Do It Myself or Get Someone In and Cost?

[Witterings]

I've got a tree with a heavy lean I want taken down, I'm awful tempted to do it myself with a bore cut to stop a barber chair BUT whilst I've watched numerous utube videos I've only ever felled a few trees and have never done one like this before.

 

As long as it goes in the exact direction of the lean which to me means also making sure your notch / hinge are really carefully lined up then it'd be fine and plenty of room for it to come down but if it does go wrong and goes sideways it could hit either ours or a neighbours house depending which way it went and there is only 1 exit route to the side.

 

I've put a load of pics below, the ones without the tree in and facing back towards the rear of the house is me standing right next to the tree taking the shot in the exact direction of the lean.

 

Would I be mad to do this myself with my level of experience?

 

Also any idea of cost for someone to fell it, the bigger wood could stay and I'd cut all of that up myself, I'd also help limbing and dragging all the branches out to a chipper. 

If I was going to do that I'd also put the other brush that's on the ground from another tree through the chipper as well and would all be dragged out next to where the chipper would park before someone arrived.

 

Interested to hear what peoples thoughts are on doing it myself and any approximate indication of cost would be appreciated ....  if anyone happens to be local ish to the PO20 area and wanted to quote then please do.

 

 

[Silverhooker]

In my experience if you are thinking it's too much for you to do yourself then listen to yourself and get a pro in to do it. I've never regretted getting the local arborist in to drop a few tricky ones on my property. You get peace of mind and if you get on with him he'll explain how and why he's going to do it and you might pick up a few bits of wisdom. my local chap, Mark Lloyd, is a lovely chap and does a great tidy job for a sensible days pay, whats not to like about that !

[Mick Dempsey]

You know you can do it!

Edited April 8, 2021 by Mick Dempsey

[Steve Bullman]

Do it, all your friends would 😀

 

It does look pretty straight forward, but if you're not confident its probably worth asking someone else to do it.

 

For the record though, the only way thats going to barber chair is if you only cut half way through from the back and then pull it with a 5ton digger. Wouldn't be wasting time with a bore cut on that tree at all. Just get your gob spot on, and your back cut right. Leylandii wood holds pretty well so leave a tapered hinge on the side away from the house which will give you a margin of error, then get yourself clear and hoik it out with a rope.

[Steve Bullman]

Some information here on what a tapered hinge is if you're not familiar.

 

https://allabouttrees.com/wp-content/uploads/guides/climber/Felling_Accuracy.pdf

[topchippyles]

Only one way that is going.If you have knocked over a few before as mentioned your up to cutting that down and you will wonder what you were worried about.

[Witterings]

45 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Some information here on what a tapered hinge is if you're not familiar.

 

https://allabouttrees.com/wp-content/uploads/guides/climber/Felling_Accuracy.pdf

 

 

I have seen a tapered hinge but again only from watching videos of Dutchman / Swinging Dutchman etc. but had gone out of my mind so a very useful reminder thank you 👍

 

Absolutely sure it won't barber chair ..... if not that gives me more confidence in doing it with a straight back cut.

 

Stupid thing is if it was in the middle of an open field it would have been down a week ago, I'm only hesitant because of the proximity of the houses.

 

Cheers everyone much appreciated!!

[Steve Bullman]

Yep absolutely sure. Like I said you would have to do a lot wrong, chiefly not cutting the back cut close enough to the hinge and then using something overpowered to force it down. I can't see that combination playing out in this scenario.

[Doug Tait]

Witterings, what a relief you're asking about tree felling. When I read the thread title I thought it was the dog's wotsits in question!

[Witterings]

12 minutes ago, Doug Tait said:

Witterings, what a relief you're asking about tree felling. When I read the thread title I thought it was the dog's wotsits in question!

 

That's the most I've laughed this week ... brilliant 😂 .... but now you've mention it 😂