a few from the neighborhood, parked in their lawn chairs – glued to the “scene”!
It’s the simple things in life that bring such sweet smiles and memories…and could be the next big “hit”??? “Tree People”??? “Trunk Dynasty”???
=)
YoungHouseLove says
So sweet!
xo
s
Megan @ Rappsody in Rooms says
Wow! It’s amazing what a difference trees will make, whether they are there or not. We are in the process of taking down some trees too and it’s amazing what peace of mind it gives me. Although sometimes I think if a tree were to carefully fall on our house directly into the kitchen when it was empty, I might be okay with that…
Melissa says
Awesome idea about the stump stepping ‘stones’. It amazing to me that you are tackling similar projects in your home as I am! We’re finishing up on some bathroom wallpaper and have a tree removal estimate today!
-Melissa
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
s
Rebecca says
After we bought our first house last year (yeah!), we had a large Mimosa tree in the front yard. Apparently the original owner had brought it as a seedling from the midwest in the 1950s. Unfortunately the second owner (right before us) neglected it. The whole thing was leaning in an arch, and part of it was over the sidewalk. A few large branches fell and then I noticed white mushrooms snaking up the trunk. I learned that mushrooms appear when something is rotting underneath (who knew?) and we had the tree removed. The stump was mushy inside (!!) so we are so thankful we had it removed before it hurt someone.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! So interesting about the mushrooms!
xo
s
Lauren Nicole says
We have cut down 6 trees (3 ourselves) and tore out tons of ivy at our house. Mostly the ivy was killing the trees, but two of the trees were just way too close to the house. We’ve got one tree left to go – smack dab in the center of our backyard. It’s completely hollow and COVERED in poison ivy, so we’ll be paying professionals to do that one!
Kat says
While I normally hate to see trees cut down, this was definitely a good decision!! We had a tree (about that size) cut struck by lightening and fall only 3 feet away from our home! It ruined part of our deck, but we were glad it wasn’t worse!
We have an extremely wooded yard that has been neglected for a very long time, so we’ve had to take down quite a few trees (*sadface*). My husband has learned how to fall trees now, but it still makes me squirm!
Enjoy your beautiful new tree-free deck!
YoungHouseLove says
Woah, didn’t even think about lightning! So scary!
xo
s
Nicki says
Love the steps! I actually also like seeing more of the front of the house.
I have to trim branches away from my garage roof EVERY SINGLE SUMMER, ugh!
Kelli@littlecottageofmine says
Hey guys!! I just wanted to suggest talking to a termite guy regarding any dead roots or stumps that could attract termites. :( we just learned we had them and those boogers are sooo annoying!!!! I’d hate to see them attracted to your nice new house!!
I hear the further south you go the more I sane the termites get!!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip! So smart!
xo
s
Amy @ a new old house says
Wow- that’s a huge job done! You will have so much less worry about storms now.
We had 5 big trees come down last Monday in a freak 10 min. thunderstorm. We cleaned up 2 of them (the ones blocking the driveways!) but still have to tackle the other three. Not fun!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, five trees?! Hope they’re all cleaned up in no time.
xo
s
Stephanie M. says
Oh wow. You really can’t tell how humongous the girth of that deck tree is in any of the pics other than the one with little Clara sitting beside it. That thing is HUGE! So glad y’all made the investment to get it cut down. I’d imagine it could do some serious damage to your house.
Btw, love that last pic of the clouds through the trees! Beautiful shot!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Stephanie!
xo
s
Erika K says
The deer family is so cute! I grew up in Wisconsin so we used to see them all the time but they never got up close and personal like that. Do you guys put anything out to feed them?
YoungHouseLove says
Not a thing! They just seem to love that we’re the last house on the street with a woodsy area behind us, so they hang out there!
xo
s
Chaucea says
I wonder if putting out a salt-lick in the winter would be a good (or perhaps a really bad) idea.
Julia says
Just fyi – if a tree falls on a neighbors yard and it was a live tree but fell due to a storm, it’s considered an “act of God” and it’s not yours or the insurance companies responsibility. If it falls on your house, then insurance will cover it. If a tree falls that was already dead, insurance will not cover it.
Unfortunately I have experience with all three of these scendarios. I’ve lived in my house for 11 years, and have had over 15 trees taken down due to one reason or another…
YoungHouseLove says
So scary!
xo
s
Tracey says
I live in an HOA and came home one day just after Christmas last year to find they’d removed our holly tree. It was a massive shock since I’d only been gone a few hours. I guess it was rotted or something and we wanted it gone but like I said – massive shock. When I left I had a tree. When I came home there was no tree. Let me tell you, that led to a couple of nightmares about stuff missing from my home.
Wrenaria says
I love that deer wander on through your yard all the time! Fair Tale Forest indeed!
Have I mentioned lately how much I love your new house? Because I totally love your new house. I’d take it in a heartbeat. <3
chez says
We had to remove 3 huge oak trees at our last house. It was so sad! The trees were sick though, and we feared that they’d fall on our house or the neighboring house. We had one of the trees cut into 6 stumps and placed 5 of the stumps around the larger stump to create a table and chairs set. I wish we had “shellaqued” them though since they became pretty unusable as the years went on. It was a fun way to keep the history of the trees on the property though. Love the pic of Clara on the trees! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds cool! I’ll have to look into some sort of sealer for ours!
xo
s
shana says
Did you get this approved by your hoa first? You need to be careful, especially since you are documenting all of this for any and everyone to see. BTW, we put an offer on a house in that hood about 7 years ago and were so upset when it didn’t work out. We no longer live in that area but our current house is quite similar to yours so it is very neat to see what you guys do with it.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Shana! We actually didn’t need HOA approval for this, but we definitely would have gotten if it we had :)
xo
s
Katherine Brooks says
Hi John and Sherry–congrats on your beautiful new home! Glad that you got those trees down before damage occurred. I remember when I did a landscape consultation for your previous house and you had a large tree in the deck there, too!
Make sure that you don’t use those nice little piles of wood chips around any plant material for at least a year. They are toxic TO PLANTS at this point, so let them mature in a big pile in your backyard before using!
Let me know when you need a landscape consultation for your new home! Katherine Brooks “aka your landscape lady”
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Katherine!
xo
s
Rebecca says
You guys are awesome for getting a certified arborist to take care of your tree work! My husband is a certified arborist and has seen so many dangerously executed tree jobs, and it’s good to see you being safe and smart!
Rebecca says
Not that you’re not usually safe and smart. I just realized that might sound like a backhanded compliment…
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, not at all! I knew what you meant ;)
xo
s
Cara Barbieri says
I just got a quote last week to remove a massive Sugar gum tree (we hate those spikey balls!) in our back yard. I was very surprised when he said it would be $1100-1200, more if he had to take the wood with him. We have 2-3 more trees that need to be cut down/trimmed but with a price tag like that we’ll need to do a bit more saving before that can be accomplished, hopefully by next summer. Until then, I hope no more derechos come to town. We had a neighbors tree land on our house in 2012.
Not Rebecca says
(I didn’t use my real name in case my neighbor reads here!)
We just had BIG storms where I live. Our neighbor has 2 trees dangling over our house. We only have small damage from this storm (but enough to get the insurance people out here).
Several houses down a tree near their house came down and took out half the house as well as the neighbor next door.
Trees by houses are NO JOKE! I would love to see our neighbor do what you guys did but, sigh, it will never happen. (Still a nice neighbor, but yeah, it kind of stinks with the big trees RIGHTTHEREOVERUS.)
Good for you guys. We love trees, too, and it’s not an easy choice but man, it is nice to feel SAFE.
Jeri says
Here’s my tree removal tip. If you have a tree right up next to power lines, call your local power company to see what they can do about it. I first got quotes from tree removal services and it was going to cost big bucks for them to do the whole job. So I decided to call the power company, and they came out and chopped down the top part that was near the lines for free. I then had the tree removal service take care of the rest. Saved saved me hundreds to have the power company take care of the dangerous part.
Dan Polley (@polleydan) says
My wife and I took a few trees down in our yard after we moved in a few years ago. The were pine trees, but they were massive and very close to our house.
One of them was in our front side yard, just a few feet away from our garage, and when the tree service we hired took it down, they found out it was hollow in the middle.
That was the biggest one, so we were elated that we decided to take it down, since any large storm could have shoved it over into our house or our neighbor’s house.
Chaucea says
Sherry, upon noticing a deer is standing right next to her:
D’oh! A deer! A female deer!
Jennifer says
We got 5 trees taken down last year, and several more this year. (We had to space it out b/c it’s so expensive!) Our neighbors have all told us they’re angry we took them down – apparently there was an owl in one? I’m sure they would have been a lot more angry if a tree fell on their house though.
Taking trees down has got to be the single most disappointing way to spend money. Nice vacation, or no more trees? Ugh.
Margaret says
Ouch is right. We just had a 150ft tulip poplar removed that was touching the house. Our new house. That we just bought a few months ago. We knew it was an issue but it became really pressing once we moved in and realized hurricanes are not a hypothetical in MD. So they took out the monster and bunch of smaller cypresses and limbed another giant that’s close to the house but in great health and not interfering with our foundation. But dude, there went my bathroom reno money!
Lisa says
We just had to have a 125 year old tree taken down in our backyard after it was struck by lightning. It broke my heart to see the tree go, but I was mesmerized by the process! Watching the guy so high in the tree and then seeing him drop it into the only open spot in our yard was amazing! I have so much respect for tree guys now and would join you in watching that HGTV show, Sherri!
Craig says
This hits home (pardon the bad pun) as we had to cut down a few trees hanging over our home when we purchased it. One good gust and yikes! Glad the tree trimming went well.
Any chance you will dry out a tree section and use it for a table?
YoungHouseLove says
We thought that would be fun but they were so heavy we didn’t think we could move them into place. So the stepping stones were our “souvenir” this time!
xo,
s
Jenn says
Oh the tree stories we have…
We have one acre. It was mostly wooded when we bought it. Many small trees were removed by my husband and a friend. Then they took out some of the big guys using a complicated method involving ropes strung this way and that and finally attached to a truck. One sawed and the other pulled with the truck when the time was right to ensure the tree fell the right way.
When the time for the removal of all the stuff near the house came we hired professionals. It was fun to watch the ones they could just let drop – they’d cut a chunk out of the base, eyeball it, shave out just a bit more, saw through and bam, it would fall right on their target. Amazing. The ones that required a crane were fun too. My girlies enjoyed seeing the guys up in the tree and watching the crane swing it over and lay it down. Then we got to watch the truck come pick them up – they were all ginormous because we left them as long as possible to sell them for lumber. We paid 5k and got just about that much selling the wood (fir) to a mill. Of course the stump grinding was another 2k plus.
Some of the neighbors think we are evil, but I love the light, the lack of fir needles getting tracked into my house, the fact that our cars and roof aren’t getting hit by huge branches anymore and that I can sleep in storms rather than worrying that a tree will fall on the house and hurt one of my babies. The total we removed was probably fifty or so, but we left another thirty that weren’t unhealthy or in dangerous locations.
Lesley says
A couple thousand for 5 trees is not bad at all. We have a redwood tree that has to go because it’s pushing over our neighbor’s garage (houses are much closer together here!), and it’s going to cost us $2500 for that one tree. Fortunately the neighbor agreed to split the cost with us, since it’s more his problem than ours (the tree is healthy so not in danger of falling). And fortunately our city lets you cut down a healthy redwood. Some nearby cities have ordinances about that, even if the tree is pushing on your foundation. The lesson is, people really ought to think about all this before before planting a cute little baby redwood (or oak) just feet from a house or other structure!
Ellen says
Insured is the way to go. Our crazy next door neighbors got a friend of theirs to take down a tree in their backyard. A friend with no insurance. So when a limb came down on our den (in which my mother and law and infant son were playing!) causing a little damage, we saw red. And after initially ‘fessing up to what happened, the crazy owner then claimed that that damage was already there.
Unfortunately, the damage wasn’t as much as our deductible on our homeowner’s insurance. Fortunately, the damage also wasn’t structural.
We considered small claims court, but when we learned that the crazy neighbor was featured as a client on an ambulance chaser’s TV ad, we decided against that.
So we live with damage to the eaves of our den roof…
Madelaine says
Just wanted to share a quick story of my Great Aunt’s Chihuahua and neighborhood deer.
She always lets Coco out the door without a leash to do her business. One day there was a deer in the yard and the deer chased Coco! It was three days later before someone finally found Coco and returned her to my Aunt. Luckily she hadn’t gone too far and we have a great service here that will dial local numbers with a pre-recorded message about lost animals.
Just keep an eye on those “tame” deer and Burger!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh thanks for the warning! So glad Coco was ok!
xo,
s
Catherine says
We had an arborist come and remove a dead tree and a few ‘too close to the house’ type trees last year. Those guys are worth their weight in gold! I thought they did an awesome job and recommended them to everyone I know.