What Goes Up… Protect Your Landscape When A Tree Comes Down
Removing a tree is a vital part of protecting your home, your family, and even your neighbors. But it's also a big job with the potential for serious damage to the landscape around it. If you need to have a tree removed, here are a few ways that both you and the tree service can work to minimize yard damage.
1. Remove What You Can
One of the easiest steps you can take is to try to move as many things as possible out of the way. If you can move it, try to do so. Even just relocating patio furniture, garden equipment, kids' toys, pet gear, and container plants to the far end of the yard will help.
2. Wait Until It Dries Out
The heavy equipment and labor needed to remove a tree cause the most damage to wet ground. Soggy ground and mud make damage somewhat unavoidable. So if the tree is not a falling hazard or can be safely stabilized, it's often best to wait until the ground is stable.
3. Use Mats Where Possible
The tree service is experienced in minimizing ground and plant damage. One of their best tools is also relatively simple: wood boards and other padding. These boards spread out the weight of tires and stabilizing legs so they don't dig into the soft ground.
In some cases, the equipment operators may create a faux road on which their equipment drives. In other situations, they may just lay out strategic mats in certain places. Then, soil or lawns are raked or evened out afterward.
4. Use a Crane
Cranes are some of the largest tree removal equipment, but they often do the least landscape damage. Why? The crane's reach extends far enough that it can usually sit in a safer location, such as the driveway, and still reach your trees. Using a crane means the crew in the tree can cut off sections and send them safely to a landing area rather than letting them fall.
5. Hire Professionals
The most important thing any homeowner can do to protect their property is to avoid DIY work.
Taking down even a smaller tree is not only dangerous, but it's unexpectedly messy. Trees are tricky, and they often fall in unexpected ways and directions. Branches and limbs which don't seem too large or heavy up in the air may cause a lot of damage when they fall. Don't take chances on your own.
Where to Start
Want more tips for protecting your landscape even when one of its major elements must come down? Start by consulting with a tree removal service in your area today.