Broken Trees
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@Copper said in Broken Trees:
I had just finished mowing the lawn as a good size thunderstorm started moving in.
I heard a load crack, but didn't see anything. I waited watching the gusts blowing the trees. Another loud crack and a Sweet Gum tree in my back yard, maybe 45 feet tall fell over taking a couple other trees with it.
Right on top of my armillary. I haven't checked it yet, it is still raining.
image url)Ok... my first thought was who has Copper got buried there?
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Well, it gets better and better. Today he nicked an electric cable that wasn't where it was marked. Now Duke is out there looking at it, and since electric and phone and cable have half a dozen lines going right over the path he has to hand dig that several feet and the ground is much too wet to do that.
Still no water yet.
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Actually Duke does not do repairs between the transformer and the meter (weird), but he shut off the power and luckily had the parts my guy needed to repair the line. So we were only without power for maybe an hour. If we can get water restored today through a temporary splice that would be great.
But I'm not holding my breath.
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Water is flowing and the meter leak detector shows no leak. We may have dodged a bullet, but the plumbers both said this was a nightmare job.
Now we have to negotiate what to pay him. There were two estimates. One was for three feet of splice, the second one was for 30 feet. They actually spliced about two feet, but it was much, much more difficult than it should have been. The idiots who did it originally actually created a loop in the copper line that went down 52" deep. Should have been 32".
I'm thinking split the difference between the two estimates.
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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I cleaned up the stuff on the lawn and on the shrubs.
And cut up all the branches with the chainsaw.
Now I need estimates from tree guys to take down the trunks that are broken off and still 10 feet in the air, and probably weigh as much as my house.
I am almost stupid enough to try taking down these trunks myself.
But the 50-60 foot section that fell was attached to another 50-60 foot section that is still standing. The remaining section is probably unsafe. I need a real tree guy to risk his life taking it down.
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Speaking of trees . . . I have a fellow cleaning my gutters this morning, and removing moss on the roof shingles. He just came in and showed me pix he took with his phone; my gutters are chock-a-block with small branches and foliage and crap.
I'm a lousy homeowner.
Nothing like Copper's and Mik's headaches of this week, but geeeez, I hate stuff like this. If I had my druthers I'd have a condo with a maintenance contract.
Grump.
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Water is flowing and the meter leak detector shows no leak. We may have dodged a bullet, but the plumbers both said this was a nightmare job.
Now we have to negotiate what to pay him. There were two estimates. One was for three feet of splice, the second one was for 30 feet. They actually spliced about two feet, but it was much, much more difficult than it should have been. The idiots who did it originally actually created a loop in the copper line that went down 52" deep. Should have been 32".
I'm thinking split the difference between the two estimates.
@Mik said in Broken Trees:
Water is flowing and the meter leak detector shows no leak. We may have dodged a bullet, but the plumbers both said this was a nightmare job.
Yay!! (not that it was a nightmare job, but that it is finished)
Amazing what you take for granted and only realize it when you don't have it. LOL
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I was just thinking that very thing yesterday. How nice it was to flush the toilet and take a shower.
@Mik said in Broken Trees:
How nice it was to flush the toilet and take a shower.
No, no, Mik. You don't flush the toilet to take a shower. The toilet is for other things having to do with disposal.
Look for the fat spigot thing coming out of the wall. That's for the shower.
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I cleaned up the stuff on the lawn and on the shrubs.
And cut up all the branches with the chainsaw.
Now I need estimates from tree guys to take down the trunks that are broken off and still 10 feet in the air, and probably weigh as much as my house.
I am almost stupid enough to try taking down these trunks myself.
But the 50-60 foot section that fell was attached to another 50-60 foot section that is still standing. The remaining section is probably unsafe. I need a real tree guy to risk his life taking it down.
@Copper said in Broken Trees:
I cleaned up the stuff on the lawn and on the shrubs.
And cut up all the branches with the chainsaw.
Now I need estimates from tree guys to take down the trunks that are broken off and still 10 feet in the air, and probably weigh as much as my house.
I am almost stupid enough to try taking down these trunks myself.
But the 50-60 foot section that fell was attached to another 50-60 foot section that is still standing. The remaining section is probably unsafe. I need a real tree guy to risk his life taking it down.
Dead man off and winch it, pull it or put a come along on it. You'll need a extension ladder, a couple of chains, 100 feet of half inch cable and a tractor, truck with winch or a truck and at least a two-ton come along. Put a chain or the end of your cable with a choker about as high as you can comfortably reach with the ladder, then underbit in the direction you want to go, get the slack out of the cable and keep a little bit of pull as you cut the tree.
Or hire someone to take it down.
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Copper and Mik, you have my sympathies. Life isn't fair.
Glad you are both safe and sound.
Copper, hire the tree removal company. It will be worth it, and much less expensive and painful than a trip to the hospital.
Mik, I'm glad you're an excellent negotiator. That wil be an interesting wrangling of numbers.
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Copper and Mik, you have my sympathies. Life isn't fair.
Glad you are both safe and sound.
Copper, hire the tree removal company. It will be worth it, and much less expensive and painful than a trip to the hospital.
Mik, I'm glad you're an excellent negotiator. That wil be an interesting wrangling of numbers.
@brenda Brenda! Where ya been?
They came up with a figure $400 Higher than I as thinking but accepted my offer. Technically I could have held them to the first estimate but I did not think that was right. Also the main worker stayed positive and resolved through this hellish effort. He’s getting married Saturday so I gave he and his bride a couple bottles of wine I thought they might like.
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@brenda Brenda! Where ya been?
They came up with a figure $400 Higher than I as thinking but accepted my offer. Technically I could have held them to the first estimate but I did not think that was right. Also the main worker stayed positive and resolved through this hellish effort. He’s getting married Saturday so I gave he and his bride a couple bottles of wine I thought they might like.
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1 tree guy visited, the other didn't respond
The tree has two halves - left and right
The right half snapped in half. He will cut that down and leave the left half for $700.
He'll take down the left half for and additional $400
He'll cart off all the trash for $100
$1200 total - do it take down the whole thing. I'm not going to leave the 80+ feet tall left half.
I warned the neighbors that there could be a lot of noise on Friday or Saturday, for $1200 I expect a lot of noise.
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Good call, Copper. There are some things best left to the professionals with the expensive equipment and insurance.
