Costs for fallen tree removal

trees101

Storm barra caused a large branch of a cyprus fir from bottom of my garden, circa 8m long to fall on neighbours shed, been quoted €1000 to remove, is this a reasonable cost? Only moved in a week ago so no awareness that it might happen :-(

endacl

Your home insurance would be the first port of call.

new or secondhand chainsaw from classified adverts for under 100 quid. cut up branch. throw over boundary. store for a few months sheltered from damp and you get firewood for fire. re-advertise chainsaw for sale. net cost under 50 quid and a few nights of fuel.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058222367/costs-for-fallen-tree-removal

Would your home insurance cover that, some home insurance would have third party liability

Uncle Pierre

Am not being "smart", but am actually just back inside myself after spending the last few hours cutting up a tree that blew down at the bottom of our lawn, using a second-hand chainsaw I bought a couple of years ago for about €80. Your eight metre branch is probably fairly hefty all right, but it's nowhere near as much wood as I've just cut. Is it an option to just cut it up yourself?

P.S. I see somebody else suggesting the same thing just as I type this

whisky_galore

A grand to take away a branch?

Someone's having a giraffe.

magicbastarder

having known a couple of people who have had near misses with chainsaws, i'd be slow to advise someone who may not know the first thing about them to go out and buy one to chop up a branch.

how big is the branch, i.e. in diameter?

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305025#Comment_118305025

A fair point. Hopping in there with a chainsaw wouldn't be advisable if you've never used one before.

Could get a handsaw instead for €20 and take 100 times as long to cut it up.

Seriously though, a grand seems a hell of a lot to take away one branch. About a year ago, I got a properly certified tree surgeon in to take down four large trees around the old farmhouse at home that were in danger of toppling. Price was €1500 and there was a lot more work in it than OP would have for somebody here. Granted, I didn't have him cut it all down to log-sized pieces (I have a chainsaw myself, remember!), but even still, €1,000 for a branch is steep.

magicbastarder

one issue might be that if it's still sitting on a broken shed, this could easily complicate a removal if it's precarious, compared to whether it's just sitting on the ground. also, how much brash would removing it generate, etc.; you might need to source a garden shredder for an hour or three also.

but yeah, €1000 seems enormous.

The Ging and I

Unless you have experience with a chainsaw, do not touch. I visited a neighbour who had bought one and the chain was stretched to the point of falling off. He didn't know you had to adjust it.

Get a quote from a tree surgeon.

It is criminal that shops are allowed offer chainsaws for sale to the Public.

trees101

Thanks for your comments. Home insurance only covers damage to our house, it would only cover public liability if we were legally liable, which we are not as we did not know there was if there was any difficiency in the tree and a tree falling is an act of nature. Radius is about 50cm. Quite a lot of small branches/leaves as its a fir tree.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305328#Comment_118305328

So the quote is €1000 to fell and remove the whole tree?

How tall is the tree?

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305251#Comment_118305251

I don't agree with you because lot's of us have use for chainsaws and we need somewhere to buy them.

It is however bordering on criminal for someone to operate one without following safety guidelines.

BorneTobyWilde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305251#Comment_118305251

True, you see so many chainsaw pranks on youtube .I'm just waiting for some idiot to do a prank and leave the chain on through absolute cluelessness that in the prank videos it's actually taken off.

sarcasm. see first comment from me in thread.

Capt'n Midnight

You could try a reciprocating saw if you are handy with DIY. Safer than a chain saw. Buy lots of spare blades as they're cheap and change when the saw starts to slow down. Gloves, goggles etc.

Be very aware of the forces on the tree and branches as it might swing when some weight is removed. Consider holding down with rope / weights and cut off branches , bits of branches first.

It's about a tenner to dump a car load of cuttings in Ballymount so other recycling centres should be similar.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305328#Comment_118305328

aha, so the quote is to remove the tree, rather than just the branch? the price is making more sense. a tree with a 50cm diameter trunk is not a small tree.

that would also settle the question about buying a chainsaw and doing it on your own, you'd be insane to try that.

A tree that has a 1 meter diameter and is only 8 metres tall?

magicbastarder

I suspect the 50cm is diameter, not radius.

cnocbui

I had a chat with someone about removing a couple of trees, asking for a quote if I let him have the wood to sell as firewood. We didn't arrive at a precise figure, but I am quite certain it wouldn't be costing me anything. Now if I had sounded desperate, insisting I wanted all that nuisance wood cleared away, I wouldn't be surprised to get a 1k quote.

Wood is not valueless waste and a burden, it's a valuable commodity.

My mother was still using her beloved electric chainsaw at 84.

Car99

Before you can judge that €1000 is expensive, Is the branch still sitting on top of the neighbours shed? How tall is the shed ? What's access like to the branch. Be careful cutting big timber that is not attached to a tree , know where the balance is important, cut it in the wrong place and could do more damage to property or worse a person. A local guy here is recovering from broken hiç leg and pelvis after making a bad decision on where to cut a large branch that had become stuck after it was cut .

Uncle Pierre

I thought it was €1,000 to cut up and take away the branch that had fallen off. If the €1,000 is to remove, chop up, and take away the entire remainder of the tree as well, it's starting to sound more reasonable.

3d4life

OP, head over to the insurance forum with regard to this.

( I may be wrong but think that your neighbour will be covered for this on his house policy - at least that is how it was when we were at the receiving end of a neighbours tree )

Also, if you elect to do a DIY removal on your neighbours property then check you are insured

trees101

No the quote is only to remove and discard of the Branch. It is about 8m long resting on a shed, the radius at the bottom of the branch is about 40- 50cm. The original tree is probably 20m high, but the quote dies not include felling the tree. Hoping to get some more quotes.

enricoh

Did the guy that quoted you come out? Nice work if you can get it! Put up a photo or two

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118306058#Comment_118306058

Back to the drawing board 🙂

For the amount of work involved €1k sounds a bit much.

If you are not up for a DIY solution maybe post your approximate location and someone will recommend a contractor.

trees101

20211209_150007.jpg

Location is meath, Louth.

Car99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118306351#Comment_118306351

That looks like a tree that dell over not a branch. A bit of work and kit needed to cut that up and remove it from site , €1000 for a profesional insured outfit to remove that seems ok.

rolling boh

contact a few tree surgeons and get a quote to cut and take either all the wood or part 1k is way too much would not recommend using a chain saw without somebody who knows about them at least being present .If you can take the smaller bits safely that might help .

Truckermal

Who has cut the existing branches off?

magicbastarder

a partially collapsed branch that big would be stupidly dangerous for someone to try a DIY job on; there's still a lot of energy and instability tied up in that branch i'd bet.

rolling boh

have just seen picture defo a pro job needed by the looks of things still try to get them to keep the wood though .

Chris_5339762

Yeah seeing that photo its a bit more work.

Be careful chainsawing something that size and in that position without knowing what you're doing. It could easily move and shift and even try to right itself given the weight distribution.

kennethsmyth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305251#Comment_118305251

No its not, you can cut your hand off with a circular saw also, do you intend all saws are not available to the public? There are idiots everywhere, we cannot and should not legislate for them, they will eventually eradicate themselves.

There is no safe approach and retreat path to that fallen branch. It is above head height. Don't go near it unless it is secured in some way to prevent it from falling on those around it. you can probably limb parts of it but there will still be considerable weight left in that branch even after lobbing some of it.

Can it perhaps be grabbed by a tractor with claws from the adjacent field?

The worst time to approach a tree surgeon for a price or a chainsaw dealer is right after a major storm.

blackbox

I'm a fairly experienced diyer with a chainsaw and I think I'd leave that job to a professional, especially as it's in a neighbour's garden.

If I was the neighbour, I'd insist on a fully insured professional.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118306825#Comment_118306825

i know a lad well experienced with a chainsaw (a professional carpenter) who'd probably look at the pic posted and think 'there's enough work out there without me having to deal with a partially collapsed tree' and leave it to someone else.

plus - and this is not what the OP wants to hear - there's also the possibility that someone would deal with that limb and realise the whole tree is compromised. i'd be getting a quote for total removal too; once a decent tree surgeon is onsite with all the right gear, it may not add as much as you might fear to the quote. a lot of what you're paying for is them to come onsite with insurance and know-how.

Uncle Pierre

Have just now seen that photograph. As one of the first people here to suggest maybe doing it yourself with a chainsaw, I'll now say do NOT attempt to do that yourself with a chainsaw! I certainly wouldn't attempt it myself.

Only saving grace there is that it doesn't seem to have actually damaged the neighbour's shed....yet. But do something wrong there, and large parts of it could come crashing through the roof all right.

You might still be able to get a cheaper quote, but bearing in mind all that's involved there, I reckon you'd be still looking at around €800 if you want a properly insured professional to do the job. And getting anybody else would be foolhardy.

Thing is, though....is it actually your tree? i.e. where exactly did it fall from? Might the owner of the field behind be at least partly responsible for it as well?

hunter2000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305467#Comment_118305467

Post of the year here folks.

Squiggle

Savage weight in that bough and removal of same is not for a novice. Chainsaws and ladders are a very bad mix and if that's the combination being used to remove the branches it's an accident waiting to happen imo.

Scag Mattress

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118309953#Comment_118309953

Check back in 2025 and he's still cutting it.

hunter2000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118318417#Comment_118318417

And posting about it. He seems to post in everything just to get count up.

JimmyVik

Ive had this issue a couple of times over the year.

There are a few ways you can go to get it removed.

1 - Tell neighbor to call his house insurance company. They will cover it (they might even arrange someone to do the job) and then chase your insurance company to reimburse. You will have a tiny extra amount added to your insurance for 5 years. (We had a €4500 claim once and the policy only went up by about €35 a year for 5 years)

2 - Cut it yourself and use the wood for firewood.

3 - Get someone else to cut it for free and they can keep the logs.

The wood from that isnt great but it will burn just fine when it dries.

Redlim

As mentioned by @Uncle Pierre above there's a possibility it might not be your problem to fix, or at least not be 100% on you. Could the tree actually belong to the owner of the field behind your property? You mentioned you've just moved in - do you know exactly where your boundary is? Might be clutching at straws but something to consider at least.

Difficult to see properly in the photo but has the tree fallen mostly into the neighbour's property or perhaps into the field behind it? The owner of the field may be interested in taking the(ir) wood if they have the means to do so, e.g. jaws on a tractor to pull it back into their field if safe to do so.

Shilock

Best to get a professional in because if you're unsure and cannot make a good risk assessment you could cause untold damage.

I could do a similar job myself with a felco loppers a silky saw, a ladder with a platform and the right PPE, but you'd have to do it in sections going from the light branches right back to the main trunk. Sounds daunting but when you've experience it's like a piece of cheese.

I've a Silky Sugoi 360-6.5-5.5 professional pruning saw, it's very sharp I mean it'll damage you if you're not careful but for the price of it it's as good as any chainsaw. And it's great exercise too it'll keep you warm :)

Scag Mattress

A silky as good as a chainsaw ?

hilarious

magicbastarder

the tree is 50cm in diameter, would be gas craic trying to saw it with a saw which maxes out at 8cm shorter than that (the silky has a maximum available length of 420mm)

magicbastarder

just curious if this has been dealt with to the OP's satisfaction by now?

Scag Mattress

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118359804#Comment_118359804

He's still out there with a pocket knife 😂