Oak trees

kcult

kcult

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Hi there!

My wife is chomping at the bits (not my bits) to have trees cut down in my daughter's yard. I haven't verified every species, but let's say they are oaks. There are 13, total.

The tree service guy just quoted $6500 for a turn key job. Downing, stump grinding, hauling off, cleaning up. My wife is adamant that she's going to have it done and pay for it herself, but the guy said a couple of things that gave me pause.

First off, I asked him if he needed some tissues for all the crying he was doing about his guys having to work a little to make him some money. Damn. That's a lot of trees, he said. Lol. But he also said, "That's a lot of firewood." But he also claimed he was just going to take everything to the landfill. When my daughter's boyfriend started talking about hauling everything off himself, the guy said he'll put them on the ground and leave, if that's what we want.

There's this. We have a coworker that grinds stumps. We have a coworker that has a sawmill. I have a father-in-law that has a small sawmill. We have trucks, trailers, chainsaws, rakes, time, friends, etc. I have access to several properties for debris.

What are some options or some of your thoughts as to which direction to take? I personally do not want to see my wife spend that kind of money on this, but I also know that whichever route we take, she's gonna wanna see results.

Here's a pic of my daughter's house and the trees.

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fieldgrade said:
Get a second quote,
and let somebody else do it.

They are beautiful trees, but having lived through a couple of hurricanes and ice storms I get why she wants them gone.
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Them having lived through the nasty storms we’ve had is all the more reason to leave them IMO.
 
Burt Gummer said:
Them having lived through the nasty storms we’ve had is all the more reason to leave them IMO.
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... but momma bears don’t share that sentiment when it’s their cubs involved.
 
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Seriously. They look like they’ve been worked on in the past. Branches don’t start til way up is a sign. If the dirt is good , and there’s no visible lightning , insect, splitting damage, I’d leave them. Get a real arborist to come look at them and give her his opinion
 
Break it down barney style..
$6500 - 13 trees = $500 per tree

Around me the average ( i’m going on the quotes I got for tree removal ) is
$250 to just drop them, $50-100 per stump grind. $2oo plus to haul off.

Forsyth county Yard waste dump charges $34.00 per ton. So that would be about one full size pickup truck load. Green trees, more weight. There are log weight calculators online that you could use to determine the best estimate of weight per tree.

I think you got a average estimate. you just have to figure out if it’s worth your time doing all the grunt work yourselves.
 
Jeppo said:
Is she allergic to shade? :confused:
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Her shade comes from the tree just to the left of the chimney. You can see it on the roof. It is the largest and will stay. Any other shade comes from the neighbor's trees to the right. She had no control over that. The shade in the front is wasted on the street and other neighbor's yards/houses.
 
Grits said:
She'll regret doing it.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk
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Knowing my daughter like I think I know my daughter, I would say you are wrong.

That being said, she's indifferent. They can stay, or they can leave. She doesn't care, except for the one in the backyard. It stays.
 
fieldgrade said:
Get a second quote,
and let somebody else do it.

They are beautiful trees, but having lived through a couple of hurricanes and ice storms I get why she wants them gone.
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Some of them are indeed, fine specimens. But at least half are not. With the exception of the largest one, all in the back can be chopped.

There are some tall boys in the front yard, but Sierra Club aside, there is no real reason they should stay. The shade doesn't benefit my daughter. The debris is non stop. In fact, an acorn dropped and hit the tree guy's car so hard, he joked that he was going to charge us for the damage.

Thank you for the suggestion of getting another quote.
 
Jabroni said:
Leave em. Leaf blower is cheaper, and you cant replace the awesome shade the trees provide.
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She gets all of her shade from the one tree that will remain and her neighbor's trees.

The other trees in the back provide little to none and the ones in the front shade the street and her neighbor's yards.
 
fieldgrade said:
Get a second quote,
and let somebody else do it.

They are beautiful trees, but having lived through a couple of hurricanes and ice storms I get why she wants them gone.
Click to expand...
When folks say this about our giant oaks my reply is always the same..They have been here for 200 years, that's a lot of hurricanes an ice storms. They are still here. Last year we lost one to water rot. It cost $3,500 to make it disappear. 5 men, 3 days, a couple of million in equipment.
That said if you go ahead PLEASE, even if is assorted species make them into boards. We just finished RS's Quilt Cottage. The walls, ceilings and floors are done with rough cut 1x8x16foot length. It is beautiful and even if you don't use them, somebody can. I have a table made from the one we lost, it is beautiful to me.
 
BatteryOaksBilly said:
When folks say this about our giant oaks my reply is always the same..They have been here for 200 years, that's a lot of hurricanes an ice storms. They are still here. Last year we lost one to water rot. It cost $3,500 to make it disappear. 5 men, 3 days, a couple of million in equipment.
That said if you go ahead PLEASE, even if is assorted species make them into boards. We just finished RS's Quilt Cottage. The walls, ceilings and floors are done with rough cut 1x8x16foot length. It is beautiful and even if you don't use them, somebody can. I have a table made from the one we lost, it is beautiful to me.
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Thank you.

I'm not fighting with anyone about whether they stay or go. I just think, if they are going, they shouldn't go in a landfill. There is just too much wood there.

I am also hoping there might be someone on here that may be interested in any of the wood, if and when these come down.
 
kcult said:
I am also hoping there might be someone on here that may be interested in any of the wood, if and when these come down.
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Not sure if they are close enough to be worthwhile to Scott, but worth mentioning. @Scsmith42
 
$500 is a very reasonable price (Wilmington prices)
I assume this is a group of trained professionals with insurance and equipment.
I'm sure you could save some $$ doing it yourself but at what cost?
The pros will have it done in 2 days... 3 with stump grinding.
All you have to do is pull up a lawn chair and watch in amazement.
Getting friends and asking favors, renting/borrowing equipment, harder work then it looks... You will be amazed how many branches there are when you start dragging and disposing of them!
Not to mention the possibly of damaging the house, someone getting injured or worse.
After Dorian, a man lost his life less then 2 miles from my house... Using a chainsaw without proper protective equipment (and probably without the proper skills)
Hire professionals to do what they do.
Just my $.02
 
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Try to get some of the longer, bigger around logs cut and make something for your daughters house.
Maybe a picnic table for out back.
 
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I would talk to the neighbors before making a move, easy to gain an enemy by removing "their" shade.
 
Rob said:
$500 is a very reasonable price (Wilmington prices)
I assume this is a group of trained professionals with insurance and equipment.
I'm sure you could save some $$ doing it yourself but at what cost?
The pros will have it done in 2 days... 3 with stump grinding.
All you have to do is pull up a lawn chair and watch in amazement.
Getting friends and asking favors, renting/borrowing equipment, harder work then it looks... You will be amazed how many branches there are when you start dragging and disposing of them!
Not to mention the possibly of damaging the house, someone getting injured or worse.
After Dorian, a man lost his life less then 2 miles from my house... Using a chainsaw without proper protective equipment (and probably without the proper skills)
Hire professionals to do what they do.
Just my $.02
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When I mentioned destroying the house, he said it would only cost him $500 out of pocket, because that was his deductible. Lol.

He estimated three to five days. I just watched two of his guys tackle a pine across the road. It was probably 70' tall. Took them two days, but the spot looks like a children's playground.
 
That's a fair price. I had some folks take down a few post oaks and a trident maple too close to the house, saved the majority of my money by letting them throw all the debris in the gully out back. Apparently, the disposal fee was what would have ate us up. So if you can have him drop them (the hard part and the point of his insurance) and you have enough friends to help cut everything up, it could work. Hell, I'd help.
 
Thats a steal for all of that work......at least in my area. I like to keep the trees around if possible though.... I like the appearance and shade. If there is legitimate reason to take them down.....i understand......but if I could i would let them be.
 
Looks like a very reasonable price for the job. Where is the tree work located? Is it close to Wilmington or Asheville?
 
Leadchunker said:
Looks like a very reasonable price for the job. Where is the tree work located? Is it close to Wilmington or Asheville?
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It is located exactly between the two cities.
 
I only wish I had trees like that around my house.

But if she insists I might look around for a logging company that would pay you for the trees.
 
J R Green said:
I only wish I had trees like that around my house.

But if she insists I might look around for a logging company that would pay you for the trees.
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Most logging companies won’t pay for yard trees. Too much likelihood of metal in them. At a concentration yard you would probably get $30 - $50 per ton for them.
 
ronn47 said:
Try to get some of the longer, bigger around logs cut and make something for your daughters house.
Maybe a picnic table for out back.
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We could mill and dry the lumber for you, but the logs would have to be delivered to us.
 
There is a guy in Charlotte that does urban lumber, no idea how that works financially, but my guess is that you’d pay more for the feel good of them not getting pulped. His name is Kyle Edwards.
 
JimB said:
There is a guy in Charlotte that does urban lumber, no idea how that works financially, but my guess is that you’d pay more for the feel good of them not getting pulped. His name is Kyle Edwards.
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Kyle is a good man but last I heard he has stopped milling for others.
 
Scsmith42 said:
Kyle is a good man but last I heard he has stopped milling for others.
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I haven’t worked with him since his early days, I’d get stuff for turning that he couldn’t plank up.

Speaking of, I could use a couple pieces of white oak, about 2’ in diameter and cut maybe 2.5’ long if anyone has some.
 
JimB said:
I haven’t worked with him since his early days, I’d get stuff for turning that he couldn’t plank up.

Speaking of, I could use a couple pieces of white oak, about 2’ in diameter and cut maybe 2.5’ long if anyone has some.
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Remind me Jim.
I'm felling a large white oak soon as it cools down. Hurts my heart to do it but it's dead as a doornail.
I have Black walnut rounds and stump wood also.
 
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