Trees leaning toward the house... should they come down?

[1750]

We live in a beautiful forested area with big trees all around. We absolutely love these trees (it's why we live where we do), but I've been contemplating having a couple of them taken down because they lean toward the house. When the wind starts to blow, they can really lean over the house.

Not that it probably matters in the long run, but I would guess they'd need to be taken down from the top, piece-by-piece, so it would be a pretty expensive undertaking -- though certainly cheap in comparison if they landed on my roof!

Do any of you have thoughts or rules-of-thumb regarding at what point you would decide to take these down (vs just leave them alone)? The trees I'm stressing about now are Hemlocks.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[tigeroak]

Around here if tree is leaning over house, limb over house and so on and the insurance company sees it they will give you so many days to get it fixed or insurance is canceled or is not covered if it falls. People across the street from me just went through this with a limb about 6 inches thick. They was told fix it by such date or they will be canceled.

 

[zig]

Take them down. Not only may they damage the roof if they fall but will damage it if they shade the roof too much. I've got a maple my father planted years ago that's going in the spring.

 

[Auzzie Gumtree]

all you have to do is put an add on Craig s list for someone to cut them down and they can have 'some' of the firewood

What can possibly go wrong

 

[blacktail]

I live in a wooded area with quite a few trees that could potentially reach my house. I've removed a few of them because they had "something" that made me think they were likely to fall at some point. One was a big red alder that grew at nearly a 45 degree angle. It was no danger to my house, but could have potentially hit my neighbor's place. Another was a medium sized cedar that had a very sharp kink in the trunk about 4ft up. The other was a large red alder that was dying at the top.
If it's leaning or making you nervous for any reason, I say cut it down.

 

[2PistolPacker]

I had an ash tree that was growing in the front yard of my house when I bought it, it was about 60' tall and was the only shade we had from the hot evening sun. It was planted too close to the house to begin with and wasn't a pretty tree. After a heavy snow caused a large limb to fall onto our driveway, I finally had it removed. I hated to do it because of the shade plus the house looked naked without it. Protect your property and don't look back.

 

[osagebow]

Bite the bullet and hire an insured pro. I'm certain spending 1000 bucks to have three trees taken down Saved our house. We used to worry all night in high winds, Now I don't even think about tree damage.

 

[jeffesonm]

I had a few huge trees taken down near my house. There was a tree guy doing some work at the neighbors and he gave me a fantastic price to just drop 5 probably 90' ash trees. They turned out to be completely solid inside so probably weren't a huge risk, but I feel a little better.

 

[1750]

Thanks, everyone, for your quick response. I guess I got the answer I thought I'd probably get.

I'll get my tree guy to give me a price on this work.

Thanks again!

 

[Chimney Smoke]

I had 2 huge white pines and a huge red oak taken down last spring. They were around 50 feet in front of my house but the prevailing winds blow from the trees towards the house so any one of them had the potential to crush the house if they came down. Money well spent for piece of mind. Plus I had them drop them and leave so it was cheaper and I get to burn the wood.

 

[DougA]

Get multiple quotes and check to make sure they are insured. You will be shocked how much some guys think they can charge and also shocked at how things can go wrong very quickly.

 

[iluvpikn]

I dropped two Poplars a few years ago. One was 36" at the stump, and the other was 30". They were about 100' tall.

About 30 and 50 feet from the old farmhouse.

I sleep very well now when it is windy.