Advice needed - big leylandii badly damaged by storm

[NyxTaryn]

Hello everyone! So unfortunately, the biggest tree in our garden suffered a bit of damage in the last storm/snow and has now suffered a lot more damage in the most recent storm (we're in a red alert area). We're getting some arborists/tree surgeons out to look at it and give us some quotes, but I thought I would check on here as well and see what people would recommend in this instance. Ideally, we'd like to save the tree and maintain as much of its size as possible, but obviously we don't want to leave it up if it poses a substantial risk to us or our property. (Our house about 20m away from the tree, facing the non-damaged section) We were lucky when this came down that nobody was hurt and there was only minimal damage to the garage roof and a nearby tree. So far, we've had one tree surgeon come out who has suggested we remove the broken sections (obviously), but also reduce the height of the tree by half to decrease the risk of it breaking further in future storms and give it protection from the surrounding shorter trees. I was under the impression topping a conifer tree usually just makes it weaker and uglier, but maybe it's the best option under the circumstances. I...s that something others would recommend here? If not, what would you do instead?

[spandit]

I rate leylandii as pretty high. A lot of mine was left outside where the rain washed the sticky resin off and the wind turned it grey. The branch wood is especially dense

[Steven P]

Can't burn conifer, pine or Leylandii. I am able to accept both to dispose of, just drop them off....

 

On a proper note, if it is dry it will all burn in a stove - the rhyme lines about smoke and sparks are a bit less relevant in a stove. Soft woods are less energy dense than hard woods (less wood in the same volume) so you need more for the same heat output (which is why oak is favoured, quite dense)... however soft woods also release the heat quicker generally. You might be filling the stove more often but it might get hotter.

 

Last thing for wood types, nothing beats free dried wood from the garden.

 

 

Just a thought, considering the forum members, where are you based roughly, someone might be able to PM you to take a look and give a price (however no pressure to do that, the advice here is great as well)

[NyxTaryn]

37 minutes ago, Steven P said:

Can't burn conifer, pine or Leylandii. I am able to accept both to dispose of, just drop them off....

 

On a proper note, if it is dry it will all burn in a stove - the rhyme lines about smoke and sparks are a bit less relevant in a stove. Soft woods are less energy dense than hard woods (less wood in the same volume) so you need more for the same heat output (which is why oak is favoured, quite dense)... however soft woods also release the heat quicker generally. You might be filling the stove more often but it might get hotter.

 

Last thing for wood types, nothing beats free dried wood from the garden.

 

 

Just a thought, considering the forum members, where are you based roughly, someone might be able to PM you to take a look and give a price (however no pressure to do that, the advice here is great as well)

Thanks, that's very useful! Happy for people to PM me if they want to quote - I'm based near Denbigh in North Wales if anyone's local to there. We've also got a massive ash tree with dieback that needs to come down.

[Rich Rule]

6 hours ago, NyxTaryn said:

Really? I might be misremembering why or got my wires crossed, but I thought you weren't supposed to burn conifer wood inside. If you can, that's great, because we've got plenty of it to go around...

I live in Norway and most wood is Birch but plenty burn pine and spruce.  Birch IMO is over rated.  I also stash any dead elm, oak, ash and fruit trees for my own stash.

 

I have had barely a shovel worth of soot out of my chimney in the last 7 years.

 

Just don’t let it smoulder and have a hot burn.

[NyxTaryn]

3 hours ago, Rich Rule said:

I live in Norway and most wood is Birch but plenty burn pine and spruce.  Birch IMO is over rated.  I also stash any dead elm, oak, ash and fruit trees for my own stash.

 

I have had barely a shovel worth of soot out of my chimney in the last 7 years.

 

Just don’t let it smoulder and have a hot burn.

Thank you!